Board Game Presents

[SamVS]

I'm thinking a few board games will make good Christmas presents this year. You've got the player numbers with all the family around, it's something you can do as soon as you've opened it as a Christmas day activity, and it's nice to spread the hobby and introduce more people to the beyond-Monopoly world. And there's so much variety there is plenty of scope to pick something that is personal/has specific appeal to the receiver.

Before then, though, I'm going to send something to my now ten year old sister for her birthday this month. I want something that is best played with two to three or four players, has a theme that appeals to her, is something that can also be played by her Mum and brother but also with her friends. My main thoughts so far are Love Letter, Forbidden Island, or Dixit.

What are people's experiences buying board game presents? Have you made converts, or have games been left to gather dust? Received particularly good or bad presents from non-gamers?

[Admin]

Why not Carcassonne? Settlers of Catan also works for converting folk. It got me into it . I also think Pandemic works as you work together and the theme works well with everyone... Not ver Christmassy though...

[Kes]

King of Tokyo. I got it last Christmas and played it with people that actively dislike games and they loved it. It plays a variety of numbers (from 3 to 6 with the base set) so works no matter how many people you have.

[Jamie]

I'd normally say Avalon; but with a small number of players, maybe Coup would work?

[Lizzy]

Forbidden Island's a good one. Love Letter's good too, or maybe Hanabi. Fluxx also often goes down well with non-gamers.

If she likes storytelling then there's Once Upon a Time: A storytelling card game. Or there's Tales of the Arabian Nights - everyone loves reading out loud from a massive book.

Tobago, Thebes, Jamaica and Zooloretto are all great family games - they'd be great for christmas. Bit more rules to explain, but easy to get the hang of. Tobago and Jamaica, in particular, both have lovely components and look great on a table.

Hey That's My Fish! is very simple to explain and good for people who don't normally like games, there's not many rules to take in.

Nothing wrong with Carcassonne, Settlers or KOT though, they're all good suggestions. There's Ticket to Ride too.

That enough yet?

[PaulC]

There are some great gateway games out there and I don't disagree with any that have been mentioned, but here are a few more.
- Tsuro
- Forbidden Desert
- Ticket to Ride
- Takenoko
- Flashpoint

I think the whole discussion is quite subjective, I've used Catan as a gateway game for various people, my kids loved it (and still do), a couple of friends really enjoyed it and immediately bought a copy but my wife played it once and described it as 2 hours of her life she would never get back.

[SamVS]

Carcassonne and King of Tokyo are both contenders that came to mind, except I don't like Carcassonne and with King of Tokyo there is the fear it might appeal more to our brother than her, which would be like getting him a present for her birthday (look, this is a complex, nuanced and highly volatile political matter, I have to consider these things).

The Resistance would be a great game for Christmas, I'm sure, same for King of Tokyo, one or both might turn into "family" presents.

Love Letter is in the lead right now. Only con being not depth so may get boring quickly, but they are young and easily amused. Its a step above Top Trumps, and I played plenty of that at their age.

[Admin]

You should head into Waterstones in town or Meadowhall... they now have a popular games section which has some definite classics for the family to enjoy...

I agree with King of Tokyo - monsters bashing the hell out of one another still has a geek feel... don't think my family (parents/sister) would enjoy it for that reason...

[Ellis]

Why not Carcassonne? Settlers of Catan also works for converting folk. It got me into it . I also think Pandemic works as you work together and the theme works well with everyone... Not ver Christmassy though...

Pandemic's also topical..... just not in a good way.

[Admin]

In the new version did they name the bugs?

[Ellis]

Nope, but we always named them anyway- it's more in-theme than saying yellow/blue disease.

I'd love to think that NHS staff all played Pandemic during that dress-rehearsal they did the other day:-

Trainer: 'So we've had an outbreak in London, what do we do?'
Staff: 'Move the quarantine specialist to Paris?'

Sorry for derailing.

On the actual topic, I think those Avalon, Coup, Resistance type games would make great Christmas games. More as something to do rather than a present though.

What about that bot one?

[Kes]

RoboRally? Or Stakbots?
I see what people are saying about Tokyo but my mum loved it

[Ellis]

Stakbots! That's the one.

As a left field option- why not make one? I made an explorers themed game for my dad last year (that's his thing) and it went down really well. We've spent a bit of time this year adding to and amending it as well.

[PaulC]

You should head into Waterstones in town or Meadowhall... they now have a popular games section which has some definite classics for the family to enjoy...

I agree with King of Tokyo - monsters bashing the hell out of one another still has a geek feel... don't think my family (parents/sister) would enjoy it for that reason...

I wouldn't recommend buying from Waterstones though - unless you enjoy paying over the odds.

[SamVS]

Once Upon A Time: Never heard of this before. Funny TableTop episode, interesting idea. Why are all the variations/expansions just more fairy-tale cards? What about Once Upon A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away? Once Upon a Starship Enterprise? Once Upon a Time Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men (that's Lord of the Rings folks)? You automatically lose narratorship if the other players identify an inconsistency between your story and the source material.

Takenono: perfect idea for my sister, I'm seriously considering this one. Cutesy, three-dimensional, medium complexity. Great idea.

RoboRally: I love this one... so I will buy it for myself first I'll look into Stakbots.

EDIT:

Once Upon A Wibbily Wobbly Timey Wimey
Once Upon A Targaryen (Khal Drogo Edition)

[Admin]

Dixit works for storytelling...

[steveygee]

How about something with a dexterity element, like pitchcars or cube quest? Anyone can play these and they always go down well with les boardgamey groups. Also, they get better after a couple of festive sherry's.

[DaveB]

Pitchcar is a great game, but a pain to get hold of in this country

[Admin]

Think boardgameguru have it.

[steveygee]

I got it from shire games a couple of weeks ago.

[James Wargamer]

How about The Campaign For North Africa?
Has little Timmy got what it takes to protect his ammo dumps and keep his supply lines running smoothly?
Will the in-laws be able to put their Christmas row on hold for long enough to provide air cover for Grandma's armoured cav?
Can Weird Uncle Lester have his brigades apply sufficient force at the decisive moment?

[SamVS]

I played a fair bit of Summoner Wars, For Sale and Chess with my younger brother and sister when I travelled back to the home(-is)land earlier this year. My sister was always asking to play For Sale again, and now my brother has asked for Summoner Wars for his birthday. It's spreading!

In bad news, this is what I opened as one present from my old man on my birthday, after he had said "You like card games, right?":

warning:

And also

Spoiler:

[paulyg]

Not sure I want to think about what makes the Extreme edition 'extreme'. Still I guess we know what's on your unplayed pile now?

[Jamie]

You have to bring it in Saturday Sam! Have to!!

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