Today's category for the Gift Guide is Party Games! These are the ones you bring out when everyone's crashed your pad for Christmas. Or when your adult small group gets together for New Year's and someone wants to play Catch Phrase for the millionth time... Or when you have a group of restless teenagers wanting to burn off some energy.
The Resistance—This is hands down one of our favorite games of the year. It's also a great game for larger groups and supports play with up to 10 people! Take all of the elements you like about Mafia, or Werewolf, and leave out the bad, and you have The Resistance. Players are members of the Resistance trying to topple the evil oppressive government, but there are spies among them trying to sabotage them at every turn! The Resistance is a quick playing highly interactive game, that will have players wanting to play again as soon as the first game ends! We seriously can't get enough of this game! You can read our review here. There's also a new version called The Resistance: Avalon that has some special powers, and is a good next-step after the original.)
Cost: $20
Available From: Amazon
, your local game store, and soon big box department stores.
Ages: Probably 14 and up for this one.
Fluxx—This signature game from Looney Labs has become a staple game for larger groups. It's easy to learn, but hard to win—in fact when the game begins there is literally no way to win! Players take turns drawing and playing cards. As cards are played new rules, goals, and items are added to the game; once a goal is met, then the game is over. The game is always changing, and planning a turn in advance is nearly impossible; it's high on luck, and low on strategy, which makes the game both fun and frustrating at times. Fluxx comes in many different flavors, including Pirate, Wizard of Oz, Zombie, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail! Check out our review of Fluxx right here!
Cost: $15
Ages: 8 & up
Available From: Amazon, most department stores and your local game shop.
Time's Up: Deluxe—I've (Firestone) played this charades variant a RIDICULOUS number of times, and I love it. 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. So much fun.
Cost: ~20
Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local game store.
Ages: Adults (I don't think this would be a good game for teenagers—too many names they've never heard of.)
Wits & Wagers—The great thing about this "trivia" game is that you don't have to know a lot of trivia to do well. The game asks a question—such as "How tall is the Statue of Liberty?" Everyone answers, and then you bet on whose answer you think is actually closest. You do get points for having the answer closest to the actual answer, but you can still do well by betting well.
Cost: ~$20
Available From: Amazon, Target, and your friendly local game store.
Ages: 10 and up (There's also Wits & Wagers Family, which removes the "gambling" element and has questions that are appropriate for kids and the whole family.)
Dixit—Bring your creativity for this game. There are lots and lots of wild and interesting pictures. Everyone is dealt a hand of the cards. On your turn, you pick a card from your hand, place it facedown, and say a word or phrase that describes that picture in some way. Then everyone picks a card from their hand that could also describe the word or phrase you said and adds it to the facedown pile. You shuffle the cards, place them faceup, and guess which card you think was the original card. You don't want to be too obvious in your descriptive word(s), because if everyone guesses correctly, you get no points. And anyone who played a card that was guessed (incorrectly) gets points, too. I really like how this stretches me creatively.
Cost: ~$25
Available From: Amazon, Target, and your friendly local game store.
Ages: 8 & up
Spot It!—This might be a little short for a party game, but if your group likes short games, this is perfect for large groups. Everyone is trying to be the first to spot the symbol on the middle card that matches one in front of them. It's harder than it sounds. This game is cheap, portable, and easily explained—perfect for a party! Check out our full review here!
Cost: ~$14
Available From: Amazon, Target, and your friendly local game store.
Ages: 5 and up. This would work great with any group.
Jungle Speed—Everyone has a pile of cards. Each person in turn flips the top card of their pile. If the pattern matches someone else's, there's a duel where you both try to grab the stick in the middle. Bandage everyone up, and continue! We reviewed the whole game a few weeks ago.
Cost: ~$15
Available From: Amazon, department stores, and your friendly local game store.
Ages: 7 and up
Say Anything—You're asked a question, such as "What is the most overrated band of all time?" People write down what they think your answer would be. You secretly pick one of the given answers as the "correct" answer. Then everyone bets on which of those answers they think you picked. (BTW, the correct answer is The Dave Matthews Band.)
Cost: ~$20
Available From: Amazon, Target, and your friendly local game store.
Ages: 8 & up (Like Wits & Wagers, this one has a Family version with more family friendly questions.)
Bang!—The Spaghetti Western card game, another fun "role" based game in which players are dealt a role card that determines how they play and win the game. Lots of finger pointing, dueling, and just plain taking pot shots at your friends! Check out our full review here.
Cost: $20
Available From: Amazon and your local game store
Ages: 8 & up
We Didn't Playtest This at All—A game that not only rivals the quirkiness of Fluxx, it surpasses it! WDPTAA is a very fast-playing game for larger groups. The goal is simple: win. There are a few ways to win, but the best way is to not lose. And there are a TON of ways to lose. Players can lose one at a time, or in large fell swoops, depending on the card played. It's totally random, but totally fun! Every time we play it there are a ton of laughs! And you can read the full review on the game right here!
Cost: $15 (On Amazon, although my copy was $8 at my local game store)
Available from: Amazon, and local game stores
Ages: 8 & up
So what did we miss? Leave a comment and let us know. And thanks for reading!
Catan Ornament - For the serious Catan fan, this cut-brass beauty will help you celebrate the season while settling on the newfound island of Catan. The third in the Catan Resource series, this year's ornament features wool.
Pirates of the Spanish Main card game - Wizkids Games' latest reboot of their former titles, turns their classic consrtuctable strategy game, into a single-deck card game, perfect for the nostalgic Pirates player, with lots of art that has been re-purposed for the game.
When Zombies Attack - Because Attack Dice (makers of When Zombies Attack), isn't Steve Jackson Games, this fun little dice roller has been somewhat overlooked. Unlike Jackson's "Zombie Dice"—which is basically a re-themed version of Farkle—When Zombies Attack is a competitive dice game that has players trying to eliminate not ALL of the zombies, just ones attacking them! Totally worth picking up and stuffing someone's stocking with this one!
Alvin and Dexter: A Ticket to Ride Monster Expansion - By far one of the coolest mini expansions for a game to come along in a while! This was released last year and is becoming harder to find! They're out there, so grab a set for your gamer and become the hero of the day! It's like a Godzilla effect for Ticket to Ride! 'Nuff said!
Lord of the Rings card sleeves - Fantasy Flight released a series of card sleeves featuring art from LOTR: the card game, every gamer wants to sleeve their cards, but most of the time they buy the cheap clear sleeves because that leaves more money for more games. So a couple packs a snazzy LOTR sleeves is sure to make the yuletide gay! (Note- there are Star Wars sleeves available now too!)
IronDie - I saw these at Origins this year and HAD to buy one. Simply because they are so cool! There is a game that is played with them if you choose to buy the whole set, but if you play any game that requires a 6-sided die, pick up a couple of these to replace them! There are now also polyhedral designs for that role player on your list!
