Looking for the perfect gift for the board gamer in your life? Here are some of our favorite board games to set them up with! We've picked five games this year ranging from large party style games to recent expansions of popular titles and all the way down to smaller scale 2-4 player options.
Wavelength
Type of Game: Party Game
Number of Players: 2-12 (or more!)
Game Time: 30-45 minutes
Playable with large groups and easy to understand, Wavelength is not only a great gift for people who host large board game nights with lots of people, but also a good option to bring to a holiday get-together with family. The game has you guessing where your teammates think coffee falls on a spectrum between hot and cold, for example, or where a restaurant might fall on a spectrum between a quiet place and a loud place. The trick is to get on the same wavelength (see what I did there?) as the rest of your team and pick the exact spot between the two extremes that they think the clue falls. The closer you get, the more points you score! Even folks who don’t normally play board games can very quickly pick up on the rules, and be laughing and guessing along with the group within minutes.
Wingspan: Asia
Type of Game: Tableau Builder + Worker Placement Game
Number of Players: 1-2 Standalone, 1-7 with base Wingspan
Game Time: 40-70 minutes
The most popular new game of the last few years has easily been Wingspan. The game has you playing as (and slowly becoming) bird enthusiasts, attempting to develop and attract the best birds to your wildlife preserves. Each of the different cards in the game interacts with the others around it as you play them, until by the end of the game you’ve developed a beautiful and complex avian ecosystem. In addition to having beautiful hand-painted art and subtly teaching you all sorts of bird facts while you play, the game owes its massive success mostly to its elegant mechanics – as you play, you build what is essentially an engine of birds, so even though you have less actions in later rounds, each action is more powerful and does more.
Wingspan: Asia is a brand-new expansion to the game that can either be played stand-alone, for a 1-2 player experience in solo or duet modes, or with up to 7 players in flock mode if you have a copy of the base game. It also includes 90 new cards featuring birds from across the continent of Asia. Whether you’re shopping for a die-hard fan of the original, or someone looking for a new two-player game to add to their collections, you can’t go wrong getting them a copy.
Namiji
Type of Game: Fishing Simulation + Travel Game
Number of Players: 2-5
Game Time: 30-45 minutes
Spiritual successor to store-favorite game Takaido, Tokaido: Namiji casts players as fishermen off the coast of feudal Japan. Whether you’re collecting cards to form a beautiful panorama, checking crab pots, or making offerings to the gods of the sea to upgrade your abilities, the game allows you to move at your own pace for a relaxing-yet-strategic experience. Like the original, while you get bonuses for being the first one to each of the board’s checkpoints, the next player in the turn order is always the one who’s furthest behind. It’s up to you whether you want to rush ahead to get prizes or dawdle and take extra turns. In addition to being a fun game for anyone who finds the art or theming appealing, it’s also teachable to children ages eight and up, making it a good choice for families as well.
Fog of Love
Type of Game: Co-op Roleplaying Game
Number of Players: 2
Game Time: 1-2 hours
A solid choice for fans of narrative role playing games or couples looking for a unique game to play just the two of them, Fog of Love is a game about relationships. Both players have different personality traits, values, and goals, and as they play through scenes in the game, their decisions determine whether they stay together or end up splitting up – Think of it not as a game with traditional winners and losers, but as something closer to a story generator. If that sounds complicated at all, fear not! The game includes a quick start guide that leads you through your first game without any set-up, and teaches you while you play.
Coup
Type of Game: Hidden Role + Social Deduction
Number of Players: 2-6
Game Time: 15 minutes
While every other game on this list has been from the last few years, mostly from the last few months, Coup is a classic game that’s been a store favorite since before I started working here. In Coup you play as a politician vying for power by trying to be the last player with any influence remaining, represented by the two face down character cards in front of you at the beginning of the game. Because you can’t see your opponents cards, you’re constantly trying to figure out if they have what they say they have, or if they’re just bluffing. It’s a refreshing change of pace in a genre that’s dominated by games like Werewolf and Mafia. Games are short and easy to learn, and I’ve never had someone finish their first game and not immediately want to play another round.
We hope this helped you with some ideas for your board gaming loved one this holiday season! Didn't see the game you were looking for here? Don't despair! Drop us a line or check out our board game catalog to see what's still in stock. Our web store's stock is live, so anything you see there is also available for purchase in store. We also offer shipping and local delivery for those of you buying on the go!
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