2013 Holiday Gift Guide—Party Games

Well, here we go again with our 2013 edition of the Holiday Gift Guide. So let's get this PARTY started with Party Games! These are the games you'll grab when you've got a room full of friends over and someone says, "Let's Play Apples To Apples!" Once you kick that dork out of your house, you can pull out one of these fun games...

The Resistance: Avalon—Yes, The Resistance was on last year's list, too. But that's because it's not just the best large-group game out there, IT'S THE BEST GAME OUT THERE, PERIOD. It's a hidden-role game, where some people are loyal knights of King Arthur, and some are secretly siding with the forces of Mordred. This one includes specific roles with special powers, and new ways to play. And this will work for as many as 10 people—I'm not sure it's good with that number, but it does go up to that number. Longtime readers are sick of us talking about how great this game is, but it's ridiculously fun.

MSRP: $20 (Find it online)

Ages: Probably 14 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-mI

Reverse Charades—If you like your party games a little more traditional, then Reverse Charades is the game for you! Players form teams, and instead of one player trying to get his/her team to guess the answer to what they are acting out, the entire team acts out clues while one player attempts to guess the correct answers. This one is lots of fun, and great for any social gathering! Every time we play this I end up with a headache from laughing so much! And a year later, the folks who played it still bring up the image of my friend Joe acting out Baby Powder... *shudder*

MSRP: $20 (Find it online)

Ages: Probably 10 and up. There are other editions, including a Junior one with easier clues.

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-Dt

Choose One—A simple party game from the folks who brought us Fluxx, Choose One is great for both old friends, and as an icebreaker for folks who’ve just met. A new spin on the classic “Would You Rather” type games, Choose One gives two hypothetical options to a different player each round. The rest of the players then vote on which option the current player chose. The current player reveals their choice, and points are awarded depending on who answered correctly and who didn’t. Look for a review from us soon!

MSRP: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: 14 and up, according to the box.

Review: Coming Soon

Two Rooms and a Boom—This one isn't out yet, but you can print-and-play the game until it does come out, so there's no excuse. (Even if you don't want to, you could pay to have Kinko's print it out for you.) The more people the better, here. The idea is that there's a President, and a Bomber, and after a certain number of rounds, the Bomber wants to be in the same room as the President, and the President doesn't want to be in the same room as the Bomber. Their respective teams are trying to manipulate things so their team's goal is in place at the end of the game. There are a TON of roles in the game, and when you get ~15 or more people playing, it's just an amazing experience.

MSRP: Not sure since it's not out yet—probably ~$20-$25.

Ages: They say 8 and up, though that seems young to us.

Time's Up: Deluxe—Yeah, this was also on last year's list, but I (Firestone) played this again last night, and it is SO. MUCH. FUN! We play in teams, and everyone is given the same 40 names of famous people. You play in three rounds: In the first one you can use words and actions and sounds and pretty much whatever to get your team to guess the name. In the second round you're all playing with the same exact words, but this time you can only use one word (but still actions and sounds). And finally, in the third round, again using the same batch of words, you can only use actions and sounds.

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: Adults (I don't think this would be a good game for teenagers—too many names they've never heard of.)

The Princess Bride: Prepare to Die! If you're like us, most of your friends and relatives want to play Apples to Apples… again… And we… well, don’t. Prepare to Die is the perfect solution to give your friends the experience they want, while diffusing your urges to rage quit because you once again got the oh so clever “Paris, France” card to play… (Yawn). Prepare to Die is mechanically the same: One player reads a card, “Hello my name is… [Fill in the blank]” and the rest of the players play a “You (Blanked) my (Blank), Prepare to Die!” card. The major difference being the pop/geek culture references in Prepare to Die! are much more interesting and entertaining. Again, this one is a great game for fun light-hearted social gatherings, and who doesn’t LOVE the Princess Bride!?

MSRP: $25 (Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up. But younger players may not get all the references

Preview: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-GB

Well there you have it! Are there any we left off? Any that shouldn't be there? Have a great Thanksgiving, and we'll see you after the holiday. Play some games with people you love!

