Five Board Games to Play Over the Holidays!
Intent: Inspire you to share memorable experiences with your loved ones by playing games!
Unfortunately, this will be the first Chrismas Tylor and I are not spending with our families due to the pandemic. It’s a difficult time for many across the world as holidays are usually a time to come together and share love and happiness. Take some time to reach out to all those you care about, one message can go a long way. Thankfully, Tylor and I have access to technology and will be able to have many digital gatherings (and even some game nights) as an alternative.
We were thrilled and looking forward to introducing many games to both of our families, but since we are not able to this year, we thought we would share these games with you. There are countless games that can be played over the holidays but we chose these for specific reasons, which we will tell you about below. If you have the opportunity to spend time with your loved ones, check these games out, I’m sure you will love them as much as we do.
Is there other games you’ll be playing over the holidays? If so, please let us know through our various social media, we love hearing from all of you.
Let’s learn about some of these games, shall we?
Truffle Shuffle
Designers: Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin and Shawn Stankewich
Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
Player Count: 2-4 players
Length: 15-30 minutes
Overview:
There is a box of truffles in front of you, will you be able to select strategically to outsmart all your friends and fulfill the most orders? Truffle Shuffle is a card-drafting and set collection game in which you take turns taking truffles and fulfilling orders. The game lasts three rounds, and the winner is the player with the most chocolate coins at the end. The cards will be laid out in a pyramid with four on top and nine on the bottom. The bottom row and every other row will be facedown, so like a box of chocolates, you just don’t know what you’ll get. You’ll take turns taking cards, and sometimes using abilities to allow you to skip or take two cards instead. As you gain more truffles you’ll be able to fulfill orders, which you can do optionally on your turn. For example, a one colour set of fives is worth ten chocolate coins! You’ll continue playing until all the cards run out, at which point the round is over. Each player will discard down to two cards and repeat twice more. After the last round, you’ll count your chocolate coins and the one with the most wins! Will you be able to fulfill enough orders to win, or succumb to hunger as you admire all the lovely truffles?
Holiday Factor:
Chocolate. Collecting truffles and then fulfilling orders to get chocolate coins? Yum! The holiday season usually means lots of baked goods and treats are in store. Well, why not have some treats in form of a board game? Truffle Shuffle is a fantastic game to pull out and share with your loved ones. It’ll leave you hungry though so make sure you have some treats in store.
Above and Below
Designer: Ryan Laukat
Artist: Ryan Laukat
Publisher: Red Raven Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Length: 90 minutes
Overview:
Barbarians have taken over your village and burned it to a crisp. You decide there is no hope left on this island and you quickly launch off in search of a new home. Luckily, you come across a wonderous island with a large network of underground tunnels which you can certainly utilize to build up your home.
In Above and Below, you immerse yourself into a world of exploration and town-building. This game focuses on gaining resources to construct new buildings on the surface and below ground. The catch, you must navigate through a scenario from the provided storybook every time you send your villagers below ground for the chance to explore the vast networks of tunnels successfully and safely. Over the course of the game, you’ll explore, harvest, build, train and labor in hopes of optimizing your resources and villagers in order to build up your new home. The winner is determined by the player who builds the most thriving village and collects the most points. Will you invest in above ground or lose yourself exploring below in the caves?
Holiday Factor:
This is the game that essentially got us into board games, we were in awe of it and played (and play) it countless times. It is such a lovely treat to bring to the table and it is bound to grab hold of everyone’s hearts and allow your loved ones to get immersed in a fantastic adventure! Will you continue exploring the caves even though resource wise it may not be the best idea? Yes, because the story is just so wonderful.
Machi Koro Legacy
Designers: Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, and Masao Suganuma
Artists: Noboru Hotta, Jason D. Kingsley and Stevo Torres
Publisher: Pandasaurus Games
Player Count: 2-4 players
Length: 30-45 minutes
Overview:
Imagine governing your own peacefully town on an island, care-free and easy-going. Until one day, towns around you start investing in more infrastructure and people start threatening to leave. That just will not work, so you strap on your best pair of boots and get to work to ensure your town goes above and beyond to ensure the people stick around! Welcome to Machi Koro!
