With the festive season approaching fast, it’s time to start thinking of your Christmas presents for friends and family. We understand it can be tricky to find gifts for your game-loving friends, but you don’t have to do extensive research anymore to find the perfect game for them.  

Whatever your budget or the gift receivers’ age, we have an extensive range of games to suit everyone, whether they’re into the classics such as Ticket to Ride or something recent like Pandemic. 

Here’s a list of card and board games that would make a perfect gift for Christmas…they might even start playing the second your festive dinner has ended.

Christmas Board Games for Families

If you’re looking to purchase a board game that will create a memorable, engaging experience that the whole family can enjoy- regardless of age or gender, then we expect the following picks to be amongst your best options.

Wingspan 

Perfect for when you want something more than your typical card or dice game, Wingspan is an engine building game about birds and bird-care. The goal of the game is to build the most effective wildlife preserve, and the player that attracts the best birds to their habitat will get the most points.  

The game can be played between 2-4 players and takes around one hour. It starts with each player having a player board, 8 action cubes, 5 food tokens of each type, 5 bird cards, and 2 bonus cards - however, only one bird card and one bonus card can be kept to begin the game, and each drawn card requires eggs or food for the bird to be placed in the habitat. 

Ticket to Ride: London 

Ticket to ride is a 2-5 player game that can take just 15 minutes to play. This game is a British classic, and it’s both easy to learn and fun for families and friends of all ages - starting from 8 year olds. 

The game rules are pretty simple: each player collects train cards on each turn and uses them to claim routes on the board, from one city to another. If the player completes a route, they get points based on how far the route goes. However, all players should remain vigilant as routes can be sabotaged by competitors by laying down competing cards. 

Ticket to Ride has been around for some time now so there are plenty of expansions available if you want more variety in the gameplay or map style.

Christmas Games for Kids 

CATAN Junior 

CATAN Junior is a spin-off game of the popular board game Settlers of CATAN. It’s designed with kids in mind which means that rules are simplified and it takes less time than the original game. A great introduction to the CATAN series of games to kids. 

The game consists of building pirate hideouts and ships on the islands of catan while avoiding the ghost pirate. The game has 5 resources with each island producing its own. Each time the dice is rolled, players get the resource tiles that could include mosalles, wood, goats, gold and cutlasses. These tiles are then used to build ships and hideouts. 

Perfect for children over 6 years old, the game can be played with 2 or 4 players, and takes around 20-30 minutes. Perfect for those who love a pirate adventure.

Articulate! For Kids 

Articulate for Kids is a fast-paced, fun, and educational game that helps kids learn to communicate effectively. The goal of the game is to help children be able to quickly identify words with a simple description while also improving their vocabulary. 

The board game can be played with 4 to 20 players, starting at 6 years old, and it's especially great for shy children as it encourages them to work together and talk in front of others. 

Christmas Games for Couples

Couples games are designed to inject a little romance and excitement into a games night, and can also provide a fun outlet for you to compete against and challenge your partner. Here are our top picks:

Fog of Love 

If you're looking to treat a couple or your partner to a fun and romantic game, then Fog of Love is the way to go. In this 1-2 hour game, partners compete against each other by trying to win over another couple in love. 

Couples get to know each other by answering questions about themselves and their relationship goals. As the game progresses, they can reveal more intimate information about themselves as well - like what kind of pet names are most appealing or which parts of a date are most important.

The best part? Anyone can play Fog of Love! It's designed for couples who have been together for less than a year all the way up through those who have been married for decades - so it's perfect if there's someone special in your life that you want to learn more about.

7 Wonders Duel 

7 Wonders Duel is a two-player strategy game that lasts up to 30 minutes, where each player takes on the role of a leader in ancient Greece. The goal is to build up your city as you collect resources, like gold, marble, discounts and more - all of which will help you add to your powerful army.

You can win in three different ways: 

• Science victory achieved by obtaining 6 key scientific breakthroughs. 
• Military victory achieved by overwhelming your foe with warfare cards. 
• Civic history achieved by having the most victory points at the end of the game. 

