We’ve created the perfect gift guide for the board game enthusiast in your life! Check out these 7 board games, and swing by to check out all of the other Strategy Games we have in stock. Don’t forget, we offer in store pickup and shipping!
- Dinosaur Island: players will have to collect DNA, research the DNA sequences of extinct dinosaur species, and then combine the ancient DNA in the correct sequence to bring these prehistoric creatures back to life.
- Flamecraft: Artisan dragons, the smaller and magically talented versions of their larger (and destructive) cousins, are sought by shopkeepers so that they may delight customers with their flamecraft
- Gartenbau: Take on the role of a gardener, seeking to wield your green thumb to grow a well-balanced, mature garden before the growing season ends.
- HerStory: you’re an acclaimed author, writing a book to tell the stories of remarkable women of history. Players take turns doing research, drafting chapters, and completing them for points and possibly for research symbols or special powers.
- The Magnificent: players are competing to attract the largest audiences to their shows, featuring magnificent performers.
- My Father’s Work: players are competing mad scientists entrusted with a page from their father’s journal and a large estate in which to perform their devious experiments.
- The Boys: This is Going to Hurt: you battle with and or against Butcher, Hughie, Frenchie, The Female, Mother’s Milk, members of The Seven, your favorite and most hated Supers, and other characters from “The Boys”. You need to be fast as after 21 rounds, Homelander makes it “Game Over” for everyone.
On this next instillation of Gift Guides, we have compiled a list of the perfect games for the young gamers in your life. It’s never to early to share the love of board games. We even have games for kids as young as 2 years old!
As of the posting, all of these games are in stock.
Animal Upon Animal
- 2-4 players
- 15 mins
- 4 years +
The animals want to show how good they are at making tall pyramids! They must be skillfully careful: Who will position the penguin on top of the crocodile, the sheep on top of the penguin, the serpent on the sheep? The hedgehog wants to stand on top of the pyramid but the height is making him dizzy. In Animal Upon Animal players roll the die and either places one or two animals on to the stack of animals, passes one of his or her animals to another player for them to place, or places an animal on the table, extending the base for other players to build upon. Of course, if any pieces fall off whilst you are building, you get up to two of them back. The first player to have used all of their animals wins.
My Very First Games: Off to Bed
- 1-3 players
- 10 mins
- 2 years+
It’s time to go to bed — but the rabbit, bear and cat are unable to settle down because their beds, pillows and covers are all muddled up! What’s more, the animals each want their favorite stuffed toy. If the children have good powers of memory and a bit of luck in turning over the tiles in My Very First Games: Off to Bed!, they can succeed in getting their animal into bed first.
Rhino Hero
- 2-5 players
- 15 mins
- 5 years+
Rhino Hero 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. Players each start the game with five roof cards, and they take turns adding walls and roofs to a single building. On a turn, you first place walls on the highest floor, then you choose a roof card in your hand and place it on the wall. Each roof card bears markings that indicate where the next player must place walls on the card. In addition, some roof cards force a player to perform special actions, such as placing a second roof, changing the direction of play, or moving Super Rhino to a new location on the tower. Keep your hands steady!
Dr. Beaker
- 2-4 players
- 15 mins
- 8 years+
In Dr. Beaker, each player has a beaker with six compartments around the edge for molecules, which are represented by plastic balls in three colors; two spaces for molecules are in the center of the beaker, with the beaker having a rotating platform in it. Each player also has a stirring rod, and when someone turns over a challenge card, everyone must race to arrange the molecules in their beaker to match the pattern showing on the card — but they must use only their rod to do so, moving the molecules around the beaker through the openings in the compartments. As soon as a player matches the pattern, they claim the card, then flip over a new one, with everyone continuing to play with whatever arrangement of molecules they currently have.
Go Away Monster!
- 2-4 players
- 15 mins
- 3 years+
Reach in the bag to find the puzzle pieces that fit your bedroom game board. Try to distinguish between the different puzzle pieces and decide which one feels like the size and shape of a piece you need. If you pull out a monster, don’t be scared… You take charge, and the monsters will take off! Being afraid of monsters is a normal part of growing up. Go Away Monster! encourages kids to conquer that fear by acting it out and taking control. It also lets them experience some of the apprehension and excitement in deciding what is real and what is imaginary.
On this week’s Gift Guides, we are talking all things co-operative games. We love suggesting co-op games to new gamers and families with younger kids. But co-op games can be great for all ages and gamer types. Here’s a list of our favorite co-op games for the gamer in your life who wants everyone to win!
