There was a time when playing a Christmas board game meant dusting off an old favourite selected from a narrow range of options. Maybe Trivial Pursuit, if you wanted to show off your pub quiz chops. Or Scrabble, if you felt like flexing your wordsmith muscles. Or Monopoly, if you hoped to roll around in wads of fake cash. But these days the choice is far, far wider. Almost overwhelmingly so.
During the past decade, the modern board game scene has exploded like a cartoon kitten. As screens have come to dominate our eyelines and erode our mental health, more of us are seeking recreational solace in the more social, less toxic worlds of ca…
There was a time when playing a Christmas board game meant dusting off an old favourite selected from a narrow range of options. Maybe Trivial Pursuit, if you wanted to show off your pub quiz chops. Or Scrabble, if you felt like flexing your wordsmith muscles. Or Monopoly, if you hoped to roll around in wads of fake cash. But these days the choice is far, far wider. Almost overwhelmingly so.
During the past decade, the modern board game scene has exploded like a cartoon kitten. As screens have come to dominate our eyelines and erode our mental health, more of us are seeking recreational solace in the more social, less toxic worlds of cardboard, cubes and wooden pawns – or “meeples”, to use the hobby parlance. Each tabletop experience has been finely crafted to yield maximum enjoyment in an often gorgeously presented way. Taking their cue from such indefatigable “Eurogame” classics as Catan and Codenames, these modern games have so grown in popularity they’ve encouraged the spread of high-street board game cafes, fuelled a boom in tabletop-related influencer activity, filled convention halls at ever-growing expos worldwide and raised millions on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter.
They also inspired me to co-create a magazine devoted to the artfulness of board games. It takes its name from one of the world’s most ancient games, the 5,000-year-old Senet. Our tagline is “board games are beautiful”, so unsurprisingly we believe there are few better things you can buy anyone for Christmas than a board game.
When considering your options, you could default to a new edition or variant of one of those old reliables (there now seems to be a Monopoly for every fandom). Or you could look at any of those aforementioned modern classics; Catan, after all, is still going strong 30 years after publication with its recently released sixth edition. But when my crack team of Senet writers and I put our heads together for this Christmas list of recommendations, we wanted to lean into the sheer joy of discovery that this hobby offers.
You may not be familiar with many of the games that follow, but we promise you’ll enjoy every last one. Of course, we realise that not everybody has the time (or table space) to devote some of the more in-depth “heavy” titles that delight and challenge serious gamers. So we’ve categorised our choices based on the flavour of play experience they offer. Party games for those who prefer fun crowdpleasers. Card games for those who like things pacy and swift to set up. Two-player games if you prefer a streamlined duel. Light strategy games if big, thick rulebooks scare you. And heavy if you enjoy a bit of “crunch”, as we say.
Most of them are competitive, though some follow a popular modern trend by inviting you to play as a team against the game itself. Plus, there is an intentional diversity of themes, from medieval intrigue to cosmic empire-building, via cheesemaking, political scandals and even the underworld of 18th-century queer London. We’ve tried to mix it up and show that there’s a board game for everybody. Let’s play. Dan Jolin
The best board games for 2025
Live and let dice … card games or strategy? You decide. Illustration: Jason Ford/The Guardian
Party games
Hot Streak
£49.89 at Board Gamist £33.70 at Amazon
*Ages 6+ *Only one game lets you cheer on as a figurine of a person in a hotdog suit tramples over their biggest rival. Set in the seedy world of sports mascot racing, Hot Streak is a betting game that is 90% hilarity and 10% cautionary tale. Mascots race down a track one move at a time, but rather than taking direct control of any given racer, players are provided glimpses of their upcoming moves – sprinting along, spinning in a blind panic, or falling flat on their face – and then allowed to tweak the odds in their favour before any bets are placed. For kids and adults alike, this is one of the funniest games in years. Dan Thurot
That’s Not a Hat
£7.99 at John Lewis £7.99 at Ravensburger
