Top 14 Christmas Gift Ideas for Families Who Love Board Games

Would you like the ultimate 14 gift ideas for board game lovers?  

Picking out gifts can be challenging - especially gifts the whole family would like. Family board games don’t have to be 10 minutes or lacking strategy. 

If you’re looking for the best board games 2020, we’ve got 14 games for you to pick from. 

Whether you’re looking for popular board games or trivia board games… This is the ultimate board game gift guide 2020 and we’re proud to start the very first off with King of Tokyo 2e! 

Competitive Board Games:  

Looking for strategy-based board games that your whole family will love? These aren’t too  challenging to learn but are still incredibly fun games that will last longer than 30 minutes.

#1 -  King of Tokyo 2e 

King of Tokyo is one of the best family board games on this board games list. 

It’s a 2-6 player game where gigantic monsters and unbelievable robots battle over control of Tokyo in a fun, rapidly changing environment. 

6 Monster Dice will determine whether you can gain points, heal your wounds, empower your monster with special abilities, or decimate your foes. 

Games last around 30-45 minutes, but still combine the strategy of a large board game!

#2 -  Once Upon a Time: Fairytale Mash-up

This fairy tale never turns out the same way! 

This highly reviewed game is simple to play. Once Upon a Time is a storytelling card game that mixes and matches different fables and Grimm fairy tales in exciting ways.

Once Upon a Time is the best 2 player board games for 2020, a beautiful gift as a couples board games. 

But can also double as a children’s game - Anyone will love combining classic fairy tales in  unique ways. 

#3 -  Evolution 

In Evolution, you build 1-3 animal species that compete for food. 

2-6 Players will race to gather as much food as possible, adapting their species in unique ways. Traits will give your species an advantage, like flying, or help your species survive vicious predator attacks like camouflage. Other players will build predators, hunting for food of their own. 

This game is highly adaptable, with tons and tons of different ways to build your species and go after precious food. 

60 minute play time, simple rules, and a competitively strategic and adapting strategy make Evolution a killer family game. 

#4 -  Takenoko 

In the short, cute Japanese game of Takenoko, players are gardeners trying to grow bamboo, irrigate parcels of growable land, farm, and feed a rambunctious Giant Panda!  

Each turn, whether changes up the game, spooking the panda to devour your precious Bamboo or creating a bountiful harvest for a select number of land tiles. 

Games usually last around 45 minutes. 

2-4 Players must complete objectives and farm for the most points to win.

#5 -  Ekö 

Eko is an abstract strategy game for 2-4 players. You will play the role of a silent, wind fairing warlord, building castles, fighting with armies, taking reinforcement points, or capturing enemy strongholds. 

The game intensifies every turn, so players will have to be quick to attack or defend key locations. 

#6 -  Dungeonology: The Expedition

You will play as heroes and scholars, studying monsters and trying to keep themselves alive. Your goal is to uncover the most or best quality information to prove your own unique thesis correct, and be granted the role of professor, while sabotaging the efforts of the others. 

This dungeon-crawler will have 2-4 players crawling from tile to tile, exploring the dungeon and  avoiding the dirty tricks played by the other scholars.

Competitive Party Games:  

A break from the traditional, classic board games, these so called “party games” are faster, can be learned very quickly, and have quite a bit of action - And are usually meant for 4+ players. But they can still have a lot of strategy and be very fun. 

#7 -  Wartime 

This incredibly fast battle game is meant for 2 or more players, with turns going lightning fast and battles happening even faster. 

Units will clash in skirmishes, and you must race to activate your units and defeat your  opponents, while simultaneously completing the mission objective. 

Multiple different scenarios can be played, making each combat of Wartime a little different than the last! 

Around a 10 minute game! Awesome for parties, a short time-filler, and a quick blast of fun.

#8 -  Klask 4  

Imagine a fast-paced 4-player game of air-hockey… That’s Klask 4! 

Slide! Dodge! Strike! Score! 

The perfect board game for kids, or action-loving gamers. 

Players will (magnetically) control a pawn, and try to knock a ball or puck into the enemies’ goal. 

The game is simple, but you’ll have to move quick (and think even quicker) while defending your goal and bouncing the ball into your enemy’s 2x goals to score points. 

#9 -  The Red Dragon Inn 

If you haven’t played the hit wonder The Red Dragon Inn, one of the best board games for adults that’s also a “party” game… 

You’re missing the sensation. 

Play as adventuring characters or inn-staff and poke, prod, drink, and gamble the night away. The objective is to be the last conscious player… who still has gold in their pocket! 

Keep an eye on your gold, avoid the heavy-hitting drinks, and stop your friends from spilling their drinks so you knock them unconscious and be the last player standing to win. 

This game is for 2+ players, perfect for a party setting or having a group of friends over for laughs and fun.

#10 -  Dixit 

This creative, classic, and lighthearted game of storytelling and guesswork will have 3-6 players scratching their heads and thinking of creative and brief stories. 

You use pictures to tell a story. 

Each player will try to guess the “card” the original storyteller put into the pot, without selecting the cards other players put into the pot. 

The narrator who can best match their story and a card from their hand, and players who can guess which card the narrator selected for their story, will end up winning the game of Dixit. 

#11 - Tsuro of the Seas

Tsuro is a 2-8 player puzzle game where you direct your ship across raging and ever changing waters, trying to endlessly avoid crashing into opponents ships, or tangling up with a ship wrecking monster. 

Each captain will place a tile and their ship will move automatically… until the board fills up and there are no tiles left to place. 

The last ship captain still on the map wins the game. 

#12 -  7 Wonders 

Lead your civilization to riches, knowledge, and prosperity. 

Develop your civilization in military, scientific, cultural, and economic backgrounds, and bring glory in a no-downtime, fast-paced and perfectly balanced game for 3-7 players. 

Co-op Games:  

Not every group wants to duke it out on the battlefield! For those families that want cooperative games, these last few are for you. 

#13 -  Charmed and Dangerous 

Charmed and Dangerous is a cooperative RPG / tabletop games style adventurer where 1-4 classic fairy tale princesses will navigate a dangerous board of monsters. 

The objective is to work together with each other's strengths and reach the lair of the Villainess. 

Each game will be a little different, so look forward to endless hours of replay value and a ton of variety (and strategy) in every 30-minute game session. 

Charmed & Dangerous’s Expansion is an awesome addition and can be found

#14 -  Codenames: Pictures XXL

A unique re-design of Codenames, focusing on mind-twisting illustrations and special XXL images for a top-secret, two-faction spy game of few words. 

2-8 Players can play and games will never be the same, with different pictures and word combinations every single time. 15-minute game sessions make Codenames an awesome go to co-op party game. 

Looking for some white Elephant gift ideas?  

Check out competitive, cooperative, or flash-action party games from the top #14 board games this holiday season.

Written by: Gilean Benton