Happy Holiday Season, gamers! I know some might say it’s still a bit early, but it’s never too early to pick up some gifts for the ones you love! For this year’s gift guide I decided to focus on great games to pick up for your non-gamer friends & family, because sometimes it can be hard to find something to entertain the whole family at get-togethers/visits when they aren’t as familiar with games. These games are easily accessible, have simple rules to learn and teach, and can be played by a wide range of ages! Since I know there’s plenty of us who might also not be able to travel for the holidays this year, I’ll also note which of these are good to play virtually over video conferencing. They are in no particular order, so check them out, see what sounds interesting, and pick some up for your family this holiday season! Happy Gaming~
Hues and Cues
WHAT: A party game where players take turns giving clues to get others to guess a specific color on a large, colorful board!
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s great for non-gamers because it’s approachable and doesn’t require any prior knowledge (like some trivia games) or deep strategy. Plus, there are infinite options for clues, because it’s all about how you see a color, not how you necessarily think others see it.
PLAYER COUNT: 4-10
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Yes, if you are tech savvy and have a way to set up a wide camera angle so everyone can see the board. My review talks about this a little bit.
MSRP: $24.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Amazon
Just One
WHAT: A party game where players give one-word only clues to get the active player to guess a mystery word. Same-word clues get cancelled out, hurting the team, so players need to choose carefully and anticipate what others in the group might say, and what will help the active player
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s great for non-gamers because it lets players work together while avoiding alpha-playing, since words are written in secret. There’s also so many clues that can be given, even if you get the same mystery words in multiple games, the clues can be vastly different!
PLAYER COUNT: 3-7 (but you could easily let more play if you needed to with just paper and pens)
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Yes!
MSRP: $24.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Walmart/Amazon/ Miniature Market
Tattoo Stories
WHAT: A simple drawing game where players take turns as a tattoo client and judge the tattoo designs from all the artists (non-active players) based on various criteria they are looking for in a tattoo (based on cards drawn each round)
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s light, silly, and you don’t necessarily need to be a great artist because tattoos can be words, quotes, numbers, and more! Plus, if you’re a good salesperson, you might still be able to convince the client to choose you!
PLAYER COUNT: 4-6 (but you could add more with paper and pens if you wanted)
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Yes!
MSRP: $19.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Amazon
Color Brain: Disney Edition
WHAT: A guessing/trivia-esque game where players need to accurately recall the color schemes of various Disney characters and their belongings (i.e. Sully’s fur, Carl’s hair, or Aurora’s dress)
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s great to get Disney fans interested in a game, especially if they like a challenge and want to prove how much they remember about certain characters. It’s a different spin on trivia, focusing on colors, some of which can be very specific.
PLAYER COUNT: 2-4 (if you have more, you can play in teams so there’s more knowledge per team!)
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Possibly. It’s easy enough to tell everyone what color options they have and just have them write it down and reveal all at once their guesses. The hard part is the “stop the leader” cards the game also has, but you could definitely figure something out for that if you get creative!
MSRP: $14.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Amazon
Wits and Wagers
WHAT: A trivia game where players answer questions, all which have number based answers, and then bet on the answer they think is closest without going over.
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: You score based on your bets so you don’t have to know any of the answers, which is awesome, but instead just bet on who you think is most likely to be closest. I also personally feel like making an educated guess is easier since you know it’s always a number.
PLAYER COUNT: 3-7 (may vary by version)
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Yes, if you are tech savvy and have a way to set up a wide camera angle so everyone can see the answers and tell you which they are voting on.
MSRP: It can vary as there’s a few different versions, around $29.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Walmart/Amazon/ Miniature Market
Ticket to Ride: New York
WHAT: A small route building game where players collect sets of colored cards in order to lay taxis along routes to get from Point A to Point B on their secret ticket cards (which show the routes they need to complete).
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s very short (around 20 minutes) so if players don’t like it, they don’t have to play long, but if they do, you can play again and again! It’s also very straightforward (either draw or play cards, and you just want to match them to the routes on the board that get you where you want to go. It’s also colorblind friendly since every color has a symbol assigned to it!
PLAYER COUNT: 2-4
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: No, due to hidden hands of cards
MSRP: $19.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Walmart/Amazon/ Miniature Market
Bob Ross: Happy Little Accidents
WHAT: A drawing game with everyone’s favorite artist, Bob Ross! Players make random doodles on paper and then get dealt a random person’s doodle, which they’ll have to transform into a work of art!
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s really unique that you have to turn basic lines and squiggles that someone else drew into a work of art! It’s very simple drawing, plus the voting at the end is more about just giving points to your favorite piece, and not who was the “best,” so you don’t necessarily have to be an artist to have fun with it!
PLAYER COUNT: 3-6
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: No, due to sharing doodle paper and hidden votes
MSRP: $19.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Walmart/Amazon
Timeline (Series)
WHAT: A trivia game where players try to recall the dates of certain events in history (there are many different sets that focus on various themes like music, science, etc) and put them into the timeline in the correct order. In Timeline Challenge players compete in various mini-games regarding these dates.
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: If you have family members who enjoy history, are good at remembering dates, or even just like learning when certain events are from, this is a great choice! The individual sets are very straightforward, and while Challenge adds in more small games for variety, they are all very simple, and focus on those dates on all the cards, so they’re easy to pick up on. We’ve had a lot of success introducing this one to others!
PLAYER COUNT: 2-10 (you could easily play with more or in larger teams if you want)
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Possibly, if you have a good way of showing everyone their cards, and the timeline (for base game), or if you can show everyone the board and explain the mini-games (for Challenge).
MSRP: $9.99 (Individual Sets) – $39.99 (Challenge); AVAILABLE FROM: Amazon/Miniature Market
Kingdomino
WHAT: A tile drafting and placement game where players are attempting to create the best scoring 5×5 kingdom by creating sections of the same terrain.
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: The mechanics are simple for a wide range of ages, because it’s just about matching like tiles together to score higher. It’s also a pretty quick game, so it’s easy enough to try it out a few times to get the hang of it!
PLAYER COUNT: 2-4
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: No.
MSRP: $19.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Target/Walmart/Amazon/ Miniature Market
Point Salad
WHAT: A card drafting and set collection game where players choose each turn between taking vegetable cards or point-scoring cards. You need to gather some of each throughout the game, so it’s all about balancing the best time to collect vegetables (2 at a time, speeding up the game a bit) or a single scoring card, and hope you’ll get more vegetables later.
WHY IT’S A GOOD CHOICE: It’s light and simple, doesn’t take long, and will convince your mom you’ve been eating your vegetables all along! The iconography is clear, and, again, it’s great for all ages.
PLAYER COUNT: 2-6
GOOD VIRTUALLY?: Possibly. If you can make sure everyone can see all cards available, and maybe write down what cards they take each round so they remember them all. It might be tricky, but if you’re tech savvy, it may not be bad.
MSRP: $19.99; AVAILABLE FROM: Walmart/Amazon/ Miniature Market
Leave a Reply