Ages* 8+** *A quick, easy-to-learn memory game for three to eight players, That’s Not a Hat involves passing face-down cards showing pictures of gifts to your neighbours while trying to remember which gift is which. As you give a card, you announce what it is. What appears, at first glance, insultingly simple – remember the single object in your custody – rapidly induces a kind of dry-mouthed existential panic as players’ minds go blank. A confident bluff sometimes pays off, but overall there’s a wonderful, albeit unnerving, equality in how rubbish everyone, young and old, is at remembering a handful of objects. Tim Clare
Wavelength
*Ages 14+ *Wavelength belongs to a family of games where one player gives a clue and their team tries to guess the answer. But it has a brilliant twist: rather than questions with a concrete response, it offers a scale, ie from “hot” to “cold”, or “introvert” to “extrovert”. The clue guides guessers to where on that scale a randomly dialled arrow lies. Not only is this much more exciting and exacting than quizzes, it creates fascinating, revealing and hilarious conversations around the scale itself. It also plays both competitively and cooperatively. What more could you want from a party game? Matt Thrower
Wilmot’s Warehouse
£36.99 at Zatu Games £37.65 at Hive
Ages* 8+** *Loosely based on a videogame, this colourful cooperative title offers a great way to bring a group of people together without the competitive fractiousness that sometimes impairs party games. Everyone works as a single team, tasked with remembering the positions of 35 face-down tiles, each decorated with a bright abstract image. The joy of this seemingly impossible task comes in the way you collaborate to establish connections between the tiles, even creating entertaining little narratives based on their artwork, then marvel at how effective – almost mind-meldingly magical – creative teamwork can be. DJ
Cockroach Poker
£7.98 at Zatu Games £10.99 at Waterstones
*Ages 8+ *This cheeky game of bluffing will appeal even to those who can’t keep a poker face. Players try to get rid of cards containing critters, such as stink bugs, flies or rats, from their hand. This can be done by deceit – pretend that a rat in your hand is just a fly – and if you are believed, the fooled party gets the card. Or you can be completely honest and watch your opponent second-guess themselves. Either way, mistrust spreads quickly and hilarity ensues. A game of quick turns, simple gameplay and many laughs, it is a perfect ice-breaker. Alexandra Sonechkina
Phantom Ink
*Ages 13+ *An uproarious party game of ghostly word-guessing. Players divide into two teams made of up to three mediums and a spirit, who are tasked with picking a word their teams need to guess. When it’s your team’s turn, mediums take a card to give their spirit a question to answer about the word. Clues unfold one letter at a time, and while opponents may not know what is being answered, they can maybe figure out what’s being spelled – which can help solve the word. You’re trying to beat the other team, yet somehow working together at the same time. An otherworldly experience. Meeple Lady
Two-player games
Splendor Duel
£16.98 at Zatu Games £25.05 at Amazon
Ages 10+* *The original Splendor is a simple yet compelling engine-building game about Renaissance jewel merchants. You take tokens to buy cards which then, in turn, work as permanent tokens for future purchases. This two-player version uses the same concept but ups the ante at every level. Cards now have a variety of special effects, there are devious new ways to steal a win and, best of all, you select tokens from a grid. This adds a constant temptation to pick whatever messes up your opponent’s strategy. It’s a wonderful, seamless genre-blend that tops the two-player world. MT
Iliad
£19.98 at Zatu Games £21.20 at Magic Madhouse
Ages* 10+* German designer Reiner Knizia is the most prolific inventor of board games alive with more than 500 to his name, and Iliad is proof he’s still bursting with new ideas. In this pitched melee from ancient myth, players draw and place hoplites that will hopefully out-sum their opposition soldiers once the row or column is filled. Like many of the best two-player games, the result is a tightly strategic affair, one where every move balances on a spear’s edge between triumph and infamy. DT
7 Wonders Duel
£18.19 at Zatu Games £24.99 at Waterstones
Ages 10+ It is no small feat to maintain the epic gameplay of the civilisation-building game 7 Wonders in a compact package and for only two players, but Duels does just that. Players still get to draft cards that represent resources and infrastructure of their civilisation. They still research sciences, trade, go to war with each other and, of course, build their unique wonders. However, with two players, the gameplay is heightened: any confrontation is direct, and every decision has higher stakes. So, although it may be physically small, its ambitious scope and gameplay make a gigantic impact. AS
