A 2024 board game gift guide, part 2
We're continuing the annual gift guide tradition with a second part this year.
Welcome back! After a week of thinking about gifts, we’ve arrived together here for a second part of the board game gift guide. I’ve broken it out into multiple parts in previous years, too, but this is the first time I really feel like I just sort of split the topic down the middle. Did it work for you? Have you found some interesting options while reading?
We don’t need to go on too much here. Let’s just talk about the games, shall we? Like last time, I’m talking about one topic with some depth, and then I’m going quite a bit more shallow for a few other topics. I’ll scatter links throughout for you.
Alright — let’s get the show on the road.
Five games to give to a family
Wilmot’s Warehouse (2024) is one of the more unusual games I’ve played, and not only because it’s a memory game that I feel strangely not awful at. It’s a cooperative game in which you’re placing tiles with some colorful-but-vague illustrations, and while you get to look at them initially, you will have to place them face-down. At the end of the game, you have to remember where every one of those tiles is — and there are a ton of them you’ll be placing. The game encourages you to tell stories about them, and that becomes a really memorable activity. For a family, this game works for all sorts of players, young and old. Designed by Ricky Haggett, Richard Hogg and David King; published by CMYK. Wilmot’s Warehouse plays 2 to 6 players, although I suspect you could play with even more, if you wanted.
Rafter Five (2023) is a dexterity game with a footprint the size of a very small box game — if you’re familiar, it’s a game published by Oink Games, and it’s their standard box size. You’ll be placing treasure chests and and placing them on an ever-expanding raft, and it gets both weird and ridiculously fun at the same time. This game’s a real treat. Even (or maybe especially) younger players will enjoy figuring out what parts of the raft are safe to place on, and which will put the next player in an even more difficult spot. Designed by Mashiu and Jun Sasaki. Rafter Five plays 1 to 6 players.
Can’t Stop (1980) is one of the classics of board games, and even though it’s 44 years old now, it feels as fresh as any push-your-luck game coming out today. This one has players competing to be the first to reach the top of three columns, of which there are 11, numbered 2 through 12. On your turn, you’ll roll four dice, grouping them into two sets as you desire. You’ll move up on the sums of each set, but you can only move up on three columns in any given turn, and if you ever can’t move up, you’ll lose all of your progress for the turn. You can be successful playing it safe, and you can be successful being risky — it all sort of depends on the dice. This is a good one for younger players learning just a little bit about probability of dice rolls, but don’t tell them that — let them experience it. Designed by Sid Sackson, published by numerous companies over the years. The latest version is from Eagle-Gryphon Games. Can’t Stop plays 2 to 4 players.
Hive (2001) is a two-player game, which can be a great gift for a family under the right conditions. Those conditions? More than two people like to play games already, and those people will enjoy growing their skills over repeated plays. It’s a tricky little abstract strategy game in which you’re building a titular hive by placing various sorts of bugs on the table. Each type has specific movement rules, like the ant that can move to any spot on the grid, or the grasshopper, which can jump from end-to-end in the hive. It’s a great little game. Designed by John Yianni, published by Gen42 Games. Hive plays two players.
Don’t Get Got (2018) is a party game. I don’t usually talk much about party games, though it’s not because I don’t enjoy them, but rather because I’m not particularly well-versed in talking about them. I also don’t play many, and I tend to stick to the ones I enjoy. Don’t Get Got is one of those that I really enjoy, but it’s also a party game you can play while a party happens, not just a game you play that interrupts a party. It’s a fine line, but I think it’s an important one. Each player has a little wallet with six missions, and those missions describe something ever-so-slightly unusual in a social setting. It might be that you need to get somebody to comment on your shoes, give you medical advice, or try some food you have. When one player gets all six, they win, and the game ends. Designed by Zoe Lee and James A. Vaughan, published by Big Potato Games. Don’t Get Got plays up to 10 players with a single box, but you can easily scale that with additional copies of the game.
Enemy Anemone is a trick-taking game that’s perfectly geared for families. The ruleset is simple: Where I think about the game as a “must-not-follow trick-taker,” you could just tell a player that they must play a different color than any other player. The high card wins, and the low card gets an anemone, which is good for increasing the value of a later played card by one rank. That last bit makes the game. Add in a bit of nuance around what happens when you can’t follow, and you’ve got a solid trick-taking game on your hands. It’s definitely on the simple side, but that’s also what gives it true lasting appeal. Designed by Daniel Newman, published by New Mill Industries.
Six games to give a couple
Sky Team (2023) is such a tremendous cooperative game — you’re trying to land a plane, but myriad things are going wrong. The two players are each trying to contribute as pilot and copilot, but they can’t coordinate once they’ve rolled the dice each round. Designed by Luc Rémond, published by Scorpion Masque Games.
