Some Holiday Board Game Recommendations

I was recently asked by a friend for board game recommendations for her family of four. Her two children are about the same ages as my eldest two. They have already played Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, and Wingspan, so what else might show up under their Christmas tree? In the spirit of No Wasted Writing, I decided to track some recommendations here on the blog.

One easy recommendation is Quacks of Quedlinburg. I was skeptical that it was really as good as everyone says... but it really is. Watch out, though: if you fall in love with it, you're going to really want those nifty acrylic tokens. Ooh, they feel so much nicer than cardboard.

Some of the most fun that my family has had has been with Charterstone. The game is has a lovely art style, and it features unique mechanisms that are probably unfamiliar to those new to the hobby. A recommendation that is in a similar vein is Pandemic Legacy: Season 0, but I would go with Charterstone first, unless the family has a real love of cold war aesthetics and cooperative play.

Another similar kind of recommendation is My City, which I found surprisingly good. Like the games mentioned above, it has legacy aspects, so you alter the game as you play. It only goes up to four players, and I played with the three older boys last winter. It's so good, and relatively affordable, that I've actually thought about buying a second copy to play with my wife and youngest son. Where Charterstone grows slowly and Pandemic Legacy is intense, My City is relatively breezy.

Everyone needs a deckbuilder, right? My family's favorite is certainly Clank. It combines deckbuilding with a straightforward spatial mechanism. I don't think that a modern gamer has to go through Dominion or Ascension before they get to Clank. If one wanted more deckbuilding, then I might turn to Eminent Domain, which is nice in how it keeps everyone engaged by having to either follow or dissent to others' actions. Fans of Dune might go with Dune: Imperium, but that's getting pretty heavy. Incidentally, you'll probably want some penny sleeves for your deckbuilders. The mash shuffle keeps the cards in shape better than constant, unsleeved riffling.

If you really want more Catan, I still believe that Starfarers of Catan is the best Catan. To be clear, it's not an expansion but a reimagining of the core systems in a cheesy B-grade movie version of the future. Of course I would like that. In my opinion, Catan is superseded by many better games now, but Starfarers is my go-to when I want that "I'll give you carbon for space wheat" fix.

A more interesting economic game, and one of my personal favorites, is Concordia. Although you cannot directly impact other players on their turns, there's always a good reason to keep an eye on what they are doing. The Salsa expansion is highly recommended for anyone who gets a few games of Concordia under their belt and decides they like it.

If the family loves sea life, then Oceans is a really interesting game. The artwork is beautiful, and we have really enjoyed it. Similarly, games don't get much more beautifully crafted than Parks, and the gameplay is interesting even if the theme is a little stretched. (Remember: you can only be on the same trail as someone else if you light a campfire!)

Going a little lighter, we always enjoy Kingdomino and Azul. The former is an easy ~20-minute game, though as Concordia goes with Salsa, if you like Kingdomino, you'll want the Age of Giants expansion. Azul has spawned a whole family of games, some of which I've tried, and I'd probably just go with the original first. It is another fairly simple game but with beautiful production value.

MonsDRAWsity has become of my family's favorite games, and it fits a lighter, "party game" slot. I've only played with six or more players, but I suspect it would be fun with four as well; if not, invite a few friends over. You can even use this handy timer that my son and I made.

Keeping with the lighter side, we also love Just One. My wife and I have a good time playing this one with the older two boys, so I know it scales down pretty well to four players, although it too is better with a few more.

Finally, as simple as it is, you can't really go wrong with Ticket to Ride Europe. My younger boys want to pull this out from time to time. It's not as fancy as some of the other recommendations I've given above, but it's a solid game design. Note that Europe is much better than USA, which has less interesting gameplay and opens itself up toward anti-thematic strategies.

I hope folks find these useful. I had a similar question recently from a friend with much younger children, and I typed out my answers in an email. One of these days, maybe I'll get around to putting those up here too, since my nine-year-old original post along these lines is really outdated.