Some say the perfect gifts for Christmas are wine, chocolate, some snazzy socks or perhaps even something homemade. But if you’re on the Zatu website perusing their games and blog, you will know that really the greatest gift one can give this year is a board game.
Board games and Christmas just go together like pigs to blankets, yules to logs and mulls to wine. Let’s face it you won’t feel fully festive on Xmas day until you’ve gotten into an argument with your father in law about what the capital of the Netherlands is or how your little sister has managed to fund hotels on Mayfair and Park Lane apparently legitimately.
Even the grumpiest of Grinches can get into a board game at Christmas, so getting the right game for someone to find under the tree can be a challenge, while avoiding the pitfalls of your bog standard Monopoly, Cluedo or Trivial Pursuit.
In this gift guide I will try and give you some fantastic recommendations to gift this Christmas for board gamers of different experience levels, from your young elves in training all the way up to your expert toy makers, to ensure you can find the right game for the right person, and bring a smile to their face and their fellow players on Christmas day.
Board Game Beginners
I am not the board game blogger to talk to you about children’s board games, as I have no experience with them, but I can recommend some fantastic games which are really simple to learn and fun to play, and would be ideal for younger games as well as any adults who don’t play board games all too often or don’t want to learn complicated rules just after their mountains of roast potato. A great card game always feels festive, and you can’t get better than Flip 7. A game where you simply flip cards over to try and get 7 different numbers, while avoiding flipping the same number over twice, can be learnt in under a minute, works for high play counts which is crucial on Christmas, and just a joy to play. Everyone becomes a mini gambler by the end as they risk one more flip of a card to try and score the big points.
It’s a go to game for me to play with anyone who isn’t used to modern board gaming, always proving a hit with anyone who plays it and I suspect will become a staple of households in the next 10 years.
If you think your loved one might like a bit more to their game as a present, but one which is still super simple to play whether that’s on Christmas day or for future board game nights, then games like Diamant and Survive The Island would be cracking options. Diamant has you trying to collect gems in a hidden cave like your Indiana Jones, with the push your luck mechanic of Flip 7 still prevalent as you have to decide whether to essentially bank what you have earned or risk going deeper and potentially losing all your hard earned treasure. Survive The Island is about trying to get your meeples to safety away from sharks, krakens and whirlpools, with the more people you rescue giving you a greater chance of victory. It’s also, despite being clearly aimed at younger players, a mean old game, as you can orchestrate it to ensure your opponents have their meeples in the jaws of the shark in quick order, which feels very fitting for Christmas after a few Xmas drinks, but might cause some family arguments you would rather avoid!
All three though would be cracking gifts, don’t break the bank and are perfect for anyone just dipping their toes into tabletop, and I can’t recommend them highly enough. If you prefer a bit of gambling and risk/reward, Flip 7 or Diamant are the way to go, but if your friends and family like a bit of tension and infighting, Survive The Island is the one for you.
Only at Christmas Gamers
We all know of a parent, partner or sibling who will only really ever play a board game at Christmas, and my next recommended games cater for them, whether it’s a little extra gift they find in their stocking you think they might actually love, or as a gift for the whole family to enjoy on the day itself.
Generally speaking, party games or trivia always scratch this itch, but we’ve all spent enough time on generic quizzes or rather flat parlour games. The following games however will get everyone in the Christmas spirit. Monikers smashes together the classic Articulate with the even more retro Charades, as you try and get your team mates to guess a word or phrase on a card. After one round of this, the same cards all go back in, and this time your clue can only be one word, and suddenly you’re playing a memory game as well. You then do this again for a final time, before essentially finishing off with a bit of Charades. The fantastic appeal of Monikers and what sets it apart is the ridiculous things you get on your clue cards. You can have easy things, like David Attenborough, ridiculously specific things like Morgan Freeman as God in Bruce Almighty, and if you’ve got a child free Christmas, some very NSFW options as well.
Absolutely hilarious to play, with the memory aspect actually allowing those whose general knowledge might not be the same as others a greater chance at success, Monikers is a fantastically inclusive game which feels like its been around for 30 years, and will always bring Christmas cheer. Another game which is bonkers for Christmas is Poetry for Neanderthals, where again you’re giving clues to objects or phrases, but you can only use one syllable words to give your clues. You fail at this, you get a lovely little bonk on the head with a blow up club. Really stupid, silly fun, especially when you get to wield the club. And a modern Christmas classic all have to try as well is Codenames, where you’re trying to come up with a clue to link several words together on a grid before the opposing team. A game that is so easy to understand, but very tricky to master as you try to think of ways to somehow link totally disparate words together. You will find you develop telepathy with some of your loved ones, whereas others no matter how close you are, just can’t seem to get on your wavelength. Oh Wavelength is another great option as well!
