Top ten family board and card games for Christmas

Any board and card game fan knows what it’s like to be the family expert, expected to bring a new game along that will hit the right combination of tactics and fun to entertain everyone.

Here’s our tried and tested list of ten games that are great for family gatherings, gifts for relatives, and after-dinner gaming! These games are always a hit at our holiday celebrations, and you could even bring them to work at Christmas parties without fear of shocking your boss.

10. Call to Adventure

While Call to Adventure has more rules to learn than most of the others on this list, it is a compelling and gentle adventure game that encourages players to tell stories through beautifully illustrated cards. In Call to Adventure, players build a story of a hero (or a villain) in a classic fantasy novel, starting from humble origins and ending with an epic destiny. Players attempt to add cards from a shared grid to their hero’s tale by throwing runes representing their character’s positive qualities, such as strength and wisdom. With each card they successfully add to the character’s story, their hero gains new positive qualities, perhaps becoming even stronger, or learning a lesson in wisdom through their adventures. A delightful game that encourages storytelling and creativity without ever becoming too competitive.

9. Poetry for Neanderthals

Poetry for Neanderthals is a wordplay card game in which players take it in turns to try and describe a card prompt to their team using words of only one syllable. If they accidentally use words that are too long, they get bopped on the head with an inflatable club, and their team scores fewer points. Each card has both a 1-point prompt and a 3-point prompt, meaning that the poet can choose how complicated their clue is. This makes it particularly adaptable for younger players, and it’s a game that is always great fun to play, with the timer for each prompt adding time pressure that can lead to hilarious word choices.

Image from Fantasy Flight Games

8. Hey! That’s My Fish!

A cute and chaotic game of hungry penguins, Hey! That’s My Fish! is a speedy game to fit in while you’re waiting for Christmas dinner to cook. Players guide penguins across hex tiles that sink into the water after they’ve moved across them. If a player lands on a hex with a fish on it, they add it to their pile and at the end, the penguin with the most fish wins. Things get surprisingly cut-throat when players move across one another’s paths on the ever-shrinking board.

7. King of Tokyo

King of Tokyo is a classic for a reason, and it is always a big hit with players who haven’t played many board games before. Players choose a standee featuring one of six huge monsters currently vying for control of Tokyo, from a cat mech to a space penguin, and each turn rolls dice in a Yahtzee-style mechanic to try and become the top monster in the big city. Along the way, they gain power cards that allow them to add extra mutations to their monsters like another head. The cartoonish artwork and stompy monsters appeal to a wide audience, and the concept is simple to grasp, though there are tactical nuances that mean gameplay is deeper than simply rolling dice to smash each other’s monsters.

6. Forbidden Island

In Forbidden Island, players have to cooperate to collect treasure from a fantastical island as it sinks around them. The gorgeous artwork and finely-tuned rules make this a highly enjoyable experience, and because it is cooperative, players who are less confident can get help from others. The adventurous storyline will no doubt appeal to younger players and the game includes variable difficulty levels and additional island layouts to add replay value. Tense, fun, and challenging, Forbidden Island is guaranteed to be a hit with any group.

Image from Gamewright

5. Dobble/Spot It!

One of the most basic games that kids get taught early is snap, but it can get old quickly. Introducing Dobble (also called Spot It! in some countries), in which players have to match the symbol on a circular card to the card on the top of the pile. The symbols might be different sizes and colors, making them more challenging to match. The rules are fast and fun, good when everyone is feeling bored after dinner and nobody has the energy to read a new game’s rules. It’s very accessible across language barriers and age groups, and there are variants like a giant ‘XXL’ edition and a waterproof version you can take to the beach.

4. Sushi Go!

This extremely cute card game is all about making the best meal out of the most delicious and adorable sushi. Sushi Go! is quick and simple to pick up but has surprising depth and replay value as players become more familiar with different strategies, with enough randomness to mean that they can’t just win by choosing a more ambitious approach. You can choose from the basic Sushi Go! for a very enjoyable and portable experience or the Sushi Go Party edition, which offers a wider variety of cards and extra rules for more replayability.

3. Takenoko

This board game of a rampaging panda, a hapless gardener, and a picturesque bamboo garden is always fun to play. In Takenoko, players seek to cultivate just the right amount of bamboo or have the panda, which is a law unto itself, eat just the right kinds of bamboo. Players place tiles, create irrigation channels, and roll weather dice to create patches of different colored bamboo. All players have hidden objectives that shape their gameplay and provide variety. Takenoko also has a great expansion called Takenoko Chibis that introduces a girlfriend for the panda, which allows players to place adorable panda babies and also introduces new tiles and objectives.

2. Codenames

One of the best things about Codenames is how well it scales for larger group sizes. Players form teams representing rival spy agencies who try to identify their agents in the field by saying the right codename. One person on each team can see which words will reveal their own agents and which will reveal another team’s. They have to use a single word or phrase to lead their team to choose the right words associated with that word while avoiding words associated with the rival team’s agents or the lurking assassin.

1. Dixit

When the party is winding down, and everyone is feeling cozy, Dixit is a great game to break out. Every player has a hand of cards with pictures that invite interpretation but defy easy description. Each turn a different player describe one of their cards with a word or short phrase. Every other player also chooses a card that best matches that description, and all the cards chosen are shuffled together. Each player has to decide which card they think was originally put down by the active player. The skill in Dixit is walking the line between being too specific and not specific enough – you don’t want the other players to all guess your card, but you also want at least one player to guess it for maximum points.

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