This list is going to be some games that are only two players. And it’ll be other games that play best at two players as well. Because some games might play more, or even be fine at a higher or lower player count, but be best when played with two players.

Hanamikoji

This is a two player only game, so it works really well here. Hanamikoji, or if you prefer the theme of scholars Jixia Academy, is a game where you are trying to win the favor of different Geisha. You give them gifts to win the favor, but how you give them gifts is very interesting. I actually talk about it in my Top 100 Board Games (of all time) 2021 Edition this past Wednesday, which you can see here.

In the game you can only do four actions. The actions are very simple. You take one card to add as a gift in secret. Next options is that you discard two cards face down that won’t be used to gain favor. You give your opponent the choice of three gifts, they pick one to use for favor, you use the other two. And finally, you give your opponent the choice of two groups of two cards. To win, you need favor from either four Geisha or 11 points worth of Geisha.

This is a really fast game. Generally a round, which is the whole game, most of the time, takes 15 minutes. So it’s a nice one to pull out and play very fast. The set-up is also very simple and fast as well.

Skulk Hollow

Another two player only game, this one is a little bit bigger, but still pretty easy to play. Skulk Hollow is a two player asymmetrical game. One person plays as the Foxen, basically anthropomorphic foxes, and the other person as the Guardian. The fox are trying to take down the guardian, and the guardian has some specific goal to win.

What makes this game so fun is how you take down the guardian. The foxen need to get onto the guardians board, that means jumping from the main board onto the guardian. And from there, the foxen damage the guardian knocking out different abilities. The game uses simple card play to do all of this, but it works really well.

And with multiple foxen leaders to change up how the foxen play, and multiple guardians, you can play the game a ton of times without repeating combinations. This one has a really cute aesthetic which will likely make it easier to get to the table as well.

Dice Throne

This one, I will say, I do like with more players, but it is very good at two players. Dice Throne is a battling game where you take a fantasy hero, or you could late pledge the Marvel version, and have them fight against each other. The battling is done by rolling dice kind of Yahtzee style where you can roll three times and then activate your attack.

That sounds fairly simple, but the game isn’t that simple. You can upgrade your attacks, you can manipulate the dice. You place status effects on the other players or yourself to help you deal more damage, avoid taking damage, or heal yourself. And there are 16 different characters (24 with Marvel eventually) and all of them play differently.

But what makes this so good at two players is that you can buy duel packs. So you an just get two characters and play with them. It’s way less expensive to buy it than an 8 character box. And if you love it, you can always get more.

Five Tribes

This is a fairly different game in that it, like Dice Throne, plays well with more. And Five Tribes is a very classic game, but I really like Five Tribes as a two player game. In Five Tribes you are using a mancala like mechanism, pick everything up from a spot and then put them down in other spots, and scoring points. Everything you do in Five Tribes is meant to give you are more points.

What makes it work so well for two players is that per round you take two turns. And turn order per round is done by bidding. But the money you are bidding with is done with coins which are points at the end of the game. However, turn order can matter in this game. Sometimes amazing turns are on the board, and if you spot them, you need to go first. So while this game is great with more, I think with two it offers a whole new strategy.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

Yes, I know Gloomhaven has been on the list, and if you are already a big board gamer, just get Gloomhaven. But Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lions is easier to get to the table. And it teaches you through the first few scenarios how to play Gloomhaven, which makes it easier to learn as well.

Why two player and not more? I played this three player and really loved it. But Gloomhaven works well at two players. With fewer players you will have fewer turns where you don’t do anything. Or where what you were planning doesn’t work. Basically at two players, there is less randomness in the game. And if you want a dungeon crawler, there isn’t a better one, in my opinion, than Gloomhaven.

Two Player Games Honorable Mention

Honestly, I don’t have a ton for this. I already have talked about Marvel Champions twice, but I like that game solo and at two players. The game goes for a game like Arkham Horror: The Card Game, another Fantasy Flight Living Card Game (LCG). And something like two commander decks for Magic: The Gathering would work great as well.

What are your go to two player games? Would you want to get or give any of those games to someone for a two player game?

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Gloomhaven

No shock I’m adding this one to the list. I love Gloomhaven. On my 2019 and 2020 Top 100 Games (of All Time) it was #1 both times. And the 2021 list is on-going. But this is a great big box game that is probably intimidating. In it you take different heroes or mercenaries and go off on missions, fighting monsters and unfolding story as you go. The game is spendy, but it’s worth it for what you get in the box.

You could also jump in first with Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lions. This game can be found for a whole lot cheaper and it brings you into the game nicely. It teaches you the game over a few scenarios, and while your characters won’t retire, you still get to level up and have the Gloomhaven experience, just in a much smaller and cheaper package.

