UP YOUR GAME! Our games recommendations for Christmas

Aaaaah Christmas. A time for food, friends, family and (of course) board games.

With so many board games out there it can be a wee bit overwhelming to even begin to consider what games to play, but never fear – we here at Badger Badger are here to help turn “I don’t know” into “one more go”!

Whether you’re looking to pick up a classic or searching for your new favourite holiday games, with our expert recommendations you’ll have no reason to be bored over the holiday season. From simple, social party games to atmospheric, engrossing strategy games, we’ve got the scoop on all of the best picks for any group. Just pop in and chat to one our game sommeliers for your own bespoke recommendations.

We’ve got a load of games in our shop to pick up whenever you wish, but we can also order games in time for the holidays, so drop us an email if you’re after anything specific.

To help get you inspired, we’ve collated a selection of some of the very best games we’ve got in store, ready for the post-turkey table, Santa’s stocking and the games lover in your life. We’ve grouped them into convenient categories: We’ve got party games, strategy games, 2-player games, cooperative games, trading card games and even bite-sized bits perfect for a stocking filler. Take a peek below…

Games for parties

Quick to learn yet endlessly fun to play, party games are the choice for those moments when laughs and merriment are the order of the day (they’re great after a few snowballs too). You might be miming, drawing, bluffing or perhaps even dancing as you strive for victory, with hilarity always ensuing.

If you’re a lover of all things charades-y, you’ll love HINT, an ingenious little game from Denmark that combines all of the best bits of classic party games into an excellently curated and deliciously varied smorgasbord of competitive team madness. One round you might be humming showtunes, the next you might be drawing animals or miming out winter-sports, but one thing’s for sure; there’s more variety in the box than you could shake a pickled herring at. Pick and choose which hints to give from a rotating selection, but be careful, you won’t be able to avoid that miming round forever!

Next up, we’ve got a favourite of ours from local East London legends Big Potato Games. No matter which game of theirs you pick, you’re gonna have a good time and Herd Mentality is no exception. It’s every cow for themselves in this fun social game. Okay it’s not quite every cow for themselves: to score those points you need to win you’ll need to do anything but stand out from the crowd. Each round, everyone will be given a controversial question like ‘what is the best flavour of crisps’ or ‘would you rather have robot arms or robot legs’. You know, these sort of high-stakes dilemmas. Leave your individuality in the bin though, you’ll need to give an answer that the most other players also give to score points – if you aren’t a member of the biggest herd, well, then you’re out in the cold! You’d better watch out for the dreaded pink cow…

If you like your games fun and thoughtful, then Dixit will be right up your beanstalk. Featuring 84 different evocative, abstract illustration cards and elegant rules, Dixit is a game as charming as it is challenging. Each round, a special player will be designated ‘the storyteller’ and will need to choose a card from their hand, and give a clue which will help the other players to identify that image in particular. Each other player will select a card of their own that they think best matches the storyteller’s clue and put it in the centre of the table to be shuffled in with the true, original card. Players will then attempt to sort the tale from the chaff and find the storyteller’s original card. You get points for picking the correct card, but also for misleading other players into picking their card instead of the storytellers! Now with improved high – quality components and a huge selection of expansions to add – there’s never been a better time to grab a copy of this gorgeous little game.

Stocking fillers/games on a budget

Games come in all shapes and sizes but fortunately for you and us, this includes the huge array of pocket-sized games available great for stuffing into a stocking, grabbing for your secret santa or gifting on a budget. This includes absolute classic games such as Uno, Monopoly Deal and your classic playing cards but also even more.

You can treat the Pokémon fan you know to the surprise fun of a Pokémon Booster Pack, great for collecting, showing off to friends and playing against others. Pokémania really is a force to bridge the generations and it doesn’t look like it’ll be going away soon.

