Best 6-Player Board Games
Whether it be a party, family, or strategy games, here is a list of the top 6-player board games that will ensure you have a blast with family and friends!
Walk into a game store today, you’ll see tables and shelves filled with all kinds of board games. If you’re out looking for a new game for family game night or a get-together with friends, how are you supposed to know where to even begin?
Board games are expensive, so trial and error is not a good approach when looking for the right one. Lucky for you, you’ve got a board-game-loving nerd who is happy to run you through some of the best board games out there!
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Table of Contents
6-Player Family Games
These games are meant for a casual, night-in kind of experience. They are friendly to younger age groups with simple gameplay and light-hearted themes.
Bananagrams
- FUN FOR EVERYONE – Gather your family and friends and race against each other to build crossword grids. This anagram game that will drive you bananas.
- Players: 1-8, plays best with between 2 and 6 players
- Playing Time: 15 minutes
- Ages: 8+
The aim of Bananagrams is simple: draw letter tiles and try to make a crossword out of them. That’s all there is to it!
A typical game of Bananagrams can take as little as 10 minutes, with minimal set-up and no components to worry about other than the letter tiles. When you’re done, the whole game fits in the banana-shaped bag it came in.
What We Like:
- Fast-paced gameplay, short running time
- Endlessly replayable
What We Don’t Like:
- Word games aren’t for everyone
Recommended if You:
- Love word puzzles and word games
For Sale
- Ages: 8 and up
- Players: 3-6, best with 5 or 6 players
- Playing Time: 30 minutes
- Ages: 8+
For Sale is a simple game with a simple theme that does what it does well.
The game is played over two rounds of bidding. First, players bid on property cards. Then, players use those property cards to bid on cheque cards. The goal is to have the most money in the end.
For such simple rules, there are plenty of hard decisions to make turn to turn in For Sale. The game teaches you to manage your money efficiently if you want to be successful.
What We Like:
- Rounds of bidding are fast and fun
- Rules are easy to teach, even by family game standards
What We Don’t Like:
- Not enough depth to be the only game you play
- If overplayed, can get stale
Recommended if You:
- Enjoy the energy of an auction hall
- Want a game the whole family can play
King of Tokyo
- Players: 2-6, best with 4 or more players
- Playing Time: 30 minutes
- Ages: 6+
In King of Tokyo, you duke it out as giant monsters fighting for control of Tokyo. You roll sets of dice to gain points, attack other players, buy cards that grant advantages, or heal yourself.
The luck of the dice rolls will force you to change your plan each turn based on what you get. The dice rolling makes for big swing turns when someone rolls well that can be fun and exciting, but could also mean a frustrating game for a player whose dice aren’t rolling well.
What We Like:
- Light strategy game the whole family can enjoy
- It’s fun to be a monster
What We Don’t Like:
- Dice-rolling can be frustrating
- You know who is going to win long before the end
Recommended if You:
- Want a light strategy option for younger audiences
6-Player Party Games
These games focus on social interaction. The rules are easy to teach quickly, with teamwork often a central element of the gameplay.
Bang!
- All the emotions of BANG! in a handful of dice: BANG! The Dice Game is a standalone game, it doesn't require BANG! to play
- Players: 4-7 Players
- Playing Time: 30 minutes, but can go longer
- Ages: 10+
Bang! pits players against each other in an old west style standoff.
The gameplay involves drawing and playing cards that let you take actions such as shooting at other players. You are assigned roles that tell you who you need to kill, which are secret to the other players at the table (unless you’re the Sheriff).
Bang! suffers from one glaring issue: players can be completely eliminated, sometimes early in the game. Depending on how much patience your players have, this might be a deal-breaker.
What We Like:
- Fast-paced action turn to turn
- Compact to store – just a deck of cards
What We Don’t Like:
- Player elimination
- Can run long
Recommended if You:
- Want a solid introduction to hidden role games
Codenames
- Work together to contact all of your agents before the other team
- Players: 2-8, best with 6 players or more
- Playing Time: 15 minutes
- Ages: 10+
Codenames separates players into two teams of spies, each with a spymaster. The teams take turns getting one-word clues from their spymasters that will help them guess the identity of their concealed agents.
