Christmas is almost upon us, so we’re starting with games that would make great stocking stuffers. A lot of games come in big boxes, but what are some games that can fit in smaller boxes that are popular or that I enjoy.

Love Letter

There are a ton of flavors of this game as they have slapped all sort of different things onto it from the original medieval setting to Batman. Pick the one that is best for the person you are giving it to. In the game you are trying to get your love letter to the princess, in the base game, by playing cards to try and stop the other suitors from getting their letter to the princess. This is a very fast game for two to four players and would easily fit into a stocking.

Zombie Dice

Zombie Dice is another game that I’ve talked about a fair amount, it’s a simple die rolling game where you are a zombie trying to catch humans and eat their brains, but they might be trying to shoot you back, so you push your luck while rolling the dice to see how many brains you want to bank in a race to 13 brains. It’s basically Farkle, but simpler. The zombie theme might not work for some people, but it’s a good stocking stuffer as it’s an easy game to teach.

Parade

A tricky little game with an Alice in Wonderland theme on top of it. It’s really an abstract game, but the artwork makes it better to look at. You are trying to have the fewest points when someone has collected cards of all the colors. The cards have different point totals on them, so you can kind of judge the score. But if you have the most of a color, all of those cards are worth one point. There are different ways you collect cards based on the number and color of the cards. It’s a bit more of a thinky game and one that offers some interesting decisions in a small package.

Onirim

This one is for someone who likes games and wants to play them all of the time. it’s a small card game for up to two players, but really is a game for one player. It’s a tricky little card game where you are trying to play cards in order by color but not repeating symbols. With that, you are stuck in a dream trying to find dream doors before you run out of cards because the nightmares have gotten you. The game is a bit spendier than some of them, but it comes with several expansions that gives the game nice variety.

We Didn’t Playtest This Legacy

Yes, this is a legacy game, but it’s a tiny legacy game. Give this game as a stocking stuffer to the person who runs board game night. We Didn’t Playtest This is a silly game where you are playing cards that can either protect you, or people select one of a couple of options, and people are eliminated. You can play lots of rounds of this game fast. It’s a good filler game to start a board game night or between longer board games. The regular game is a bit boring, but Legacy version has some fun bits where when someone wins with some of the cards, they can put their name on the card that might give them in the instant win. Or the card might ask them to add a word that people can’t say or a letter they can’t use. It allows a group to really set-up in jokes for their own play groups.

Sushi Go!

Not Sushi Go! Party, which is too big to fit in a stocking, unless it’s a Hobbit stocking (woo big feet joke). Sushi Go! is still a fun game, there is just less variety in the game. But because of it being less variety, it means that it might be easier to get repeat plays out of it with a group that isn’t as game playing heavy. They don’t have to relearn the scoring ever. Sushi Go! is a drafting game where you selecting cards from a hand and building sets that give you points. There are three rounds of drafting cards, and the person with the most points at the end of three rounds wins the game. It’s a very cute game as well which makes it easier to sell.

Unlock Games

Finally, if you have an escape room enthusiast, these are the games for them. They are escape rooms in a box. You are looking for clues, trying to combine cards to get more clues to escape the scenario that they are in. It’s a one time play through of the game, but these games are about experiences. It could even be, if you don’t want to give a one time use game as a stocking stuffer, a game you could play with family and friends over the holidays that everyone will be able to understand. These games also have nice pressure as you are racing against the clock. Definitely the most challenging of the games on the list.

What are some other small games that would make a good stocking stuffer? I know there are games like the Tiny Epic Galaxies and the rest of the Tiny Epic series or Mintworks which are popular now.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Hanabi

Why? Hanabi is a fast game that works well for groups as small as two and plays up to four people. It is a deck of cards, and you could easily play it sitting on the ground or at a picnic table. It comes in a nice compact box, as it is a card game, and is fast to pick-up and difficult to master. It’s a memory based game where you can give clues to your fellow players about what cards they have in their hands, and they i n turn do that for you, as you try and complete a collection of fireworks. It is a fun and different game in that you can’t see your hand, so you need to remember and have a bit of luck.

Zombie Dice

Why? It’s another small game that comes in a tube that can easily fit into a couple holder. You are playing as a zombie trying to collect up thirteen brains. You draw three dice at random, roll them, and any brains you can keep and add to your collection, but you have to decide how much you want to push your luck. If you roll three shotgun blasts, you are dead(er) and the brains that you collected that round go away. It plays fast, the rules are simple, and anyone can pick it up. No table is needed just a flat enough surface to roll some dice. You could even play this in a car, just get a dice tray and you have a good safe spot to roll for your BRAINS!

