Looking for a gift idea for the board game lover in your life? Or just want to pick up something to play this holiday season? Check out these top games.
Wingspan
You are bird enthusiasts—researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors—seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats (actions). Find it on Amazon.
Sushi Roll
Rice and dice! Roll with your favorite Sushi Go! characters in Sushi Roll, a dice-based version of the best-selling card game!
Load up the conveyor belts with savory sushi dice — then pick one and pass the rest! Earn points for winning combos like two tempura or a set of sashimi. Grab a menu to re-roll your dice or use chopsticks to swap with an opponent. And be sure to save room for pudding at the end! Find it on Amazon.
Century A New World
Explore, hunt, settle and trade in the Americas in Century - a new world! Fans should expect accessible game play that leads to deep strategy! Gorgeous art supplied by Chris quilliams. Find it on Amazon.
Tapestry
In Tapestry, you will advance on 4 advancement tracks (science, technology, exploration, and military) to earn progressively better benefits. Along the way, you will also improve your income, build your capital city, leverage your unique abilities, earn victory points, and gain tapestry cards that will tell the story of your civilization. Find it on Amazon.
Azul
Azul captures the beautiful aesthetics of Moorish art in a contemporary board game. Players compete as artisans decorating the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. By carefully drafting the correct quantity and style of tiles, the most clever of artisans plan ahead to maximize the beauty of their work (not to mention their scores!) while ensuring they wasted no supplies in the process. Find it on Amazon.
Terraforming Mars
In the 2400s, mankind begins to terraform the planet Mars. Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects to raise the temperature, the oxygen level, and the ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for getting victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other commendable things. Find it on Amazon.
Call to Adventure
Make your fate! Inspired by character-driven fantasy storytelling, Call to Adventure challenges 1-4 players to create the hero with the greatest destiny by acquiring traits, facing challenges, and overcoming adversaries. Find it on Amazon.
Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein
Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein is a competitive game of strategic monster building for 2-4 players, inspired by Mary Shelley's classic novel of gothic horror. In the game, the creature demands your help to accomplish what his own creator would not: to bring to life an abomination like itself, a companion to end its miserable solitude. Through worker placement and careful management of decomposing resources, you'll gather materials from the cemeteries and morgues around the city, conduct valuable research at the Academy of Science, hire less-than-reputable associates, and toil away in your lab — all in an effort to assemble a new form of life and infuse it with a "spark of being". Do well, and the creature may reward you during one of its surprise visits; do poorly, and you may come to regret not putting forth more effort. Narrative elements come into play throughout the game, guided by your decisions, leading to potentially unsavory outcomes. Find it on Amazon.
Codenames
Codenames is a social word game with a simple premise and challenging game play. Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames. The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the table. Their teammates try to guess words of their color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin. Find it on Amazon.
Photosynthesis
Welcome to the world of photosynthesis, the green strategy board game! plant and shape the ever-changing forest as you cultivate your seeds and your strategy. Take your trees through their life-cycle, from seedling to full bloom to rebirth, and earn points as their leaves collect energy from the revolving sun's rays. Carefully pick where you sow and when you grow, as trees in the shadows are blocked from light, and from points. This game features realistic gameplay and beautiful graphics. Find it on Amazon.
Mysterium
A horrible crime has been committed on the grounds of Warwick Manor and it's up to the psychic investigators to get to the bottom of it. In Mysterium, one player takes on the role of the ghost and over the course of a week, tries to lead the investigators to their culprit. Each night the team will be met with visions, but what is the ghost trying to tell you? Can the psychics determine the weapon, location and killer or will a violent criminal pull off the perfect murder? Find it on Amazon.
Mechanica
Mechanica is a game of tile-laying and engine building. Each player buys puzzle piece-shaped machines and slots them together to form their factory. The different machines all improve the Tidybots your factory can make: building new Tidybots, upgrading them, copying them, and more. There are many strategies for putting your machines together, and everyone has fun trying to build the perfect factory! Find it on Amazon.
Pipeline
Oil refinement has long been government controlled. Due to various complexities, they have felt pressure from the global demand and standards for refinement. Unable to keep up with these demands, they have one option: privatizing the oil industry. In Pipeline, you start a company in the oil business! Build an efficient network in your refinery, hire experts to provide benefits over your competitors, and manage the logistics of purchasing/selling refined oil to the Markets to earn the most money in the game! Find it on Amazon.
Gloomhaven
Take on the role of a wandering mercenary with their own special set of skills and their own reasons for traveling to this remote corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make. This is a persistent game that is intended to be played over many game sessions. After a scenario, players will make decisions on what to do, which will determine how the story continues, kind of like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Find it on Amazon.