*As of this posting, all of these games are in stock*
Pandemic
- 2-4 players
- 45 mins
- 8 years +
In Pandemic, several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all over the world! The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand. Taking a unique role within the team, players must plan their strategy to mesh with their specialists’ strengths in order to conquer the diseases. Make sure to check out all of the versions of Pandemic to find the one that best fits your group.
Space Alert
- 1-5 players
- 30 mins
- 12 years +
Space Alert is a game where players become crew members of a small spaceship scanning dangerous sectors of the galaxy. The missions last just 10 real-time minutes (hyperspace jump, sector scan, hyperspace jump back) and the only task the players have is to protect their ship. During play, the central computer will announce the presence of various threats on one the supplied 10 minute soundtracks that also acts as a game timer. The threats vary from space battleships and interceptors to different interstellar monsters and abominations, asteroids or even intruders and malfunctions on the spaceship. Players have to agree who will take care of which task and coordinate their actions in real time to defend the ship. Only a well-working team can survive 10 minutes and make the jump back to safety.
Gloomhaven
- 1-4 players
- hour+
- 14 years +
Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives. Players will take on the role of a wandering adventurer with their own special set of skills and their own reasons for traveling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process, they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.
The LOOP
- 1-4 players
- hour+
- 12 years +
The LOOP is a quirky game in which you battle the evil Dr. Faux. Play a Temporal Agent in four different game modes, full of new challenges and replay value. Gather powerful artifacts, defy the Doctor’s duplicates, and sabotage his maniacal machine. Make the most of your cards and master the LOOP to use them multiple times in impressive chains — but the Doctor isn’t going to make this easy on you! The evil Dr. Faux has built a terrrrible time machine! With the help of the duplicates of himself that he is creating through the ages, he aims to carry out his Omniscience 2000 project to become master of the universe. But the rifts that he is opening in spacetime will probably destroy quantum space way sooner…
Uk’otoa
- 3-5 players
- 45 mins
- 12 years +
In the tactical game Uk’otoa, factions of sailors vie to be the last claimed by the raging sea leviathan Uk’otoa. As the ship slowly falls into the ocean, you have to run, push, and sacrifice others to win! Uk’otoa is a semi co-operative game where you work together with the players on either side of you. But only one person will emerge victorious!
Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
- 2-4 players
- 45-hour
- 11 years +
The forces of evil are threatening to overrun Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, a co-op deck-building game, and it’s up to four students to ensure the safety of the school by defeating villains and consolidating their defenses. In the game, players take on the role of a Hogwarts student: Harry, Ron, Hermione or Neville, each with their own personal deck of cards that’s used to acquire resources.
Another instalment of Gift Guides is here! And this week we are shopping for that awesome Dungeon Master or RPG Player in your life. From beginners to seasoned players, we can help you get the perfect gift for the holiday season!
As of this posting, all items are currently in stock.
D&D Starter Set
The newly revamped Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is your gateway to action-packed stories of the imagination. This box contains the essential rules of the game plus everything you need to play heroic characters on perilous adventures in worlds of fantasy. Explore subterranean labyrinths! Plunder hoards of treasure! Battle legendary monsters! Ideal for a group of 4 – 6, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set includes a 64-page adventure book with everything the Dungeon Master needs to get started, a 32-page rulebook for playing characters level 1 – 5, 5 pre-generated characters, each with a character sheet and supporting reference material, and 6 dice.
Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
Meet Fizban the Fabulous: doddering archmage, unlikely hero of the War of the Lance, divine avatar of a dragon-god—and your guide to the mysteries of dragonkind in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. Dragonslayers and dragon scholars alike will appreciate the new dragon-themed options for players eager to harness the power of dragon magic and create unique and memorable draconic characters. Dungeon Masters will discover a rich hoard of new tools and information for designing dragon-themed encounters, adventures, and campaigns. Discover a host of new dragons and other creatures. Learn about the lairs and hoards of each type of dragon, and how hoards focus the magic that suffuses dragons and connects them to the myriad worlds of the Material Plane.
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
Once every eight years, the fantastic Witchlight Carnival touches down on your world, bringing joy to one settlement after the next. Its owners, Mister Witch and Mister Light, know how to put on a good show. But there’s more to this magical extravaganza than meets the eye! The Wild Beyond the Witchlight takes adventurers from the Witchlight Carnival to Prismeer, a Feywild domain of delight, and is designed for characters of levels 1–8. This book comes with a poster map that shows the carnival on one side and Prismeer on the other.
