If, like us, you became completely obsessed with BBC series The Traitors then this card game version of the hit show is for you. 

Just like in the series, players work together to collect golden treasure… but some of you are traitors. The traitors will commit murders and pretend to be innocent faithfuls. You’ll need good acting skills for this one. 

For ages: 8+

Number of players: 4-6

Price: £11.99

Can it be played online? Alas, not yet.  

Dixit is brilliant because it challenges people to use their imaginations and get inside each other’s heads. 

There are over 100 cards, and each player starts the game with six, which are drawn randomly. You then go round taking turns as the ‘storyteller’, making up a sentence or phrase that might describe one of your cards and saying it out loud (without showing the card to the other players). 

Next, everyone else looks at their own six cards, selects the one that best matches the sentence given by the storyteller, and places it face down on the table. The storyteller shuffles all the cards and deals them out face up, leaving all players to guess which was the original. 

For ages: 8+

Number of players: 3-6

Price: £33.11

Can it be played online? Yes – you can currently try out a Beta version of the Dixit app for free on iOS and Android. 

Betrayal At House On The Hill begins as a cooperative game, with all players working together to navigate a haunted house and uncover as many items and rooms as they can. Fair warning: as more of the house is revealed, the chances of triggering a ‘haunt’ grow ever higher. 

Perhaps one of your party will turn into a werewolf, a mummy or a vampire. Perhaps they’ll be possessed by an ancient spirit. Perhaps something completely different and utterly bonkers will happen (one twist of fate could genuinely see a player transformed into a hoard of cannibalistic squirrels). 

With a book of over 50 scenarios, you never know who the traitor will be or what the second half of the game will look like, but you will have a lot of fun finding out.

For ages: 12+

Number of players: 3-6

Price: £39.99

Can it be played online? Yes! You can play a version of Betrayal At House On The Hill on the online board game site Tabletop Simulator (you’ll need to download the game first). 

Confident? is a quiz game with a difference – mainly because you don’t need any actual knowledge to play. Players are expected to answer trivia questions with a range rather than an exact figure, with the aim of the game to get the real answer in your range while also having the smallest range compared to the other players. Probably one for the lucky guessers among us.

For ages: No age range specified

Number of players: 3+

Price: £22

Can it be played online? Kind of. Although you can’t buy the original game in a digital form, you can download a range of digital packs which come with new Confident?-style questions to tackle with friends and family over Zoom.  

This fast-talking description game is perfect for your family member who just can’t stop talking. The aim of the game is simple: describe an object, person or place without actually saying the name of it. 

Players work in pairs or groups against the clock to work out what their team member is trying to say, with the number of moves they’re allowed to make on the board determined by how many guesses they get correct. One thing’s for sure: you won’t be short of laughs while playing Articulate!

For ages: 12+

Number of players: 4 to 20+ 

Price: £30

Can it be played online? Yes – and it’s free! Drumond Park games made the original Articulate! cards available online, so it can be played over Zoom. If you’ve got the physical game, you could even set up the board in front of the camera and use the cards remotely.

You didn’t think we’d put together a list of the best board games without throwing this classic into the mix, did you? The iconic real estate game allows users to buy up spaces around the board and charge ‘rent’ from the other players when they land on their property. To win, you just need to be the last player standing – a status achieved by bankrupting everyone else. What’s more festive than that?

If you’re looking for a new twist on the classic game, this Lord of the Rings edition lets players buy properties to protect the lands from the evil armies of Mordor and earn money by charging rent and controlling the Ring of Power.

For ages: 8+ (there is also a junior version of the game available for younger children)

Number of players: 2-6

Price: £79

Can it be played online? Yes! You can buy the Monopoly app on the App Store and Google Play Store. However, if you want to play it with family and friends from a distance, you’ll each need to buy the app.

Not technically a board game, but there’s something about Jenga that makes it just as much fun no matter how many times you play it. The rules are quite simple: take it in turns to extract blocks from the tower without knocking the whole thing over. 

Just be warned – Jenga can turn the best of players into the worst of losers.

For ages: 6+

Number of players: 2+

Price: £12

Can it be played online? Unfortunately not – there are some unofficial versions out there, but the official version of the Jenga app isn’t available to download in the UK. 

If you’ve never played Cluedo before, now is as good a time as any to get stuck in, and this special Charlie And The Chocolate Factory edition is guaranteed family fun. 

The premise of the game is simple – someone has spoiled the sweet recipe in Willy Wonka’s factory and you need to track down which sweet was ruined and who is the culprit, by asking your fellow players questions that lead them to confirm or deny your suspicions.

Using your clue sheet to cross off suspects and work through the possible outcomes, the winner is the first player to correctly identify the culprit at the centre of the crime.

For ages: 8+

Number of players: 2-6

Price: £34.99

Can it be played online? Yes – the Cluedo app is available on the App Store and Google Play Store. However, if you want to play it with family and friends from a distance, you’ll each need to buy the app.

One for the techies among us, Pictionary Air takes a modern twist on the classic illustration game. 

Using the new Air Pen (which requires a smartphone and app to work) to draw in the air, players compete to guess what the other person is drawing as the illustration appears on the phone screen. 

Your work can even be displayed from your smart device to your TV, using Apple TV, Chromecast or any other compatible equivalent.

For ages: 8+

Number of players: 2+

Price: £24

Can it be played online? Kind of. Pictionary doesn’t have an online version of the game (although Pictionary Air does incorporate an app, it’s not really designed to be used with players in different locations). However, the popular app Draw Something is a great alternative.

If you’re looking for a game to keep family members of all ages entertained, look no further than Mouse Trap. This classic board game comes with loads of fun moving parts, and promises to keep everyone engaged for hours. 

The aim of the game is simple: pick up the pieces of cheese scattered around the board while evading capture. Just make sure to watch out for all the contraptions!

For ages: 6+

Number of players: 2+

Price: £20

Can it be played online? Not yet.

Bring Channel 4’s iconic adventure gameshow into your living room with The Crystal Maze game. With four themed time zones, a range of mysteries to solve and lots of crystals to win, this one is sure to keep everyone fighting for the victory – if they can solve the mind-bending puzzles, that is. 

You can even download the game’s app The Crystal Maze: Game Timer to add the music and sound effects from the TV show into your game.

For ages: 10+

Number of players: 2+

Price: £24.30

Can it be played online? Sadly not.

Relative Insanity is kind of like Cards Against Humanity, except a lot more family friendly. Each round, one player picks a ‘set-up’ card, and then everyone else answers with the punch line card they think makes the funniest combo. 

If you fancy spending your New Year’s Eve laughing with friends and family over the most bizarre phrases, this one’s the game for you.

For ages: 14+

Number of players: 4-12

Price: £7.25

Can it be played online? No, sorry!