Spymasters have to be careful with these clues, though – you don’t want to accidentally steer your team into the assassin!
Codenames is a fast and fun party game that you can’t go wrong with for any age group. I’ll warn from experience, though: you can wear this game out by playing it too much.
What We Like:
- Encourages teamwork and discussion to decipher clues
- Sharpens deductive reasoning skills
What We Don’t Like:
- Depends on good spymasters, and not everyone will be good at it
Recommended if You:
- Love solving clues and reasoning through problems
Concept
- COMMUNICATE WITHOUT SPEAKING: Discover a new means of communication in Concept, an easy-to-learn, but frequently challenging board game! Make people guess hundreds of objects, characters, and titles by combining universal icons!
- Players: 4-12, best with at least 6 players
- Playing Time: 40 minutes
- Ages:10+
Concept is built on the same idea as charades: get people to guess a word.
Instead of miming actions to give your team clues, Concept includes a board filled with columns of pictures and symbols. You play as a team of two, choosing a word or phrase from a card then placing tokens on images on the board as clues that will (hopefully) get someone to guess what it is.
There are points, but in my experience, you’re better off doing away with all that and just playing the game for the fun of it.
What We Like:
- Excellent ice-breaker game
- Rewards creative thinking and good teamwork
What We Don’t Like:
- Points system feels wrong for the game, better without scoring
Recommended if You:
- Like the idea of charades but are ready for a fresh take on it
Dixit
- STORYTELLING GAME: Dixit is the classic, simple, lighthearted game of storytelling and guesswork where your imagination unlocks the tale. Every picture tells a story – but what story will your picture tell?
- Players: 3-6, best with 5 or 6 players
- Playing Time: 30 minutes
- Ages: 8+
Dixit calls itself a storytelling game, which tells you the focus of the game. It isn’t about playing to win; it’s about telling fun stories and having a good time.
Each player in Dixit draws a hand of cards with wacky images on them. When it is your turn to be the storyteller, you pick a card and make up a sentence-long clue that will help others at the table guess your card. That card gets shuffled in with cards added by other players, who are trying to include images that might also be described by your clue to mislead the others.
To make things even trickier for the storyteller, you can’t be too obvious with your clue: if everyone guesses your image correctly, you get no points that round!
What We Like:
- Focus on creativity and storytelling
What We Don’t Like:
- Doesn’t work well with fewer players
Recommended if You:
- Love making up and sharing funny stories
- Want a fun family-friendly party game
Skull
- A GAME OF DECEPTION: Skull is a fun party game of bluffing, deducing, and out-thinking your friends. If you want to best your opponents, you must bluff, lie and pierce the deceptions that surround the flowers.
- Players: 3-6, best with 6 players
- Playing Time: 15-45 minutes
- Ages: 8+
Some of the games on this list include bluffing as part of the game. In Skull, bluffing is the entire focus.
You start with 4 coasters for each player, 3 marked with roses and 1 with a skull. Each round you take turns placing these facedown on the table, then bid to see who has to flip some of them over. Turn over only flowers, you score a point towards victory. Turn over a skull, you lose a coaster and are one step closer to defeat.
Skull gets tense fast. You can’t let on when you’ve put your skull down; you’ll have to practice your poker face if you’re going to win.
What We Like:
- Tense gameplay
What We Don’t Like:
- Biker gang theme is strange but can be ignored
Recommended if You:
- Love bluffing games – this is the purest you’ll find
The Resistance: Avalon
- The Resistance: Avalon is a standalone game and while The Resistance is not required to play; the games are compatible and can be combined
- Players: 5-10, the more players the better
- Playing Time: 30 minutes
- Ages: 12+
In The Resistance: Avalon, players work together to complete a series of quests as members of King Arthur’s court. It’s not so simple, though, as the evil forces of Mordred have infiltrated your ranks and want to see you fail. Players must piece together who among them is secretly working against them before it’s too late!
