Board game recommendations for 8 year old please!

[KimDeals]

She’s MAD into board games. She already plays chess, has outgrown kids monopoly. Her current fave is Game of Life. She loved complicated rules, processes, a bit of banking thrown in and she’s in her element!

Any recommendations? Board games or card games, all good!

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MNHQ Update
This thread is a few years old now, but if you've landed here while on the hunt for board game recommendations, our guide to the best family board games has been recently updated to reflect current availability. With a large range of games suitable for children of all ages (including plenty for eight-year-olds) we feel there's something here for everyone. Hope it's helpful!

We play:
Cat Attack
Hero Quest
Scrabble
Monopoly
Smallworld

How about payday its one of our favourite games.

Card games we like exploding kittens, no llamas, uno, dobble, pass the pigs.

Other favourites are jenga, cluedo (I hate it the kids love it we have harry potter edition), scrabble, logo game, electronic battleships, catventures.

For Christmas ive bought a compendium of classic games, OK play, muffin time, grabbola, sussed, blokus, apples to apples, rush hour, sleeping queens.

We play alot of games here and most are bought second hand or heavily reduced.

Other ones i looked at were labyrinth, enchanted forest, rat a tat tat, skyjo, unstable unicorns, quirkle, Scotland Yard, go nuts for doughnuts, dungeon! The board game, throw throw burrito, hive, outfoxed, ticket to ride, sushi go, colour brain. Then nostalgia wise operation and bop it!!

I got DD cheats Monopoly last year as she loves Monopoly but had become bored of it.

The rules are a little complex at first but you soon get the hang of it.
It's the whole cheat aspect ( trying to escape handcuffs without being seen and stealing from the bank are 2 cheats) that makes it a different game. It's not just the normal buy and sell. DD has played it throughout the year and its a different game everytime you play. It was enjoyed by children and adults.

My kids love Risk. Lots of complicated rules but no money

My dd is 8 and last Christmas we bought Ticket to Ride and she loves it. We got the Europe version, not the kids one and although she needed a bit of help the first time we played she soon got the hang of the rules.
She also loves Labyrinth and Cluedo

Carcassone is a good one if she likes rules and strategy. Lots of points to be added up at the end with complicated rules to be applied depending on various factors.

Ticket to Ride is good, lots of different expansion packs too for different maps and routes.

We like maponimoes too - great family game perfect for playing at Christmas. Again lots of different expansion packs that can be added.

Some favourites here are...
Labyrinth
Harry Potter Magical Beasts
Harry Potter Cluedo
Planet
Chess
Discovering Europe
London Game
Around Great Britain
Scotland Yard
Sorry!
Flying Goblins

For Christmas they have (between them)
Pictionary Air
Catch the Snitch
Ticket to Ride
Jumanji
Harry Potter Dobble

Monopoly deal, quirkl, dobble, quixx, Carcassonne, ticket to ride, flux, exploding kittens, sushi go, Alhambra, code words, codenames Loads of great European games which aren't just plastic tat.

Qwirkle! It is absolutely brilliant.

Oh, I'd give everything for a child who adores board games.

First, in that age, you usually do not need kids versions.

Things we play as a family (my son is 7):

1. Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe
2. Kingdomino
3. Splendor
4. Catan
5. Carcassone
6. Qwirkle
7. Patchwork
8. Camel Up
9. Dix It

10. Rummikub

Enjoy!

Oh amazing, thank you all so much!! There’s definitely a few I haven’t heard of - plus a few that we/she already has and loves - this is so so helpful, thank you all so much!

I’ve completely overlooked Cluedo!!! Classic error!!! I think the pair of them will love that!

Never heard of Carcassone!

Thanks again!!

If she loves monopoly, definitely look into Machi koro! My nephew (9 years) loves it!

Our similar 8 year old loves Catan, which involves trades, & Ticket to ride. He'll also happily play Rummikub.

Genius Square. A fave at our house from age 7 to 44!

Agree with carcassone and Catan, but also simple like Othello and Santorini. Easy to learn, lifetime to master as the adverts say !

The classics like othello and backgammon?

Ticket to Ride is our family's absolute favourite. I thoroughly recommend it. Good for strategy and there's so many expansions and several stand alone games of it. I recently saw a Rails & Sails version.

We also play Disney Monopoly, Disney Cluedo, Santorini (I'm not keen as I find it hard to understand!), Dobble, Scotland Yard, Go Fish, Happy Families and David Walliams Cheat card game. This Christmas he's getting Rummikub and Pokemon Labyrinth. I've heard good things about Qwirkle, Genius Square and Camel Up.

Our 8 year old loves Everdell. The artwork is beautiful and the game is really fun to play.

Check out if there are any board game cafes in your area too. We have been to ones in Guildford and Croydon and they are brilliant for trying out new games. The staff are usually really helpful too, making recommendations and helping you get set up, taking much of the stress of learning a new game away. Our 6 and 8 year olds love it.

My DS, loved Payday at that age. We still play it now occasionally.