Mansions of Madness

Mansions of Madness is one of two Arkham related games on the list from Fantasy Flight Games. This is the bigger one of the two. This is an app assisted game where you are investigating a mystery. In the introductory scenario you are trying to find out what is happening at a Mansion, where the owner has gone, and then how to stop the ritual that has been started.

The app works nicely because you can play a scenario a few times without it being identical. The story might unfold the same way as before, but the rooms will have moved around. And the app makes the game work really well. Plus this game is scenario based not campaign based. That means that you can play a single scenario and call it good and then pick up months later without missing any story.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

The second of the two Arkham and Lovecraftian games from Fantasy Flight Games, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a great little experience much like Mansions of Madness. You are exploring Arkham or Dunwich or Carcosaa, where ever it might be, trying to stop rituals. The game, however, doesn’t have an app and is just cards.

What is so amazing about this game is that you explore just using cards. And the game is different as you go through linked scenarios. At the start you might be trying to find a way out of your house and fight a ghoul. The next scenario you are hunting down cultists. The game just has a lot of fun to it and feels so unique with just using cards.

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

This one is a completely different theme, but it’s an adventure in it’s own right as it’s a great deduction game. In the base game you are solving linked cases that tell and unfold a story of a murder from long ago. This is done with the use of a computer with a database you can look things up in, as well as cards that unfold the story.

I call this a procedural cop show, but it’s fun. You are the cops, or the investigators. If someone you know really loves stuff like NCIS and CSI, this game might be a great one to play with them. It’s five scenarios long and 3 hours per scenario. So you can get a lot out of the game and it’s one of the most immersive games in terms of theme that I’ve ever played.

Aeon’s End Legacy

Finally we have a Legacy game on the list. A legacy game means that there are components that you destroy or permanently alter. Gloomhaven has a little bit of that, but Aeon’s End Legacy has a whole lot more. This is going to be a good game for someone who wants to build out their own character. While others on the list do that to some extent, Gloomhaven mainly, this one really gives you big choices on what you do.

This game also teaches you how to play Aeon’s End. Much like Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion brings you up to speed for Gloomhaven, Aeon’s End Legacy will teach you how to play Aeon’s End in all it’s forms. And th ere is a lot more content. But in the game you work together, build your characters, and fight off monsters coming through breaches. The story is lighter on this one but it’s still a lot of fun.

I have a lot more of these games on my shelf. I won’t recommend Deep Madness as it’s hard to find, and if you can it won’t be cheap. But Nemesis will give you a sense of adventure as well as Roll Player Adventures that just came out and Reich Busters thought both might be harder to find again. There are a lot of these big box games that tell you story, but I hope I gave you a good variety to checkout and for a number of different budgets. Do you have a favorite adventure game?

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Art Work

Normally I talk about artwork and things like that, you can get posters from the shows, but I recommend hitting up something like Etsy, because you are going to find some interesting and unique art there. While actual official pictures are cool, something that could be more personalized is going to be artwork from their favorite show that someone has custom created, or I know that people will often to artwork from the manga as well, or create artwork by using panels of the manga, so I’d definitely snoop around on Etsy. With this, it is important to know what their favorite show is, but honestly, that’s going to be the case with almost all of the suggestions that I have.

Dagashi Subscription Box

This one is a bit out there, and might not be for all anime fans, but if they like Japanese culture as well, it is a great idea, and it’s something that is related to what they like a lot anyways. And it really allows someone to dive a bit more into the culture of Japan in a fun way, and just see what some different and new things are. The nice thing is you don’t need to get them a reoccurring subscription, you can buy a one off box, or there are sellers on Etsy who sell bundles of dagashi as well. I’d lean towards one of the mass market boxes versus off of Etsy, just so you know how fresh everything is, but it’s a fun and different idea.

Figures

I could call them action figures, but some of them are just kind of figures. Again, knowing their favorite anime is important here. You can probably find a figure from most anime, though it might be Funko or it might cost an arm and a leg, but knowing what some of their favorites will allow you to get something they for sure will like. And there are a few different types you can look at getting, Funko is a great option, I consider it kind of an office option, those will be great for having in your home office in the background or in your office cubicle without them being too risky. But there are more impressive posed ones, like I have a nice Kirito one from Sword Art Online that would just stand out too much in an office, but on display in a bedroom, home office, movie/family room area, it’d be great and it’s a great addition to my game room.