Collectable cards aren’t the only thing you can get on a budget, there are many many amazing games which fit into pint-sized packages. One of our favourite game boxes ever has to be tin that Sounds Fishy Mini comes in, one that’s both compact and clever. At first glance, it’ll seem like you’re gifting a tin of pickled pilchards, but these tinned goodies are even better, a fully fledged party game you’ll return to again and again. Each round you’ll be given a puzzling question before trying to lure other players into the deep water of ignorance with your own false answer. Can you pull out the prize catch from the pool of red herrings or will you flounder in a school of falsities? Whatever happens you’ll have a great time with this one.

Another super unique game that’s easy on the wallet yet stellar on the table is The Mind, a game that asks you to do one simple thing: read each other’s mind! It seems simple at first – each player is dealt a private hand of cards (which increases in size round on round) and your task as a group is to play all cards face up, in ascending order. Easy, right? Ah – you’re not allowed to talk. At all. It’s vague gestures and straight up mind-reading only in this clever, simple little cooperative game. Prove your clairvoyant prowess and get through as many rounds as possible. Are you and your friends psychic prodigies or will your mental messages get lost in the brain-fog? This is a card game that won’t slip your, ahem, mind anytime soon that’s for sure.

Games for tabletop superfans

What to get for the tabletop fan who has everything? Well, only the very very best the hobby has to offer. I’m talking about games to amaze, games to intrigue and games that take the medium to its peak. If you’re looking for something really quite special for the person in your life who loves games then these games are for you. If that person just so happens to be yourself then we won’t tell, we promise!

One of the standout tabletop hits of the last decade has been Stonemaier Games’ Scythe, a strategic masterpiece of epic scale that pits player against player for dominance over an alternate-history 1920’s europe. Brilliant and successful as it was, this year Scythe received an honorary sequel in the form of Expeditions. Building on its precursors foundations and bringing back its stunning historical sci-fantasy dieselpunk artwork, Expeditions puts players in the driver’s seat of their own mech as they forge into the Siberian Taiga corrupted by a cataclysmic meteor strike. Alongside an entirely new game utilising tile exploration, variable player abilities and an ever changing modular board, Expeditions introduces eldritch horrors and an alluring mystery into the mix. A must play for fans of Scythe and tabletop gaming alike.

Another gorgeous game the team have been loving recently is the stunning Inis, from the team over at Matagot. In the misty Isles of the ancient Celts, a struggle is brewing and only one clan elder may be crowned the leader of the isle of Inis. Explore the map one tile at a time, establish settlements and vie for control over the land – those who spread their influence the most will be crowned the new leader of the celtic tribes. Take care to listen to the will of your people, follow the wisdom of the bards and avoid bloodshed between the tribes for it will cost you in the long run! Taking the classic gameplay style of wargames of yore and turning them on their head, Inis is a consummately produced and tense game of careful negotiation and control – a minitures game where fighting others is the last thing you should aim to do. Unique and exciting, Inis is a game that is sure to intrigue even the most experienced player.

Our last recommendation is a much hyped game, one that takes a game many will find familiar into new, uncharted territory. That game is none other than Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West. The newest innovation in the enormously popular Ticket to Ride series, Legends of the West combines the empire building, track-laying fun of the modern classic and infuses it with the newest innovations from the world of legacy gaming. What’s legacy gaming you might be asking? Well, lemme tell ya.

Back in 2011, a certain Rob Daviau released Risk: Legacy, and with it invented Legacy gaming. Legacy gaming is a style of tabletop games in which the board and mechanics evolves and changes with each match played – no longer resetting at the end, but changing forever depending on the outcome of the game. Now, in 2023, Rob Daviau has returned to sprinkle his legacy magic onto the beloved ticket to ride series. Players will, over the series of 12 games, expand their railways over the Northern Americas, spreading further and further into the wild, uncharted west along the way! At the end of the 12 games, players will have their very own personalised Ticket to ride board complete with cities, routes regions rich for expansion. All aboard!

