New to board gaming and unsure where to start? These award winning games are both an excellent introduction to boardgaming or as additions to an existing game collection.
CATAN
As you build settlements and roads across an uncharted island, you gather the resources you need for your building projects. Be careful where you expand as some regions are more productive than others.
But you are not the only discoverer. Other fearless seafarers have also landed on the shores of Catan. Although the others compete to claim the best regions, you can trade with them to obtain resources you might lack.
Ages: 10+ Players: 3-4 Playing time: 45-90 min
Or try:
Catan: Junior introduces a modified playing style of the classic Settlers of Catan, giving players as young as five a perfect introduction to the Catan series of games.
Catan Family Edition is a cut-down version you can learn to play in about 15 minutes. Then enjoy countless hours of fast-paced fun!
You are a skilled artisan carefully planning to construct a stained glass window masterpiece in the Sagrada Familia.
Choose glass pieces, represented by dice. Then, carefully decide where to place each one in your window. Windows have unique colour and shade requirements. Similar dice may never be adjacent so placing each die is more challenging than the last.
Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities across the United States and southern Canada.
The longer the routes, the more points they earn.
Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway.
Take a train adventure across Europe. From Edinburgh to Constantinople and from Lisbon to Moscow, you’ll visit great cities of turn-of-the-century Europe. An elegantly simple game that can be learned in 5 minutes, and appeals to both families and experienced gamers.
Collect and play train cards in order to place your pieces on the board, attempting to connect cities on your ticket cards. Points are earned both from placing trains and completing tickets but uncompleted tickets lose you points. The player who has the most points at the end of the game wins.
You are a merchant of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige. If you’re wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.
A fast-paced and addictive game of chip-collecting and card development.
Ages: 10+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 30 min
AZUL
As a tile-laying artist, you have been challenged to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora.
Choose coloured tiles from suppliers to place your player board. You will score points based on how you have placed your tiles to decorate the palace. Extra points are scored for specific patterns and completing sets; wasted supplies harm the player’s score. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Azul: Queen’s Garden: Create a magnificent garden for the King’s lovely wife by arranging beautiful plants, trees, and ornamental features.
Azul: Summer Pavilion: Use the finest materials to create the summer pavilion while carefully avoiding wasting supplies. Only the best master artisan will rise to the challenge.
Prefer something less competitive? Pandemic is a cooperative board game that simulates the fight against world wide plague. As skilled members of a disease-fighting team, you and the other players work together to keep the world safe from outbreaks and epidemics. Only through teamwork will you have a chance to find a cure.
The ability to set difficulty level makes Pandemic a great choice for both beginners and experienced gamers
Ages: 8+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 45 min
Or try:
Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu is a new take on the classic co-operative game but this time the infection is true and ancient evil.
Pandemic: Fall of Rome combines the cooperative gameplay of Pandemic with innovative new mechanisms to take players back in history to the time of the world’s greatest empire
One of the most popular and awarded modern games, Dominion is the game that started a new genre: Deckbuilding.
Your deck contains cards with your resources, your victory points, and your possible actions. Each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the centre of the table is a selection of other cards the players can “buy” as they can afford them.
What starts out as a small sad collection of Estates and Coppers, you hope by the end of the game will be brimming with Gold, Provinces, and the inhabitants and structures of your kingdom.
Looking for a serious strategy game for the discerning player. Delight your giftee with these currently hot items.
EVERDELL
You are leaders of a group of critters intent on settling new territories in the charming valley of Everdell. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?
Everdell is a game of dynamic tableau building and worker placement
Ages: 13+ Players: 1-4 Playing time: 40-80 min
WINGSPAN
You are bird enthusiasts—researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors—seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitat.
Wingspan is a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building board game.
Ages: 10+ Players: 1-5 Playing time: 40-70 min
SPIRIT ISLAND
You are spirits of the land defending your island home from colonising Invaders. Each spirit has its own unique set of elemental powers. Faster powers take effect immediately, before the Invaders spread and ravage, but other magics are slower, requiring forethought and planning to use effectively.
