Board/Party Game Wishlist Help (Secret Santa)

[AnalBumCover]

So my family plays Secret Santa for the Christmas season instead of the traditional gift giving to every single person.

Our spending limit is $100. And as an aid to our Santa, we provide them with a wish list of, say, 4 or 5 items to choose among.

Usually, I have no idea what I want, so I just list out various retail/online gift cards to use at a later date. For the most part, I just receive a gift card for the first item on my wishlist. Over the years, that's gotten pretty dull.

This year, I'm thinking of listing out some board games or party games since I've recently been getting interested in them, and it's something the rest of the family can enjoy.

We're fairly new to board games, and only have Settlers of Catan, so I'll need help putting together my wishlist.

Maybe I'll separate my list to three types, hopefully Santa can pick one from each list to add up to $100

Board Game (like Catan or Carcassone)
Adult Party Game (like Cranium or Guesstures)
"Age Appropriate" Game (Something our 4-5 yr olds can participate in)

[digamma]

My sister and brother in law were in town over the holidays. We played the following games:

Catan
Bohnanza (Card game with a bean farming/commodity trading theme)
Exploding Kittens (card game)
Pie Face (Party Game)

[EagleFan]

Ticket to Ride is a fun board game.

[ColtCrazy]

Okay, here's my attempt:

Board Game: King of Tokyo MSRP $40, but Amazon usually has deals (today it's $17 for CyberMonday!) - Excellent board game that's easy to play. Toss a bunch of dice (Yahtzee style mechanic), attack each other's monsters, cool power ups. Speaking of which, you can add in the Power Up expansion ($20) which gives monsters some individuality.

Party Game: Dixit - Very cool story telling game where players try to match cards up to the storyteller's story. MSRP - $34.99

Kids Game: Animal Upon Animal - wooden animals are stacked to make an animal pyramid, dice are used to determine actions (stacking, passing, placing). Great components. MSRP $25.00

MSRP is right at $100, though Amazon should save you on that to allow for an expansion if you want.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Colt Crazy has a good list, and EagleFan hit my #1 recommended introductory board game. Some other options:

Catch Phrase - easily my favorite party game of all time. Think Taboo with less restrictions on what you can and can't say.

Apples to Apples (family friendly) or Cards Against Humanity (adults only) - one of the most widely known group/party games going, these are almost always a hit because they are simple and engaging.

Coup - an excellent "board" game of bluffing and hidden identities for up to six players. Again, simple to teach/learn and fun to play.

7 Wonders - this board game is good for 1-7 players (I'd recommend at least three, but it's best with 4+). Fairly simple concept that is a bit harder to teach than the previous few because of the somewhat abstract scoring system (there are many different ways to get points, explaining them all can be cumbersome). It is an excellent game.

Unfortunately I don't have too much experience with young kid level games, but Ticket to Ride and King of Tokyo are both games that they should be able to handle, if not right now then very soon.

[johnnyshaka]

I wouldn't call myself a big board gamer but do enjoy these ones when some of my co-workers and I get together at noon hour and play any of the following:

Splendor
Smash Up
Bang!
Istanbul
Blueprints
Munchkin

[Umbrella]

My family and I like Dominion. It's one of those "easy-to-learn, hard-to-master" games, and it plays pretty quickly. It's a card game, not technically a board game, but it is pretty fun. Agricola is good too, and it has different rules for different complexities. It's a game where you are trying to build the best farm. I know it sounds strange, but everyone we've played it with really likes it.

For party games, we always seem to gravitate towards Outburst. It's fairly mainstream. If you're not familiar with it, think Family Feud. It can be adults (our best games seem to happen after a lot of alcohol), or kids.

For a younger kids game, Oh Zoo le Mio is fun, but hard to find. It's got enough strategy for the older ones to play, and the little kids like building their zoos. Ticket to Ride has been mentioned, and that is a good one as well. You mentioned Carcassone in your post, and that is also a good one to teach younger kids.

[henry296]

We got Ticket to Ride for our 6 year old a couple of years ago after she started playing the mobile version. She definitely got it, but our current 5 year old still struggles with it.

One option that might be good for the 4-5 year old is Qwirkle where you build patterns of shapes or colors and score points based on how many are in your pattern. It works like scrabble in that you build off the current board.

[Pumpy Tudors]

In general, how many players are you looking to accommodate? I ask because if it's mostly 2-5 players, that could lead to a very different list than if you're trying to handle a game for 6 or more. With that said, I'll give my recommendations just on a broad scope.

Board Games
Ticket to Ride (2-5 players): Since it seems you're pretty new to the hobby, I agree with others that this is a great game. It's easy to learn and introduces players to a couple of mechanics that you'll find in some of the heavier strategy games without going overboard. Even if you weren't new to the hobby, it is still a very fun game.

Forbidden Desert (2-5 players): Cooperative game that introduces a "player roles" mechanic. Basically, each player has a special ability that's unique to them. Gives the game a little extra variety. Easy to learn, easy to play, and although I don't really have much experience playing games with young kids, it seems like something you might be able to guide a child through. Since it's cooperative, you help the whole team by helping the child make a decision, but it would also be fun to just let the child do whatever they want and let chaos ensue!

Pandemic: The Cure (2-5 players): A dice-rolling game that might be a little too complex for the kids, but it's another cooperative game that I think is a good gateway game. It's pretty easy to learn and the player roles make for some interesting decisions over the course of the game. It's a light-medium tactical game that is a lot of fun.