Zombicide RPG
There’s a zombie plague overrunning the world. The recently-dead are roaming around, hunting the living, ready to tear them apart on sight. Some survivors chose to hide away in bunkers or caves, but that’s not you. You’re going to attack these zombies head on. You’re going to commit Zombicide. In Zombicide: Chronicles – The Roleplaying Game, players take on the role of survivors of the zombie apocalypse. They must learn to work together, trust one-another, and form strategies to fight the zombies if they want to stay alive.
Dungeons & Dragons Class Token Sets
These Token Sets are designed to allow you to easily and quickly track your character’s status effects. If your character is frightened, paralyzed, or unconscious, your allies will be able to see at a glance that you are in need of help. Because all of these full-color tokens are made of durable perspex, they are wet-erasable, so you can write additional information straight onto them. The combat tile provides a place for you to keep a running total of constantly changing statistics like character health and resources, all without dirtying your character sheet with eraser marks. Each token set includes a class tin, a combat tile, and 20 regular tokens with 1 large inspired token. Some classes have additional tokens dedicated for that class.
Miniatures and Dice
When in doubt, players and DM’s can never have to many miniatures or dice!
We are back with another curated Gift Guide! This time for that awesome board game family in your life. Do they all love hanging out and playing a low strategy game together? Do they have their own night of the week that they hang out at home and play games? If the answer is yes, this is the list for you!
As of posting, all of these games are currently in stock!
Ticket to Ride
- 2-5 players
- 60 mins
- Ages 8+
With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.
Catan
- 3-4 players
- 60 mins
- Ages 10+
In Catan, players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players build by spending resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) that are depicted by these resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep.
Sagrada
- 1-4 players
- 45 mins
- Ages 14+
Draft dice and use the tools-of-the-trade in Sagrada to carefully construct your stained glass window masterpiece. Each player builds a stained glass window by building up a grid of dice on their player board. Each board has some restrictions on which color or shade (value) of die can be placed there. Dice of the same shade or color may never be placed next to each other. Dice are drafted in player order, with the start player rotating each round, snaking back around after the last player drafts two dice. Scoring is variable per game based on achieving various patterns and varieties of placement…as well as bonus points for dark shades of a particular hidden goal color.
Splendor
- 2-4 players
- 30 mins
- Ages 10+
Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. 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.
Dungeon Decorators
- 2-4 players
- 40+ mins
- Ages 10+
Dungeon Decorators is a competitive “light euro” tile-drafting strategy game. Select tiles that give you the right combination of chilling chambers, harrowing hallways and dire decorations, then play goal cards to score points. The player who scores the most points achieves victory by impressing the client and setting them on their path to becoming the next legendary evil!
D&D Dungeon Scrawlers
- 2-4 players
- 15 mins
- Ages 10+
In Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers – Heroes of Undermountain, you and other adventurers are drawn together to delve into Undermountain, an immense underground of dungeons created by the Mad Mage, Halaster Blackcloak. Use your markers to trace your path, defeating monsters, casting spells, connecting artifact fragments, and collecting shiny treasure on the way! The round ends when one player defeats that dungeon’s mighty boss, so you have only a few minutes to collect as much loot as possible. The player with the most points after exploring three dungeons wins!
Kabuto Sumo
- 2-4 players
- 15 mins
- Ages 10+
Kabuto Sumo is a game where you are one of the contending beetles that is battling for supremacy in the ring and your place in the pantheon of legendary wrestlers. The gameplay of Kabuto Sumo resembles the coin-pusher arcade games in which you strategically drop quarters and anxiously anticipate coins cascading off the platform. This game features a similar experience, with you trying to strategically slide pieces onto the board and push the other players out of the ring. It’s an exciting combination of dexterity, strategy, and luck.
Azul
- 2-4 players
- 40 mins
- Ages 8+
In Azul, players take turns drafting colored tiles from suppliers to their player board. Later in the round, players score points based on how they’ve placed their 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.
Camel Up
- 3-8 players
- 45 mins
- Ages 8+
In Camel Up, up to eight players bet on five racing camels, trying to suss out which ones will place first and second in a quick race around a pyramid. The earlier you place your bet, the more you can win — should you guess correctly, of course. Camels don’t run neatly, however, sometimes landing on top of another one and being carried toward the finish line. Who’s going to run when? That all depends on how the dice come out of the pyramid dice shaker, which releases one die at a time when players pause from their bets long enough to see who’s actually moving!