Collectors Editions

I’ve talked about this so often before, but generally, not a great idea to get something like a show or a movie or a book or a game for someone who loves those things because they might already have it. I’m pretty sure with my game and movie collection my wife would think twice and have to spend some time figuring out what I don’t have. The same goes for someone who has an anime collection, however, the collectors editions of an anime, those are something that people might be slightly less apt to pick up, spend $50-100 on one anime, or get five anime for that same price, most of the time people will pick the quantity, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want the quality. So get them the quality and let them enjoy their anime in an awesome collectors edition that is kind of focal point for their collection, versus just another piece of it.

Flair

This is a pretty wide open category, kind of like art, but I think compared to art, this one is going to be something that more anime fans will really like. It’s a subtle way to show off your fandom everywhere, without it taking up wall space, which might be limited. By flair, of course I am meaning stuff like buttons in Office Space, but not just that, enamel pins, decals for a car window, stickers that you can put on a laptop, a little figure for a keychain. Any of those items that give a little pop of fandom without making it overbearing or too obvious. Even things like ear rings would work well because it’s something that can be subtle but people who know will know. And as we know from Office Space, you can never have too much flair and in fact more is better. Plus, these can be really unique items, which is awesome, compared to something like a Funko which is a great way to show a fandom, but more main stream.

Now, there’s a whole lot more in the way of options. I mentioned dagashi subscription boxes, but there are anime ones as well. The downside to those is that what’s in them might be hit or miss for the anime fan. So instead, I like to leave it more focused, there is also apparel, but that’s also risky trying to get a size or style right, so generally I’d skip clothing. And if you know them really well, an anime would work, or you could pay for a year long subscription to one of the anime streaming services like VRV, Crunchyroll, or Funimation.

Alright, a lot of Holiday Lists in the bag, hopefully there is some cross over for you with the loved nerds in your life that you’ll be able to use.

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Scratch Off Poster

Now, that sounds weird, what does that have to do with board games? Well, this was something that was big a year ago, I’d say and is still definitely doing well, but these are posters that you can scratch off and they’ll reveal an image when you’ve done something. For example, I have the Top 100 Board Games, from BGG’s (Board Game Geeks) 2019 rankings, so when I play one of the top 100, I can scratch off a spot for that given game. Almost all of these posters do something along those lines (and they aren’t just for board games, I just have one for that). I know that other posters will have things for when you complete a certain challenge, like play a game 10 times in a year, or something along those lines. They are something fun to display in a game room and pretty well designed.

Geek Up Bits

This is going to be specifically for what Board Game Geek sells, but you can find similar things on Etsy as well. And that is basically upgraded bits for your board games. So the example that is shown off most often is for Quacks of Quedlinberg, a bag building push your luck game where you put cardboard tokens in a bag, mix them up and then draw them out. The card board pieces are fine quality, but because you are handling them so much they can get beaten up, colors start to rub off, edges become dinged, so Board Game Geek sells plastic pieces to replace those in your game. Now, that’s a bunch of pieces and might not be cheap, but they also sell other ones, like more realistic looking resources for games. As you’ve probably noticed from some of my other lists, I like to suggest those kind of luxury items that people wouldn’t buy themselves.

Box Insert

Speaking of luxury items, box inserts are another one. There are a lot of great options out there for them, but why would you want them? A lot of games, Fantasy Flight is especially noticeable for this, don’t have great ways to store their games. It might be that there’s nothing in the box, so the handful of cards just slide around. Or there isn’t room for everything when it’s punched out, or in the case of something like Gloomhaven, there are just too many baggies that you’d have to use. So there are companies, Broken Token and Folded Space for two examples, that make inserts for these games. The Gloomhaven one that I have has spots for all the monsters, for the minis, for the tokens, and everything and they just fit in way more neatly than anything I could have done without it, and I tried and did kind of make something with out it, but I was carrying around 3 boxes then versus being able to get everything and the expansion into one box. Now, not all games need these, but they are a fun thing to put together and they can really help speed up the set-up for some games.

Paints

This one will depend a bit more on the person that you’re buying for, but if they like games that have a lot of minis and don’t have them painted, they might want to paint the minis. So you could get them a paint set for the holidays. There are a number of different companies, but I would go with something that says that it’s a beginner set if they aren’t already painting. If they are are already, probably skip this one. But painting minis can be a fun hobby to go along side board gaming for a lot of board gamers. As compared to something like the box insert or some geek up bits, paints are going to be a bit more of a commitment for a gamer, so make sure it’s something that they’ve shown at least some interest in, in the past.

