The board game gift guide

The festive season is upon us, and we know what that means.

No, not venturing into malls to buy gifts while avoiding hordes of zombie-like crowds in the process – we’ve all got the internet and credit cards after all.

I’m talking about the far more challenging part of the gift-giving season – buying friends and family something they’ll vaguely like.

It should come as no surprise to hear that we here at MyGaming are all about giving the gift of gaming.

Next week, we’ll be posting the first of our gaming gift guides. But to tide you over until then, and to help you choose something for the people in your life who play way too much Candy Crush, here’s our board games gift guide.

For your parents

Getting a board game for your parents might not seem like the most intuitive gift, but there’s some good reasoning behind it. They probably grew up with them so they’re likely to take to them, and it’s a great way to enjoy some family time together.

Chances are your parents are not going to be into anything overtly geeky, so that means any kind of sci-fi or fantasy-themed board games are right out.

They also likely don’t have the patience to learn 52 pages of complicated rules so choosing a game with a simple mechanic is a must.

But don’t despair, there are plenty of games out there with innocuous enough themes that even your parents can’t find something to remark about.

Ticket to Ride is a sure bet here, offering straightforward rules and a parent-friendly theme that along the same lines as Monopoly.

Bonus: your train-loving dad will go crazy for it.

For your kids, nephews or nieces

Christmas means family gatherings, which brings the sticky situation of trying to keep multiple sugared-up children occupied.

While it might seem tempting to put sedatives in their juice boxes, we don’t recommend it.

Instead, why not give them a board game they can play as soon as they unwrap?

You’re probably going to end up playing a game with them anyway and it beats a mind-numbing game of Snakes and Ladders.

We find the glue that bonds children and adults together is the love of monsters stomping everything, but that might just be the circles we run in.

So we recommend picking up a copy of King of Tokyo and teaching them the joys of urban destruction.

It’s colourful, it’s easy to teach to even the most ADD-addled kid and it involves the always-awesome activity of rolling giant dice.

For your boyfriend or girlfriend

Warning: we do not condone giving board games as a gift to a partner who is expecting jewellery, trips away together or any of the other traditional big shows of affection.

But if your significant other is as geek-inclined as you are, two-player board games are a great way to show “I like you enough to occasionally prefer spending time with you over playing video games.” Romantic, huh?

The always popular Dominion hits the holy trifecta of couples board games – easy to find, easy to teach yet deep enough that there’s great replay value.

It’s best with two players but it works for four for those days when friends visit.

Just be sure not to go too crazy with the curse cards or you might find yourself sleeping on the couch.

For your geeky friends

What do you get that friend who regularly sweeps Steam sales, has a display cabinet full of memorabilia and always knows about the latest gadgets before you do?

Getting something cool that they don’t already have can be a mission, so why not help them venture into the relatively unexplored world of board gaming?

The best game to get for the person who already has everything is something that comes with lots of shiny bits and bobs, something that’ll make someone really excited to unbox it.

It also helps if it’s a licensed game for a franchise they already love. There are a ton of games that fit this description (one developer, Fantasy Flight, has pretty much built its reputation on this), so it’s a question of finding the one that you know they’ll freak out over.

Notable franchises that have board games include Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Games of Thrones, Firefly and even Portal.

For your drunken cousins

If your Christmas get-togethers are anything like ours, they involve copious amounts of alcohol.

They may also involve family members you haven’t seen in yonks and who you don’t have the foggiest notion of how to shop for.

Put those two together and what do you get? Opportunity, that’s what.

Contrary to popular belief, many board games don’t have a laundry list of complex rules to learn.

Some games are perfectly suited to large groups of intoxicated people who just want to get on with it and have fun. Enter One Night Ultimate Werewolf, a game based around short-burst rounds of bluffing and confusion.