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It’s a time of giving and you’ve got a friend or relative who’s not averse to Board Games but has yet to stray beyond the basic classics from Hasbro and the like. What can you get for them to pique their interest and develop their appreciation of our great hobby?
Well, here are 10 of the best to lead them to greater enjoyment and provide first steps into the wider world of better board gaming.
And don’t forget if you don’t have all of these that you deserve a gift yourself!
Forbidden Island - Camille Hindsgaul
Whenever I am to introduce a new friend to board games, my number one go-to game is Forbidden Island.
Before I got into the hobby and learned that there is more to board games than Monopoly and Ludo, the thought of a cooperative board game would have never crossed my mind. Learning about Forbidden Island was like a revelation: You don’t have to compete, you can work together towards the same goal.
I think cooperative games are great for beginner board gamers, especially if they are a bit nervous about learning curves or getting beaten badly by more seasoned players.
The reason I’d pick Forbidden Island specifically isn’t just that it was my own first cooperative game. No, I’d pick Forbidden Island because it’s simple while still providing a challenge.
Setup is quick and doesn’t take up a large amount of space, meaning that your board game introduction can take place basically anywhere with a stable surface, and rules can be taught quickly.
These rules, then, are pretty straight forward and laid out nicely on player aids. All cards say exactly what they do and how to use them, and player powers are unique enough that all players feel like they contribute in special ways, while also simple enough that other players can know at a glance what you can do and give suggestions for your turn.
My final reason for introducing people to board gaming with Forbidden Island is that it’s the first in a series. If my friend enjoyed escaping the sinking island by the skin of our teeth and wants something similar but more challenging, I can just bring out Forbidden Desert. And of course the rules of Forbidden Island are quite similar to those of Pandemic, which opens a whole other series of games to recommend.
Cascadia - Nick Trkulja
This game is set in the Pacific northwest region that spans Canada and the United States. The area is known as Cascadia and is home to some iconic habitats and wildlife. Your task in the game is to match the animals to the appropriate habitat in a prescribed pattern to score points.
Why does Cascadia make a great game to encourage new gamers?
Simple to teach and learn. The standard game can be taught in about three minutes. The essential section of the rule book is one double-page spread. You can leave this open as you teach, and as a reference during game play. There is no text to read on the components and no game board.
Lovely components and artwork. Cascadia is beautifully illustrated. The habitat tiles and animal disks are chunky and tactile. Your landscape of tiles grows as you play the game. Building and populating your own version own Cascadia is very satisfying.
Variable Complexity. The standard game is simple but can be made even easier if you play the ‘family’ or ‘intermediate’ versions. These variations require very basic grouping of animals. The standard game requires specific patterns for each of the different animals, such as in a straight line, or in isolated pairs of animals. There are different sets of these patterns that you can use to vary the game.
Short play time. The game box states that the game plays in thirty to forty-five minutes. Once you know the game I think that you could set up and play a game in half an hour. The game is fun and so you are likely to play a couple of games in a row.
Planted – Graham Silvanus
Planted has a lot to recommend it for new gamers. It has a low rules overhead, provides interesting, thoughtful decisions for players and looks nothing short of beautiful on the tabletop.
Planted is a very accessible card drafting game. You have 8 cards (6 provide resources, 2 feature tools or decorations) and you keep one and pass the rest to the next player. Everyone then reveals the card they kept, get the benefit, then repeat the drafting process with the 7 cards they have left and so on. That’s essentially it.
Resources are used to nurture your plants (you start with one and can have up to 6) and the more they grow, the more points you will score. Decorations give you further bonuses, such as scoring for all hanging baskets you have, or for all fully grown plants you have. Tools make you more efficient and give further resources when you play a resource card.
The rules are really no more complex then UNO - you choose a card and play that card - yet the choices you need to make within this simple framework are wonderfully agonising. Do you play that water card now or the tool card that will give you a bonus if you get passed a water later on? You don’t need this decoration, but the next player does; do you play it suboptimally for yourself, play it to get a new plant or play the best card for you and risk passing it on anyway?
The art and component quality are excellent. Those water droplets are utterly delightful and may be my favourite single component from any game. The theme works with the game, helping make it easily understood and is accessible to all. Iconography is used sparingly and is crystal clear.
Planted is a game easily taught to anyone and is an easy one to recommend for families and gamers, regardless of experience level. A perfect choice to go alongside that festive poinsettia!
The Quacks of Quedlinburg – Craig Smith
Many of what’s commonly known as “classic” board games often have large elements of luck. There’s nothing worse than being at the whim of a bad roll, but games which invite you to push your luck aren’t all bad.