One player is Merlin, knowing the identity of the evil agents in the court. He has to find out how to get this information to his allies without giving himself up. If Mordred’s agents can identify Merlin at the end of the game, all is lost.
What We Like:
- Takes up very little space to store or play
What We Don’t Like:
- The Merlin role is very challenging
Recommended if You:
- Want a well-designed, in-depth social deduction game
Coup
- Players: 2-6, best with 5 or 6 players
- Playing Time: 15 minutes
- Ages: 10+
Coup takes the ideas of social deduction games like The Resistance and stirs in a lot more bluffing.
You are given two hidden roles you can use to take action in the game. To make things interesting, you can claim to be a role you are not to do actions you shouldn’t actually be able to do. If your bluff gets called successfully, though, you lose a role card. Lose both your cards, and you’re out.
It’s a game of bluffing and backstabbing that rewards unscrupulous and cunning play above all.
What We Like:
- Many roads to victory, high replayability
What We Don’t Like:
- Player elimination, though the short running time helps here
Recommended if You:
- Love social deduction and bluffing games – it’s the best of both worlds!
6-Player Strategy Games
These games typically have more complicated rules and longer running times than the others on this list. They focus on decision-making and long-term planning.
7 Wonders
- Players: 2-7, best with 4 players or more
- Playing Time: 30 minutes
- Ages: 10+
7 Wonders puts you at the helm of a great civilization, looking to make your mark on history by making your city the grandest of them all.
Throughout the game, you improve your city to make the resources to build the iconic wonders the game is named for. These include all the ancient wonders you might expect, such as the Pyramids or the Colossus.
The running time is quick and has the added benefit of keeping players actively engaged most of that time.
What We Like:
- Easy enough for beginners, deep enough for more experienced gamers
What We Don’t Like:
- Symbols on cards can be confusing for new players
- Not much interaction between players
Recommended if You:
- Want a light strategy game for the whole family
A Game of Thrones: The Boardgame
- A board game based on A Game of Thrones, a novel now adapted to an HBO series
- Players: 3-6, best with the full 6 players
- Playing Time: 2-4 hours
- Ages: 14+
The king is dead and turmoil has engulfed the realm as the great houses of Westeros fight for dominance. As lord of one of those houses, you must make sure your house sits on the Iron Throne when the fighting is done.
The action of this game is slow; it involves a lot of negotiating with other players and forming alliances to achieve your ends. Making these deals is important to get ahead in the game, but nothing binds either player to any deal they make so expect appropriate amounts of dramatic backstabbing to happen.
As a note: while it supports 3-6 players, I recommend getting the full 6 players for a game. It isn’t the same with fewer people.
What We Like:
- Diplomacy and backstabbing as central elements of the game fit the theme well
What We Don’t Like:
- Long running time and slow gameplay
- Needs 6 players
Recommended if You:
- Love Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire – the gameplay supports the theme well
Between Two Cities
- Players: 1-7, best with 5 or 6 players
- Playing Time: 25 minutes
- Ages: 8+
In Between Two Cities you take on the role of an urban planner designing two cities, each one with a different planning partner.
Players build cities with their neighbors: one with the person on their right, one with the person on their left. Each round, you draft tiles and decide where to place them in each city to score the most points.
Between Two Cities is a wonderful way to encourage both cooperation and competition. At the end of the game, you are scored based on the lower scoring of your two cities, meaning you have to work to make the best city possible with both of your partners.
What We Like:
- Design of the game encourages friendly gameplay and cooperation
What We Don’t Like:
- Not much depth to the decision making
Recommended if You:
- Enjoy working in teams and cooperation
- Want a friendlier strategy game option
Cosmic Encounter
- BUILD A GALACTIC EMPIRE: In the depths of space, the aliens of the Cosmos vie with each other for control of the universe. Alliances form and shift from moment to moment, while cataclysmic battles send starships screaming into the warp.
