The Greatest of Gifts

The shopping madness has begun to wane. All the presents have been ordered, received, for the most part, wrapped, and loaded into the family vehicle for the trip to the RELATIVES for the holidays. This year, when you think of gifts, think of games.

For years, I have advocated for tabletop games, and there is no better time to deck the halls with peals of joy, laughter, and memories you will take home with you. Thoughts of family togetherness can lift your spirits. The end of the year brings on nostalgia, the realization of the passage of time, and the closing out of another chapter in our lives. We plan to use this time of remembrance and renewal to catapult our next year with love, preparation, and a cleansing of the cobwebs from our consciousness. This year, bring your family the most incredible gifts, love, and attention.

Every year, I create a list of the best games to take with you to break the ice and rekindle the fires of affection within our families, whether extended to cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces, or just your parents or siblings. This year, I want to walk through the season's festivities with a list that can help be a support to your get-togethers across the spectrum of play styles and situational themes.

1. Icebreakers, the kind of games that open conversation, refresh connections, and don't require a lot of setup or scheduling, are perfect for the early birds and family members involved with other functions like cooking and preparing. Usually, without a required form or rigid structure, Icebreakers tend to be verbal games that let the intellect participate without all the foofaraw. Perennial favorites like Apples to Apples (Mattel) or newer entries like Reverse Charades (Buffalo Games) get people into the action quickly, engaging their emotions and intellect without much investment. Most are fundamentally low in score-tracking and usually are just a means to ease out of our normal interaction flow and into more festive thought processes.
2. Engagement games tend to be more regimented, taking up a small physical space but drawing the players into the experience directly by visual appeal, and in many cases, with tactile or other sensory pleasures. Carcassonne (Z-man Games), a tile-setting game with a serene and peaceful backdrop, feeds both the puzzle-solving and creative processes in the abstract. Wingspan(Stonemaier Games) looks at nature in the arena of bird populations. Players vie for points by maintaining and improving the populations of various birds but don't require a biology background. These competitive and collaborative games capture a more friendly, less competitive style, are suitable for any school-age kids or older, and usually are more satisfying than the usual "Roll the dice, move the mice" games of long ago.
3. Competitive Games, historically drawing more competitive and perhaps aggressive players are always a staple, but this year, consider those that are team-based over the "Winner takes all" variety. Code Names (Czech Games) is a picture-based deductive reasoning game that pits teams of spies into deducing image solutions from one-word clues. Lets you accommodate any sized playing group into teams, enhancing the play experience for larger family gatherings.s Time's Up (R&R Games) is a game for pairs of players, alternately guessing and giving verbal clues, pantomime, and other means to gain the greatest points from among an array of closed-set clues. Both styles are less restrictive, meaning you don't have a set play area for the game, and engaging players of virtually all ages.
4. Beer & Pretzel Games are generally slanted toward a more mature theme, not necessarily precluding children but certainly allowing the "grownups" their brand of darker humor and mature themes. Though these are less cerebral, they tend to be a bit more risque than those played with the kids, but on holiday, the kids DO tend to go to bed earlier than their parents and relatives, don't they? Bad Choices(Bad Choices Games) is a new contender, melding classic Uno mechanics with revelatory dialogue in a fun and squirmy play experience. Slightly more sophisticated, Smart Ass (University Games) engages players in a clues-scaled competition between players, determining who knows the most in a "oneupmanship" theme. Drinks, anyone?
5. Pickup Games are yet another kind of game, suitable for family gatherings, albeit in smaller groups. The idea behind these games is quick to play, easy to learn, and usually for 4 to 6 players. Classic card games like canasta, cribbage, and the like are clear entries into this category. Still, Kingdomino (Blue Orange Games)is a new entry that pits puzzle-working, math skills, and set-building into a single game with a fun fantasy environment. Another, even faster-to-learn tile-setting game is Tsuro (Calliope Games), a game that bears a historical theme, thought the game is really a new classic that could be at every grandma's house event ever.

So there you have it. Ten games to take to Grandma's. With the full complement, you will be the toast of ever gathering, and the whole family will thank you for bringing the fun back to the fundamentals of family gatherings for generations to come.