Make Game Night a Regular Thing by Gifting These Amazing Family Games

It’s that time of year again: our annual gift guides and holiday promotion! This is the first of several guides to provide ideas you may not have thought of. We’ve said many MANY times how important it is to slow down, watch movies, play games and implement ideas for family bonding. Kids grow up, families grow apart, but sometimes it just takes a nudge to bring people together. This list includes an assortment of family-friendly games. That doesn’t mean these are just for little kids, we’ll have a separate gift guide focusing on gifts for younger ages. These game ideas include some strategy, card games, word games and cooperative ones. There’s even a book for planning an RPG night (recipes included!) for the whole family.

As we’ve done in the past, keep an eye out for our SahmReviews logo. It indicates that we’ve featured the game in more detail so click through the logo to learn more. Most of these are new or recently released products which means we haven’t had a chance to share more about them yet. There are a also few that are seasoned products. We’ve opted to include them because they remain very popular and deserve a spot on this list. We hope you’ll find some unique ideas for someone on your shopping list!


Retail Box - boop game

An adorable but challenging abstract strategy game about kittens jumping on a bed and bouncing other cats out of it. With both you and your opponent’s cats pushing each other one space away when placed, it’s like herding cats trying to line them up for a win!


Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition

Bezier Games, Inc.

Retail Box - Cat in the Box Deluxe Game

Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition is the quintessential quantum trick-taking card game for 2 – 5 cool cats, where your card’s color isn’t defined until you play it! Hypothesize how many tricks you will win, and record your bid. Place tokens on the community research board as you play your hand, and connect large groups of tokens to score even more points. Plan your tricks carefully as you cannot claim the color of a card with the same number that has already been declared. Doing so would be pawsitively catastrophic as you have just created a paradox! (Notice this does not say pair o’ dogs. Gross.)


Museum Suspects

Blue Orange Games

Retail Box - Museum Suspects Game

A piece of art was stolen! The museum director relies on you to unmask the thief (or thieves!) hidden among the 16 suspects still in the building. Each turn select a clue, put a price on it, keep track of your investigation in your notebook and suggest a suspect. Use your bluffing skills to throw off your opponents! After 6 turns, all clues are revealed and the player who bet the most on the real thief wins the game!


Castle Panic Big Box (2nd Edition)

Fireside Games

The Castle Panic Big Box is the all-in-one collection. It includes the base game (Castle Panic), the 4 expansions (The Wizard’s Tower, The Dark Titan, Engines of War, and Crowns and Quests), and 13 promo items. All games and promos are in the new art style of second edition, the new custom die, heavier card stock, and improved readability for color-blind players.


Pik Qwik

TCG Toys

Pik Qwik Game

A whirlwind word game set against the buzzer, Pik Qwik tests vocabulary skills like never before! Two to four players can get in on the action, first by flipping over a category card and then quickly being the first to make a word from the letter tile pile in the middle. The first to create a word and hit the buzzer scores! There are four categories: Same Name, Mix Up, On Topic and Rhyme Around.


Retail Box - Ole Guacamole Game

Each turn, draw a card showing a letter and put it on the table next to the previous ones. You now have 12 seconds to find a word thematically linked to the one told by the previous player which doesn’t contain any of the letters shown on the cards already drawn. But if you mess up, take all the cards drawn so far and the next player starts over.


Retail Box - Delicious Game

Spend the afternoon on your rooftop or in your backyard garden. Relax while enjoying this artful game of picking, pairing, and planting fruits and vegetables. Grow your plants in whatever container you can. Wheelbarrows, boots, suitcases – use anything you can to grow delicious eats! Will you create the most delicious garden?


Candygrams

Candygrams

Retail Box - Candygrams Game

Candygrams is the deliciously fun word game that is as simple as rolling the dice, matching colors, and making words. No time pressure. Multiple ages can play together. The candy color theme makes it a sweet gift this holiday season.