- Players: 3-5, can be 6 players with an expansion
- Playing Time: 1-2 hours
- Ages: 10+
Cosmic Encounter was released way back in 1977, so you know it must be good if people are still playing it! The rules and goals of the game are simple, but with plenty of depth to be found in negotiating alliances with other players and just the right amount of chaos thrown in by the cards.
The first player that is able to establish 5 colonies in other player’s systems will win the game. This is not an easy feat, since people are sure to start teaming up against you if you look like you’re winning! The key to this game lies in making alliances and deals to get ahead, which leads to classic moments of betrayal.
What We Like:
- Solid gameplay with plenty of intrigue and drama
What We Don’t Like:
- Luck is a bigger factor than some might like
- The gameplay can get very chaotic
Recommended if You:
- Enjoy plenty of politics and diplomacy in your strategy game
Elder Sign
- A GAME OF SUSPENSE AND SUPERNATURAL INVESTIGATION: Inspired by the horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft, Elder Sign is a fast-paced, cooperative dice game that pits players against the terror posed by one of eight possible Ancient Ones.
- Players: 1-8, best with 4 players
- Playing Time: 1-2 hours
- Ages: 13+
In Elder Sign, you’ll be working alongside the other players completing a series of tasks to prevent the Ancient One from re-awakening.
Along the way, your work will be hindered by monsters that make those tasks harder to complete – and the clock is ticking! Every turn the Ancient One gets a little closer to breaking free and destroying everything in existence.
Elder Sign is easy to learn and play, and the pace of the gameplay is quick enough to keep even more distractible players engaged. Be warned that winning is difficult – don’t expect to win your first game!
What We Like:
- Cooperative – everyone wins or loses together
- Good pacing turn to turn to keep players engaged
What We Don’t Like:
- Doesn’t play as well with more players, stick to 4 if you can
Recommended if You:
- Enjoy horror settings, especially if you’re a fan of cosmic horror
- Want a great cooperative game option
Empires: Age of Discovery
- Players: 2-6, best with 4 or more players
- Playing Time: 1-2 hours
- Ages: 12+
Empires: Age of Discovery is set in an era of colonial imperialism when European powers were expanding and conquering across the globe. You will be playing as one of these colonial powers, racing the other colonial powers to claim territory and build your empire.
Every turn is a tense decision as you decide how best to use your limited worker pool. Do you build your economy, get rich, and win that way? Do you build a large military and play aggressively? Do you try to be the first to explore and settle new lands?
Empires: Age of Discovery allows for many approaches to your long-term strategy. It drags a bit between each round as scores are tallied, but that’s a minor complaint.
What We Like:
- Many ways to win
- Decisions feel impactful each turn
What We Don’t Like:
- Slow at times, and feels like it runs a bit long
Recommended if You:
- Want to start exploring more complicated strategy games; this game is a good stepping stone from beginner titles
Ethnos
- Twelve Tribes - From Skeletons to Giants to Merfolk, all of the different Tribes have their own unique special abilities.
- Players: 2-6, best with 4 or more players
- Playing Time: 1 hour
- Ages: 10+
Ethnos is a game of collecting card sets that plays like Gin Rummy, but with a board and special rules.
The goal of Ethnos is to take control of the most territory over the game’s 3 rounds. The actions you can take each turn couldn’t be simpler: either you draw a card or play your hand. Thanks to this, the gameplay moves lightning fast.
There are 12 tribes of fantasy races in the game, each with special abilities they bring to the table when played. You only play with 6 of these 12 in any given game, helping the game hold up to repeated play.
What We Like:
- Straightforward, fast-paced gameplay of a card game but with more strategic depth
What We Don’t Like:
- Set-up can be a pain, picking through the deck and separating out each tribe’s cards
Recommended if You:
- Enjoy the fast pace and luck factor of card games but want more depth
Keyflower
- Players: 2-6, best with 4 or more players
- Playing Time: 1-2 hours
- Ages: 12+
Keyflower takes place over four seasons, which is all the time you’ll have to build the best town you possibly can. You compete for tiles to add to your town through bidding wars with other players.
