For a lot of families this Christmas, games include the standard Charades and the game of Monopoly that ends in a flipped board and hotels scattered across the room! We heartily recommend that you give some other board games a try this Christmas. We stock a huge selection of board games here at Total Cards, but sometimes it is difficult to pick a board game that is right for you and your group. Check out our top choices, with an option to suit any group! We can't promise that your angry relative won't flip the board at the end of the game, but we do think these 4 games are a great alternative!
Catan
Arguably Catan is the first example of a modern board game. It has a relatively simple set of rules, that are easy to grasp in one playthrough but aren't too basic as to become boring. It offers a great blend of skill, luck and social negotiation that is perfect for almost any group new to the hobby. With the ability to disrupt your fellow players with the placement of your pieces, Catan even offers the same competitiveness that families often crave (or dread) with games such as Monopoly.
In The Settlers of Catan, players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources (cards) - wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone - to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game.
This list just wouldn't be complete without the inclusion of Catan and we definitely recommend it as your first game.
Each copy of Catan includes the following:
- 19 Hexagonal Region Tiles
- 6 Sea Frame Pieces
- 9 Extra harbor Pieces
- 20 Wooden Settlement Pieces
- 16 Wooden City Pieces
- 16 Wooden Road Pieces
- 95 Resources Cards
- 25 Development Cards
- 4 Building Cost Cards
- 2 Special Bonus Cards
- 18 Number Tokens
- 2 Dice
- 1 Wooden Robber Pawn
- 1 Rulebook & Almanac
Play Catan if you are looking for:
- a modular game board (no 2 games are exactly the same)
- an element of negotiation
- competitive play
Carcassonne
The game of Carcassonne has stood the test of time as one of the hobby's most loved worker placement games. Along with Catan, this game sets the standard for all worker placement games. The best thing about Carcassonne is that it has easy rules, which is great for beginners, but tons of opportunity for strategy, alliances and betrayals! The game only takes around half an hour to play and is the perfect warm up for any game night.
In Carcassonne, players build the area surrounding this impressive city, one tile at a time. They then place a follower on fields, cities, roads or monasteries in order to score as many points as possible. These followers will become knights, monks, farmers and thieves, depending on where they are placed. No matter their function, the player who will most cleverly use their followers will win the game.
In our opinion, every board game group should have a copy of Carcassonne on their shelves. It is never a bad choice and offers a ton of replay, even if you never pick up an expansion!
Entirely redesigned and modernized, the new edition includes two expansions: The River and the Abbot. Each box contains the following:
- 72 Land tiles
- 12 River tiles
- 1 scoreboard
- 40 followers in 5 colours
- 5 abbots in 5 colours
- 1 rulebook
- 1 supplementary sheet
Play Carcassone if you are looking for:
- a classic board game experience
- an easy set of rules
- an opportunity for satisfying strategic play
HeroQuest
HeroQuest is the classic dungeon delving board game first released in the 80s. Recently reissued, this game takes the highly evocative themes that are heavily associated with IPs like D&D and condenses them into a hack 'n slash experience. If you are interested in Dungeons & Dragons but are intimidated by the overwhelming rulebooks then HeroQuest can scratch that itch!
In the HeroQuest dungeon crawl board game, heroes work together to complete epic quests, find treasures and defeat the forces of evil. This semi-cooperative board game has one player taking on the role of Zargon, the Game Master, while 4 mythical heroes--Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, and Wizard--team up in their quest for adventure in a maze of monsters and eerie dark dungeons.
Each copy of the game includes:
- 1 gameboard
- 31 monster miniatures
- 4 hero miniatures
- 15 furniture pieces
- 10 skull pieces
- 4 plastic rat pieces
- 21 dungeon doors
- 93 game cards
- 4 turn-order cards
- cardboard tiles
- 1 Quest Book
- 4 character cards
- Game Master's screen
- pad of character sheets
- 6 white combat dice
- 2 red dice
- rulebook
Play HeroQuest if you are looking for:
- a massive set of highly detailed miniatures and game pieces
- a relatively simple set of rules
- the ability to build your own quests and create your own stories
Codenames
Last but not least is the incredibly enjoyable Codenames! The game is a bit more abstract than the other options on our list and arguably the game with the least complicated set of rules.
At the beginning of the game, there will be 25 cards on the table with different words in a grid pattern. Each game has one key corresponding with the grid, revealing to only the team lead which words correspond with their team's colour. The team leader's job is to prompt their team with a clue, and the team must guess the cards of their corresponding colours. The team that finds out all the cards of their corresponding colours wins.
Play Codenames if you are looking for:
- a puzzle game
- a highly interactive and sociable experience
- something that can be taught very quickly
Check out these awesome board games in the related products section down below to place an order for a fun-filled gamenight! If none of these tickle your fancy, why not view our entire range of board games by clicking the button below!