Game Trayz

Now, kind of like I did with the Geek Up Bits from Board Game Geek, there are a lot of other options out there, but Game Trayz is one of the more recognized brands. Game Trayz are basically little plastic containers with sloped edges for holding game pieces while you play a game, though they have done a lot of custom ones for specific games that come with the game. Game Trayz are nice because you can just have some sitting around to hold tokens for when you are playing a game, or if you want, you can use them to store the pieces in the game box instead of a baggy so that the game would be even faster to set-up. Now, you don’t have to go with Game Trayz, there are other companies that make ones specifically for board games, or you could just get a bunch of little bowls if you aren’t storing the tokens in there, just using it on the table. But these are again those bling type items that someone might not get for themselves but would appreciate getting.

Now, I obviously skipped games, so many people get the games that they want that it’s hard to know what game to get, and just going on BGG’s Top 100 won’t help that much because it depends on the players tastes in games what they will or won’t like. If you know there taste well enough and really want to get a game, look for something that is new or hard to find. Kickstarters can also be a decent idea, but most kickstarters that you back now might be delivering around next Christmas.

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Dice

Most, if not all RPG players can never have enough dice. It’s just a scientific fact that eventually a die will have a poor session and need to be banished from being played with forever, or slightly longer. So more dice is always a good thing, and there are some really cool dice out there. If you want to keep it simple and cheaper, there are tons of interesting dice sets with more basic plastic, but you can also find stone dice or my favorite metal dice. There are even some companies where the metal dice don’t cost an arm and a leg. If you are going really fancy, the dice to get would be a single D20 (twenty sided die), but set of dice are also really nice which should come with a D20, D12, D10, D10 Percentile, D8, D6, and a D4, that is enough for someone to start playing D&D.

Dice Tray/Dice Tower

Both of these serve the same purpose, they are something to roll your dice into. The dice tray is simpler in that it’s only a tray and you can roll it into that without it thudding against the table and denting it, this is especially important for if someone has stone or metal dice as those are heavy. But it also means that you’re not as apt to roll off the table either. A dice tower does kind of the same thing. You drop the dice that you’re rolling into the tower and it has levels that it hits off of causing it tumble. It rolls down into a tray that’s attached to the bottom. The best part of dice towers is how cool they look. I have one that looks like a tree with some birds in it, definitely a unique/fun thing to roll dice in, and there are so many different possible designs to choose from out there for dice towers.

Custom Mini

Now, a custom miniature sounds expensive, but thanks to the likes of Hero Forge, they really aren’t that bad. Hero Forge is a site that lets you custom design a mini based off of the body parts that they have built into the system that you can then get 3D printed. So if you’re in a game with someone that you’d be giving a gift to, this is a fun option. And if you know of someone who has a 3D printer (or have one yourself) you can just print it off from an STL file which you can buy which makes it even easier. I really like this idea for a serious RPG player because it’s something that feels like it’s very thoughtful and something that a person might not do for themselves, because while the prints are a reasonable price, that doesn’t mean that they are $10, or less, like a generic mini.

Book Bag

Might not be something that is needed right away, or maybe you play digitally, but a book bag is really useful. It gives the player or the DM a way to carry around whatever books they have really easily versus having a stack in their arms. You can probably find good nerdy ones related to D&D, RPG’s or just fantasy in general that would work well. A dedicated bag is nice, from my personal experience, because it means that I don’t have to pull anything out ever if I’m always taking it to one person’s place, or if we rotate whose place it is at, I could easily see leaving stuff in there between sessions.

Notebook

Now, a notebook sounds odd, and depending on who it is for, it might be more or less useful, but there are some notebooks or binders that are made for either the player or DM. And as the DM, if they are like me, they might generally do more of their planning a notebook than say, on a computer. But the ones for players are very cool because you can have your character sheet in there, you can keep track of spell and uses, as well as it gives you a spot to take notes for the session. So it’s a one stop shop for your character. I really like the concept, and I have one that is a binder and leather bound for when I eventually am a player.

Obviously there are other things as well you could consider. There are books that are coming out fairly often for all of the main systems so you could grab them the newest one that has come out, but there is some risk in that as normally I’ll just grab the newest books right away as someone who has all the DM sort of books, minus the adventures. You could also do a new system for a game, but depending on what your group plays that might be more or less useful.

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Movie Poster

Now, this is something that they might have already, but something to consider is either a full size or even a small movie poster. I have a big one in my basement that will be in the theater room for Guardians of the Galaxy. If they have a theater room they might already have something like that, but if there’s a little wall space, the smaller ones are fun as well. I have “The Fearless Vampire Killer” up in my office in a pretty reasonable about one quarter the size of a normal poster. If they have limited wall space in a movie room, consider smaller ones that they can put by each other so that they can then have a variety of movies to show off on their wall.

