My family and I take pride in our gameplay. It is a tradition to receive a new game, or an expansion pack to our previous games, every Christmas. We love learning new games, especially the complicated ones that twist your brain while reading the directions.
We don’t play games like Uno, Monopoly, or Life. This might stir up some controversy, but they lack personality. I love games that require A LOT of thought, artistry, and technique.
If you want a true Batz family game afternoon experience, you need to get into one of these games immediately (plus have a charcuterie board and some drinks at the table).
Here are my top five suggestions:
5. Azul
This one is on the easier side. It is a faster-paced game and relatively easy to understand, but hard to perfect your strategy (I still haven’t).
The game is super colorful, artistic, and detailed. There are five different mosaic tile patterns that are beautifully crafted. To be honest, I am mostly drawn to the game’s aesthetics.
The game is all about making matches on your board. You take turns drawing tiles that are sorted into piles. Then you match it onto your board into rows, each row being a part of a certain color. Once you complete a row, you transfer over your tiles and claim your points.
Sounds easy until you start playing and don’t have time to fulfill a row before someone ends the round.
4. Ticket To Ride
If you have heard of any of these games, it is probably this one. There are several versions; however, I favor the American route.
The board is made up of cross-country train tracks that have stops at major cities throughout the United States.
You get destination cards to determine which cities you need to connect with your trains. You collect train cards to trade in for building your trains.
By the end of the game, there are lines of train tracks everywhere. This game requires a lot of strategy, but traveling across the U.S. on a train is pretty fun when I am just simply sitting in my home.
3. Wingspan
Now, I bet we are getting into games you have never heard of.
The theme for this game is birds. The main idea is building bird cards in habitats. I never knew so many different varieties of birds until I played this game.
There are so many actions, including laying eggs (the egg pieces look like Cadbury eggs to me), taking food out of the birdfeeder, picking up cards, and “building” a bird (even though that sounds weird to say).
This game is SO spring.
2. Everdell
Moving into my favorites.
This game is very cutesy. You are essentially building a cottage-core village. There are both critter and construction cards. The critters are all animals like bunnies, moles, and badgers. The constructions are things like farms, castles, and mines.
The payments are made in berries, logs, resin, and stones. All are tiny objects in their actual form.
This game has many expansion packs, too. There are different event cards to try to work for and other special rules.
While I would love to tell you my favorite critters and constructions, my competition reads my articles, so I cannot give that crucial information away.
1. Unfair
The best game I have ever played. But sometimes unfair…
You are working to build an amusement park. With our expansion pack, there are 10 themes: Gangster, Jungle, Robot, Pirate, Vampire, Ninja, Bee Movie, Dinosaur, Western, and Alien. These themes are mixed based on the number of people playing. The different theme combinations allow for a new experience every time played. In that case, it never gets boring.
You build rides, restaurants, hotels, and more. There are blueprints to guide your thinking. There are “event city” cards that either help or hurt your park. And there are super attractions that can help you increase your money or points.
Altogether, there is so much action. This game requires the most strategy, but it is super exciting.
Make the investment and try one of these games. Don’t get intimidated by complicated instructions—they are worth learning. These games make for a fun experience with family and friends.