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Secret Santa seems like a great idea. Cheaper gifts with no one finding out what you got them and therefore shooting you evil eyes for the rest of the year. Invariable, though, you end up either buying something you think is really cool, but everyone else hates or chocolate to the specified value. Well, this year you are in luck! I'm here to dispense my lofty board game wisdom so that you can buy a brilliant gift. One that not only enriches the fun and friendship in your victim but also might entice them further into the wonderful world of board games.
Secret Santa's Good List
I'd love to say that any game would be a good buy but that would be an awful lie. However, there are some ways to check. Firstly opinions are subjective! What does your victim, umm, giftee like? Are they a thinker? Do they like patterns? Are they the life of the party? Also, you can check reviews! Search our blog here and massive repository site Board Game Geek, where ALL THE GAMES are rated by players. As a guide, anything with a rating of 6 or more will be decent and loved by some! Lastly, at least a board game isn't as rubbish as the gift you would have got them!
Bandido
As simple as it is small, Bandido is a co-operative game that challenges players to work together to stop a bandit digging out of prison. It's a shoe-in for a great Secret Santa gift. Each player will have three tunnel cards in hand and on a turn lay one of them down attempting to lead the bandit to a dead end. This can be done through clever loops or using the few and far between dead-end cards. The rules are simple and this one will have people of all ages playing and laughing.
Don't Get Got - Christmas Edition
Don't Get Got is a fantastic challenge based game that gives players a set of amusing small tasks. For example, you might have to get another person to sing a Christmas song with you. If they do you pass that task. Pass the most tasks and win! The catch is if they turn around and ask you 'Is this the game?' you fail that task FOREVER! The game plays out over as long as it takes and is therefore perfect fodder for Christmas get-togethers and this Christmas edition is specially formulated for such and occasion!
Dobble Harry Potter
Dobble is a game of pure voodoo. Each card has a dozen or so pictures on and somehow shares exactly one picture with every other card. Don't try and work it out. Others have tried and failed. This version is themed with Harry Potter, meaning all the little pictures are from Harry Potter. There are a number of different games included but all revolve around spotting the image that is shared across two cards first. It's simple, fun and can be played and enjoyed by anyone!
Just One
Just One is a co-operative party game with clever wordplay. One player will be the guesser drawing a word card and placing on their stand so everyone else can see it but they cannot. Each card has five words on it and the guesser will select a number at random and tell the other players which number it is. The other players will write a one word clue to help the guesser work out the word. However, any words the other players write that are the same cancel each other out meaning the guesser gets fewer clues! Together as a team, you try to get as many words as you can. It's surprisingly fun and frustrating as you find out that people can't guess the right word with ONE CLUE!
Mr Lister's Quiz Shootout
Big Potato Games are great at putting interesting spins on trivia games, and truthfully you could buy any of them. Mr Lister's Quiz Shootout sees you split into teams and try to answer questions with multiple correct answers. Some of these answers are golden giving you even more of a chance to win points. It's a simple twist but it works and it's much better than Trivia Pursuit. Splitting into team means you can split the knowledge in the room too - perfect Secret Santa fodder.
Cockroach Poker
Cockroach Poker is a game about bluffing. You will pass another player a facedown card and tell them what it is. It will be one of a number of bats, toads or insects but you don't have to be truthful. The player you pass the card too has a couple of choices they can agree or disagree with your claim and flip the card. If they are right about it you put the card in front of you, but if they are wrong they keep the card. Or they can secretly look at the card and then pass it to another player claiming it is the same thing or a different creature. For example, you pass a toad to Sue and say 'This is a bat', Sue looks at it and passes it to Henry saying 'it's not a bat it's a toad'. This continues until a player calls out someone. If it's passed to the last player in the group they must make a call. It's a huge amount of fun and great watching the meta develop as you play longer into the game!
Skull
Continuing the bluffing shenanigans is Skull. A game that comes with cardboard mats that look more like coasters from a pub. The goal is to score two points by successfully turning over a number of coasters without turning over a skull. Each player has four coasters, three flowers and a skull. Players take turns laying one of their coasters face down in front of them. Once everyone has at least one coaster in front of them, players have a new option - to make a bid.
To do so you must bid a number that represents how many coasters you will turn over without hitting a skull. The trick here is that you must always go through your own pile completely first. After your bid, each player gets a chance to increase the bid or bow out with the player having the biggest bid trying to achieve their bid.
It's chaotic fun, simple but with various plots and plans that end up happening. From sneaky players who try to lure others into bigger bids to the hilarious unfortunate player who ends up turning their own skull over. Lots of fun to be had with this one!
Deep Sea Adventure
A perfect push your luck game that rewards just the right amount of greed? Yes please! Deep Sea Adventure's tiny box doesn't give too many clues to the fantastic game within. Each player will take the role of a diver across three dives. You will roll two dice to see how far you can move. Which sounds a bit archaic but they both go from 1-3 so your move will be from 2-6 initially. You move across a randomly seeded bunch of tokens that get more valuable the deeper you dive. Once you stop moving you can pick up the treasure you landed on and decide whether to carry on deeper on your dive or return to the sub. This is important because once you change direction - that's it.
Also once you pick up treasure you get weighted down meaning for each bit of treasure you have you must subtract one from your roll and move the shared oxygen supply down by the same amount. This shared oxygen track is genius as it means you pushing your luck, or even taking lower value treasure earlier, has a massive impact on the other player's oxygen reserves!
Ganz Schon Clever
To be fair most Roll and Write games would make great Secret Santa options. Ganz Schon Clever is the one the made arguably the biggest impression when it hit though. It's also one of the only games on this list that can be played solo! Each round you will roll a number of coloured dice and choose one to enter into a section of your notepad. Each of these sections has a special rule for how and where it can be written and will also unlock a number of combo opportunities after a few dice have been added. It is deliciously satisfying and keeps you coming back for more!
Infinity Gauntlet: A Love Letter Game
Infinity Gauntlet is a take on the popular Love Letter series. A microgame with only a handful of cards. Infinity Gauntlet ups the stakes with a few more cards, lovely plastic tokens and a one vs all formula. One player takes the role of Thanos with up to 5 others playing the Avengers. On your turn, you draw a card and play a card. Simples. However often cards will drive interaction that can be combined cleverly with other card powers. This is especially important for the heroes who will need to gather information for each other if they are to be successful! A great game, the best love letter and the most gamery game on the list.
Secret Santa Complete
Whether you find something on this list or use it to inspire your purchases Zatu has you covered this Christmas with a wide range of games at great prices, remember that you can search games by price bracket too - just head to the sale or Christmas tabs! You can even browse our Secret Santa category here. Happy Christmas!