This Christmas Your Family Wants Games – Lots of Games!
It’s that time of year again! The weather is starting to chill and people are starting to unpack and display their holiday decorations. There’s no doubt about it that it’s time to start shopping for gifts… if you haven’t already! Each year, we gather together various lists of products in a variety of categories that includes games, toys, electronics, household items and more. We’re kicking this year’s holiday gift guides off with a 18 amazing family games!
Below is the first of several lists that will include the same format. The name of the product and the brand to start it off. If you see our logo behind the brand, you can click on that to see the article where we featured the game in more detail. Those articles usually include an overview of the product (more details of how to play if it’s a game) along with several pictures. Following the name, brand and logo, you’ll see a picture of the product, description and a link to where to purchase it. Shameless plug: We hope you’ll consider clicking through if you find something you like as we get a small commission for each purchase and that helps us continue to keep SahmReviews.com up and running.
Of course, we couldn’t resist running our annual Mega Giveaway promotion again this year with lots of giveaways that will launch between now and December 31st. In prior years, we’ve run one giveaway each day but this year there will be more than one each afternoon so keep watch for those!. We hope these gift guides will help you find some ideas to wrap for your family and friends this holiday season!
Herbaceous Sprouts
Pencil First Games
Unwind while enjoying this beautiful and thoughtful game of collecting seeds, using garden tools, and growing herb and flower sprouts.
Wreck Raiders
KTBG
Dive deep to open a wreck filled with beautiful treasures. Dice drafting, worker placement, and set collection make this a perfect game for a family game night or a night of gaming with your friends.
EXIT: The Haunted Roller Coaster
Thames & Kosmos
The EXIT: The Game series allows you to bring the excitement, intensity, and team spirit of an escape room to your living room. In each EXIT game, your team starts our locked in an imaginary room or trapped somewhere. You must solve a series of riddles and puzzles in order to unlock doors and objects, and reveal new riddles. Each correct solution brings you to another riddle and eventually to freedom.
Astro Trash
TheOP
Astro Trash is a game in which each player must get rid of all the Trash on their play mat at the expense of the players to their left and right. Players simultaneously roll three dice and rapidly move the “trash” according to the direction, quantity, and color indicated on the dice. Be the first to rid your planet of trash to win the round and earn your trash trophy. First player to collect three trash trophies wins!
Silver
Bezier Games
A fast & engaging card game with a werewolf twist! Shed your village of werewolves faster than your opponents using your resident’s special abilities and shedding cards when you can! Once you feel you have the lowest point value, call for a vote and you may be granted the powerful Silver Amulet of Protection!
Tricky Druids
Pegasus Spiele
Tricky Druids is a family game about brewing potions and gift-giving for extraordinarily nice people. Each turn, players will roll custom dice to determine the ingredients they collect this round. Then they have to choose some of the ingredients and give them to another player as a present. Only if the other players kindly decline the gift, the active player may use them for their own potion – that’s tricky!
Meltdown
Playmonster
Stack cubes on the platform (balancing on the goop!) without them falling off. Be careful! The putty causes gradual shifting and moving, so keep that in mind when placing your cubes! Rolling the die will tell you how many cubes to put on during your turn. Any that fall off on your turn now become yours. The first player to get all of their cubes piled on is the winner.
Kenny G – Keepin’ It Saxy
Big G Creative
Help Kenny G stay in the groove with the power of jazz! In this cooperative game, players work together to make sure Kenny stays smooth and saxy through a hectic day. During each round, players will play sound cards to help Kenny overcome uncool events, detangle his luscious locks, and avoid rush hour traffic without missing a brassy beat. No jazz playing in the elevator? Scat with your friends and a “Biddle Scoodily Bop” can get Kenny back in the groove and keeping it smooth and saxy.
1st & Roll
R&R Games
Now all the plays are in the palm of your hand. Is it time to rush, pass or kick? Call the shots by using the Play die you want. Picking the right plays could get a lot of yardage unless the defense sets up correctly to shut it down. Fumbles, interceptions, sacks, penalties, deep passes, breakaway runs are all here!
Poker Tiles
MasterPieces
Now everyone can enjoy the fun of poker! Poker Tiles combines the strategy of a tile game and the excitement of real poker action. Creative poker combos can rack up points fast! Play traditional poker hands to score points, make combos with the tiles on the board, and use wild jokers to increase your score!