Coffee Cups

Most people drink coffee or tea, so one option would be to lean into that and grab a themed coffee cup. I think of how my wife has one with a stylized version of a number of the Disney Princesses on it. Something like that, whether it’s directly tied to a movie or not will work quite nicely. This falls into that stocking stuffer category as well. And you don’t need to just limit it to coffee cups, I know that there are Star Wars pint glasses and shot glasses as well, so really any type of glassware is a solid idea, in my opinion. I have a full collection of Doctor Who shot glasses, don’t get used to often, but they are fun to have around.

Mini Projector

Now, this one is a bit out there, stocking stuffer size, but not a stocking stuffer price. Make your movie watching portable with this. It’s fun for a warm evening, sitting outside, something easy to pull out. For a movie fan, it won’t be the same as going to a theater, but it will be a fun time. There are other things, like a mini screen that could go along with this as well if you want to make it into something even bigger for a significant other, or depending on how you give gifts. But allowing someone to take their passion to somewhere that they couldn’t normally is a lot of fun to be a part of.

Memorabilia

Now, this covers a ton of things, but what I’m thinking is the “collectable” things. I know that movies often will sell off some of the things used on set, things like that. Those can get very expensive, but sometimes they’ll also sell a slide from an animated film, stuff like that. The items that aren’t another knick knack that you will put on a shelf and then forget about, again stuff that makes a splash when you see it, that is interesting and different than anything that someone else might have. There are shops on Etsy that sell copies of animation cels for cartoons, so even though it’s not an original, it’s something that is unique.

Pop Corn Maker

What’s a movie without popcorn, nothing I say. But getting a movie style big popcorn maker might be a bit much. But you can get a smaller tabletop one for not that much. This is again perfect for a theater room to make an area feel real unique and cool. Even if they don’t have a good popcorn maker, a classic air popper or a whirlypop for the stovetop are good as well. And there’s more that you can get around this idea as well, there are some great sample boxes of popcorn where you can try a whole wide variety of popcorn kernels and flavorings to see what you like. Or sets of the flavorings, so the movie fan can have a movie experience even at home.

I’ve left a couple of obvious things off the list. the first is movies. Unless you are buying a box set, or you can actively look at the movie collection, physical and digital, of someone, there’s a chance they’ll already have it. Duplicates are no fun to get for the holidays. I also skipped apparel. I think that caps, if the person is a cap person, can be fine, but clothing is so particular with how they fit different builds of people, it’s a tough buy for Christmas or any holiday.

What are some things that I missed for movies, if you’re a movie fan, what would you like to get?

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Book Ends

Now, this sounds kind of silly, but let me explain. There are book ends out there that are nice simple metal ones, those are cheap. Anything fancier, not nearly as cheap. Someone might not splurge on something like that for themselves, but it is a great idea to gift for someone. There are a lot of different options you could go with. I’ve gotten ones that you put together, just a CNC cut thing where it’s two flat pieces of wood that slot together to make the L shape for holding up books, plus then a cut of the Fellowship of the Ring as the brace. So you can find a number of things like that which are great because you can tailor it to the type of book that someone likes. We also have some heavier ones, one with cats reaching up onto books and another the top of a castle with a dragon sitting on it. So you have a ton of options and it’s a luxury item, which makes it something that a book lover would love to get, but might not for themselves.

Book Darts

Another one of those accessory items, and this could be book marks as well, but book darts are just cooler. These are little metal clips that slide onto a page of a book. You can use them as a book mark and just mark at the top of the page where you stopped, or you can use the pointier side of the book dart and slide it along the side of the page to mark what paragraph and what side of the page you stopped on. This is something that’d be a great stocking stuffer for a book lover.

A Series Set

This could be given in a few different ways. There are some book series that come on a box set, so you could do that, or there are others that you can just get the person all matching books. I know, for example, my Dresden Files and Harry Potter are not all the same, some are short paperbacks, some are tall paperbacks and some are hard cover. If you know what a person has, you can help them get a more consistent collection just be giving a book that’ll match what they have the most of or what they like the best. This one won’t be for everyone, but swapping books in and out like that will please some people as everything will look more aesthetically pleasing. And if you can find an older boxed or matching set of some of the books, that’s a bonus too.