Board Game Elf in Training
If you’re looking for a Christmas gift for someone whose started taking an interest in board gaming as a hobby, then there are some fantastic options to put in their sack this year. If they’re a fan of all things Disney, Disney Villainous is a total must have. You play as different villains from the beloved film studio, with the original featuring the likes of Jafar, Ursula and my personal favourite King John. In this game you’re rooting for the villains as you look to achieve the goal of the Disney villain your inhabiting, using different cards and actions on your turn to achieve this while hindering your opponents through the use of the dreaded fate cards.
It wouldn’t be for younger Disney fans as I think the rules are a little over complicated nor for anyone who doesn’t know their Catan from their Gloomhaven, but Disney Villainous was one of the first games that got me into the hobby, and I think is perfect for budding board gamers. And I always associate Christmas with a bit of Disney, so think it’s perfect for the holiday season.
Another fantastic activity you can run at Christmas, especially for families who love a bit of competition and a good board game, is a little tournament with your loved ones newest game. Games like Challengers are a sure fire win on Christmas day, a game literally designed to be played as a tournament with everyone all playing at once head to head until there is an overall winner, building up your deck of cards and creating combos to outplay Grandad who thinks they’re a tactical genius.
Other great head to head games which you could easily make into a Christmas day tournament are Unmatched and Tag Team, taking the Disney Villainous mould of playing as famous characters from history or myth and using cards and combinations to defeat your fellow player. Everyone could choose a character/s, and have a round robin before you get an overall winner. Neither games take longer than 20 minutes, and maybe the victor gets the pick of the leftover turkey!
A bit of competitive edge is always fun at Christmas, but these gift ideas would be perfect all year round for anyone getting into the hobby.
Tabletop Pro’s
It can be difficult thinking of board game gift ideas for those deep into the hobby, but if you have a quick check of their collection and see any of these recommendations missing, I think you’re guaranteed a win.
I have also tried to make sure I am picking games that I could see being really fun to play on Christmas day as well, perhaps even for those elves in training I discussed in the previous entry. First up is Cosmic Encounter, continuing the trend on this feature of quite mean and competitive games which I think are great at getting the ‘good humoured’ arguments going before you calm down and settle into a nice Xmas film in the evening. In Cosmic Encounter, 1-5 players take on the role of an Alien with an essentially game breaking power, and there a lot of aliens in the base game. Throughout the hour or so it takes to play, you will be moving your alien ships into other people’s planets, overthrowing their worlds, destroying their troops, and perhaps most fun of all, striking deals with the other players around the table, truces which are tenuous at best, especially when you are so close to victory.
Really mean, really punchy, but actually really light-hearted and silly at its core, if you’re tabletop hobbyist friend or relative doesn’t own Cosmic Encounter, you could really impress them with this for Christmas.
For those who prefer their board games more fluffy and light-hearted, you have the modern day masterpiece Everdell. A game where rather than battling in space you’re very much on the ground as you gently build up your woodland critter village, using resources you gather by placing workers to build different city structures or even critters to try and have the best town in all of Everdell. Still competitive, still slightly heavier on the rules to your average Christmas day game, but really cute, full of whimsy and a lovely game to play all year round. And if they already own Everdell, then there are plenty of expansions you could get them as gifts as well.
My last recommendation is for anyone who was spending their October watching Celebrity Traitors and wants to experience it for themselves this Christmas; Avalon.
I am sure everyone will be on the hunt for a good social deduction game now, and for me this is the best on offer. You are each given a character, which might be a good player, someone loyal to King Arthur, or you could work for the minions of evil. You go on quests where the good players want to simply have a successful jaunt, but the evil traitors are trying to sabotage the mission so their team can win.
Its core gameplay is very simple, just like the TV show. The good guys are trying to win for their team and root out evil, whereas the traitors are spreading lies and deceit to achieve their goals. You chat, discuss, scream baseless accusations at one another, and ultimately have an amazing time living out your very own traitors experience in your living room.
Where Avalon really shines though, is it introduces characters with different powers and abilities, like Merlin, who is a good player who literally knows who the evil team is, but can’t be too obvious about it or he will get assassinated at the end and evil win anyway. It adds the ability to actually make proper plays and deductions whichever team you’re on, and with a whole host of different powers and characters in the box, the game is endlessly replayable, and not just for Christmas.
About the Author:
Paul Websell is a freelance contributor for Zatu who spends his time either playing board and video games or talking about them. While he’s not on social media, you can view his other blogs right here on Zatu!