Love Letter

Why? This game comes in a tiny little bag and you can easily fit it into your pocket. Waiting in line for a concert, but the gates don’t open for a bit? Sit on the ground and play a few hands of Love Letter. Now, Love Letter does come with some little cubes that can be used to help keep track of score, but people should be able to remember who is in the lead and who is trying to catch up. It’s a game of deduction and seduction as you work on eliminating the other players each round while trying to stay in the game and have the highest value character card at the end, so you can get your Love Letter to the Princess. It’s fast and easy to play and a lot of fun, definitely very high on my list of travel games.

Sushi Go!

Why? Sushi Go! is a game that I have not played yet, but having watched it on Table Top and given it to a friend who hasn’t brought it over to be played, it looks like a good game. You need a little bit of space as you draft cards to make sets and get the most points, but the box is compact and it would be an easy game to play while sitting on the ground, so you don’t need a table for it. The art is very cute, and  it’s a game that can require some strategy, but is very fast to play.

We Didn’t Playtest This

Why? It’s a very fast game and a small deck of cards. It is also a good game for if you are traveling with a large group. While some of the other games have player limits, We Didn’t Playtest This really doesn’t have those limits. The game goes so fast, and people get eliminated so quickly that you can play multiple rounds and just hope that everyone can get a turn in those games. It’s a silly game with odd rules and some fun expansions. I’d lean towards recommending We Didn’t Playtest This Legacy as that has lasting affects that continue from game to game that just make it weird.

Cards Against Humanity/Apples to Apples

Why? It’s a bunch of cards in a box, you don’t even have to take them out of the box to play, you just need to remember which side of the box you are drawing cards from. I went with both games here because if you are traveling with your family, you might be more apt to bring Apples to Apples. If you are traveling with your friends, Cards Against Humanity would probably be the preferred game. Both games work off of the same premise of someone is it, says a word or a phrase, and people have to try and get the person to pick the card that they lay down which can describe, be similar, just be funny, or just be oh so wrong when answering the question or matching up with the phrase.

There are a good number of games that you can take with you while you travel. What is your favorite game to bring in vacation?

———————————
Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

So, early on I did a post on different types of board games, and I’ve been wanting to come back to that topic, but I’ve been distracted by other posts, time constraints, and forgetting about it from time to time. Now is the time, though, where I’m going to be running a more in-depth look at board games and the different types of board games.

The first category that I want to touch on, keeping with the theme of Board Game Nights, is party games. Party games don’t have to go along with a specific board game night, but can be worked into a lot of different get-togethers.

What Makes Games Fall Into This Category?

Party games are generally games that can be played quickly, can be easily incorporated into the social side of a party, and are easy to pick up. You don’t want to stop the interactions to get the game rolling, but when there is a lull in talking, or as people wind down, you can pull out these games and add some energy back into the room.

What Are Some Examples?

I would say that some of the most common and classic examples are games like Scattergories, Catchphrase, and Apples to Apples. These games are the ones that my parents had, along with games like Taboo and Guesstures. These games are aimed at getting you to speak with other people and laugh as you try to get other people to guess a word, and are generally for keeping people entertained.

There are some games that have continued in that line which have come out recently. Games like Stipulations, which was just kickstarted in 2015, and Wits and Wagers have built upon the concepts of previous party games, and games like Cards Against Humanity have taken them to a darker place.

But these aren’t the only types of games that would fall into the category of party games. There is a card game series (each a stand-alone game) that is themed many different ways — the game Fluxx. This game, and its various versions, is a fun simple game where the rules are always changing, so you can’t plan ahead and make any strategy. And another example, Zombie Dice, is a game where you try and collect the most brains and avoid being shot, just by rolling dice. There’s also Tsuro, which Kristen wrote an  article on recently; it is another fun game that goes fast and is always changing. And finally, We Didn’t Playtest This At All is a game that can last as little as five minutes, and you can play it over and over and over again. These are all great examples of games that you can play instead of games that fall into the more classic party game category.

Finally, there are games like Telephone Pictionary that you need nothing more than paper and pencil to play. And any game that makes you act out something or do something silly works well for a party. Cranium is the combination of Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, and charades; most people have heard of this one, but a similar game, Dicecapades, is a fun dice-based twist on that. These games keep you active and involved more than other games.

Do They Get Old?

