Screens Off, Dice Out: Fox Valley Families Are Betting Big on Board Game Nights

On any given Friday evening in the Fox Valley, dozens of families are doing something almost radical for 2026: they are sitting around a table together without a single screen glowing between them. A growing movement of parents in St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia has embraced structured weekly board game nights as an antidote to digital fatigue, and local retailers say the trend is only accelerating.

At Game Quest on Third Street in Geneva, owner Marcus Oduya says sales of strategy and cooperative board games have jumped 35 percent since January. His Friday demo nights, where families can try new titles before buying, now draw between 40 and 60 people each week. "Parents come in saying their kids won't put the phones down, and I hand them a copy of Ticket to Ride or Cascadia," Oduya said. "Two weeks later they're back buying expansions because the whole family is hooked."