SOS Dino
iello (Loki)
Demonstrate your anticipation and teamwork to save the 4 Dinos! Pick a tile, put it on the board and then move one of the Dinos to secure it safely on the mountains. Beware the lava and the meteorites falling!
Creatures and Cupcakes
Social Sloth Games
A 2-4 player family game about taming magical creatures using cupcakes. Push your luck to draw cupcakes from the bag that you need, but don’t push too hard or you will bust!
Deadly Doodles
Steve Jackson Games
In this quick-playing doodle game, 1–4 players simultaneously draw paths through a dangerous dungeon. Draw cards, draw a path through your dungeon, and rack up points! Collect loot and fight monsters . . . or run away screaming! Can you defeat the dragon for the big score?
TEAM3
Brain Games
A party game high on variety that pushes communication to the next level.
It livens up parties by constantly surprising both the players and the spectators.”
Legendary Forests
iello
Create your own world!
In this poetic and quick game, relax and embellish your planet with beautiful trees and leaves!
Butts Up
Playmonster
One player stands in the middle and reads a statement from the device (like: Butts Up…if you have gone zip-lining). The rest of the players are sitting around in chairs, and if they can respond to the phrase in the affirmative (they have gone zip-lining) they get up and rush to find a new seat. The person in the middle also rushes to a seat. The one left without a chair is the new player in the middle. When a player ends up in the middle, they take a ring. When the rings are gone, the player with the least amount of rings is the winner.
UNDO
Pegasus Spiele
Undo is a new game series. In each installment of the series, players will experience a unique story, starting at the tragic death of the protagonist of the story. Players will travel through the history of that person and try to change the past to prevent the death from happening at all. Each decision can influence the outcome of the story. But not every change will make things better for the protagonist. The first three releases will be: Cherry Blossom Festival (set in modern Japan), Curse from the Past (set in Germany in the 90s) and Blood in the Gutter (set in the USA in the 20s).
Planet
Blue Orange Games
Take on the role of super beings and compete to create perfect worlds with the ideal conditions for wildlife to flourish. In this very unique game, each player’s board is a 12-sided 3-dimensional planet core. Throughout 12 turns, select landscape tiles representing oceans, deserts, mountains or frozen lands, and arrange them on your planet to create the best ecosystems. Win Animal Cards while fulfilling your own ‘’Natural Habitat’’ objective and create the most populated planet in the universe!
While we’ve labeled these as family games, they’re good for a variety of ages! Start the year off right by adding a weekly game night to your calendar with family and/or friends. These games are a great way to put that plan into action! Stay tuned in coming days for more guides with more ideas to help with your holiday shopping.
So many great games in this holiday gift guide!
I hadn’t head of the Undo games before. Those sound really interesting.
I see some good choices for my younger grandchildren like the SOS Dino or the Creatures and Cupcakes.
So far Silver is my favorite! Fingers crossed.
Wreck Raiders
The EXIT: The Haunted Roller Coaster game sounds like fun!
I WANT WIN 😉
I want to try the Exit series games so bad! I am putting at least one on my Christmas list this year
So many games, so little time. I haven’t had the chance to play any of these yet.
My favorite is Herbaceous Sprouts. I just bought Wreck Raiders but I haven’t played it yet.
Nice ideas for gifts
Fav – Wreck Raiders
I think Poker Tiles is my favorite on the list although there are so many interesting games, it’s really hard to pick just one
Legendary Forests looks like the artwork will be beautiful!
These are all so exciting looking . Would love to add a few to our family game night rotation.
Herbaceous Sprouts makes me think of Harry Potter for some reason. Probably because of Professor Sprout! Looks like a great game.
Planet!
Planet
Astro Trash is my favourite.
TODAY I LIKE POKER TILES.
I’d like to play Astro Trash game
THESE GAMES ARE A GREAT WAY TO CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER!
I LIKE THE POKER TILES.
Poker Tiles look super fun!
Poker Tiles looks like the best one for me, but SOS Dino looks good as well.
Astro Trash
Wreck Raiders
I like the game Creatures and Cupcakes
I like UNDO by Pegasus Spiele
I like Creatures and Cupcakes and Keepin’ it Saxy with Kenny G!