Splendor Duel (2022) takes the excellent game Splendor and turns it into a robust two-player experience. Rather than picking up gems largely as you please (one each of three colors or two of one color) you’re picking them from a grid, and you have to pick up to three gems in a line (or one wild gold gem.) It’s a good one, and you can try it on BGA. Do that. (And invite me to a game. My username’s moonty.) Designed by Marc André and Bruno Cathala, published by Space Cowboys.
The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth (2024) is something I’m suggesting a little bit sight unseen, but it’s largely 7 Wonders Duel with a nice new skin. And I reckon there are some differences. Anyway, this is a suggestion for further research rather than an out-and-out recommendation. Designed by Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala, published by Repos Production.
Forest Shuffle (2023) is a tableau-building game in which you’re filling a forest with varied trees, plants, bugs and animals — it seems a bit chaotic on the first plays, but strategies start to emerge over repeated plays. It plays really well at two players. Designed by Kosch, published by Lookout Games.
Jekyll vs. Hyde (2021) is a two-player trick-taking game that pits Jekyll and Hyde in a battle of wits and passions. The Dr. Jekyll player will attempt to win neither too many nor too few tricks, while the Mr. Hyde player will attempt to win tricks in quantity or not at all. Designed by Geonil, published by Mandoo Games.
Haggis (2010) is one of the great two-player climbing games. It’s strategic, competitive, and there’s a learning curve. It really benefits from repeated plays. It’s also great with more than two players, so it’s a game your friends can introduce to other friends.Designed by Sean Ross, published by Portland Game Collective.
Five trick-taking and climbing games that make great gifts
Seas of Strife (2023) is breezy and easy to talk through, but it also has a really interesting twist: It’s a must-follow game, but once somebody plays off-suit, that suit becomes followable. The highest card from the suit with the most cards played to it becomes the highest-ranking card. There’s a bit more, but it’s very cool. Designed by Mark Major, published by Rio Grande Games.
Sail (2023) is a great two-player cooperative experience that pits players against the treachery of the sea: Escape the kraken, make it through the storms, and reach the goal. Designed by Akiyama Koryo and Kozu Yusei, published by Allplay.
Nokosu Dice (2016) gives players dice in addition to cards, and they can use dice or cards when they play to tricks — but one of the dice is your bid. It’s got a great thinky feel to it. Designed by Yusuke Matsumoto, published by Engames. This one’s a bit hard to find, but keep your eyes out!
Schadenfreude (2021) is great. So great. You’re trying to end the game with the score closest to 40 points without going over, but the game ends when somebody goes over. Designed by ctr, published by Studio Turbine. This one will almost certainly need to be imported from Japan, but don’t be scared.
SCOUT (2019) is now one of the best-regarded climbing games, and for good reason. Each card has two values on it. You can’t rearrange your hand, but at the beginning of each round, you can flip your hand so the other value is showing. You’ll get chances to add cards to your hand, too, and you can decide the orientation at that time. It’s a cool one. Designed by Kei Kajino, published Oink Games.
Four games for video gamers into board-game-like video games
If you’re giving board games to somebody who’s just really into video games (and I don’t mean Call of Duty and the like — I’m talking video games that are basically board games: Balatro, Slay the Spire, that sort of thing), you’re going to be looking for games that feel familiar.
A simple deck-building game with a lot of options to progress: Star Realms (2014), a quick-playing two-player deck-building game that really thrives when players feel like they’re building a great deck with a lot of ramping power. Designed by Robert Dougherty and Darwin Kastle, published by Wise Wizard Games.
A more complex roguelike deck-building game: Paperback Adventures (2022), a word-building deck-builder for one to two players. Fight battles by spelling words with cards, win the game. Simple. Designed by Tim Fowers and Skye Larsen, published by Fowers Games.
A cool poker-themed game: The Gang (2024), which takes the machinations of poker and turns it into a wild little cooperative game. (I wrote about this one last week, too. Sorry.) Designed by John Cooper and Kory Heath, published by KOSMOS.
A peaceful map-exploration game: Dorfromantik (2022), a cooperative game of tile placement. As you build out the map, you’ll get a chance to score points for tiles. Earn enough points to move up in the game and you’ll unlock some cool stuff. Designed by Michael Palm and Lukas Zach, published by Pegasus Spiele.
I hope this year’s two-part gift guide has been helpful to you. Please, hop in the comments — let’s chat about some games you’re buying as gifts this year. If you’re not buying gifts, that’s fine, too. You could make something really cool — so many board games could use a few handmade fabric bags, and I understand sewing one of those is generally pretty easy, and they wouldn’t take much fabric. Or you could do something else (or nothing else. It’s up to you.)
Schadenfreude is currently in stock at Tricky Imports as well as from Tanuki Games if one doesn't want to deal with the hassle of importing from Japan and just get it from someone who already has imported it. Great game.