Raccoon Tycoon

University Games

Retail Box - Raccoon Tycoon Game

Just as Monopoly subtly taught players about real estate, Raccoon Tycoon will demonstrate the basics of the stock market. In this high quality beautifully illustrated game, players try to become the most prodigious critter in Astoria. Play Raccoon Tycoon to see which players make the smart economy decisions for their towns when they buy and sell commodities, construct railroads, and buildings. One player can scurry into cornering the market for the most valuable resources. When prices fluctuate, who will accumulate the fortune as the Raccoon Tycoon?


Catch the Moon

Thames & Kosmos

Retail Box - Catch the Moon Game

A fun, family-friendly dexterity/stacking game with a whimsical theme and beautiful design.

Players take turns rolling a die and placing ladders in a specific position, slowly building your network of ladders to reach the sky and “catch the moon”!


Picture Perfect

Arcane Wonders

Retail Box - Picture Perfect Game

How do you take the perfect picture of a group of people if you only have one try? Each character has different wishes. Some want to be at the front of the picture; some want to stand next to another; and some really don’t want to be next to that one particular person by any means. Do your best to make everyone happy – even if you don’t actually know all the characters’ preferences.


Ragnarocks

Grey Fox Games

Retail Box - Ragnarocks Game

In Ragnarocks you take on the role of a Viking clan using Runestones to mark your clan’s claims of land. In the advanced game, your clan worships a powerful being from Norse Mythology realm who grants you power to help outwit your rivals and claim the most territory in Midgard!

Ragnarocks is an area control game designed by Gordon Hamilton – the designer of Santorini and Santorini: New York.


The Lunch Room Game

EAP Toy and Games

Retail Box - The Lunch Room Game

The Lunch Room Game is not your typical food fight! Who says we can’t play with our food?! Just don’t lose your lunch, because it is all fun and board games until someone gets in your way. You must beat the lunchroom odds and its cast of characters to be the first player to fill your tray to win the game, so be ready to fight for the Tater Tots!


Olympus Fluxx

Looney Labs

Retail Box - Olympus Fluxx

The classic game of ever-changing rules is taking on the classics of Greek and Roman mythology! Twenty-one of the best-known mythological characters are included, each beautifully depicted in stunning new illustrations by Echo Chernik! Party with the pantheon of gods and goddesses of ancient Greece — but be sure to use their Roman names instead if the New Rule “Roman Times” is in play! Zeus demands that you join in the fun!


Retail Box - Longboard Game

It’s a beautiful day at the beach, and the surfers are out shopping for new boards. Create the coolest and biggest longboards to establish your surfboard-shaping shop as the best in town. Surf’s up!


Teatime Adventures

Snowbright Studio

Book Cover - Teatime Adventures

Teatime Adventures is a nonviolent roleplaying game full of heartwarming magic, baked goods, and a tea pairing for every adventure. Gather a few friends around the table and imagine yourselves in the fully realized Village of Oakenbend, where you will help uncover the truth behind a series of mysterious mysteries.

BUY DIRECT FROM SNOWBRIGHT STUDIO!


Each year as we create these guides, we offer an assortment of giveaways to coincide. You’ll be happy to hear that we are doing it again this year with many awesome prizes up for grabs. Those will be starting soon with new giveaways launching daily through the end of the year. Be sure to bookmark our page and come back for more details!

Which of these games will you gift and which do you hope to receive?

 

53 thoughts on “Make Game Night a Regular Thing by Gifting These Amazing Family Games

  1. I’m definitely planning on gifting Olympus Fluxx to my gaming buddies! Fluxx was out gateway game.

    I’m hoping to get Racoon Tycoon! I’ve played Lizard Wizard, and if it’s anything like that, I’ll love it!

  2. I adore cats so I would definitely get boop and cat in the box. Candy grams looks like a chill game so I would also enjoy that one. Catch the moon is a favorite of mine as well.

  3. First four beggining from boop are on my wish list. Then there is Raccoon Tycoon, catch the moon and olympus fluxx. I’m adding there ragnarock

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