An example of this is The Quacks of Quedlinberg, a game where players build their own bag of ingredients to make a magical brew. The bag starts off quite volatile, but as the game progresses, you have chance to buy more ingredients and dilute the badness. The more of these good ingredients you can pull from your bag, the better the potion is, meaning it’ll earn you more points and more spending power for the next round. However, if you pull too many cherry blossoms out, your potion explodes. The game is played over nine rounds, and whoever scores the most points wins.
I’d recommend Quacks for new or non-gamers for many reasons. The first being that the rules are incredibly easy to follow. The most complex part of the game may be the explanation about points and shopping, but this can be repeated each round as the game progresses. The second reason is that players draw from their bags simultaneously. Not having to wait your turn means there’s no chance of getting bored. Finally, there are ways of people being able to mitigate their bad luck. Each player starts with a flask which allows them to put a cherry blossom back in their bag. There’s also rat tails, meaning that those who aren’t winning are given an extra bit of help to catch up. Unlike Monopoly, which takes great pleasure in beating you when you’re down, Quacks tries to level the playing field, and is a much more pleasurable experience for it!
The Quest for El Dorado – Victor Rios Faria
Reiner Knizia is probably one of the most successful game designers and is definitely one of my favourites. The elegance of his games, creating brilliant gameplays based on a simple set of rules is something I admire a lot. His games, in their majority, are probably a good call to introduce new players to the hobby, with titles as old as Modern Art to some newer like Mille Fiori. However, the one that stands out the most for me is The Quest for El Dorado.
The Quest for El Dorado is a game for 2-4 players that plays in under 1h. Players compete against each other to be the first to cross unchartered land amidst South American jungles and get to the legendary golden city of El Dorado. It mixes deckbuilding with racing in a very intuitive way. Different cards in your deck let you progress through different terrain types, so you need to shape your deck to give you the best options to go through the map.
The gameplay is easy and engaging. In your turn, you play the cards in your hand to move your explorer and acquire new cards to your deck. Cards are very thematic, such as captains to guide you across water paths, machetes to make your way through the jungle, and specialists and natives to help you during your journey. Short and simple turns help with understanding and engagement, and the low playtime makes it possible to chain multiple games one after the other.
An exciting adventure, easy actions and a lot of replayability thanks to the modular board pieces and different cards in the market. A single phrase that summarizes why The Quest for El Dorado is a great call to welcome new gamers and to entertain experienced ones as well!
Diamant – Dan Street-Phillips
Diamant has become a staple party game of push-your-luck, but what makes it so fun is just how accessible it is. For those who’s gaming experiences only stretch as far as the pink wedge in Trivial Pursuit, Diamant can open a myriad of doors (or caves in this instance) into the rest of the gaming world. You play as explorers as you dive deeper into a series of caves in order to find rubies. However the caves are filled with traps that will inevitably send you running. Each turn, a new exploration card is flipped. If there are rubies on them, you divide the goodies among the group evenly, leaving any leftover on the card. You then vote whether you want to carry on or whether you will go and count your rubies back at the camp. If you leave you are also able to gather any left rubies on the path stashing them into the treasure chests provided where nothing can happen to them. However, the meat of the game is to see how far you can go. Because as traps are flipped you get dangerously close to leaving the cave with nothing but your tail between your legs. If two of the same type of danger are ever flipped you have no choice but to flee, dropping everything you have picked up so far. Once players get the thrill of push-your-luck you can move them onto Quacks of Quedlinburg or eventually up to its more complex bigger sister, Clank! Diamant also makes a fantastic gift being at such a low price point and makes for a great family game for after huddling around to watch the King’s Speech. Go on, take the gamble and persuade granny to go one more space only to watch her flee from a giant snake. It never gets old!
Takenoko – Pete Bartlam
Takenoko, the Happy Bamboo-munching, Panda game is a glorious gift for those taking their early steps on the road to Boardgaming Nirvana. With the cutest little black and white beast, an emphasis on gardening and an eye on the weather, everybody’s favourite topic, there’s appeal for everyone. Add in the facts that it is easy to learn, the turns are quick, the game not long and suitable from age 8 and you’re on to a winner. Oh, did I say it’s visually great and gained a Golden Geek in 2012?
Takenoko (translates as “Bamboo sprout”) recounts the gift of a Giant Panda from the Chinese Ambassador to the Japanese Emperor. As his court members you must oversee the laying out of irrigated plots so the weary gardener can grow pink, green and yellow bamboo for the black-eyed bear to eat. The laying out of the hexagonal tiles from the central pond and the irrigation channels snaking out on their intersections is reminiscent of Catan but here you lay the tiles. The Gardener moves setting sprouts and watching them grow whilst the cheeky Panda moves around munching them! These neat stacking pieces of bamboo can quickly grow to a maximum of four tall.