Each round consists of players taking turns placing cards down on the table. Cards can be used to construct buildings or purchase new cards from the market; they can also give you special powers that allow you to gain more resources or abilities than other players have available at their disposal. Because nothing says ‘I love you’ like a crushing military defeat.

Christmas Games for Him

Some games tend to have a high uptake amongst men and boys alike, so there’s a good chance these games from leading franchises will provide endless hours of entertainment for your giftee.

Unlock: Star Wars Escape Game 

Whether you're a fan of the movies or not, this game is sure to be a hit for any Star Wars fan in your life. It's an escape-the-room card game where you and up to six other players have one hour to work together; solving riddles, searching scenes, and combining objects in order to escape. 

Players will have to download the free Star Wars Unlock app that will guide them through the game by monitoring remaining time, providing clues and checking codes.The coolest part of the game is that it comes with three different adventures: Hoth, Imperial Ship, and Jedha. 

Marvel Champions: Sinister Motives 

Marvel Champions: Sinister Motives is an expansion of the classic Marvel Champions card game in which you’ll play as your favourite Marvel heroes in order to stop the villains. 

The enemies in this expansion include all of the famous Spider Man villains, including Venom, Mysterio, and the Sandman. Up to 4 people can take part, with each player having the option of playing individually or in teams of two.

New heroes featured include Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and players can complete missions either on their own or in a campaign mode before anyone else, to be crowned as the winner. It’s fast-paced and fun for any Marvel fan!

Christmas Games for Her 

If you’re shopping around for a game that girls tend to love, we rate these picks as being amongst your best options. That said, everyone loves Harry Potter and Disney!

Cluedo Harry Potter 

Harry Potter Cluedo is a fun twist on the classic game for Harry Potter fans. It's a great gift for board game fans and budding detectives alike. The game comes with six character cards so you can pick which character from the books or films you'd like to play as. 

You can choose between Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna — or one of their counterparts from the movies. Players move around the board collecting evidence that points towards their suspects' guilt or innocence. It's up to them to figure out who killed Professor Snape!

Disney Smash Up 

While it can be fun to settle into an individual Disney movie, why not mash all of your favourite characters together and have them team up for exciting adventures?

Disney Smash Up enables you to combine the powers of your favourite Disney heroes, with playable characters from Mulan, the Lion King, Frozen, and Beauty and the Beast.

Whichever Disney franchises prove to be the families’ favourite, we’re confident you’ll find characters you love in a game you can sink your teeth into when teaming up for some Disney Smash Up.

Christmas Card Games

If you’re looking for some Christmas classics that can bring a little festive fun to your family occasions, look no further. Here are our suggestions.

Emojinary Card Game

Emojinary is a card game in which you match emojis to the emotions they express. The player who earns the most points wins!

To start, each player draws two cards and keeps one of them secret. On their turn, they play any number of emojis from their hand onto the table in front of them. Players then make guesses about what other players are thinking about based on their combination of revealed cards and hidden ones (or just guess randomly).

If a player correctly guesses another player's thoughts, that person gets points equal to how many emojis she has played. The first person to reach 10 points wins!

Power Grid: The Card Game  

Power Grid is a well-known and well-liked board game franchise that is built around buying power plants at auctions and figuring out how to fuel them. It’s a political, strategic, and tactical game, and now - there’s a card game version!

Recommended for players from ages 12 upwards, this exciting game is a tactical, strategic, and highly rewarding experience that is weighted heavily toward skill rather than luck - and a fun, competitive experience for families and friends at Christmas.

The perfect Christmas gift from Asmodee

We hope you’ve found this list of Christmas board games gifts helpful. Whether you need to buy a gift for adults or kids, we think our suggestions would be an excellent choice. They’re all easy enough for beginners but still provide plenty of challenge for seasoned players, so we guarantee that anyone in your life will love playing them!