Trains (2-4 players, though if mostly playing 2 players, I recommend getting the standalone expansion Rising Sun instead): Deckbuilding game in the same vein as Dominion, but it includes a board that you're trying to build your train tracks on. While it has a train theme like Ticket to Ride does, they're completely different styles of games. This one requires some reading and planning strategies on how to use the cards, so it's too much for the kiddies, but it's a wonderful game.

Lords of Waterdeep (2-5 players): This is my absolute favorite "worker placement" game (though there are a couple others that come close). It's got a Dungeons & Dragons theme, which adds appeal for some people. The D&D thing didn't make it any more appealing to me, but I still love the game. It's simple enough to introduce worker placement without being overwhelming, but there are a lot of interesting choices to make throughout the game, and it really does play out differently every time. Lots of variety in that box.

Party Games

Cards Against Humanity (as many players as you want): Already mentioned earlier in this thread, but it's hilarious if people are not easily offended or can check their morals at the door. If you'd be playing with people who are uncomfortable making light of pretty much every subject, don't bother with this one. A lot of fun for people who can deal with it, though.

Mysterium (2-7 players): Wonderful theme, in my opinion. One player plays the part of a ghost, someone who has just been murdered. That player passes clues to all of the other players to try to get them to cooperatively figure out who did it. The clues are passed in the form of cards with pictures on them. The pictures can seem pretty abstract, but working together, the players can figure out what the ghost is trying to say. I like this game a lot.

Timeline (as many players as you want - I've played it in a group of 9): Simple concept. Every players started with a hand of 4 cards, each showing an event in history (the invention of the fork, the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller, etc.). One by one, each player chooses one of their cards and adds it to the middle of the table, choosing the correct time window when it happened. As more cards are added to the table, the timeline gets bigger and bigger, and it is harder to figure out where to properly place the cards you have left. The game is cheap and comes in a variety of different sets, like Inventions, Entertainment, Americana, etc. I got my sets for $15 each and just mixed them together.

Spyfall (3-8 players): This is the only game on my list here that I haven't actually played, although I do own it and I have seen it played. The idea is that every player is dealt a card that has a location on it. Every player's card is identical except for one which says "SPY". So everybody knows what the location is except for the spy. One by one, each player asks one other player a question. The goal is for the players to root out the spy by trying to stump them with the question. The spy's job is to figure out the location or wait for the other players to accuse each other and eliminate themselves.

So there's my list. For this, I tried to stay away from games that are very expensive, really heavy strategy, or just take a really long time to play. If you get into board games even more in the future, you'll have plenty of time to explore those other things.

Enjoy!

[Pumpy Tudors]

By the way, I'm kind of a nut over board games now. This picture represents about half my collection:

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

In general, how many players are you looking to accommodate? I ask because if it's mostly 2-5 players, that could lead to a very different list than if you're trying to handle a game for 6 or more.

I would want to adjust to the size of the party we're having. Usually when my family gets together, it's a pretty large group. A party game that can include 6+ would be ideal for a fun event (team-up party games like Cranium or Guesstures has been a successful formula for us in the past).

In the case of a smaller party, or if the large party starts to whittle down, I could go to a more traditional board game that plays 2-6.

As for kids games, we just got Zingo! (bingo with pictures) which was a hit with players of all ages this past Thanksgiving.

[AnalBumCover]

These are great games! I'm putting together a really good list here. Thanks!

[henry296]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

I would want to adjust to the size of the party we're having. Usually when my family gets together, it's a pretty large group. A party game that can include 6+ would be ideal for a fun event (team-up party games like Cranium or Guesstures has been a successful formula for us in the past).

In the case of a smaller party, or if the large party starts to whittle down, I could go to a more traditional board game that plays 2-6.

As for kids games, we just got Zingo! (bingo with pictures) which was a hit with players of all ages this past Thanksgiving.

Zingo is great!

I should add, that our kids love some of the games we grew up with like Sorry and Trouble and the Monopoly Junior games.

I should add, last year we got Catan Junior which they have also enjoyed.

[Pumpy Tudors]

It may be a little too pricey for this and possibly hard to find, but Hamsterrolle is a fun dexterity game that would be playable with the kids. I think it's somewhere around $60, though, which I understand could be prohibitive for the type of game it is. Just wanted to make sure I got that suggestion out there, though, even if it's for the future!

[CleBrownsfan]

Another one to check out is Codenames. I Played It over the weekend. 6 of us played and everyone had a blast. I think we played 6 or 7 games back to back...

[AnalBumCover]

Reporting back from our family party. My nephew was my secret santa, and he gave me Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, and Apples to Apples. I couldn't be happier with my gifts!

I did receive other board games from other folks, but I'll post those in the Christmas haul thread.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Spyfall (3-8 players): This is the only game on my list here that I haven't actually played, although I do own it and I have seen it played. The idea is that every player is dealt a card that has a location on it. Every player's card is identical except for one which says "SPY". So everybody knows what the location is except for the spy. One by one, each player asks one other player a question. The goal is for the players to root out the spy by trying to stump them with the question. The spy's job is to figure out the location or wait for the other players to accuse each other and eliminate themselves.

We played this with 6 yesterday. Although it was enjoyable, With six all new players we were struggling with good questions, we found out it takes some time to make the game grow on you. We may have stopped too early, in fear of it getting repetitive quickly. Right now, I'd classify it as a 30-45 minutes filler and one where keeping score doesn't really matter. In fact, given the rules for scoring, it sounds like it pays off at times to sabotage as a non-spy.

Edit:
Ha! I didn't realize this was a bump (although it should have been obvious given the subject ).