House of cards … Watergate. Photograph: Alex Singh Photo
Watergate
£26.94 at Zatu Games £37.33 at Amazon
Ages 12+
It is 1972 America, and the Watergate scandal that will eventually doom President Nixon dominates headlines. In Watergate the board game, one player represents a Washington Post editor trying to connect Nixon to his informers, while the other plays Nixon, trying to hang on to his presidency and not resign. Each player has their own set of action cards that can be played for events or action points, which are spent to gain momentum or initiative, or getting evidence on the conspiracy board. Even if American history is not your thing, it’s still a very tense cat-and-mouse game. ML
Tag Team
£17.58 at Zatu Games £18 at Thirsty Meeples
Ages 10+ This quirky, beat ’em up-inspired card battler sees you and your opponent pick two fighters each from a varied, Street Fighter-style roster. Each turn, you add a card to your deck of attacks, blocks and special moves, then the two teams trade blows. The twist is that, between rounds, your moves stay locked in the same order, save for the one new card you slide somewhere into the deck. The result is half Enter the Dragon, half Groundhog Day, where you both know what moves are coming and try to adjust your deck to counter them. TC
Undaunted: Stalingrad
£60.25 at Zatu Games £64.35 at Magic Madhouse
Ages 14+ One of the most immersive, affecting and easy-to-learn wargames ever published. Each player picks a side (Germany or the Soviet Union), then embarks on a campaign with a narrative that evolves – and transforms the tile-based battlefield – depending on the outcomes of its 15 branching scenarios. Both sides have their own deck of cards (each representing a soldier) which also changes as the game progresses. A lost card is a permanent casualty, which brings home the human cost of tactical decisions. Deeply engaging, and thrilling to play. DJ
Light strategy
Harmonies
£23.79 at Zatu Games £28.96 at Amazon
Ages 10+ The best games don’t just end with a victor. They also leave every player feeling as if they’ve achieved something. So it proves with Harmonies, which gives each of its participants a mini board to fill with pleasingly chunky environment tiles (rocks, foliage, grass) that are drafted and arranged, sometimes stacked, to represent landscape features (mountains, forests, savannahs). How you arrange them depends on which animals you want to attract. What follows is a gently competitive puzzle where you score for animals and landscaping achievements, and each game leaves you with your own little hand-built nature haven. DJ
Joraku
£25.99 at Zatu Games £34.09 at Amazon
Ages 12*+* This gem delivers everything Risk promises – and largely fails – to, but in half the time: a rich, tactical war game that’s easy to learn, with twists and shifting priorities that keep things tense to the very end. Lead your warlord and samurai in a march on the capital in Sengoku-era Japan, playing cards each round to place or move troops, or attack your rivals. Unlike most war games, it rarely feels mean: you can’t get eliminated; you don’t have to spend ages calculating intricate, multi-turn strategies; and you can be done in under an hour. Perfection. TC
Vantage
£52.98 at Zatu Games £60 at Magic Madhouse
Ages 14+ Crash-landing on a distant planet doesn’t have to be such a bad thing. In fact, it might be the beginning of something wonderful. What starts as a mission to survive an alien ecosystem soon becomes more transformative. Your crew could decide on something customary such as pilfering an ancient treasure, but you’re just as likely to pursue a new career, forge a few friendships or settle down to run your own shop. The world of Vantage is shockingly open-ended, always revealing new corners to poke into. It’s the board game equivalent of a holiday visit to a foreign culture. DT
Say cheese … Fromage. Photograph: Courtesy of Fromage
Fromage
£39.99 at Zatu Games £48.22 at Amazon
Ages 14+
Fromage serves up an appetising game of cheesemaking. The board is a circular cheese plate, separated into quadrants, where players take their turn only in the quadrant facing them. They do this by placing their cheesemonger onto a cheese-shaped hole on the board to gather resources or make cheese. When everyone has taken their turn, the plate turns one quarter. Everyone knows the art of making cheese takes time – and you may not get your worker back until a turn or two later. Timing is everything in this delicious and strategic game. ML
