If you have someone in your vicinity under the age of 15, you've probably not been able to avoid the phenomena that is Roblox, one of those rare things that manages to unify and engage children of all ages and all backgrounds, just like Pokémon did back in my day.
As someone living with a 12 and 7 year old, I am of course deeply steeped in Roblox-ness, having had to not only watch and listen to my kids play, but having had to play a fair share of Roblox myself. It's just one of those sacrifices one does for the little ones, like singing Baby Shark for the hundredth time.
But just like I found that building Lego's, playing TMNT's vs Dinosaurs and some children's board games can actually be quite fun, I've found that Roblox too can be fairly entertaining. And because we're all into gaming in this family, we often end up spending our allotted screen time playing games together. This has included more or less Roblox for years now. But, let's start by clearing up what Roblox is and what it isn't.
Roblox, from what I've understood, is not ONE game - but rather a platform for anyone to create games. Because of this, saying you're playing Roblox is nowadays pretty much the same as saying you're going to listen to music or watch a movie. It tells nothing of what exactly it is you're going to enjoy or indeed the quality of what you're about to enjoy (or not enjoy so much). As a parent it helps to know that a Roblox game can range from utter garbage, both content and gameplay-wise, to some that are very well done. It's wise to invest at least some time in knowing what it is your kid likes to play - and it also helps to try to not be too judgmental. My 7 yo especially enjoys playing simple, cookie-clicker type games that I barely deem worthy of being called games nor worthy of spending anyone's time on. But I also understand that people can be different kinds of gamers, and as long as it isn't offensive or inappropriate I try to nod and smile when she tells me about how high her Labubu can jump in Bubu Jump Clicker.
A vast amount of Roblox games are these kind of simple, power-level-stacking style games where little skill or brain power is required. Another big chunk of games are something called "Obbies", short for Obstacle Courses. Think of them as ugly versions of Mario Games, but usually with a lot less quality. I am not a fan of the Obbies, mainly because I am often stuck playing the Ipad when we play together, and the precision just isn't great. We often end up playing different kind of SIM-lights (simulators), like handling a garden, a zoo, an aquarium or a gazillion capybaras. There are more antagonistic games as well, like Rivals which is a PvP shooter, but we often stay clear of them because we are all very bad losers in this family.
Overall though there is just such a massive amount of games to sift through that it can feel impossible to know which are good and which are bad without having to trial and error your way through them. To counteract part of this, Roblox has a voting system in which people can score games which allows you to at least get a general idea of the quality of a game. As I suspect that the voting system is easily fooled by bots and algorithms, I find that the best way to find good games is simple word of mouth or asking other Robloxers what games they like to play.
So here is my public service, a list of some good Roblox games worth checking out. I want to start out by saying that there are plenty of OK Roblox games, that I don't mind spending half an hour playing here and there. With this list I have tried to find games that I think are a step above the rest in terms of quality and fun. One criteria has been the amount of Robux-in-your-face they've got, and all on this list keep it at a level that gets thumbs up from me. Finding five out of the thousands of games out there wasn't easy though, which either says a lot about the general quality of Roblox games or perhaps more about my age... And you know what, I didn't succeed in finding five Roblox games worth recommending so I guess this isn't exactly my regular top 5 list. Sorry. But I blame Roblox.
4. Work At A Pizza Place
This is the first game I remember playing on Roblox, with my son. He must've been 7 or 8 at the time so this is years ago now and full disclosure, I haven't played it recently. But I remember quite liking this one. In it, you get to choose one of several different roles to take in a pizza place - you can either be the cashier, make the pizzas, deliver them and so on. Team work is the key, which in all fairness I should add is something that is encouraged in a lot of Roblox games, or at least the ones I end up playing.
The title really says it all on this one, you work at a pizza place and try to do your best job to make sure the place succeeds. It's a bit like Overcooked if you've played that, but without the added mayhem. There are no wrenches in the works here or rats stealing your food. The only thing that can go wrong is people intentionally misbehaving, and that is likely to happen if you play with certain people of certain ages. Because it's a joint effort, you mileage will wary with this game and that is pretty much true for all the games on this list. If you play with a good, fun group or even better, friends, you are going to have a good time.
3. 99 Nights in the Forest
You and a group of people need to survive 99 nights in the woods (but you can go on after that). It starts out fairly easy - you need to gather materials like wood for a fire and iron for crafting more useful things to help you survive. Scouring the woods around you, you will also find helpful tools like weapons and axes and you can craft yourself armor by killing animals and getting their fur. You'll have to kill animals for food as well, or forage for carrots and berries. You also have a task to rescue some kidnapped children that are stuck out in the woods.
It gets increasingly more difficult as the nights pass however, as you very soon realize you are not alone. Most animals will fight back, but they are the nice enemies, The forest is also inhabited by "cultists" who attack your camp every now and then and worst of all, various kinds of supernatural beings that hunt you in the darkness. You want to make sure to be close to your fire when night falls, and to keep the fire alive at all times...
This is another fun co-operative game - everyone pitches in by gathering all the things that are needed and saving each other from trouble. It's game over when everyone in the group has died, and each run is somewhat randomized, keeping it fresh for "just another go". When I played this with my kids we ended up distributing tasks, based on skill level, so that everyone felt like they were contributing. I think my record is somewhere around 70 nights, but only because we ran out of (screen)time.
2. Feather Family
This has been the long-runner in this family, me and my son keep coming back to it and have been playing it for years on and off. It's a role-playing game with birds, and that is pretty much it. It has a large and faithfully crafted selection of different birds to choose from, from the very basic like pigeons to the more obscure like the ʻōʻō.
Not only can you learn a bit about birds, you can play around with them too and give them new colours if you like. Then you run, or mostly fly depending on bird, around in the world together with other players who feel like being a swan for an hour. How much you want to roleplay is up to you, but since it's an open world you are free to just use it as a playground for other things too. Me and the son play things like hide-and-seek for instance. Or family, since you can choose to play as a chick, and the other one can play as the adult collecting food, building a nest and so on. To get new birds you mainly only need to spend time in the game, with some requiring a very long time indeed... but there is plenty to do while you are waiting for that.
It's a very nice and pleasant game that even the most obnoxious video game hater would smile at.
1. Rainbow Friends
This is probably the game I've personally had the most fun with in Roblox and it switches the stress factor from the previous game in this list up by 110%. Don't let the title fool you, there is nothing friendly about the Rainbow monsters in this game.
Rainbow Friends is a game of hide-and-seek, in which the players all hide from the monsters of the game. Together the players need to complete certain tasks to make it through the stages, without being caught by Blue, Green, Orange and so on. The game starts with just Blue chasing you, but each task you complete also introduces you to another monster. The monsters all have different M.O's and tells so as long as you keep vigilant you are mostly ok. It's when you start takings risks you get caught.
There are two games so far that each play a bit differently. The first one is more enclosed and the second one has open areas that allows you to get a better overview of where the monsters are, but they are both fun to play. Matches are quick and usually smooth, they've got functions to prevent players from "ruining" runs - it's a fun, quick thrill that I recommend for slightly older players.