Games for two

Sometimes nothing beats a good old fashioned one on one game. From the very beginnings of tabletop gaming to now, tense duels of strategy and intellectual mastery have continued to command a strong presence in the medium. Fortunately for us, the games of today have plenty up their sleeves when it comes to 2 player excellence. Modern iterations of player vs player games have built on millennia of heritage with rich themes, tight mechanics and excitement to rival and exceed their more sociable cousins. Take a peek at some of our recommendations

Our first game for two, Quoridor, with its carved board and minimalist pieces has more than a passing resemblance to the abstract classics. Much like Chess, Quoridor’s simple rules hide an unparalleled strategic depth that will continue to unveil new layers of challenge for aeons to come. To win, players simply need to cross from one side of the board to the other first. On their turn players may either move their piece one space OR place one fence onto the board to slow down their opponent. Players may not completely obstruct their opponent from reaching their objective, but must instead form the longest and most obtrusive route possible for them, all whilst avoiding entrapment themselves. It is from these simple rules many different strategies emerge – perhaps you want to trick your opponent into a dead end, maybe you want to clear a path for yourself but you must always be careful to use your turns carefully, a wall cannot be moved once it is placed and once they’re gone that’s it, all you can do is rush across the board and hope to make it over first. The game gets even trickier when you play it with 4 players…

For players looking for a thematically rich but satisfyingly balanced 2-player experience, you’d be remiss not to give 7 Wonders: Duel a try. In this multi-award winning card game, each player will attempt to build an ancient civilization from the ground up, cultivating their economies, culture, military and science to reign supreme and confine their rival to the dustbin of history. Along the way players will gather resources, build their empires and craft ancient wonders proving their magnificence and glory. Your developments will be drawn from a shared pool over 3 rounds with each pick you make restricting your opponents options for expansion. The result is a tricky and tactical challenge to balance all aspects of your civilization from basic resources like brick and stone to grand innovations in arithmetic, farming and warfare. Take care not to let your opponent advance too far down any path as they may clinch the win in any of three different ways.

Now for a game completely different from the rest, a test of precision, concentration and wits – Hook and Ring Battle In this frantic and fun dexterity game, players will compete to complete a seemingly simple task, get the ring on a string to latch onto the hook on the central beam. So far so easy right? Don’t be fooled though, this is no simple task. Whether you’re taking turns one at a time or engaging in a mad dash to hook onto victory as quickly as possible you’ll find the hoop eluding the hook very very often. If you want your games to reflect the make or break tension of a penalty shootout, with the same need for precision to boot then this is the game for you. I hear it’s also quite popular on the internet…

Gifts for Trading Card Collectors

From Pokémon to Magic: The Gathering, from Yu-gi-oh to Lorcana, the world of Trading Card Games is wider than ever. Take it from me, a TCG fan can NEVER have enough cards, decks or TCG goodies (and don’t forget those lovely lovely shinies). We’ve got more than a few items here at Badger Badger that we could recommend for the collector in your life, no matter their TCG of choice from boosters, to sleeves to playmats to boxes, we’ve got ya covered.

If one thing defines TCGs more than any other, it’s the joy of cracking open booster packs, looking for those shinies and finding new cards to inspire the next deck brew. We’ve got loads of variety, why not grab a few – you can never have enough boosters. We’ve even got special bundles with goodies, special rare promo cards and other exclusive goodies if you’re looking to really treat that special someone. Just pop in and ask a member of staff for more advice on the best boosters to pick up for your loved ones and we’ll guide you towards the very best.

We’ve also got a selection of unique and exciting decks, from starter friendly decks to intricately designed preconstructed decks for the master player. We’ve got decks covering Pokémon, Lorcana and more than a few for Magic players including a few hard to find decks such as the much-hyped Doctor Who and Warhammer 40K crossover decks, while stocks last.

Now that you’ve got the cards and the deck, you’ll need to make sure that those cards are well protected. Take a look at our range of accessories, sleeves, playmats, dice and deck boxes for a range of ways to protect and bling out those decks. We’re also able to order special accessories for you on request, pop in to see what these might be and get that extra special something.