Dorfromantik
£33.28 at Tesco £33.02 at Amazon
Ages 8+ Based on the videogame of the same name, Dorfromantik offers a meditative experience as players work together to build a landscape of hexagonal tiles of lush forests, cute villages and picturesque wheat fields. The challenge is to place tiles in specific arrangements, made tricky by players drawing blindly from the stack and having to make decisions on the go. This is also a “legacy-style” game, meaning that after every playthrough new tiles, quests and features are unlocked to be used in a future game. What starts as a gentle puzzle matures in complexity as players get more into the game; there’s always something new and exciting to return to. AS
Cosmic Encounter
£52.99 at Zatu Games £69.99 at Waterstones
Ages 12+ Imagine a war game like Risk, but take away the map, leaving everyone able to butt heads regardless of geography. What’s left is a game of high-stakes negotiation where you must plead with and cajole your fellow players to help either the attack or the defence in each encounter. But the real highlight is that every player gets a game-breaking alien power from an astonishingly diverse selection, making every play an extraordinary, thrilling and frequently funny boiling pot of cosmic chaos. MT
Heavy strategy
The Old King’s Crown
Ages 12+ One of the hottest games of 2025, and a UK success story, this sublimely constructed, beautifully illustrated shelf-creaker casts each player as a different faction competing to fill the power vacuum left by a recently vanished monarch. This is essentially done by playing numbered cards face-down to different battleground locations, then revealing them and handing the spoils to the player who’s bid the highest value. But there are many delicious complications: from cards that can move once revealed to cards that assassinate their opponents in one fell swoop. Utterly engrossing. DJ
Dune: Imperium Uprising
£43.69 at Zatu Games £46.30 at Magic Madhouse
Ages 14+ There are several games based on Frank Herbert’s famous sci-fi novel, but Dune: Imperium Uprising offers the best of all worlds. It has lots of moving parts to build a strategy around: competitive board placements, the ability to slowly build your own deck of cards, a variety of resources to juggle in a tight economy. It cleverly avoids the confines of a map, abstracting the military aspects away to a conflict phase while keeping the thrill of sudden card reveals and direct interaction. All that, and it still transports players to the distant deserts of Herbert’s imagination on every play. MT
Naughty but nice … Molly House. Photograph: Courtesy of Molly House
Molly House
£48.95 at Zatu Games £50.80 at Magic Madhouse
Ages 14+ Joy, acceptance and betrayal are the cornerstones of one of the smartest, warmest and at times most vicious board games ever designed. Set in the “molly houses” of Georgian London where gay men could discreetly meet, your molly cruises the arcades for companionship, throws wild parties and evades capture at the hands of moralising constables. In this unusually expressive title, there are nights out with new lovers and old friends, but the threat of public punishment, or even death, can spark bitter disputes with those selfsame companions. As both a strategy game and a slice of history, there’s nothing like it. DT
Coffee Traders
£83.95 at Zatu Games £71.78 at Amazon
Ages 12+ You don’t need to know your Arabica from your Robusta to be captivated by the world of Coffee Traders, which hogs the tabletop with multiple boards brimming with tokens. It is 1970, and as a member of the Fair Trade organisation, your goal is both altruistic and entrepreneurial: to improve working conditions of family-run coffee plantations and establish trade routes to coffee shops all over the world. It is a game of deep strategy, where an early decision reverberates many turns later, delivering an experience as rich as a freshly brewed Americano. AS
Age of Innovation
£64.79 at Zatu Games £67.80 at Magic Madhouse
Age 14+ Age of Innovation is one of several reworkings of 2012’s Terra Mystica – a game that, given how quickly tabletop gaming has evolved, now counts as a classic from a bygone era. Players race to spread their empires across a shared map, reworking the terrain and building workshops, guild houses and universities, which earn you money, improved construction power, and even scholars who can discover powerful new technologies. Like its predecessor, Age of Innovation is deep and rewarding – there’s no direct conflict, and building next to your opponents has benefits – and almost infinitely replayable. TC
