We get asked a simple question a lot this time of year. “What are the best family board games?” and “What board games should we get for our family?”

This year we’re trying something different. We thought it would be a good idea to share the perspective of each member of our family on what games they’d put at the top of such a list. So rather than just getting dad’s summary and having it go on and on with so many great board games and card games. We’re giving you the perspective of everyone else (then maybe dad will sneak something in in the end).

And we’ll start right at the top with Mom.

Our nephew (and cousin) returned last week from his 2 year church mission and we got to spend the extended weekend with their family catching up on many things as well as playing lots of board games!

Knowing that we’d be spending a long weekend at their home, and that Jake loves playing board games, we had the tough choice of which games we should first introduce him to upon his return. We wanted to take games he’d already be familiar with, but we also wanted to play games that we’ve added to our game shelves over the last 2 years that we thought he’d love.

On the heels of the Spiel des Jahres (Best Family Board Game of the Year) announcement, The Dice Tower award winners were also announced recently – celebrating even more of the best board games and card games for 2011!