Hunter gives his holiday recommendations!

For Two Players

Jaipur - This is a fast, hand management game based around the theme of a middle eastern Bizarre. The game features six goods that you are trying to sell to make profits, the first to sell gets the best value for each good and selling it in bulk nets you bonus points. The game centers around deciding what and when to sell.

Fox in the Forest - This is a light hearted Trick taking game. Think of Rummy or Spades. The gimmick of this game is that if a player scores too many points in a round the trick instead goes to the other player. So you play over a few rounds being mindful of mind games by your opponent! Super easy to pick up and play, with a competitive and co-operative version.

Family Games with Young People

Dixit - Easy to teach and fun to play. Everyone in Dixit has a hand of cards that are all images, and the active player makes a one sentence story about one of their chosen cards. Each other player then submits one of their own cards to be shuffled with the active players then everyone votes which image they think the story was based on. You score by getting it correct, and by having folks vote for your image. The lack of language is what makes this game accessible to kids and the fluidity of play making everyone actively take actions helps to keep the whole family engaged.

Ticket to Ride First Journey / Catan Junior - You may not know that these classic games feature a junior version that simplifies rules and reading for young people!

Family Game without Young People
Tiny Towns - This is a personal favorite. This game have active involvement where everyone is taking action at the same time. The active player decides a resource that everyone must place on their board. It is a puzzle solving game of who can best create buildings out of said resources to score victory points. It is relatively simple and a good fit for families that don't like long games.

Party Games for Holiday Gatherings

Wits and Wagers - A random trivia question gets posed such as "What is the perimeter of a football field in feet?" Then everyone writes a guess. After that, a second phase of wagering who's guess is closest happens. You don't need to know the answer to win, you just need to know who has the closest answer.

Just One - This one is a co-operative party game! It is a simple word finding game where you feed teammates clues to discover words trying to get exact point totals.

For Small Kids

The Key for any game oriented for small Children is little to no reading and very tactile to keep engagement.

Rhino Hero - This game is practically Jenga with figures. You ascend a tower you create as Rhino hero to beat up bad guys.

Labyrinth - This game is pretty simple, pick up and turn squares on a board to change pathways of the labyrinth to lead you to your goal. It is textless simple puzzle solving for young folks.