The rules of Keyflower sound simple on the surface but mask a surprising amount of depth. The decisions you make each turn feel meaningful and impactful. There is a random element in the tile drawing, but the luck factor isn’t going to make or break your game – it just forces you to adapt.
What We Like:
- Combines all the best parts of bidding games and worker placement games
What We Don’t Like:
- A small amount of luck involved
- Some tiles are significantly stronger than others
Recommended if You:
- Enjoy bidding and resource management games
Lords of Waterdeep: A Dungeons & Dragons Board Game
- An exciting Euro-style board game set in Waterdeep, the greatest city and jewel of the Forgotten Realms
- Players: 2-5 (6 players with an expansion)
- Playing Time: 1-2 hours
- Ages: 10+
In Lords of Waterdeep, you play as one of the masked lords that secretly rule the city. Working against the other players, you compete to build your influence and become the most powerful lord of Waterdeep.
As a mighty lord, you don’t muddy your boots doing dirty work – during the game you’ll be hiring adventurers to complete quests for you. There are also intrigue cards, which the players can play against each other to interfere in each other’s plans.
Complicated enough to keep the interest of more experienced gamers, but easy enough for new players to learn – Lords of Waterdeep is a solid addition to your collection no matter who you play with.
What We Like:
- Good balance of depth and accessibility
- A solid, safe choice for any audience
What We Don’t Like:
- Younger kids might find it boring
Recommended if You:
- Love games with hidden roles, and want a strategy game built around that
Power Grid
- For 2-6 players
- Players: 2-6, best with at least 4 players
- Playing Time: 2 hours
- Ages: 12+
It’s hard to make Power Grid sound flashy. The theme doesn’t exactly suck you in right away. But sit down for one game and you’re sure to be hooked.
The beauty of Power Grid lies in how well-designed the game is. Each round has you making several difficult choices, from how much you are willing to bid to how to best set up your power grid.
The amount of planning and math that go into Power Grid makes it intimidating for new players. This shouldn’t be the first game you try if you’re exploring strategy board games, but it will become a centerpiece of your collection if you get into the hobby.
What We Like:
- Well designed, well balanced – a strategy game every board gamer should have on their shelf
What We Don’t Like:
- The theme is rather dull, not likely to interest younger audiences
Recommended if You:
- Want to start playing more complicated strategy board games
- Love managing resources and planning ahead to win
Twilight Imperium
- THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE: Explore the latest reimagining of the Twilight Imperium saga with this epic fourth edition. The galaxy stirs once more, and the great races are again looking beyond their borders into the far reaches of space. Mecatol Rex, the jewel of galactic civilization, awaits the one who would be so bold as to take up the mantle of Emperor.
- Players: 3-6, best with the full 6 players
- Playing Time: 4-8 hours
- Ages: 14+
Only one word can be appropriately used to describe Twilight Imperium: epic.
In this game, you take command of a galactic empire whose goal is to conquer the known universe. There are 17 factions to choose from with different abilities, so between that variety and an ever-changing game board (made of connected tiles), you will never play the same game twice.
Twilight Imperium is not for the faint of heart. If you’re ready for a challenge, though, it’s an incredible game with an incredible scale that you won’t regret investing in.
What We Like:
- Truly one-of-a-kind, epic-scale strategy
What We Don’t Like:
- Hard to find the time or a group to play due to the complexity of the game and running time
Recommended if You:
- Want a complex game you can really dig into
- Enjoy long gaming sessions, or can leave the game set up somewhere so you can take long breaks
Conclusion
If you haven’t played a board game lately, you really need to fix that!
The past 25 years have been kind to the hobby – you’re almost certain to find something you’ll enjoy with how many great games are on the market now. If any of the games on this list caught your attention, give them a shot! There’s a whole, wide world of board games out there just waiting to be explored.
If you are a few players short, check out the best 4 player board games for a fun night with your family and friends!
