Can we have a 'what board games are you getting' chat thread please?

[fuzzpig]

Choosing the board games is my favourite part of Christmas shopping! :o

Unfortunately it is DH's turn to choose the main family game this year so I've reluctantly relinquished control - he's chosen Castle Panic, although the new cooperative Thunderbirds game came a close second.

For the DCs I've got that Bounce Off one that is advertised on telly - looks a bit of a five minute wonder, but they both go gooey over it whenever it comes on, and I'm thinking that will be the Santa present (as they know mum would never buy it ).

DSCs (teens/young adult, all live together) are getting a couple as a joint gift - the Batman edition of Love Letter, and the London Game.

DCs always get Top Trumps in their stockings, so DD (8) has Monster High and DS (6) has the retro style Transformers.

Trying to resist the temptation to add more

Elf Yep good game with 3.

French Good call!

If anyone is looking for Mysterium it is on Wayland Games for £23.99 (£30 delivered.)

I have to step away from this thread.

I finally found you, my people!

This year we were trying to cut back so I didn't order a big family game. However, I'm sure DS's large play table will double as a games table which will be more convenient than opening both leaves of the increasingly wobbly dining table.

I got DH a card game called Timeline, and a different themed set for our friends who also game. I had Agricola Big and Small (2 players) and Hey that's my fish on my wishlist, I doubt he'll have got Agricola because it was pricey, but hopefully he got me Hey that's my fish or something else.

We also have a couple of fairly new games from last year which we haven't played much because of a house move that I'm going to pull out: Small World and The Witches (Discworld) - I'm particularly looking forward to The Witches game as I can play it on my own if DH won't play. Plus old favourites like Scrabble and Ticket to Ride Europe.

I've enjoyed hearing about your games :) Many of which are on another wish list! I'd like to try Settlers of Catan but as we're usually just a couple, I'd probably get the Rivals 2 player version, but its then disappointing not to be able to play it with others when the opportunity arises. Meh. We got Carcassonne for our friends previously which they love and have extended but we haven't managed to arrange more than one game night and they were keen to try ticket to ride.

I'd love some of the games with beautiful artwork too.

DS is 3 and good with numbers, and I'd like to try him with some more games. He's got the very young version of Orchard and some memory cards. But I was thinking he'd probably pick up Connect 4, Snakes and Ladders and Ludo and Snap fairly quickly. Any other suggestions for games for little ones, I especially co-op games like orchard?

I've just bought Exploding Kittens NSFW for my nephew, as well as Mysterium. Now I really, really have to step away....

Thirdthoughts does your DS have Tummy Ache? It was a favourite for years in this house.

No, that looks fun though, thanks! Orchard games are nice - he got the clock one (bit obsessed with time atm) from my friend.

When I mentioned Orchard in my post though I was saying we had this game: My First Orchard though I didn't see the English version last year so we have it in a German box from Amazon.de - It's a junior version of www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000ELORPY/ I didn't realise there was older version is also with wooden pieces.

Been and looked at Hanabi, do we think that or Dominion for adults?

TT Myriad has some nice co-op games. I've not played them myself as my DCs are older and we're pretty new to the whole co-op genre! But I've seen Sandcastles in particular recommended on MN before :)

Spent a lovely long time in the game shop today. Even my dad commented when we left how great the service was and that the guy clearly knew his stuff. I only bought Sushi Go in the end (more expensive than Amazon but I like buying from them because they're awesome!) as I couldn't get out of earshot of the DCs. I had a good look at Sleeping Queens though and I think I'll get that for DD. Gubs looks a bit tricky for DS at the moment. I was very tempted by Tsuro but I've promised myself I wouldn't get another big game - and I think it might be a bit too similar to Indigo.

I was reading the little advertising leaflet that came with Sushi Go, and there were a few games I hadn't heard of. Has anyone played Pick A Polar Bear, Dodge Dice, There's a Moose in the House, Monster Cafe or Super Tooth please?

Oh and Pyramix - anyone played that? Would be great as it's Egypt themed...

fuzzpig

We have There's a Moose in the House. It's ok but not great, not many interesting decisions. Our kids prefer other card games.

I think I forgot to mention Nobody but us Chickens earlier. We played it this evening, simple and fun simultaneous action card game where everyone is trying to guess what everyone else will do (you all have the same hand of chickens, fox, rat and dog, and depending on what the others play your fox/dog/rat catches a different number of chickens). We got it last year and it is still fun (dc now 7 and 10).

DH just got back from a trip abroad and one of the gifts he produced was Exploding Kittens

Right, I've narrowed down my choice to:

Hanabi
Exploding kittens
Go sushi

What would you choose between these 3?

