The GeekMoms share their suggestions for the best gaming gifts this holiday season. Competetive or cooperative, cards or consoles, we hope you find some great gift ideas.
Timeline
Recommended By: Sophie Brown
For: Elementary and older
Approximate Cost: $15+
Buy It From: Amazon
Timeline is a card game available in a number of different themes but each with the same basic principal-placing the events or items on the cards into chronological order. The different Timeline sets can be played individually or merged with one another to create customizable games. Some of the currently available sets include: Science and Discoveries, Music and Cinema, Historical Events & Inventions. There are also two Star Wars sets-one for the Prequels and the other for the Original Trilogy-that can be mixed with one another but not with non-Star Wars sets. The game is fast to learn and to play, has significant educational value, and is a perfect choice for family gatherings with many people of different ages playing together.
Check out the full GeekMom review for more information.
Star Wars: Destiny
Recommended By: Sophie Brown
For: Middle school and older (must be confident readers)
Approximate Cost: $25 + expansions
Buy It From: Amazon
Star Wars: Destiny is a two-player collectible card game in which players take on the roles of heroes and villains from the Star Wars saga and battle against one another. It is a really fun game which is easy to learn, relatively quick to play, has beautiful artwork, will appeal to Star Wars fans of every era, and is perfect for couples who enjoy gaming together. The temptation to begin collecting expansions is enormous, however, so this may not be an ideal gift for those on a budget, or for friends who you know have little self-restraint when faced with the word “collectible.”
Read the full GeekMom review for more information.
Tatsu
Recommended By: Sophie Brown
For: Elementary and older
Approximate Cost: $25+
Buy It From: Amazon
Tatsu is a two-player game in which you control a team of dragons who battle in a circular arena and attempt to the destroy the other player’s team. The mixture of luck through dice rolling, and strategy through choosing how to use those rolls and when to release new dragons, meant that the game felt balanced between players of different ages and abilities which makes it an excellent family game.
Check out the full GeekMom review for more information.
Great Scott! The Game of Mad Invention
Recommended By: Sophie Brown
For: Elementary and older
Approximate Cost: $30+
Buy It From: Amazon
Great Scott! The Game of Mad Invention, is a card game in which you play as inventors during the reign of Queen Victoria, competing to create brilliant inventions and claim the title of Royal Inventor. Players use cards to build crazy inventions which they must then explain to their fellow players in order to win commendation points in addition to points for creative inventions with alliterative names, or which use the same types of cards. The inventions themselves are usually utterly bonkers: a Colossal Cactus Burning Bee Booster or a Bi-Directional Bird Altering Breadfruit Elevator and the explanations will have everyone laughing themselves silly this holiday season.
Check out the full GeekMom review for more information.
Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Expansion
Recommended By: Jenny Bristol
For: Teens and older
Approximate Cost: $30 – $55
Buy It From: Amazon
Whether you get the Standard version or one of the versions with in-game bonuses, the latest expansion of Guild Wars 2, Path of Fire, expands gameplay in several pivotal ways. First, you’re fighting Balthazar, the God of War. Second, mounts. Yes, you finally get mounts to ride around on, making travel even quicker. Each kind of mount has special abilities that are helpful (and, in some cases, required) for navigating around. Third, there is even more map to uncover with five new areas; this is great news for completionists. Fourth, there are also all-new elite specializations. Get it (or gift it!) in time to participate in the annual Wintersday event, coming up soon! (Note: You don’t need the Heart of Thorns expansion to play this new one. You do, however, need the base game.)
Check out the full GeekMom feature for more information.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Recommended By: Jenny Bristol
For: Teens and older
Approximate Cost: $40
Buy It From: Amazon
One of the coolest and most fun games to come out in the past year is Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle. It’s a cooperative deck-building game that pits your group of Hogwarts students against the Death Eaters. Played in seven adventures that increase in difficulty and fun features as you go, you’ll see plenty of well-known characters and more obscure details from the books. This game is extremely well done, and is a must-have for fans of games and Harry Potter. Once your group completes the seven games, check out the expansion set, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle – The Monster Box of Monsters Expansion.
Check out Jonathan’s full review on GeekDad for more information.
Dimension: The Spherical Stackable Fast-Paced Puzzle Game
Recommended By: Patricia Vollmer
For: Elemetary and older
Approximate Cost: $50
Buy It From: Amazon
This tabletop game may seem complicated at first, but once you get the hang of things, it’s fun, exciting, and when my middle school math club students play it, it draws a crowd of spectators! Players are given 15 spheres of assorted colors, and then the group draws a “rule set” from a stack of rules cards. Flip the timer, and then players have a set amount of time to stack their 15 spheres such that all the rules are followed. Sometimes it’s impossible to follow all the rules, but with creativity and imagination (and spatial relations skills), players can rack up the points quickly. The game components are high quality, with the spheres designed to hit the floor many times without any problems.
Check out Dave’s full review on GeekDad for more information.
