Board games for 5 players

Last checked 4 November 2026

Quick answer: Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne are the easy, safe picks that take five. Small World has a board for each player count, Forbidden Desert and The Crew: Mission Deep Sea are co-ops for five, and Monopoly Deal and Exploding Kittens are quick card games. Wyrmspan is the one for a group that likes a longer game.

Five is an awkward number. Loads of popular games stop at 4 on the box, so a family of five or a group of friends ends up with someone sitting out. Every game here says 5 players on the box, and they're games that still play well with five, rather than ones that just about allow it. There's a mix of easy family games, two co-ops (everyone wins or loses together), quick card games and one longer game. Each card says how easy it is to teach.

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Ticket to Ride (2025 edition) cover: travellers waiting beside a steam train at a station

1. Ticket to Ride

Collect matching coloured train cards and claim railway routes to link cities across North America.

Players: 2 to 5 players
Age: 8+
Play time: 30 to 60 minutes
Our teaching rating: Easy to teach

Why it suits this: The easy one to start with. Collect matching coloured train cards and claim railway routes to link cities across North America. With five, the map gets crowded and the race for the routes you need gets properly tense. Alan R. Moon's game is 2 to 5 players, 8 and up, 30 to 60 minutes, and easy to teach.

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Details last checked 26 October 2026.

Carcassonne box: a walled medieval town on a hill above green fields and roads

2. Carcassonne

Take turns laying landscape tiles to build a shared medieval map, then drop your little wooden people on roads and towns to score.

Players: 2 to 5 players
Age: 7+
Play time: 30 to 45 minutes
Our teaching rating: Easy to teach

Why it suits this: Take turns laying landscape tiles to build a shared medieval map, then put your little wooden people on roads and towns to score. Turns are quick, so five players doesn't mean lots of waiting. Klaus-Jürgen Wrede's game is 2 to 5 players, 7 and up, 30 to 45 minutes, and easy to teach.

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Details last checked 26 October 2026.

3. Small World

Fantasy races fighting over a map that's too small for them all. Each race gets a random special power, and the clever bit is knowing when to put yours into decline and start a fresh one.

Players: 2 to 5 players
Age: 8+
Play time: 40 to 80 minutes
Our teaching rating: Takes a little explaining

Why it suits this: Fantasy races fighting over a map that's too small for them all. It comes with double-sided boards for each player count, so the map is the right size with five. Knowing when to put your race into decline and start a fresh one is the clever bit. Philippe Keyaerts' game is 2 to 5 players, 8 and up, 40 to 80 minutes, and it takes a little explaining.

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Details last checked 22 October 2026.

Forbidden Desert tin with tiles, pawns and the flying machine model laid out in front

4. Forbidden Desert

A co-op (everyone wins or loses together) survival game. Dig through shifting sand to find the parts of a flying machine before the storm or thirst beats you.

Players: 2 to 5 players
Age: 10+
Play time: about 45 minutes
Our teaching rating: Takes a little explaining

Why it suits this: A co-op for up to five. Dig through shifting sand to find the parts of a flying machine before the storm or thirst beats you, all working together. It's a good pick if your five don't like games where someone gets picked on. It's 2 to 5 players, 10 and up, about 45 minutes, and it takes a little explaining.

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Details last checked 24 October 2026.

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea box: a diver in an old-style diving suit exploring a sunken city on the sea bed

5. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea

Co-op trick-taking (everyone plays a card and the highest takes the lot) where the whole team wins or loses together. Missions say who has to win which cards, and you can barely talk about your hand.

Players: 3 to 5 players
Age: 10+
Play time: about 20 minutes
Our teaching rating: Easy to teach

Why it suits this: Co-op trick-taking (everyone plays a card and the highest takes the lot), where the missions say who has to win which cards and you can barely talk about your hand. Five is the top of its range and it works well there. Thomas Sing and Marco Armbruster's game is 3 to 5 players, 10 and up, about 20 minutes, and easy to teach.

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Details last checked 2 November 2026.

6. Monopoly Deal

Monopoly as a 110-card game. Play up to three cards a turn to bank money, lay down property or charge rent, and the first to finish three full sets in different colours wins.

Players: 2 to 5 players
Age: 8+
Play time: about 15 minutes
Our teaching rating: Easy to teach

Why it suits this: Monopoly as a 110-card game, and much quicker. Play up to three cards a turn to bank money, lay down property or charge rent, and the first to finish three full sets in different colours wins. It's 2 to 5 players, 8 and up, about 15 minutes, and easy to teach.

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Details last checked 20 October 2026.

Exploding Kittens box: a red box with yellow title lettering and a small black cartoon cat

7. Exploding Kittens

Draw cards and hope it isn't an Exploding Kitten. Skip, attack, shuffle or defuse your way to being the last one standing.

Players: 2 to 5 players
Age: 7+
Play time: about 15 minutes
Our teaching rating: Very easy to teach

Why it suits this: Draw cards and hope it isn't an Exploding Kitten. Skip, attack, shuffle or defuse your way to being the last one standing. More players means more chaos, so five is a good number for it. It's 2 to 5 players, 7 and up, about 15 minutes, and very easy to teach.

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Details last checked 19 October 2026.

Wyrmspan box: a watercolour dragon with wide pale wings spread against a blue sky, with the Wyrmspan title along the bottom

8. Wyrmspan

Wingspan's engine with dragons. Dig out caves, tempt dragons into them and chain their powers together. It's a standalone game by Connie Vogelmann, with an Automa solo mode in the box.

Players: 1 to 5 players
Age: 14+
Play time: about 90 minutes
Our teaching rating: Takes some explaining

Why it suits this: For a group that likes a longer game. Dig out caves, tempt dragons into them and chain their powers together. It's Wingspan's engine with dragons, a standalone game by Connie Vogelmann. It's 1 to 5 players, 14 and up, about 90 minutes, and it takes some explaining.

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Details last checked 22 October 2026.

One more or one fewer? See board games for 6 players, board games for 3 players and board games for a family of 4. For bigger groups, see board games for large groups, and for the games where everyone plays on the same side, cooperative board games.

How we choose and check

We pick games for the situation, and ignore hobby rankings and hype. Player counts, ages and play times come from the publisher's own page or the box. If we can't confirm a detail there, we leave it off the card. The teaching rating is our own view from reading the rules, not a publisher figure. Nobody pays us to include a game. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. See how we make money.