Special Edition/Early Edition

For someone who loves books, there are versions of books out there that they might be interested in, but just won’t be something they buy, because either they cost more or since they already have the book they don’t feel like they should get it again. Find those special editions, and by that I don’t mean the movie tie-in covers. But I’m talking about the hard cover with the embossed, the one with special art pieces in the book, if it’s an older book, look for an older printing of it. Things like that again are those luxury items that someone might not buy for themselves but that they’ll probably be drooling over and wishing that they could get. Now, be aware, first editions, or some of the fancy editions of books can get to be quite spendy, but even just something that is nicely bound and has a good spine edge on it, that’ll work if it’ll standout and highlight a book on the shelf.

Book Bag

Now, when I say this, it can be two things, it can be a bag for carrying your books, but they also do book printed bags that you could certainly carry books in, but you could also use for shopping, for a day trip, going to be beach, whatever. But they have nerdy or book things on them. My wife has a bag that she has used for crafting that has an image on it made from the words of the a book. So like a scene from Pride and Prejudice that is all just words laid out in order, from Pride and Prejudice to make that shape. Or you can find some with artwork from the book on them. Or maybe a pithy quote or just a quote in general from their favorite book on it. I’d stay away from the more generic ones just because fairly often those are just too cutesy or could miss the mark for the person than something that is directly tied to a book.

There are way more options you could look at as well for someone who loves books. I will say, books themselves, like a new book for a person, are tricky unless you really know the person. I’m a big fan of literature, but there are some things that I just don’t want or care about in terms of books and I know that I’ll be apt to just read them and then sell them used, or if it doesn’t come off the shelf for a long time, just sell. So know your audience, and I like the idea of helping make someone’s books more unique, uniform, whatever by giving them something that they might not get for themselves, like an early edition or a special printing of a book.

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Legos

Now, Legos might seem like a kids thing, but speaking as an adult who has several Lego sets, though not currently out, Legos are awesome. And Lego is no longer just a bunch of random bricks to build houses with, or some castle sets, both Marvel and DC have Lego sets. I have the Milano from Guardians of the Galaxy, for example, that I need to get on display. But you can get Dr. Strange’s Sanctum, Avengers Mansion, Green Lantern vs Sinestro, or a very detailed Batwing. These can make awesome display pieces for a nerdy room. I have a gaming room, but I have action figures and trade paperbacks in this room as well. So Legos are always fun display pieces.

Trade Paperbacks

Speaking of trade paperbacks, for someone who loves the movies, a good move would be to get them some trade paperbacks of the comic runs of their favorite characters, or upcoming films. If someone is interested in the Eternals, grab Neil Gaiman’s run of that, or if someone loved the Infinity saga, you could get them The Infinity Gauntlet. There are a ton of stories out there like that, but you can also just get a comic run for a character like Batman, Spider-Man, or Thor, really tailoring it to the character that they like. Or a more general team-up one like Avengers, Justice League, or Teen Titans. What’s so nice about this is that you will be able to find arcs within those as well. The past couple of weeks I’d talked about Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, those both can be found in trade paperbacks.

Board Games

Yes, there are board games, but I’m keeping this a bit more generalized. I’m going to rattle off a number of them here, and you can fit what might be right for you. Marvel Battleworld, this is a super simple game that has a very high toy factor to it. You collect little Marvel figures and take them to battle locations. There are Thanos Stones (not a thing that I know of in the comics) which are basically just the packs you get the characters in, so you can open up more blind packs in hopes you’ll get who you want. Then Marvel Legendary an the DC Deck Building Game, more complicated games, but still pretty straight forward. In these are you start out with some generic cards, but you add in superheroes to your deck of cards as you go to do cool combos. There is a ton out for both of these games, but they are a bit random. Marvel Champions is another option, this one has you taking a team of heroes up against a villain in a very complex strategy game where you are balancing out use of cards to stop the villains scheming and beat them up. Two more to go, first is Sentinels of the Multiverse. This one is not based off of any IP, intellectual property, but is it’s own super hero world. The cool thing about that is that they do a great job of world building themselves. There is a ton for this game, but just the base game will have a lot to play, another card based super hero game. Finally, Marvel United, this one is new this year, and one that I’d highly recommend. It is a fairly simple game, so good for a non gamer of all ages. The minis in this game are amazing, and the game play is fun, definitely worth checking out and probably the best option for the largest crowd.

Action Figures

I’ve touched on them briefly when I talked about Legos, but action figures are another great option. And you can find them in a wide range of detail and prices. I personally have enjoyed the Marvel Diamond Select ones, a bit more expensive, but come with great backdrops. But I have simpler Marvel ones and DC ones as well. Plus you can get the person their favorite character again. Almost every character has had an action figure come out of it. And if an action figure isn’t quite right, you can always look for something like Funko Pops as well. A bit more limited, kind of, in characters that they have, they make a good thing for someone to show off their nerdiness just a little bit as something to display in a cubicle at work, or maybe where you are working from home from.

