How about Outburst? That usually goes down well…
My husband and I used to play Facts in Five all the time. It’s so much harder than it looks.
Let’s see. I know we’ve played Taboo, but that’s been years ago. And Encore sounds so familiar, but I can’t think of when we would have played it.
How many people? Probably 15-20. Ages from 1 to 67, though there are only four younger than 10.
With Apples to Apples, you have to choose from (if I remember the game right) cards in your hand to pick one that matches the category that is turned up. And then, I think the dealer picks the one they think is the best/funniest answer? I’m fuzzy on details. It’s a very subjective game and can definitely be played with someone over, say 10. But below that, it could get dicey, if the answers are taken too seriously.
ETA: If anyone’s family enjoys really loud games, get Pit. Even pretty young kids can play it, and it’s extremely fun.
We used to play it in the dorms.
Our family has had a good time playing Catchphrase at the last couple of gatherings we had. You can play with any number of people (minimum 4); just divide into two teams (boys against girls? old people against young people?).
You sit in a circle, alternating team members, and pass around the Catchphrase thingy, and try to get your team members to correctly guess the phrase you read on the gadget. Get it right, pass it on. The team holding the thingy when the timer goes off loses the round. Lots of fun.
I get to do the buzzer!
I highly, highly recommend Wits & Wagers. It’s ostensibly a trivia game, but really it’s a betting game. You ask a trivia question from one of the cards, and everyone gives an answer. Then everybody gets to bet on whose answer they believe to be closest to the correct answer, and this is how you score points. It’s really a lot of fun.
I’ll add Guesstures to the pile. It’s fun to mime!
And ImaginIFF is good for groups. It’s a game of how well you know each other, really. The questions are all like, “Imagine if <player> were a crime, what would he be?” And everyone chooses from six answers, like “homicide” or “indecent exposure”. The majority vote wins and moves around the board. It’s a very social game.
First of all, I HATE Cranium. Hate hate hate hate hate. I despise it. It’s an awful game. It’s the anti-game. But I recognize that that’s not a very productive opinion 
As for a suggestions, this summer I was at a family gathering aged 9-65 and we had a very entertaining game of “Telephone Pictionary”. Everyone sits in a circle and takes a piece of paper and writes a phrase/name of movie/name of person/something at the top. You hand that piece of paper to the person on your left (all simultaneously). Everyone now looks at the phrase on the top of their sheet and attempts to draw it. Then you fold over the top bit of the sheet so the original phrase is hidden and only the drawing is visible. Pass it to the left again. Everyone now sees a drawing, and below it, writes the phrase that they think it’s a drawing of. Fold it over so that only the phrase is visible, pass. Repeat until the papers have gone all the way around the table, then unroll them and enjoy the hilarity. (There is no winning or losing or keeping score).
Very similar is “Oracle”, except that instead of alternating pictures and phrases you have alternating questions and answers.
Those should both work well with mixed generations. And while I’m not crazy about Apples to Apples, it definitely works fine with wide age ranges.
Are we the only family that does shots of booze and bong hits while helping Santa unload his sleigh after the kiddies go to bed?
I’m not alone. This is a horrible, poorly designed game. Yes, there’s clay - but that one gimmick alone doesn’t make up for the poor questions, cards, and the way you have to travel the board.
My family has a bizarre relationship with set. It brings out the strangest in our competitive natures.
Apples to Apples is good for adults, but I’ve found that younger teenagers don’t actually know what half of the cards are referring to, they like playing, they just don’t get it.
Interestingly, that’s one of the few games I hate as much as I hate Cranium…
It just seems like some kind of non-fun busywork math exam, turned into a reflex competition, and one in which a weaker player will not only never win, they’ll never even score a point and will have no fun and will learn nothing.
On the other hand, a lot of people who I respect who enjoy a lot of the same games I enjoy love Set. Go figure.
I also hate Cranium: it’s very rare for a team to miss an answer, which basically turns it into a dice-fest, which annoys me no end.
Have you considered parlor games that you don’t have to buy? My favorite is sometimes called the Hat Game. It’s sort of like charades, only more complicated. Here’s how it works:
- Everybody gets three slips of paper; on each slip, you write the name of somebody famous. Be very clear that the famous person must be well-known to almost everybody. George Bush counts; Antonin Scalia probably doesn’t count (unless you’re all a bunch of political wonks); Robert Novak definitely doesn’t count. If you put Robert Novak or the equivalent on the card, you’ll be mocked and scorned. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT RULE! Otherwise the game becomes unfun.
- The names go in a hat, and the group gets divided into two teams (I’ve seen other more complicated team divisions, but I think it works best in two teams).
- Somebody on the first team picks up the hat and starts pulling slips out, one by one. They have thirty seconds to describe as many people as they can to their teammates (“He’s the leader of the US! Right! Okay, the rodent that represents Disney! Yep! Okay, she just campaigned with Barack Obama!” etc.) Their team gets one point for each correctly guessed name. You can pass on a particular name, but if you pass, your team loses one point. Common-sense rules apply: you can’t use the name of the person in your description, that sort of thing.
- Play passes to the opposite team, and then back and forth until the hat is empty. When the hat empties, the team who emptied it is done with their turn. ROUND ONE IS FINISHED.
- Round 2 is played just like round 1, except that you may only use two words in your description (“President! Disney rat! Obama campaign!” etc.). Gestures often become helpful during round 2.
- Round 3 is played just like round 1, except that you do it entirely with charades, no words at all.
The game is fast-paced, silly, and really really fun.
Daniel