Are you fed up with hearing your children complain about being bored or spending too much time on screens? Do you want to find a fun way to spend quality time with your children, or have them entertain themselves for a bit? Board games are a great place to start! In this post, we will explore the 10 best board games for 10 to 12 year olds that will keep them entertained for hours.
As a parent, you want to make sure that the things your kids do are not only fun, but also good for them and their growth. Board games can help enhance your children’s critical thinking, problem-solving, and social skills.
I’ve spent countless hours researching and playing board games with my children as a board game lover and parent. I can state with certainty that the games on this list are not only entertaining but also educational and age-appropriate.
So grab a snack, gather your family, and prepare to be immersed in the world of board games!
Best Board Games For 10 To 12 Year Olds – Quick Comparison
| Rank | Name | # Players | Time | Complexity | Good For |
| #1 | Potion Explosion | 2-4 | 30-45 mins | Easy | Best Overall |
| #2 | Forbidden Desert | 2-5 | 45 mins | Medium | Best Cooperative |
| #3 | Love Letter | 2-6 | 20 mins | Easy | Best Easy Game |
1. A Magical Marble-Matching Board Game: Potion Explosion
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 30-45 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Potion Explosion is a strategy, luck, and skill-based board game. Players take turns picking marbles from a dispenser and mixing them together to make potions. When a player takes a marble, the marbles move down in the dispenser, and any marbles of the same color that touch the player also gets to take (it’s kind of like a manual candy crush). This can set off a chain reaction that can be used to pick up a lot of marbles at once.
The aim of the game is to get the most points by building potions, which is done by collecting the correct marbles for each potion.
Players need to carefully plan their moves to get the marbles they need, but there is also a certain amount of chance, as players never know all the marbles that are coming up.
Potion Explosion’s gameplay is fun and interesting, and the tactile feel of the game has made it the top choice for my kids.
2. A Cooperative Adventure Game: Forbidden Desert
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 30-45 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Forbidden Desert is a board game where players work together to try to stay alive in a dangerous desert. The survival theme really shines through, as players must work together to survive and escape.
To play Forbidden Desert, players must balance a number of different objectives. They have to keep an eye on how much water they have and protect themselves from the hot sun. They also have to look for clues to find where a buried flying machine that lets them get away is buried. The players also have to clear sand off the board all the time so they don’t get buried alive. This adds stress and a sense of urgency to the game.
Even though there are a lot of challenges to overcome, the survival theme makes for a fun adventure, and the kids will remember how well they worked together and stuck with it long after the game is over.
3. A Quick and Strategic Card Game: Love Letter
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 20 minutes
- Complexity: Very Easy
Love Letter is a light card game in which players must be the first to get their love letter to the princess. Each card played has a special ability that can do things such as swap cards between players’ hands, eliminate the player from a round, or force them to play a certain card.
In Love Letter, players must pay close attention to both the cards in play and what their opponents do to come up with a good plan.
Knowing when to take risks is another crucial part of the strategy in Love Letter. Players need to weigh the potential rewards against the risk of playing a certain card, knowing the chance they might win the round based on the cards that have been played.
Love Letter is a game that has some luck and some strategy, and with the play time being so quick, it’s a game that will end up being played again and again.
4. A Cute and Colorful Strategy Game: Takenoko
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 45 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Takenoko is a board game in which players cultivate a bamboo garden. Players take turns picking and putting tiles on the board to make a garden that a hungry panda will want to visit.
Each player earns points for completing the objectives they chose at random at the beginning of the game, as well as for some shared objectives like growing bamboo.
The game rules are fairly easy to master, making it an excellent choice for 10-12 year olds Still, just because the game’s rules are simple doesn’t mean that the game isn’t complicated. The game involves strategic thinking and planning to maximize points. Gamers must strike a balance between the requirement to cultivate bamboo to feed the panda and the need to accomplish goals in order to get points.
Takenoko is a very cute looking game, but it will keep your child interested with quite a bit going on and a lot of different decisions to make.
5. An Abstract Strategy Game: Santorini
- Number of Players: 2-4 (best with 2)
- Play time: 20 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Santorini is a strategic board game that has a similar feel to chess but without the fighting.
The game is played on a 5×5 board, and players take turns moving their workers and constructing towers. The first person to move one of their workers to the third level of a tower wins the game.
The rules are simple, but the game is not as easy as it looks because it requires players to think ahead and carefully plan their moves.
To extend the replayability of the game, it also comes with god cards, which grants each player a unique ability that they can use throughout the game. The varied god cards can change the strategy significantly and make each game feel unique and tough.
Whether your child is a seasoned player or new to the hobby, Santorini is a game that will bring hours of entertainment and get them to use their logical thinking.
6. Build Your Own Metropolis: My City
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 30 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
My City is a game in which players construct and run their own city.