In Machi Koro Legacy, players will take on the role of mayor of their own town on the island of Machi Koro. You will take turns rolling dice, building establishments and collecting rewards. Establishments can activate on other players’ turns so you have to pay attention to what everyone rolls. Typically, legacy games change as you play through them and Machi Koro Legacy is no different. The campaign consists of ten scenarios and there will be something new revealed (including new rules) after every game. Within each scenario, your goal is to finish building all three of your landmarks and contribute to the community landmark to ultimately carry your name forward as the best mayor on the island of Machi Koro. So much for that care-free and easy-going lifestyle.
Holiday Factor:
Machi Koro is a classic, but what’s even better here is the surprises that the Legacy version has in store. Since you’ll likely be spending lots of time with your loved ones, this is a perfect game to play over a few days, evenings or even one long play session. You’re guaranteed to make memories and who knows maybe start a tradition of playing a legacy game every holiday season?
Oceans
Designers: Nick Bentley, Dominic Crapuchettes, Ben Goldman and Brian O’Neill
Artists: Guillaume Ducos and Catherine Hamilton
Publisher: North Star Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Length: 60-90 minutes
Overview:
In the treacherous waters the Ocean Deep, only the strong will survive. Species must adapt and evolve to claim their spot in the food chain hierarchy or face the potential of being completely wiped out.
Oceans is an engine building board game that puts you front and center of an oceanic ecosystem controlled by you and your opponents. All you must do is make sure you adapt and evolve your species so they can survive and age to secure victory points. At the end, whoever has the most victory points, will be the winner! But what if I told you your opponents could evolve predators to attack or parasites to leech from your species? What if you could do that to them? Or, what if there was a way to camouflage or harden your species? You are the master of your own domain, so what kind of creatures will you evolve to ensure victory?
Holiday Factor:
This game is so beautiful and has tremendous replayability value, after you finish your first game you’ll want to keep playing (and get revenge on your loved ones since they leeched all your population away last game!) You may not go scuba diving over the holidays but you surely can enjoy a game of Oceans and discover the thriving but often fragile ecosystems below.
My City
Designer: Reiner Knizia
Artist: Michael Menzel
Publisher: Thames and Kosmos
Player Count: 2-4 players
Length: 30 minutes
Overview:
Building your own city is not easy but if you’re up to the challenge My City is your perfect opportunity! This game is a competitive legacy game, in which you build your city and score the most points to claim victory at the end of the 24th episode. (A legacy game is a game that changes permanently over the course of a series of sessions, in this case eight chapters with three episodes each.)
Each player has their own board, which is composed of squares in which you can built. Your goal initially, is to place buildings leaving trees uncovered, rocks covered, and as many light green spaces filled as possible. During each episode the top card of the deck will be revealed corresponding to a building each player will have to place in their city, making sure they place the first building by the river. The next building revealed will have to be placed to already placed buildings. You may pass if the building does not fit, but if you do, you lose a point. The game ends when everyone has decided they are finished or the cards run out. Each episode, a winner is declared and that’s where the board modifications begin to occur. Now I won’t get too into the rest of the game as I don’t want to spoil the surprises. What I will tell you is to absolutely try this game, it’s been a pleasure to play and I don’t think we’ve been as excited about a game as much as we’ve been excited about My City.
Holiday Factor: Similar to Machi Koro Legacy, as this game requires a few play sessions, this game is perfect for the holiday seasons while you’re spending lots of time with your loved ones. Not only that, but it’s a game you’ll want to keep playing and the memories of your city being built through the various chapters and episodes will be a real treat!
Holiday Game Trends!
Legacy Games! It’s nice to sit down and complete one over a few days or a week rather than waiting weekly (and sometimes for many months since pandemics can happen.)
Blue! All these game boxes ended up being blue by complete coincidence but maybe that’s the holiday trend!
Cities! Three of these games you’re building villages or cities, the others you’re just eating chocolates and saving the ocean, sounds like a fantastic way to spend the holidays.
Beautiful Games! All of these games are absolutely gorgeous to look at, and I wouldn’t have it any other way when introducing games to our loved ones.
Have another game you would include in this list? Let us know by connecting with us on social media and commenting on various platforms!