I've been playing Go Sushi today and it is fab! Really quick to get to grips with. My 6yo DS managed it fairly well.

Hanabi is more, erm, thinky IYSWIM

Played King of Tokyo as well, liked it but it's quite complicated - think I'll have to play it more often. I think it would be a bit better with 5 or 6 players.

My friends came up and gave me Monty Python Fluxx for my birthday! Unfortunately I already have it (proves what a perfect present it is for me though!) but I didn't let on. Will sell it later.

Thirdthoughts - Timeline popular here. Not complicated rules. A good mix of easy cards - eg first pyramid built (obv very old), well known dates (eg start of WW1) and guesswork (shopping trolley invented) so everyone can have a guess or be just out! My DM likes to play it with the kids.

DS just picked up Starwars timeline for DD3's present. We'll have to watch the films a lot before we play!

I got dixit and 7 wonders with that link someone kindly posted, was 26 incl postage for two....not bad...

Wow that's great value Elf [santa] enjoy! I'd not realised it would be that much saved, I would've cancelled my Dixit order and redone it with 7 Wonders for not much more. D'oh.

I read through the King of Tokyo instructions properly last night and understand them a bit better now. Turns out we'd missed a couple of details when we played, oops!

I've been using the Gamewright site to read the instructions of the games I'm considering buying - Amazon descriptions often don't help that much!

Sleeping Queens looks like a nice simple concept so I've settled on that for DD (yes yes I know I said earlier in the thread I was going to resist buying them, but I think we all knew that was never going to happen...). I didn't see much reference to the number cards though - is their only purpose to make them into sets so you can draw new cards?

Rat-a-tat Cat seems better than I'd thought. I'm not usually into games where you have to remember cards, read people's expressions/poker faces etc but this seems doable! I'm not so keen on the illustrations though. I might leave that til next year as I'm not sure my youngest would quite 'get it'.

Super Tooth looks adorable and pretty simple while being different from anything we already have, I think DS would love it so will probably get that for him.

Too Many Monkeys looks sweet but seems to be pretty much based on luck rather than strategy so I'll give that one a miss.

On the list of games one called Tiki Topple caught my eye; it's now on my wishlist!

Fuzzpig, I have really happy memories of being beaten at Rat a tat cat by my DD when she was younger. She was a fiend at remembering her cards and the ones she'd seen of mine using the peek card. The tension of deciding when to tap "Rat a tat Cat" was great fun.

She's a teenager and a proper gamer now with multiple packs of cards and funny dice that she takes to clubs. She wants Cash and Guns for Christmas that she played at a gaming convention.

We played Harry Potter Cluedo last night so I must retread this thread and treat us to a new game! Will have a look at 7wonders and digit but we don't have Ticket to ride or Settlers either. Decisions...

Aw that's cool :) I think I will get RATC for his birthday in summer then - he will love the dinosaur pictures on super tooth so I've settled on that in his stocking, where DD will get sleeping queens.

I haven't played 7 wonders or dixit, but both ticket to ride and settlers are brilliant. If you will often only have two players though, TTR would be better as you need 3 to play settlers.

Got my SILs visiting today and I'm hoping they might be up for playing Sushi Go. I'm hooked! Beautiful quality cards too.

Great thread, just spent a FORTUNE on Amazon, so thanks
I have DDs that love games and are away from home so looking for smaller more transportable stuff. they love Cards against Humanity, have just got the adult Exploding Kittens for both of them and also loving the look of Accentuate

I buy for twin boys (14) and have got kittens for him, is there anything comparable (card or other game around 15 quid) to buy the other?

Maybe Sushi to Go, but worried it may seem a little random to a teen boy!

Sushi go or gloom.

I don't know Exploding Kittens (yet!) but Love Letter is a nice card game and you can get various editions if they have a particular interest - I've got Batman version for my DSCs but I've seen Adventure Time, Hobbit and a couple of others

Gloom is a good game but is not greAt for the introverts as it's better if you can tell a story as you play the cards - I love the art and the theory but can't bring myself to make the story up

Ah, that's interesting thank you Wolf - I had wondered about the storytelling aspect.

I'm twitching (already got abalone, ticket to ride, rubiks race) with gloom. Ds(11) has confidence problems with his imagination and writing stories this year and never thought of a game to help. Do you think gloom would be good for this (which one ?as there are lots of versions in Amazon) or another recommendation?

We play gloom without the storytelling element. Love it but I wouldn't even notice the storytelling side.

Story cubes however they are fantastic for imagination and storytelling. Used them with DS (he has ASD) when we were homeschooling. Also fantastic for taking into hospital and making friends over