Spirit Island is a complex and thematic cooperative game.
Ages: 13+ Players: 1-4 Playing time: 90-120 min
TERRAFORMING MARS
You each control a teraforming corporation, working to make the red planet habitable. Although you share this common goal you are also competing to become the leading corporation of Mars
Terraforming Mars is medium-weight, card drafting, tile laying game
Root is a game of woodland might and right. Stalk the woods as one of the Vagabonds, seize the initiative with the Eyrie birds of prey, rule over your subjects as the Marquise de Cat, or command the Woodland Alliance to create a new order. With creatures and cunning, you’ll rule a fantastic forest kingdom in the ultimate asymmetric game of adventure and war.
Root is a medium complexity, euro/wargame game for 2-4 players.
Ages: 10+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 60-90 min
IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD
In It’s a Wonderful World, you are an expanding Empire and must choose your path to your future. You must develop faster and better than your competitors. You’ll carefully plan your expansion to develop your production power and rule over this new world.
It’s a Wonderful World is a medium light cards drafting and engine building game
Ages: 14+ Players: 1-5 Playing time: 30-60 min
VISCOUNTS OF THE WEST KINGDOM
Set during the decline of West Francia, you as viscounts must be wise and decisive. Loyalty is to be upheld, but gaining favour among the people must be your priority, should there be a sudden shift in power.
Created by New Zealand’s own Garphill Games, Viscounts is a medium complexity worker placement game.
Ages: 12+ Players: 1-4 Playing time: 60–90 min
Or try:
Architects of the West Kingdom. As royal architects, you compete to impress the King by constructing various landmarks throughout his newly appointed domain
Paladins of the West Kingdom. As noble men and women, you must gather workers from the city to defend against the Kingdom’s enemies
Give the kids a break from the screen. Board games are a fun way to get everyone around the table to engage in some group entertainment… and learning, shh 🙂
ZOMBIE KIDZ EVOLUTION
Gather your friends together for this co-operative game. Come up with the best strategy to save your school from a cartoonish zombie horde. The first legacy style game for kids. Unlock fun new content with each game you play!
Ages: 7+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 5-15 min
Or try:
Zombie Teenz Evolution. Zombies are attacking the entire town! Cooperate with your friends and launch an expedition to drive off the overwhelming hordes
ZOMBIE TEENZ EVOLUTION
Zombies are attacking the entire town! Cooperate with your friends and launch an expedition to drive off the overwhelming hordes. A legacy style game for kids. Unlock fun new content with each game you play!
Ages: 7+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 5-15 min
RHINO HERO
Super Rhino! presents players with an incredibly heroic – and regrettably heavy – rhinoceros who is eager to climb a tall building and leap other tall buildings in a single bound. First, though, you need to construct that building.
Ages: 5+ Players: 2-5 Playing time: 5-15 min
CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS
A fast, challenging, and quick to learn card-drafting game with beautifully rendered artwork. Explore exotic lands, capture the bizarre creatures that originate from these lands, hire talented staff to help find and wrangle these beasts, and work to achieve secret goals But beware, some monsters are dangerous and will need to be carefully caged.
ICECOOL is a flicking game in which each round one of the players takes the role of the Hall Monitor (also called “the Catcher”) – his aim will be to catch each other penguin and get points for that. The others (also known as “Runners”) will try to run through several doors, thus gaining fish (that give them points) on their way.
Ages: 8+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 30 min
MY LITTLE SCYTHE
In this competitive, family-friendly game you each control 2 animal miniatures embarking upon an adventure in the Kingdom of Pomme.
Increase your friendship and pies, complete quests, learn magic spells, discover precious resources, deliver gems and apples to Castle Everfree, and perhaps even engage in a pie fight!
Some of My Little Scythe’s mechanisms are inspired by the bestselling game, Scythe.
