For play dates, ones with simple rules are key because it’s hard to be the one learning the rules as you go. Also does your kids school have board games for indoor recess days? If so, those are good ones to get. My kid learned clumsy there at indoor recess so we got that one. Spot it is good because it takes no time to learn. Same with uno. Also neither is a long game so if kids get bored you just move on.

My kids liked Sleepjng Queens, Junior monologue, clumsy thief, sorry.

My kids play with each other and us. Not too much on play dates.

Qwirkle is a great game for kids of different ages. As long as they know colors and shapes, they can play

We play games with our 5 and 8 yo often and they sometimes play with friends. Labyrinth, Othello, Carcassonne, Uno and set are current favorites. There's an after school and camp program near us that's mostly about teaching kids boardgames and playing together in groups which has helped expose my kids (and me!) to some new ones.

My six year old loves Board Games.

There's a great one called My Little Everdell that teaches strategy games. It's an open hand game so you can also assist your kid in the early games when they're still learning.
There's also kid versions of Scythe and Catan that work quite well.
For language games Code Names is fun for kids. Dixit can be played by all ages.

Candyland is okay for learning the mechanics of game play and turn taking but I try to avoid entirely luck based games past a certain point. Monopoly I've found is too long and too repetitive even for adults to enjoy.

Also don't sleep on classics like checkers and uno.

Depends on the kid (we have one who likes competitive games and one who likes collaborative games). Agree, kids don't play board games with each other, just with family

At 7, I played Sorry, uno, Rat a Tat Cat, sleeping queens, connect 4, solitaire, avocado smash and Jenga with my kids. They did a lot more pretend play, outdoor climbing and movie watching with their friends. As they got a little older, sometimes they played sorry, uno or avocado smash with their friends. Sometimes kids don’t want to get in a directly competitive game on a play date… or they want to be more active.

Typically 7 year olds are learning rules of all the games and strategy will come later.

Part of the issue is that there are SO many different games now. When we were growing up, there was Monopoly, Checkers, Chinese Checkers, War, 4 in a row, and Battleship. All kids knew how to play all of those games. Now you could have a kid take out a stack of games and the friend has no idea how to play any of them.

We've been playing board games with our kids since they were like 3, but not everyone likes them. I think that's the issue, not age.

We play games with 5yo DD after dinner. She loves them. But they don't really play games on playdates.

7 is not too young. Almost all 7 year olds have played some board or card game. But it’s not always a great play date activity.

My 7 yo plays board games very often and has been for a while. Try with easy ones such as Candy Lane, and then move to more advanced: Outfoxed is a great example. UNO and Avocado are cool card games. And bingo!

I can't remember playing board games or card games with friends. always family time.

We’ve taught 7yo DD quite a few and she’s not particularly strategic or anything, but enjoys them. I’ve noticed that whenever she has play dates, the girls of her age show no interest in board games or card games. They mostly prefer pretend play or just running around or talking about people/things, so she goes along with that.

I was wondering if anyone has noticed this generation trending away from board/card games, or if it’s just that 7 is too young. I can’t remember exactly, but I seem to remember board/card games being a big thing during after school and indoor camp days.