This is an important question that you probably won’t think of all that much, but if you play these games often, especially the ones from higher on my list, they do get old. Catchphrase, while a fun game, has a limited number of options, and eventually, it seems like the same thing over and over again. Even Cards Against Humanity can get old. With a limited set of cards, you end up playing the same cards over and over again, and the variety eventually runs out. Thankfully, they are putting out expansions, but even those don’t change up the game greatly. But a lot of the games further down on my list have higher replay value. Fluxx changes every time, as the name would suggest, and Tsuro has some different strategies while going by quickly. We Didn’t Playtest This At All runs into the same issues as some of the other games on mylist, but they offer you some twists to the usual format. I think the most important thing is knowing your group. If you have creative types playing, games like Scattergories and Stipulations are going to get a much longer run for you.

If You Were to Recommend a Couple of Them, Which Would They Be?

The top three that I would recommend are Fluxx, Tsuro, and Zombie Dice. These games offer you a variety of playing styles, and are luck-based games. And most other people have some of the “thinking” party games like Scattergories. The nice thing about Fluxx and Tsuro is that they are easy to transport, so if you want to take them along to someone else’s place, you can do that.

What party board games do you like?

———————————
Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Start Simple and Fast

This is pretty straightforward — find games that are easy for people to pick up and play through quickly, and start off the night with them. It is very rare that everyone shows up to game night at the same time, so don’t plan on it. Know some ten-minute games that you are going to be able to play while people show up. Games like Fluxx, We Didn’t Playtest This At All, Tsuro, and Zombie Dice are all fast and easy games that people can pick up quickly, and ones that don’t take too long so that people who show up later aren’t just sitting around waiting for others to finish their game.

Know the Rules

It’s pretty obvious that you are probably going to want to try some new games during your game nights. But it’s smart to test-play them, or at least go through the rules and pieces, so you know what you are doing before you try to teach someone else. I have a couple of games that I want to play, Five Tribes and Ghostbusters, but without having played them before, they aren’t good game night options. Instead, with the games that work with two players, my wife and I will play them first, and with those that aren’t, we’ll have a smaller group of friends over to play them. But the better you can know the rules beforehand, the easier it is for other people to jump into a game with you.

Be Ready to Explain the Rules

This comes down with the previous rule. It is important to be able to explain the rules. Last game night, we played Seven Wonders. I’d played the game before, but I’m less familiar with it than the person who brought it. I could have explained the rules, but he was going to be better at explaining them.. And with some games, you can go through and explain the rules and people still won’t completely follow. So what do you do in that situation? If people aren’t getting the rules, pass on the game until you are more confident. Or if there are a few people who are sitting in a row who are familiar with the game, have one of them start, so that those who haven’t played will get a few chances to see how it’s done. For some people, hearing the rules is harder to follow than just watching a few turns. And be willing to play slowly and explain as you go if you need to.

To go along with this, tell the story of the game as you start. For example, Pandemic is a game where you are CDC members who are trying to stop the spread of diseases across the world. Forbidden Island is a game in which you are a group of adventurers, like Indian Jones, who are trying to track down lost treasures before the island sinks. As you can see, that pulls people in quickly, and makes it easier to explain the rules when it’s done within the framework of a story.

Don’t Have Surprise Rules

Especially in competitive games, if there are funky or tricky rules, go through and explain them. People might not remember them perfectly, but if it isn’t explained and you suddenly pull out the rule and use it your advantage, that isn’t going to give you a fun game night. A good example of this would be if there are some reasons why a player couldn’t do something. It’s annoying to find out that there is a certain situation where your brilliant plan can’t work.

Have Fun

The most important rule is that you’ve got to have fun. Even if you are a competitive player, don’t let that ruin your fun or other people’s fun. Board games should always be about hanging out with your friends rather than just about beating them in a competition. If you have some friends who are more competitive, pull out those more cutthroat games when playing with them, but for a lot of board game nights, you won’t have that type of group. You need to find the balance and play cooperative, fun, or more Euro-style games. Keep it simpler, and when you really want to play those more competitive games, invite over people whom you know can handle it.

So what would a good board game night look like?

We Didn’t Playtest This At All – start with this fast game that people can be added into easily. It’s a draw-a-card-play-a-card game.

Smallworld – After you have a few people, find a game that is goofy and good fun. Smallworld doesn’t take too long and is easy to pick up. And because of the style of game it is, even though there is a competitive aspect to it, people don’t get mad about it.

If you have some time and enough people, split into a couple of groups and play more serious games. For those who like cooperative games, something like the Lord of the Rings Board Game or Pandemic would be a good choice. Those who want to play a more complex or difficult board game could choose something like Dead of Winter or Legendary.

Zombie Dice or Tsuro – Finish up with another game during which people can leave anytime. The easier games are great to wrap up on, and then people can still leave when they are having fun.

———————————
Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.