Father’s day is on the horizon and can always prove challenging for an assortment of reasons. I’m a dad myself and I know I’m not the easiest to buy for. My children may want to pick a gift up and it is not easy or obvious. I’m very content with what I have and don’t feel I need that much, so I am always grateful for receiving a gift from them.
For you, as the reader, I’m going to try and help provide you with some ideas of game gifts that your dad may appreciate. Within the piece you will find some popular board games, some family games that are great to play with the family and some great gateway games that might just get your dad into the gaming hobby.
Marvel United
Marvel United is first up and would make a great gift for any dad who is a fan of the MCU. The base game from season one is covering the majority of your core avenger characters as well as a few critical villains.
The game for me is fantastic. A fast paced cooperative game where Dad can work together with the children to take on that villain and save the day. It’s the perfect game to bring the family together, particularly as the game controls the villain.
The mechanics of the game are very easy to pick up also. The villain starts their masterplan and goes ahead of the heroes, which instantly puts the heroes on the backfoot. Heroes cannot go straight for the villain, they need to complete at least 2 out of 3 missions to open up the opportunity to strike down the villain.
Every villain has a unique master plan they are aiming to complete to ensure the heroes lose, or if they play all 12 of their master plan cards the game is over and heroes lose. This means the game is done in about 45 minutes making it a very accessible game.
A further plus point is this game can be played in a solo mode, so if Dad is looking for a bit of quiet, down time then the game is playable on your own. Which I have done and is actually a lot of fun because you do have to puzzle through. It’s also a great game for painting the models of and there are plenty of them to do so.
Marvel United is an excellent gift for the Dad who’s a Marvel fan and enjoys cooperative play.
Splendor
Splendor is one of the top gateway games to introduce players to the hobby of board gaming. If you have a Dad that hasn’t really played board games before and you’re struggling for a gift idea you cannot go far wrong in picking this one up.
A game for 2-4 people that plays well with any amount of these player combinations. The game takes about 15 minutes per player. So about 1 hour tops with 4 people.
What it also does well is having a simplistic set of game rules but a lot of depth and strategy which make it very entertaining. Players need to collect and gather jewels and gems and be the first player to gain 15 victory points. Players on their turn can choose 3 gems (3 from the 5 available), choose 2 of the same gem or take a card from the pool and a gold coin. If they do not want to gather gems they can purchase one of the cards from the pool in the middle. That is it for a turn of play.
Each card has a gem printed on the corner and this is a permanent resource for you to use. This is necessary because you can only hold a maximum of 10 gem chips and some cards are a lot more expensive than this. Equally, if you want to pick up a noble (each noble is worth 3 victory points) you will need these pool cards.
I love this game and think it would make a perfect gift for any Dad new to the gaming hobby. It’s simple but highly competitive.
Kavango
This is one of my favourite games of the moment which is why I have chosen to include it here as a great Father’s Day gift. It would be another wonderful game for a dad to play with the family as well as presenting a few challenges that we as a society face. If the kids are a bit older (towards the end of primary school at least) then this game is a great one to try.
Kavango is a highly competitive game where players compete to build the best nature reserve and score the most points. The game is fast and players very simply cannot complete everything they may wish to achieve in the game before it ends. The decision making each player takes will be critical in determining their success in the game.
Balance is also critical ensuring you are creating a nature reserve that has the right amount of each species. Filling your environment with lots of top predators is not going to score the best at the end of the game.
Science and research also plays a critical part in building a score. It focuses players on key parts of their reserve to build a bigger score and target certain species based on the goal to be achieved.
There is a lot of positive chat on this game in the wide world as the team at Mazaza have created an incredibly fine game that I personally believe to be flawless. As well as being a great the wider social, environmental issues the game presents are outstanding, So I encourage you to pick this one up for your Dad this Father’s Day.
Heroquest
For those who have a dad who was a child gamer of the 80’s and 90’s. This may just be a game that will really pull on their heart strings and be packed full of Nostalgia for them. It would for me as I would love to be presented with this game.
This is a true classic of a board game. One of the early dungeon crawlers for 2-5 players. One player takes the role of the dungeon master and is in control of the monsters. The remaining players take the role of the heroes questing down into the dungeon realm. You have the Barbarian, Wizard, Elf and Dwarf. Classic!
The game contains a series of missions which players can pick to set up at the start. Then very simply the heroes go on the quest to beat the hordes of evil. It is a classic game of good vs evil. Quests get progressively more challenging as you go. There is also the opportunity for expansions if you love the game that brings in new characters and monsters.
Again, another game for the family to get around this Father’s Day. It might be that Dad takes on the role of the Dungeon Master for the rest of the family to take on? Or players can continually swap roles giving everyone a chance to play the hero and the villains. The game is a classic and a lot of fun. I’ll have the Barbarian please.
Carcassonne
Another top gateway game that saw the introduction of the meeple to the board gaming world. Carcassonne is the ultimate board game for me, but a perfect game also to give a Dad who hasn’t come across many board games before.
Carcassonne has also got a set of simple gaming rules but also has an incredible depth of strategy. The essence of play is simple: turn a tile, play a meeple, check for a score. Play then passes on. As play progresses players create a large map board full of roads, cities, monasteries and fields. These are the methods of scoring. Roads, cities, monasteries score in play when completed, a field scores at the end when the last tile is turned and the games ends.
It’s another perfect game that Dad can bring to the table to enjoy with the family. There is the right balance of puzzle working and problem solving skills needed. Players can stitch up their opponents repeatedly, but equally could go about their own game quietly and build a score (although that doesn’t happen too often in games I’ve been involved with).
Carcassonne is a game that has endlessly come back to our table due to it being highly enjoyable and ferociously competitive, but not so competitive you fall out. The competition created in this game is immense and you easily get sucked in because it is so easy to play, and you want to play that bit better in the next game. So if your dad is competitive you do have a winner to gift him with here.
Final Thoughts
I’ve tried to share games I enjoy and believe would make great gifts for your Dad. As a Dad myself I have inadvertently gone for games that I believe would bring the family together around the table and all would enjoy, not just focussing on a game that only Dad would enjoy. I love each and every one of these games discussed and if it is a game that brings my family around the table it is one I would want to own to share those precious family moments over.
To all the great dads out there. Have an amazing Father’s day.