There are 3 ways to gain Victory Points, each with their own decks of Objective cards. You can : match patterns of bamboo beds; grow different sets of bamboo stalks or eat particular combos of bamboo. Each turn you perform 2 separate actions out of 5 : placing tiles, irrigation, move the gardener, move the Panda; take a new objective card. You also roll a Weather die for additional beneficial effects. The game ends when a certain number of objectives dependent on player count are met.
That’s it! Lovely to look at, lovely to play. Happy munching.
Akropolis – Favouritefoe
I was a late entry into the board gaming hobby club. And my journey was fairly traditional in terms of playing Ticket to Ride and being spellbound. But over the course of 3 years, I have fallen hard for tile laying games. I have found many of them to be light on rules but enable gaming goodness at relative levels of synapse sizzle. And I think if I had played a tile laying game first, I would have been enchanted before I had even finished my first ever game!
Akropolis by Hachette Board Games UK and Gigamic is one such title. In it, you are building an ancient city by drafting and laying hexominal tiles in connecting ways. Different district types have their own scoring criteria. Plus the higher you can stack tiles on top of each other, the more they will be worth at end game. Well, I say that. Levelling up does act as a multiplier for scoring. But only if your city has star showing plazas of the matching district type! After all, zero multiplied by anything is zero! Going up does, however, eliminate what was previously laid underneath. So you have to balance your development of districts and plazas throughout the game. Keeping an eye on how other cities are expanding is also highly recommended! New tiles are acquired by drafting from a row called the market, and you can pay for more expensive tiles using stones. Stones can be collected by stacking tiles on top of quarries (and unused stones will also be worth points at end game).
With optional advanced scoring variants and a solo mode, Akropolis can be played by anyone from a fresh faced gamer to battle hardened hobby veterans. We love it, and I expect that this spatial puzzle will encourage many new to board gaming to fall headfirst down the rabbit hole!
Stomp the Plank – Neil Proctor (Board Game Happy)
When gifting a board game to a friend or family member it can be really difficult to choose the perfect game that not only will appeal to the younger members of the family but also the senior ones and everyone else in between. Thankfully I have the perfect gift idea that is super fun, looks amazing and can be played by almost anyone. The game is Stomp the Plank.
One look at the components and you can immediately see the appeal of this game to the younger gamer. It has a pirate ship right on the box, four adorable elephants and, most excitingly, planks for the elephants to walk along and, with the screams of laughter from everyone around the table, to fall off into the murky seas.
At its heart Stomp the Plank is a very simple push your luck game and as such it is incredibly easy to teach. On your turn you reveal cards until either you choose to stop or two of the same symbols have been revealed on the cards. If you choose to stop all opponents around the table have to add wooden weights to the danger end of their planks, enough of which will cause the plank to collapse sending the elephant into the big blue. If you reveal two of the same symbols you have to move your elephant one step further on the plank. The game is won when either you have the last elephant standing or you manage to reveal six cards in a single turn without repeating any symbols.
Stomp The Plank is the perfect Christmas gift as it will keep everyone entertained not only for the big day but throughout the rest of the year as well.
Colt Express – Roger BW
Colt Express is a programming game which makes a good gift for someone getting into games, because it’s easy to learn and fast to play with great visual appeal. You’re all bandits in the Old West, robbing a train to get the most money when it gets to the station.
Each round a round card will say how many cards everyone will play, and any special rules (maybe your second card will go face down so other players can’t see what you’re doing). You plan out what you want to do: go here, pick up loot, run away. Everyone, in order, plays a card from their hand onto a common pile, going around as many times as the round card indicates: maybe you’ll move, climb to the roof, shoot somebody or pick up cash. Turning over the pile you resolve the cards in the order they were played, filling in the details: when the move card comes up, you have to move, but where you move is your choice.
Maybe you said climb but you got shot at and you had to go to the roof to escape—so now you’re forced to climb down again instead or you wanted to shoot someone, but there’s nobody in range to shoot. The situation rapidly devolves into chaos: “Why did you punch me?” “I was going after Ghost but he ran away!” Each bandit also has a unique power, like blasting people backwards with their shots or being able to fire vertically.
When the train arrives, everyone counts their loot—and there’s a special award for the bandit with fewest bullets left in their gun, which often tips the balance. As you get shot, you’ll take other players’ bullet cards into your deck, and these serve to clog up your hand and reduce your options.
This game is best with at least four players; the basic box supports six, and the new Big Box edition up to nine with a bit more complication.
So there you have it, 10 Great Gift Games for New Gamers. They’re pretty good for old hands too. Since reading this feature I’ve got another three of them for myself!