Amidst the chaos of decorating the house, booking flights, or preparing a holiday feast, deciding on gifts for friends and family is likely to be the last thing on your mind this holiday season. Fanbase Press is here to help with the best recommendations for the must-play tabletop and video games from the year as suggested by our staff and contributors. Board games, roleplaying games, and video games make great gifts for the geeks in your life, especially for the holidays where the requisite number of players is usually right around the corner. Whether playing with Jack-Jack or providing your party of adventurers with opportunities to avoid the White Walkers, playing a game together is a great holiday event.
LEGO The Incredibles (Video Game)
Recommended by Claire Thorne
Developers: Traveller’s Tales, TT Fusion, TT Games Publishing
Time for my annual LEGO video game recommendation! This year saw the release of the long-awaited sequel to The Incredibles, and LEGO was right on time with the release of The Incredibles video game. This title is another stellar addition to the LEGO gaming family. The game levels take you through both movies and incorporate all of the best moments in the movies into the gameplay. While there aren’t any significant changes to the LEGO playing format, the sheer breadth of characters and detailed puzzle-solving across an expansive central hub make this game a unique and worthwhile experience
The marriage of a Pixar title and LEGO’s innate sensibility for humor is a match made in Heaven. Getting to play through the “Jack-Jack versus The Raccoon” level is worth the price of admission alone.
Price: $29 – 32 depending on platform
Official LEGO Game Page and Trailer
LEGO The Incredibles on Amazon for XBox One, PS4, and Switch
A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch (Tabletop Game)
Recommended by Claire Thorne
Manufacturer: Fantasy Flight Games
Our family game shelf is full of various versions of and expansions to Settlers of Catan. This resource-building game is one of our go-to favorites. A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch is our latest addition to our Catan collection and has quickly become one of favorite tabletop games.
This edition offers a whole new level of cooperative game play. Along with the standard Catan game-play of resource collection, settlement building, and robbing, players get the chance to work together to fend off attacks from Wildling Raiders who threaten invasion with every players turn. This elevates both the tension and enjoyment of the game.
All other considerations aside, this game is worthy of an honored space on your game shelf solely for the artistic beauty of the game board. It is a gorgeous depiction of the northern expanses of Westeros and the frozen lands beyond The Wall. You’ll want to set it up and keep it on display all year long.
Price: $62
A Game of Thrones Catan on Amazon
Silly Street (Geeky Parent Guide Approved)
Recommended by: Travis Lakata
Manufacturer: Buffalo Games
This game absolutely is fantastic for my kids. It makes them stand up, shout, act silly, and strike more than one kind of pose. This character-building game lets its young players (and parents) create their own adventure by following different instructions on each card. Silly Street is a break-out-of-your-shell board game, as it lets each player follow along or tell other players what to do to move down the board toward the winner’s circle.
I love how enthusiastic my kids are while playing this game. Even if you think your kids are outgoing, this game will expand upon that notion by tenfold. If you or your kids are shy, Silly Street definitely produces a fun environment for everyone to want to join in. My kids go bonkers for this game!
Price: $13.83 on Amazon
Outfoxed! (Geeky Parent Guide Approved)
Recommended by: Travis Lakata
Manufacturer: Gamewright
Outfoxed! is the child version of the hit board game, Clue. Instead of a murder mystery, the family can try to determine which fox stole the pie. I love this cooperative game, and what’s amazing, more often than not, is that my youngest (4-year-old son) wants to play this game by himself often. Outfoxed! provides the element of chance with each roll of the dice, while introducing strategy that makes each player choose an action at the start of their turn.
I love that this game gives my kids a solid introduction to strategic gameplay. They can pick and choose whether to search for clues or try to reveal suspects. Their decisions will also sometimes change depending on how far along the group is within the game. If anything, parents will love seeing the wheels turn inside of their kids’ minds, as each player must decide what’s the best choice, especially when an outcome might win or lose the game.
Price: $16.99 on Amazon
Feed the Kitty (Geeky Parent Guide Approved)
Recommended by: Travis Lakata
Manufacturer: Gamewright
This is the easiest game for any family to play together. Each player rolls the dice and then reacts to what lands on each of the two die. There are only a few options; nothing happens, feed the kitty, take one from the kitty, or pass one to the left. Of course, since this is a “feed the kitty” game, each player starts with wooden mice to feed, take, or pass.
Feed the Kitty is easy to learn! My kids (ages 4 & 6) understood this game during the first game and can play it together without assistance. Our family has played this game more than any of the other games in our house, and that’s probably because how quickly a game can end and it’s all based on chance. It’s easy to play this game and even if your dice rolling skills are the best, even the kids will start to cheer for you to win a game.
Price: $13.90 on Amazon