Now, normally I do five different things, but I’ve covered more than that already with the different games, types of action figures, and more. Obviously, there are going to be things like the movies that you could get someone as well, or with Wandavision coming out January 15th, you could gift someone a subscription for the year to Disney+. So there are a lot of things that you can consider for gifts when it comes to super heroes, it’ll be down to what you think is best for the person you are giving the gift to.

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Nemesis

This was one of the first games by Awaken Realms that I took note of. I didn’t actually back it the first time around, so I’m waiting on my copy from the second Kickstarter for it. Plus, this one is available in retail now, still might be tricky to find. This is a semi-cooperative game where each person has their own secret objective. In the game you are trying to survive an alien incursion onto your space ship, kill them off, and pilot back to earth. But of course, the aliens are out to get you and the engines and navigation are off-line. Plus, you might not want to end up on Earth, but to go to another planet instead, or you might have a rivalry with another character, so you won’t kill them, but you won’t help them in an alien flight. This game looks beautiful on the table with all of it’s minis and the game play is good as well.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Another game by Awaken Realms, this one you’ll be able to find on the secondary market only, as I’m not 100% sure it’ll ever come to retail. But this is an epic campaign/adventure game in a wyrdness filled lands of Avalon, where the Menhir that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table lit in the time of legends are starting to go out. A group was sent out from your town to explore and try and find somewhere or someone who could help in the lands, but they’ve been gone a long time. Now you and you and a few others in your town are being sent out to find them as the wyrdness and the tainted creatures start to come closer to the town. Can you survive? This game has a great story and is extremely hard as you push through it, trying to figure out how to survive, when to fight the monsters, when to run away, when to push into exhaustion and when to stop and rest. Overall, an amazing game, but like I said, it’s going to be harder to find.

Folklore: The Affliction

Maybe you want something that is a bit more standard fantasy, this game of ghosts, werewolves, and vampires, is definitely that, and definitely more D&D like. Greenbrier Games has created a DM less RPG type game, with set piece battles, travel and exploration and story that you can unfold as you go. This one is for that person in your life who is a bit more of a crunchy gamer as this really does straddle that line of being Dungeons and Dragons like with the dice you roll for attacks and damage. This one definitely has some challenge and survival to it, but as compared to Tainted Grail the difficulty level is easier and the story while dark is less dark. This one also doesn’t have the minis, though you could get them, and same with Tainted Grail actually, not that many minis. This one is also available via Greenbrier’s site, so one that you can get, it also might be available in some retail locations. There are a lot of small add-ons you can get as well for it, or big ones, such as minis.

T.I.M.E. Stories

This one is kind of a campaign game, but not really. In this game you are going through different scenarios in time and a multiverse, almost like an escape room. You are trying to figure out puzzles, deal with threats that come up, and interact with characters. You’re doing this as you race against the clock. Granted, only your consciousness is being sent back in time, into another body, so you can always try again. I know that some of the scenarios (and there is theoretically a campaign throughout, but not really) aren’t as good, but the four that I’ve played thus far have been a ton of fun. The puzzles are engaging, and while it can be a bit slow playing through part of the game that you’ve played before, it gives you a chance to checkout new parts of the story and world and decide what direction you want to go. I know that I always loved to delve possibly further in that I should have to see what I could find. Overall, a really cool game that has a lot of interesting scenarios.

The 7th Continent

This one has two different versions, there is a Kickstarter version that might be fairly hard to find, though I’ve started to see more show up on the secondary market, and there is a retail version. Both are going to be good, the retail version is just going to have some less content. In this game you awaken on the 7th Continent, an interesting land, knowing that you’ve been cursed. You then have to utilize cards, push your luck and explore the lands. Basically no minis in this game, but what is really interesting, and Tainted Grail does a similar thing, is what you explore the map as you go, and each curse might drop you into a different part of the map, but you’ll know what might be off in one direction if you head that way in future plays of the game. The first curse, for that reason, is extremely expansive and takes you all over the map and can take a very long time while ones after that are a bit more focused, so I will say, if you get this one or give this one, if the first curse is taking forever and you’ve sunk what you feel like is enough time into it, move onto the next one.

Now, i could go on further. Pandemic Legacy (any of the seasons) and Gloomhaven are two that I’ve talked about before that would certainly be epic games. Clank! Legacy, Aeon’s End Legacy, Reichbusters, deep Madness, Apocrypha, Dragonfire, Blood Rage, Zombicide, Mansions of Madness, Marvel Champions, Sword & Sorcery. All of these games have an epic feel to them at times and in their own way. So if none of the ones I’ve mentioned sound that interesting, you can spend some time going through those to see as well what might work best for yourself or who you’re giving the gift to.

