Board games also make great holiday gifts! Who wouldn't like to get a board game as a gift?
There have been so many fantastic board games published in the past few years it's hard to keep up! Here are my personal (meaning, games that I have actually played and enjoyed) recommendations for gifts for the board gamer in your life!
1. Horrified: American Monsters (Ravensburger)
A clever re-imagining of the excellent original Horrified that swaps Universal Monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon) for Creatures from American Cryptozoology. Players cooperative to protect victims from Bigfoot, Moth Man, Chupacabra and more while searching for the way to defeat the monster!
2. Marvel United (CMON)
If you can get past the chibi-styling of the minis (It took me awhile) you’ll find a very challenging and robust cooperative super-hero battler in Marvel United. Heroes attempt to stop the villains schemes using a clever chaining card play system.Thanks to two mega-successful Kickstarters there are tons of your favorite Marvel Universe characters (both good and bad) to choose from.
3. Dwellings of Eldervale (Breaking Games)
This one is for the gamer who can handle a more complex game. Dwellings is a hefty fantasy-themed worker placement, combat, area control game that features clever mechanisms including workers that transform into buildings and giant monsters that stomp around the board. Just make sure you have a large enough table to play on!
4. Quacks of Quedlinberg (Northstar Games)
I think I might have included this bag building, push-your-luck game on last year’s list but I continue to be charmed by this game. In it, you draft and pull chits from your bag of components to make a potion. But if you draw too many "bad" ingredients, your potion will explode! Two expansions later, and I’m still really enjoying it.
5. Roll Camera (Keen Bean Studio)
A quirky dice placement game that manages to capture the thrills and aggravation of movie making. Play as one of several film-making roles (including Director, Screenwriter or the Star!) to work together to have your film survive the development process. And, special bonus, the back of the board is a story-chart that you can use to brainstorm your own screenplay ideas!
The bees have decided to start selling their honey to the other woodland creatures in this delightful worker placement/economic game. Build your honey combs to generate honey to be sold in the forest. This game has some of the more mouth-watering looking components I've ever seen; try to resist the desire to put one of those gooey honey tokens in your mouth!
7. Santa Monica (AEG)
In this stylish card drafting, tile placement game, you are developing the boardwalk and beaches of Santa Monica. Each turn, you draft a feature card from the display to build up either your beach or your street. These features work together to score you victory points. The player with the most points wins!
8. Forgotten Waters (Plaid Hat Games)
This semi-cooperative game (you ARE pirates after all) captures the feel of the classic graphic adventure games of the 90's. Each player mans their own station on the ship (Ship's wheel, cannons, supplies, etc.) as you sail around a fantasy sea, discovering islands, fighting other pirates, encounter monsters and capturing treasure! Yo Ho, adventure is waiting!
9. Abandon All Artichokes (Gamewright)
If you are looking for a cute family card game, then you'll want Abandon All Artichokes. The goal is to rid your hand of artichokes before the other players. It's plays very quickly and you'll find yourself wanting to play "just one more round"!
10. Under Falling Skies (Czech Games)
Sometimes, you don't have anyone else to play games with. That's ok, because you have games like Under Falling Skies - a solo dice placement game where you are fending off an alien invasion (think Space Invaders). It's quick and challenging and very thematic!
I hope that you try out some of these recommendations - you can find them at your friendly neighborhood game store, Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.
Got your own recommendation? Post it in the comments below!
Happy Holidays!
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