It provides a one-of-a-kind experience because it has a legacy component where you can play through a campaign and change the board game as you go, creating your own version of the game. It also has a non-legacy experience as well.
In my city, each player has a board that they are placing polyomino tiles on (they look like Tetris tiles), but all players are putting the same tile on at the same time, but they get to decide what the optimal placement is.
This game really hits the spot for a puzzle experience that also gives you the satisfaction of building something, and is really a hit with my son, who very much likes video games that are in the same vein.
7. A Cooperative Heist Board Game: Burgle Bros
- Number of Players: 1-4
- Play time: 45-90 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Burgle Bros is a cooperative board game in which players must work together to complete a heist. The mechanics of the game are meant to make you feel the excitement and adrenaline of a real-life heist.
Players take turns moving their pieces around the board, dodging guards and security systems, and breaking safes to grab loot. The game is won when all players successfully escape with the loot, but it can also be lost if any player is caught. The game also has equipment such as crowbars and dynamite that players can use to assist them in their heist.
Burgle Bros is both tough and rewarding. Gamers must work together to overcome obstacles, while also using their own skills and tools to contribute to the team’s success.
8. A Scenic Trek Through Nature: PARKS
- Number of Players: 1-5
- Play time: 30-60 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
PARKS is a board game that takes players on a journey around the United States’ stunning national parks. The game is meant to be both fun and educational, so players can learn about the different parks while having a good time. Yet, PARKS is not simply a game about nature, it also has a nice focus on strategy and resource management.
Players must carefully manage their resources, such as food and gear, in order to explore the parks and complete many goals. Players have to balance their desire to explore with the need to save resources for later turns. This requires them to plan ahead and make decisions. For example, players might have to decide if they want to use their food to move to a new location or save it for later.
The artwork component of PARKS is a significant part of the game. Each park in the game has a beautiful image that shows what makes it special. This not only enhances the game’s fun but also helps players appreciate the real-life parks that inspired it.
Ultimately, PARKS is a game that mixes strategy, resource management, and teaching in a fun yet relaxing way. Whether you are a nature lover or a board game aficionado, PARKS is sure to bring hours of fun and learning.
9. A Race to the Legendary City: The Quest for El Dorado
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 30-60 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
The Quest for El Dorado is a strategy and adventure deck-building board game. Players take on the role of expedition leaders who are trying to find El Dorado, the legendary city of riches.
But the game is not simply about luck and chance. Players need to manage their decks, plan their plays, and make strategic decisions.
Each player starts with a standard deck of cards, which represent the members of their team. As the game goes on, they must get new cards to add to their deck and improve their chances of winning. The game also has a modular board, which means that the arrangement of the game changes with each playthrough, increasing the game’s replayability.
The Search for El Dorado combines both skill and chance, and the deck-building and racing genres to create a truly fun and distinct gaming experience.
10. Superhero Themed Engine Builder: Marvel Splendor
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Play time: 30 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Marvel Splendor is a strategy card game where players collect and trade gems to get more gems and Marvel characters that score points.
The gaming mechanics of Marvel Splendor differ greatly from those of standard card games. In this game, each card costs gems and gives you a certain score at the end of the game, but each card you collect also allows you to buy cards cheaper.
To begin with, players in Marvel Splendor have a limited number of actions per turn, forcing them to make strategic decisions about which cards to collect and which characters to recruit. It’s very satisfying as the game goes on, as you are able to have much more powerful turns.
The game delivers a strategic experience that is sure to keep players coming back again and again, and unlike the dry theme of the original splendor, my kids really connected to the superhero theme.
Honorable Mentions
A few other games that are family favorites and are definitely worth the effort of taking a look at are:
- Sagrada is a board game where players compete to make the most beautiful stained glass window. Each player has their own board and roll dice, which they place on their board in accordance with the rules. The game is won by accumulating the most points based on dice placement and accomplishing specific objectives. This game appeals to my kids since it uniquely combines strategy and creativity, plus the colorful components make it visually appealing.
- Jaipur is a simple card game for two players in which players fight to become the most successful trader in the city of Jaipur. Participants take turns acquiring and trading commodities in a fluctuating cost market, earning points for each successful trade. After three rounds, the player with the most points wins the game.
- Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a cooperative board game in which players collaborate as a firefighting team running around rescuing victims from a burning building and put out the fire. My kids love this game because of the theme and the cooperative experience.
Conclusion
Selecting the perfect board game for 10 to 12 year olds can be difficult, but you can’t go wrong with our list of the 10 best board games.
Whether you are looking for something strategic like Takenoko or Santorini, something cooperative like Forbidden Desert or Burgle Bros, or something lighter and fun like Potion Explosion or Love Letter, we’ve got you covered.
So, what are you holding out for? It’s time to kick your 10-12 year olds off video games and get them playing some board games together.
