With summer vacations still stretching off into the distance, taking advantage of Prime Day board game deals or snagging some discounted toys could be a very smart move. The WIRED Reviews team has a gaggle of kids of all ages between us, and most of us are still big kids at heart, so we’ve tried a lot of board games and toys over the years.
Some of the best family board games are on sale for Prime Day. You can also find deals on some of the best STEM toys. I have handpicked a selection of WIRED-tested and -approved board games and toys right here, and I’ll keep adding to this list during the Prime Days sales through July 11. It’s time to stock up on fun! If you’re looking for more Prime Day deals, we have a list of the very best, which we update throughout the event, and there’s a Prime Day liveblog, too.
Updated July 11, 2025: We’ve added the PlayShifu Tacto Chess game, Bill Nye’s VR Chem Lab, and the PlayShifu Orboot Earth, removed to items no longer on sale, and updated prices throughout.
WIRED Featured Deals
The Best Board Game Deals
Playing board games with family or friends is the perfect antidote to our chronically online digital lives, and many of the best family board games are on sale now. These are the best Prime Day board game deals.
Originally Settlers of Catan, this immersive strategy game is all about gathering and trading resources to build roads, settlements, and cities on a randomly generated board of hexagonal tiles. To collect enough points for a victory requires the right strategy and some luck with dice rolls. My kids love the trading and the robber mechanic, which allows you to steal cards from your opponents and block their resources (though it can cause fall outs).
Photograph: Simon Hill
This word association game for 2 to 8 players aged 10 and up only takes around 15 minutes to play. You must identify a number of secret agents based on a single-word clue with a time limit, but think carefully, because picking the wrong one could help your opponent or instantly lose you the game.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Whether you want to play a fun game with kids or a mix of ages, this game is easy to grasp and always gets people laughing. A dice roll determines the chosen word or title from a themed card with 16 possibilities, and players must say something related. Everyone knows what it is except the Chameleon, who has to bluff their way through, then it’s time to guess and try to root them out.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Players must match beautiful tiles on their game boards to create mosaics and score maximum points in this satisfying strategy game. Each round, you select tiles from pools in the center, but there’s room for many different tactical approaches. This accessible game seems simple but has tremendous replayability and strategic depth.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Some of the best family board games are cooperative, so you can avoid those arguments that sometimes lead to board flipping and huffs and Pandemic is a solid example. There’s a worldwide pandemic and you must work together for the survival of mankind by jetting around the board and trying to halt the spread. Each player assumes a role, like a scientist or medic, with unique special powers, and you must strategize and coordinate to emerge alive.
Courtesy of Amazon
OK, so it’s not a board game, but my family played this French car-themed card game when I was a kid, and my own family loves it today. The original version from the 1960s (which my family had, and which I insisted on buying my family a copy of at a garage sale) has the text in both French and English, but this new set is just in English, albeit with the same rules and illustrations. I also like that it comes in a metal box for traveling—or just not falling apart, as the old cardboard boxes tended to do. Bonne chance! —Kat Merck
Photograph: Adrienne So
Want your kids to learn chess? This lightweight, portable board paired with weighty pieces is an easy way to pick up the classic strategy game. Charge the Bluetooth-enabled board, connect the app, and you can play against remote players or yourself. There’s also AI-enabled assistance to help guide your moves.
Photograph: Playshifu
This intriguing take on chess is part digital/part tactile, using an iPad or Amazon Fire tablet and real chess pieces to help kids (or adults) learn the game of chess from the ground up. Apart from the basics, you’ll find strategies, chess puzzles, and AI players to match wits against. We advise using a larger tablet to get the pieces to work right, but otherwise this is a fun and interactive way to play that lets you learn as you go. —Ryan Waniata
The Best Toy Deals
We love toys at WIRED, whether they’re fun and frivolous or educational, like the best STEM toys. Here are our picks from Amazon’s 2025 Prime Day event.
Photograph: Chronicle Books
This picture book from Chronicle Books is a favorite at WIRED for its lovely images and engaging story of environmental scientist Ken Nedimeyer, whose passion for marine biology, particularly coral, led him to found the Coral Restoration Foundation. Within its pages are interesting facts about and images of nature’s most beautiful underwater paradises, where our planet’s vitality explodes in a cascade of underwater shapes and colors. —Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Wonder Workshop
Everyone needs a robot buddy, am I right? This BB-8-like bot is durable and can be zipped around like an RC car, but also works with apps, games, and puzzles to let your STEM kid in waiting learn more about programming and problem solving. It even works with Lego connectors to ramp up the creativity, along with available accessories to build on later. —Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Particula
The Bluetooth-powered GoCube puts a new twist on an old favorite, using smart sensors within its lighted exterior that connect to an app on your phone to help you discover where blocks are positioned. It’s an advanced strategy game that becomes addictive over time, and allows you to connect with other GoCubers to take on family and friends. —Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Amazon
Kids of all ages enjoy building stuff, and these durable, colorful, translucent panels snap together magnetically in a very satisfying way. This basic 32-piece kit offers a range of triangles and squares you can use to build houses and other structures. Magna-Tiles also offers tons of themed kits for everything from spaceships to marble runs.
Courtesy of Lego
Lego
Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer
The marriage of Lego and Star Wars was one of the greatest licensing deals of all time, spawning countless construction kits, videogames, and TV shows. There are some beautifully designed Star Wars Lego kits, and the Imperial Star Destroyer is one of our absolute favorites. This kit comes with seven minifigures, including Darth Vader, Commander Praji, and Cal Kestis. You and your kids will get hours of enjoyment out of building this and then smashing it.
Photograph: Clixo
A fantastic gift for kids of all ages, this clever construction kit made our best STEM toys guide. Clixo’s colorful, versatile, magnetic pieces snap together, so you can build three-dimensional shapes, from crowns to cats. The durable and washable pieces stack neatly and pack away easily, and you can play with them anywhere – you don’t need a table. Clixo kits are suitable for kids aged 4 and up.
Photograph: Amazon
Geomag
Classic Magnetic Building Set
You can build all sorts of 3D shapes from this set of glow-in-the-dark magnetic rods (crafted from recycled plastic), steel spheres, and plastic bases in different shapes. There’s a guide with some suggestions, but the real fun is mucking around, and the set comes with handy storage boxes to pack everything neatly away when you’re done.
Photograph: Amazon
Bill Nye does it again with this 23-piece chemistry kit loaded with science experiments to test your chemist-to-be. The kit includes a booklet with test tubes, chemicals to play with (that won’t hurt anybody, of course), as well as a cardboard VR headset that can be paired with a phone to find instructional videos from Mr. Nye himself. It’s not the cleanest solution to summer doldrums, but what’s a little mess to get your kid into STEM? —Ryan Waniata
Photograph: PlayShifu
Geography is hard. This cool interactive globe makes it easier for kids to dig into the complications of our wild and beautiful world with a bird’s-eye view. Thanks to a tablet companion app, your child can play with AR pop-ups that teach them about the different places on the globe via animals, monuments, and more. Designed for kids ages 4-10, it’s a fun way to learn, even if the globe itself feels a bit on the budget side. —Ryan Waniata
Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that’s too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.
