Our Favorite Gifted Games
To celebrate the holiday season, we asked NASAGA members to share their favorite “gifted games.” Here’s what they said.
Looney Labs’ Marvel Fluxx!! It has become a standard quick game for me and the kiddo to pick up. It came from a friend who is a Fluxx connoisseur and knew that my kiddo would get hooked if it were Marvel themed.
Image courtesy Looney Labs
For 8 years or so we've had a friend Elfster gift exchange. We have a loose $20-25 limit but most people go around double it. One of my close friends/former students got my name and gave me my gift. My wife, the organizer, immediately said "HEY! That is WAY more than $25!" My friend pointed out that it was, in fact, free. It was a Kickstarter he had received 2 years earlier and had never opened or played, so he was just gifting something on his shelf. The present? Far Off Games’ Xia: Legends of a Drift System (with all expansions).
Image courtesy Far Off Games
When I was in middle school, my father brought a copy of Bob Moore’s Cathedral home from a trip. We all immediately got hooked on it as a family, and there were some very contentious plays (all in good fun, of course.) I never thought much about the backstory of it until I started writing this blog post and found this (in the link above):
“In 1962 Robert (Bob) Moore was a young pilot in the Royal New Zealand Airforce at Wigram Airforce Base in Christchurch. During training in Harvard aircraft over Christchurch city, Robert enjoyed looking down at the Christchurch Cathedral, an easy landmark and appreciated the tiny buildings and roads which appeared toy-like below and surrounded the Cathedral. One thing that fascinated him was the way the buildings interlocked so perfectly, like a jigsaw. The memory, during a later occupation in system analysis, planning and production, germinated as an idea for a new game, of various shaped building-like pieces, to be fitted on a board by two opposing players. After years of study and design the first prototype of Cathedral was born.”
Image courtesy Chrisbo IP Holdings Ltd.
A friend kickstarted and then gave me Druid Games’ Wonderland’s War last year. Not only is the game thematically spot on for me, but also the mechanics are some of my favorites. Additionally, the fancy, upgraded pieces that came with Kickstarter make it physically special, thus making WW one of my most memorable game gifts ever received.
Image courtesy Druid Games
Buffalo Games’ Planted is a winner for our family. My son gave it to me. It is complex enough to be interesting for the gamers in the family while also not too complicated to overwhelm others. We love the theme and art too!
Image courtesy Buffalo Games
For birthdays and Hanukkah over the past few years, my husband has been gifting me 2-person board games that we can play together that we BOTH enjoy, since we have different game-playing styles. My methodical approach to Scrabble is just too slow for him, and I am terrible at video games. Our current favorites are Exploding Kittens’ A Little Wordy, which is a wordplay game that's quicker and more interactive than Scrabble, and Bob Moore’s Cathedral, which is a spatial building game. We've played each of these dozens of times, and we are pretty equally matched, so we both get lots of chances to win.
Image courtesy Exploding Kittens
From all of the NASAGA team, we wish you a Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year!
Title image credit: Vector Image by VectorStock