Ages: 8+ Players: 2-6 Playing time: 45-60min
TINY TOWNS
You are the mayor of a tiny town in the forest in which the smaller creatures of the woods have created a civilization hidden away from predators. Cleverly plan and construct a thriving town, and don’t let it fill up with wasted resources! Whoever builds the most prosperous tiny town wins!
Ages: 14+ Players: 1-6 Playing time: 45-60min
UPKEEP
In Upkeep, your perfect and beautiful yard is being bombarded with unusual Autumn weather. Stormy weather or not, you must do everything you can to clean your yard before your neighbours.
Compete to sew the coziest quilt as you collect and place patches of different colours and patterns. Each quilt has a particular pattern that must be followed, and players are also trying to create colour and pattern combinations that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also able to attract the cuddliest cats!
Ages: 13+ Players: 1-4 Playing time: 30-45min
Stocking Stuffers
Looking for a little something to fit a stocking – or a tight budget. Try these excellent little games.
OAXACA
You are a family of skilled Oaxaca (pronounced wah-HA-kah) handicraftsmen preparing to sell your artisan wares to eager tourists at a bustling tianguis (a large, outdoor market) within Oaxaca City. Can you lead your family to a distinguished position with your exquisite craftsmanship, or are your crafts common for the culture?
You are head of a family in an Italian city-state, a city run by a weak and corrupt court. Be the last family with influence in the game, with influence being represented by face-down character cards in your playing area.
Ages: 13+ Players: 5-19 Playing time: 30 min
CITADELS REVISED EDITION
You and your opponents vie to build the most magnificent medieval city. Featuring easy-to-learn rules and engaging social interactions, Citadels is a perfect entry-level game for younger or less experienced gamers.
Citadels 2016 (Deluxe Plus) – Expanded edition of the classic game which includes expansions plus extra characters and districts, as well as player order tokens to make play easier still.
LOVE LETTER: BOXED EDITION
The noble Princess is looking for an ideal partner and confidant to help with her royal duties. Playing cards one at a time, players use the abilities of these key people in the Princess’ life to outwit their opponents and successfully deliver their letter and gain her favour.
Ages: 10+ Players: 2-4 Playing time: 20 min
Or try:
Love Letter: Revised Edition – features new artwork by Citadels artist Andrew Bosley, screen-printed tokens, and two new characters (five cards in total) that allow for games with up to six players. Comes in a cloth bag!
Love Letter Premium – features are supersized cards, wooden heart tokens, and hard-sided box with magnetic closure. Plays with up to eight players thanks to the inclusion of an additional set of cards
Lovecraft Letter combines the Love Letter system with the world of H.P. Lovecraft.
LOVE LETTER: REVISED EDITION
The noble Princess is looking for an ideal partner and confidant to help with her royal duties. Playing cards one at a time, players use the abilities of these key people in the Princess’ life to outwit their opponents and successfully deliver their letter and gain her favour.
The revised edition features new artwork by Citadels artist Andrew Bosley, screen-printed tokens, and two new characters (five cards in total) that allow for games with up to six players. Comes in a cloth bag!
Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After-Find the perfect ally to secretly carry your letter to Princess Isadora and win her heart. Set in the world of K. O’Neill’s graphic novel.
Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace – A Love Letter Game – In a quick card game of rebel bravery and vile deceit, can you carry out your agenda while outthinking your foes?
SagradaProduct on sale$59.00
Ticket To Ride$85.00
Ticket To Ride: EuropeProduct on sale$84.00
Ticket to Ride First Journey (U.S.)$64.00
Azul$74.00
Azul: Summer Pavilion$76.00
Pandemic: Fall of Rome$98.00
Architects of the West Kingdom$75.00
Paladins of the West Kingdom$64.00
UpkeepProduct on sale$42.00
Oaxaca$34.00
Citadels (Revised Edition)$49.00
Love Letter: Revised Edition$23.00
