Holiday Gift Guide- Board Games make Great Gifts

I’ve had a chance to review some terrific games and puzzles over the last month. In addition to be educational, all of the following are just plain fun! Any of these would make a wonderful gift.

• Pirate’s Gold from Carson-Dellosa Publishing combines practicing math skills with swashbuckling fun! Players move Pirate Ship shaped pieces across a game board made up of six puzzle-shaped pieces that fit together to make the board.   Players start on the Port Island, then roll dice to move their ships to islands, drawing map cards and treasure cards that either show gold coins or junk. For grades 2-6, 2-4 players, suggested price $14.99. Check the Carson-Dellosa Local store locator to see where the game is sold near you.
• Another fun game from Carson-Dellosa is Chicken Count. For younger players (suggested age is 4 and up), this game uses just cards. Players take turn drawing cards and trying to have the most chicken cards in their hand when the chicken coop cards are all drawn. I like this one because there are no dice or other small pieces to lose, so it could be taken and played anywhere. Check the Carson-Dellosa Publishing Local Store locator for stores near you that sell Chicken Count, suggested price is $14.99.
• CrossWise from MindWare is easy to learn and fun to play! It requires quick thinking and strategy as you place your tiles on the board, because your opponent is creating vertical columns while you create horizontal rows. Earn the most points with different combinations of shapes while blocking your opponent, but watch out—action tiles let players move tiles unexpectedly. Simple and fun to play for all ages; games last less than 20 minutes. Includes 18″-square game board and 60 tiles.  CrossWise also had the unexpected benefit of being a fun matching game for my 3 year old- I had her find me all the yellow shapes, then all the green ones, then I tried having her turn them over to find matches, but that was too hard. This is a terrific game to give for one person or as a family gift. Suggested retail price-$24.95. You can purchase MindWare games on their website or from some educational toy retailers.
• Qwirkle is MindWare’s most awarded game of all time! The game play is similar to Dominos, but while Qwirkle is as simple as matching colors and shapes, it is a game that also requires tactical maneuvers and well-planned strategy. The game consists of 108 wooden blocks with six different shapes in six colors. Using the blocks, players attempt to score the most points by building lines that share a common attribute – either color or shape. Enter code JOLLY at checkout on MindWare to get $4.99 shipping on orders over $50.00.Qwirkle is a quick game to learn, but you’ll soon discover that you’ll need to think strategically in order to score the most points. For ages 6 and up, suggested price is also $24.95.
• Ilium, from PlayRoom Entertainment, is a more complicated strategy game. Both my 12 year old and I spent several minutes reading the 4 page instruction guide, trying to figure out exactly what the game was about. It says ages 8 and up, but I say no, at LEAST 12 and possibly Adult for this one. It involves moving little wooden archeologist figures around a board to “dig sites”, using assignment cards, supply cube cards, and artifact tokens. To be honest, we still haven’t figured out how to play this. But if you need a board game for someone who enjoys really complicated game play (think “Magic: The Gathering” or even Dungeons & Dragons), this could be a good choice.
• Tiki Topple from Gamewright has won an amazing NINE awards, including the iParenting Media Award and Today’s Parent Magazine Top Toy of the Year. This game comes with a board, cards, and little wooden “tiki” pieces. In this fast-paced strategy game, try to maneuver your secret tikis to the top of the line by playing the right combination of action cards. Use a Tiki Up card to move a tiki ahead in line. Tiki Topple sends opponents’ tikis tumbling to the back of the pack. But watch out for the sneaky Tiki Toast cards, which knock your tikis off the board! Score the most points and call yourself the Tiki Master. Ages 10 and up, you’ll need to buy this one online from Gamewright for $15.99. And watch for tiki-stealing three year olds who just want to make the tikis play with the wooden farm animals
• Double Shutter from Blue Orange games is completely and totally addictive! It’s so simple, just a wooden box with numbered shutters on top. You roll two dice, then you close shutters to equal the number on the dice. The goal is to get all the shutters closed in as few rolls as possible. Sounds easy, but you’d be surprised at how long even a 12 year old boy will sit there rolling the dice and closing the shutters, trying to get all the shutters closed. It suggests ages 6 and up, but I think it could be a fun way to teach basic addition to younger kids as well. You can purchase Double Shutter using Blue Orange Games’ secure shopping site, price is $19.99 for the tin.

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