What You Missed...

It's been a busy week for us... Unfortunately, not because of the blog, but because of life. So it's been an unusual week, but here is what we have been up to this week! Enjoy! There is a lot of news flying around this time of year and here are some of the new announcements we brought you - Fantasy Flight Announces the Kessel Run for Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures.

Looney Labs announced the near completion of the Fluxx iOS app.

And AEG announced the first expansion for Smash Up!

Firestone also posted a review to "Get Bit!"

And we've added  yet another installment of the 2012 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide!

Thanks so much for reading, and have great weekend!

2012 Holiday Board Game Gift Guide—Kids Games

As the holiday season fast approaches, we thought we'd work up a (hopefully) helpful list of games for people who are looking to give a board game as a gift, but have no idea what to get or where to get it. This isn't exhaustive, and it's full of our own biases, but it should give you some ideas. (We're only mentioning games that are in print, so cool games such as Gulo Gulo, and The Magic Labyinth aren't here.) And please feel free to contact either one of us if you have specific questions. About board games. Not your Calculus homework... We're going to start with Kids Games. We'll have a separate list for Family Games, but these are games specifically meant for kids—even though many of them are great fun for adults, too.

Loopin' Louie—This fantastic game has gone through many cycles of being in print and then out of print—I had to order a copy from Germany! But you're in luck! It's in print, and I've seen this on the shelves of Toys R Us, so snatch one up before they're hard-to-find again. There's a crazed pilot trying to knock off your chickens, and you have to bounce him away. It's as insane as it sounds—and I mean that in a good way. My 4-year-old wants to play this all the time. And my group of adult gamers has Loopin' Louie tournaments on a fairly regular basis.

Cost: ~$20

Available From: Toys R Us (online and in-store), Amazon , and your friendly local board game store

Ages: My 4-year-old plays, but if I'm being honest, he's a tad young. Probably 5 or 6 and up on this one. (But seriously, snag one now.)

Animal Upon Animal—The publisher HABA makes some really cool kids games, and this is no exception. It's a bunch of carved and painted animals of varying sizes and shapes, and each person is trying to stack their set of animals without it falling over. It's simple, and kids are good at it—I think because they're so fearless.

Cost: ~$20

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 4 and up. Unlike some other games, this doesn't have a whole lot of appeal for older kids or adults. Definitely a kids game.

Chicken Cha Cha Cha—This is a memory game. You're moving your chickens along a path, and trying to remember where various tiles are. If you pick the right tile, you move forward, and if you move over another chicken, you steal one of their feathers. The winner is the person who manages to get one of every feather. Kids are ridiculously good at this—probably because they still have a decent memory. Unlike, say...me! There's a small, hard-to-find expansion for this that introduces small wooden piles of chicken poop. Yes, it's weird. Yes, my kids love it.

Cost: ~$35

Available From: Amazon , and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 4 and up. I don't think older kids would like this, and there's no crossover appeal for adults, either. But parents will enjoy playing with their little ones.

Sorry Sliders!—Sorry is a game many of us played as kids, but it's dice-driven, so ultimately unsatisfying (in my opinion). But take out the dice and add a dexterity element, and it turns into a fun game! The pieces each have a ball bearing in them, so they sliiiiiiiide on boards. And the boards can be moved and swapped and changed depending on the number of players, or the variant you're playing.

Cost: ~$20

Available From: Amazon, big box stores (such as Target or Wal-Mart), and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 6 and up—though my 4-year-old does fine with it. Families, teenagers and adults will have fun with this, too.

Hula Hippos—This is a fast, easy dexterity filler. There's a polished wooden ring, and a bunch of small wooden hippos. You spin the ring, and people try and slide their hippos into the ring as it falls. If you can manage that, your hippo goes away; if you're the first to get rid of your hippos, you win. There's enough chaos and uncertainty that it's good for all ages.

Cost: ~$10

Available From: Amazon , and your friendly local board game store

Ages: 5 and up. This is a fun game for many ages. We've used this as a quick filler in my game group.