Games for working together

We all love a good bit of friendly competition, especially when it comes to our games, but sometimes the loveliest thing of all is working together. We’ve got a selection of excellent cooperative games pitting you and your teammates not against one another, but against the game itself. Whether that be coordinating to stop a global pandemic, exploring a haunted mansion or solving a confounding mystery, the scope of the relatively new cooperative genre is just as wide as their competitive cousins. We’ve selected a few of the more unique and interesting examples of the genre for you to peruse, take a look below.

One of the niftiest co-op games can be found in the small but mighty package of Bandido, an easy to learn – difficult to master pocket sized game from Helvetiq. El Bandido has been a very naughty boy, and they’ve been locked away in the cells for their misdeeds. But this penance is not something this sneaky son-of-a-gun has any intention of fulfilling and they’ve been hard at work digging their way out of the hands of justice. In this lil card game, you and your friends will attempt to thwart El Bandido’s fiendish plans by methodically blocking off the ends of their tunnels. One at a time you’ll place cards from your hand onto the growing board, with the goal of looping each of this pesky penitents’ escape routes or by plugging the gaps with guards. Sounds easy enough right? Don’t be fooled – you’ll often find your plans scuppered by the will of the cards and what’s worse, your teammates can’t know what cards you have. A delightfully devilish game, Bandido is a great one for the pub, the lunch break and the board game collection.

Perhaps you long for the thrill of adventure, mystery and peril? Do you have fond memories of those funky fighting fantasy books? Do you find the idea of fighting tooth and nail out a dungeon teeming with otherworldly threats? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the excellent Escape the Dark Castle should be right up your shadowy, scoundrel-ridden alley. Escape the Dark castle takes the dark fantasy adventure theme which many games explore so well, and distils all of the gloom and doom into one surprisingly elegant package.

Unlike many of its contemporaries, Escape the Dark Castle can be set up, learnt and played through in no time at all but without shirking on any of the challenge, variety or atmosphere. Using just dice and cards, you’ll form a randomly generated chapter deck, with each card representing a different ghoulish resident of the Dark Castle’s depths. From there, you and your unfortunate companions will struggle their way out with only their wits and the few items they’re able to scrounge together to help them. It’s a game that’s hard to beat, but that only makes the taste of freedom (when you finally attain it) so much sweeter.

With many expansion packs, a sci-fi sequel and even an upcoming adaptation of the Last of Us coming soon, the Escape the Dark series holds many mysteries and horrors awaiting to be discovered if only you have the courage to step once more into the dark beyond…

If you crave a more sunny yet cerebral type of adventure, then you should definitely check out Forbidden Island. You and your team of daring explorers must traverse the lush yet unstable environs of a desert island, slowly sinking into the ocean. Legends tell of powerful and alluring artefacts just waiting to be discovered but can you find and retrieve them before the rapidly rising tide consumes the island, treasures and all? A satisfying puzzle of careful decisions and twists of fate, you must learn to ration your dwindling time well enough to deal with the challenge ahead, utilising your special powers and coordinating your efforts to snatch victory from the jaws of the ever-encroaching sea. It’s not just a dream to play, Forbidden island benefits from lovely component design and a really quite nice box that fits very neatly into any games shelf. What’s more, after you’ve defeated the island, more challenges await in the game’s multiple sequels, taking you to arid deserts, precarious skyships and thick jungle in the search of yet more treasure and glory. Think you’ve got the mettle to beat the whims of these mysterious locales? Pick up a copy and show them what you’ve got.

Thanks for reading!

If these games sound interesting to you, do pop in to pick up a copy, or even try playing them by coming down for a games session here at Badger Badger. Whatever your plans this holiday season, we’re always happy to give recommendations to help you find your favourite next game. What’s more, a great many more games are available for special order with Badger Badger if you’re looking for something we don’t have, we’re always happy to see if we can get it in for you. We’ll be hosting a series of special events over the nether zone period between xmas and new years too, so keep an eye out for more announcements on those soon.

Thanks to each and every one of you for the continued support, it really is a dream to be able to share the love of all things tabletop gaming with the community and we owe it all to you, our customers. If we don’t see you before then, we wish you all the warmest of holiday greetings, a merry christmas and a happy new year!

See you soon,

The Badger Badger Gaming Team