Arcs
£45.79 at Magic Madhouse £43.99 at Amazon
Ages 14+ A sci-fi strategy game of initiative and declaring ambitions. This battle for space dominance can play up to five chapters using a hand of cards for each chapter. The player with initiative takes their turn, and the card played contains a suit that allows access to actions such as building cities or moving ships across the gorgeous board. Subsequent players must surpass, copy or pivot in a form of trick-taking. It’s a game of action and reaction, and recognising that sometimes starting a fight might not always benefit you. An epic, card-driven space opera. ML
Card Games
Courtisans
£15.99 at Beanie Games £19.99 at Waterstones
Ages 8+ The setting for this slick title is a Game of Thrones-style banquet, where noble houses try to curry favour with the queen. On each turn you draw three cards representing various house agents (spies, assassins, guards, etc) and play all three: one to yourself, one to another player and one to the central banquet table, either above it (to encourage the queen’s favour) or below (to attract her displeasure). But whether the cards you collect will score or cost you points isn’t certain until the game is over and the queen’s opinion of each house is delivered, based on those table positions. Courtisans is tense and packed with triumphant “take that” moments, but in the best, most prone to backfiring sort of way. DJ
Scout
£15.60 at Magic Madhouse £15.99 at Beanie Games
Ages 9+ Coming from Oink Games, known for its eye-catching, minimalist design, Scout sees players aim to empty their hand of cards by discarding a set of the same value or consecutive value cards. Sounds easy, right? Only they must also be adjacent to each other, and once a player draws cards, they can’t rearrange them. When to discard, which new cards to pick up, and how to arrange them in your hand becomes a deliciously brain-scratching puzzle. A loosely applied circus theme with vibrant colours makes this game immediately stand out. AS
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game
£20.10 at Magic Madhouse £24.99 at Waterstones
Ages 10+ Although you may not know it from playing Hearts or Bridge around the kitchen table, modern trick-taking games are a bottomless wellspring of innovation. For example, this sees players working together to retrace the steps of the classic fantasy novel, from the Shire to the banks of the River Anduin. Each chapter offers a new challenge, whether dodging Black Riders, spending time with the curious Tom Bombadil, or falling into shadow n he depths of Moria. Between the slowly unfurling narrative and the lovely stained-glass illustrations, this is one take on Tolkien that shouldn’t be missed. DT
Forest Shuffle
£26.99 at Waterstones £26.97 at Amazon
Ages 10+ On the face of it, Forest Shuffle is a charming card game about cultivating the perfect forest. Play tree cards on the table in front of you, then surround those trees with birds, butterflies, rabbits, strawberry plants and mushrooms. Each plant and creature scores you points at the end, and many give you something when you play them, drawing you extra cards or letting you take an extra turn. However, behind the cosy facade is a compelling race full of interlocking systems and scrambles for the perfect card as you rush to finish before the arrival of winter. TC
Rebel Princess
£21.95 at Meeples Corner £19.23 at Amazon
Ages 8+ Rebel Princess takes the age-old trope of a prince falling in love with a princess and turns it upside down. In this game, princesses could not care less about princes – they’re trying to avoid marriage proposals. This game mostly plays out like your standard trick-taker – where other players must follow suit if they can and the highest card played wins the trick – but new rules come into play. Once a prince enters the party, players must avoid them if they can, particularly the Frog Prince. The artwork is delightful and it’s fun to root for these ladies. ML
Res Arcana
£24.59 at Zatu Games £25.99 at 365 Games
Ages 12+ Res Arcana is a cardboard paradox, a game that should not work. Each player gets a random selection of card effects that represent magic spells. From these they must somehow cobble together a strategy to gain the resources required to buy victory-generating places of power faster than their opponents. With so much setup left to chance, this should be a crapshoot. Yet it’s astonishingly rich, conjuring card combinations from seemingly incompatible effects, offering unique challenges in each new game, while the card art evokes the sorcerous theme. It’s a magic trick in itself. MT