Portal 2 Coop is an absolute classic, and it's always cheap. just take turns on death or level completion

How old are the kids? Their age will dictate a lot of the suggestions.

Mario party, or MarioKart are the big ones at my house

Super Mario Galaxy is an OG game that is highly recommended.

Jackbox party pack

Jackbox

Rock Band

jackbox, which i believe is on ps plus extra for free

amazing i have been looking for some coop to play with the partner

• Ultimate Chicken Horse
• Key-We
• Gang Beasts
• Moving Out 1 & 2
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
• Broforce
• Gigabash
• SUPER BOMBERMAN R 2

Alternatively, while on the PS Store, view the "All Games" list and enable the "Party" genre filter.

There are some great wholesome JRPGs to play with children. I recommend these two:

• The Cruel King and the Great Heron (Switch/PS4)

• The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince (Switch/PS4)

The gameplay is simple, art is great, and the stories are wholesome.

Monster Hunter Stories features a young cast and rock paper scissors mechanics with monster taming. The only thing is be worried about is a fight breaking it when customizing the main character.

Kingdom Hearts has very easy controls and a company very invested in appearing child friendly involved in its creation. Great way to start conversations about feelings. (Ie, How do you think Riku felt when he thought his friend replaced him?)

Fantasy Life is very kid friendly! I would set rules about how long someone can play because time does really fly!

Wind Waker!

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Story and animation made by Ghibli Studio. Child friendly but not childish story, Pokémon feeling in a fantasy and colorful world.

It's a little on the retro side, but I've been playing Grandia 1 (HD remaster), and my 7 y/o is super invested in it. It's very of its era (PS1/Saturn), and the voice acting isn't the best, but it's very colorful, optimistic, and light-hearted.

FF9 also feels fairly friendly to this age.

Little King Story

Star Ocean 2

Legend of Legaia

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

Someone mentioned Grandia 1 and that would be a fantastic choice.

Brave Fencer Musashi

Dokapon Kingdom

Overcooked

Fortune Street is pretty much monopoly but with Mario & Dragon Quest characters

Uno. Teaches kids how to mine for salt for as early as four.

Ultimate Chicken Horse.

I don’t have much of a gamer family but damnit if they don’t love Codenames.

Ticket to Ride is a family favorite.

It’s offset, in my opinion, by the collaborative/cooperative nature of the game. If at least one person can play and introduce Pandemic reasonably well to newbies, then I can see how it might actually be easier than Catan — at least in the actual experience of fun play for families.

My mother no longer invites me over for board games. She invites me over for Codenames lol

My family goes for Catan at the most complicated. I've been able to get them into Pandemic, Sherrif of Nottingham, Just One (they're obsessed with it), Codenames, Dixit, Hanabi, Incan Gold, and lately The Crew. Especially the last one for any families who like standard card games.

well there’s the classics like uno, monopoly, the game of life, and other board/card games. then there’s the ones that make you want to kill each other, like overcooked, cuphead, plate up, keep talking and nobody explodes (need printed instructions for that one). and then there’s the trivia/party games good for groups, jackbox party packs, and i personally love the game papa’s quiz.

Untitled Goose Game. nothing says road trip vibes like being an annoying goose causing chaos everywhere you go

I'm looking for something that multiple people can pass around. Something like a turn based game that supports couch co-op.

Grindstone, wild rift, and legends of runeterra were my go to games. Now I’d probably add vampire survivors, omega strikers, and Genshin impact if I had to go through it again.

Orbital. A rogue like ball breaker. The best part is you can play by tapping with one finger.

A quick rundown: a constantly rotating turret sits at the bottom of the screen. Tap to fire a missile. It has enough juice to travel about 1.5 lengths of the screen. Then it explodes into an expanding circle. When the circle’s edge comes in contact with the edge of the screen or another circle it stops expanding and a 3 appears. You need to bump it 3 times to make it go away. That’s one point.

There are 3 variations of the game. I like gravity where the bigger the circle, the more gravity it exerts on your missile. You can see the effect of the gravity by the distortion of the grid in the background.

Here’s a hint to the game. Fire a rebounding shot to get the missile to end up in the top corner. Holding your finger down gets it to shoot another missile after the turret moves slightly. You can create a small chain of small bubbles. After filling the top with small bubbles start ricocheting missiles among the balls.

My lifetime score is about 120 - been playing a dozen or so years. The game keeps a lifetime score and a separate “last 24 hours” list. There used to be a global list - people regularly scored in the thousands - no clue how except lots of patience.

Recap: I keep coming back every few months for the past dozen years. The game can be played with one hand and your thumb so you can hold your kid with the other. It’s very challenging.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/orbital/id324012853

Into the breach and banner saga. Seems like the running theme here is turn based and single player so you can drop it at a moments notice.

King of Dragon Pass. Become a mythic tribal leader. There is no other game like it. Turn based, single player savable. Perfect for baby duty.

Pirates Outlaws