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Dead of Winter

So the first one isn’t actually even a cooperative game, but I wanted to put it on here, because in terms of semi-cooperative games, it is one of the best ones out there. In this game you are trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. But, there might be a traitor in your midst. You have to try and figure out how the traitor might be, as well as complete the overall objective, plus feed your survivors, deal with zombies, build up defenses, and deal with daily issues that pop up. It’s a really fun game, fairly long, but one that has a ton of theme about zombie survival. It also has this amazing thing known as Crossroad Cards. These are cards that offer story and tough decisions that can happen when certain actions are taken or when certain locations are gone to. It helps keep the game very immersive and interesting. This won’t be for all players who want to work together, but if you want to sow that seed of doubt, Dead of Winter is a great option.

Mansions of Madness

Maybe they are fans of horror, Mansions of Madness takes a horror element from HP Lovecraft’s work and gets turned into an investigation and survival game as the players take on the roll of paranormal investigators in Arkham Massachusetts during the 1920’s. You’ve been called in to deal with a strange situation at a Mansion, or maybe into the sea side town of Innsmouth to investigate the creatures coming out of the water. This game is app assisted as it helps you with fighting the bad guys and monsters, figuring out the secret plans of the cultists and trying to stop them, and solving puzzles along the way. The app does a good job of helping with some of the book keeping in the game and keeping the scenarios different when you play them, because the game can change it up based off of what you have, so the mansion might not look quite the same between scenarios. This is a really fun game with a ton of story in it. However, if the Lovecraftian theme doesn’t work for you, Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth is kind of the next iteration of Mansions of Madness in using an app, just a fantasy setting we all know well.

Say Bye to the Villains

Maybe you want a small game, Say Bye to the Villains is a very challenging game where you are Samurai who know of some villains that you’ll be facing off against. You have 10 days to research them, prepare your skills, and do anything else you need to, to get ready. The days are basically point values on your cards. The higher the point value, the more time it might be. I have probably played this game 15 to 20 times and I have yet to win. This is an extremely hard game, because like most cooperative games, there are a lot of things you need to do and not enough time to do them. Each villain has face down cards modifying their attacks, and you won’t have time to figure out all of those and get yourself ready to fight them. The game is almost a tiny bit too tight that way, but if someone is up for a challenge, it’s a really good game.

Gloomhaven

One type of game I haven’t put on the list is campaign games. Gloomhaven isn’t the original campaign game, but it’s probably the most popular. Currently it is the highest ranked game on Board Game Geek, now that is hobby gamers, so don’t let that fool you into thinking that this game is going ot be something that you can pick up easily. In fact, for most people, I’d recommend start with Jaws of the Lions. Jaws of the Lion is Gloomhaven, just in a smaller box. But if you want an epic dungeon crawl game with story, adventuring, leveling up and unlocking new characters, this game is amazing. I just finished it up a week ago, and it was a great time and probably over 250 hours into the base game and the expansion and we didn’t even do all of the side quests. There’s a lot to learn, but it’s definitely worth it, and a game that will give you so much value compared to a lot of other games just with how much you can play it, and once you’re into it, how much you want to play it.

Pandemic

Finally, the game that is fitting for this year, but also is for that person who is interesting in board games if they are cooperative, but hasn’t played a ton of board games. Pandemic is a modern classic when it comes to board games. It’s a game where you are fighting back and trying to find cures for four diseases around the board. Like I was talking about with Say Bye to the Villains, this game has you feeling like there’s always a little bit more that you want to do. You want to be able to get over to one area to treat diseases while also getting to another area to hand off a card to another player to help find one of the cures, plus use a card to build another research base to make things easier to get around. The game starts off as challenging, but the more you play the easier it’ll get. If the person is already familiar with this game and you want to take the next step, I highly recommend Pandemic Legacy Season 1, 2, and most recently 0. Those will give you the same feel, but have a story that evolves.

There are so many cooperative games out there, for really challenging ones like Robinson Crusoe, comic based ones like Marvel Champions and Marvel United, pirates in Dead Men Tell No Tales and Forgotten Waters, so I lot to choose from. I mentioned dungeon crawl games with Gloomhaven, and there are a ton of fully cooperative ones out there. If you want it as a theme for a cooperative game, you can probably find it. But these are some that I really enjoy, shouldn’t be too hard to find, minus maybe Say Bye to the Villains, and offer a lot of fun and interesting challenge.

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