Holiday Stocking Stuffers:Whether you loot your stocking first thing Christmas Morning or wait until all the other presents are opened, we’ve got a list of ten great stocking-stuffer sized games for every elf on your list! All of these games come in perfect stocking stuffing sizes and they’re all de-light-fully Christmassy! Holiday Spot it
Number of Players: 2-8 Age: 7+ Time: 15 mins Santa Cookie Elf Candy Snowman
Number of Players: 3-8 Age: 8+ Time: 10 mins Elf Snowball Showdown
Number of Players: 3-6 Age: 6+ Time: 20 mins Frosty the Snowman: |
 | Frosty the Snowman and his friends are marching to the North Pole in their very own Holiday Parade! Can you work together with your teammates to help them get into the right order? |
Number of Players: 2-4 Age: 4+ Time: 15 mins
Gremlins: Holiday Havoc Card Game
 | Someone didn’t listen to the instructions for their adorable new pets, and now you will need to run around town rounding up the Gremlins before the Havoc is irreversible! Race against your opponents to claim the most Gremlins before dawn, and for goodness sake, DON’T GET THEM WET!!! |
Number of Players: 3-5 Age: 8+ Time: 15 mins
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Twinkling Lights
 | Play your cards wisely to complete the patterns of Christmas lights on your cards! Be careful to watch your opponents and to watch for that pesky squirrel! |
Number of Players: 2-4 Age: 8+ Time: 20 mins
Christmas Story:
A MAJOR Card Game
 | Help Ralphie get his Red Ryder BB Gun and his Decoder Ring! Watch out for your opponents and their double dog dares or you just might get your tongue stuck to a flagpole or worse… shoot your eye out in Christmas Story: A MAJOR Card Game! |
Number of Players: 3-6 Age: 8+ Time: 15 mins
12 Days
 | Carefully gift and re-gift the right cards to your opponents, so you are able to claim the card of the day and win the most points in this 12 Days of Christmas themed game. |
Number of Players: 3-5 Age: 8+ Time: 15 mins
Christmas Lights: A Card Game
 | Compete with your fellow Christmas Designers to complete your arrangements of Christmas Lights before your opponents complete theirs! |
Number of Players: 2-6 Age: 6+ Time: 10-30 mins
Snowman Dice
 | Can you be the first to roll, build, and move your Snowman Dice to the North Pole? Watch out for your opponents and their snowballs, and flick your snowballs to knock down your opponent’s Snowman Dice before they can get there! |
Number of Players: 2-4 Age: 6+ Time: 10 mins
Munchkin
   | Have someone in your life that loves Munchkin? Grab the Munchkin Yule Log the Tails of the Season expansions and the Journal Pack 3 for extra holiday fun! Use the Yule Log and its extra cards to map your route to level 10 or to EPIC LEVEL 20! Add the Tails of the Season cards to your favorite Munchkin combination for a purrrrfect splash of holiday cheer! And then record EVERYTHING, for future bragging purposes, with your new Journal Pack 3! Munchkin Base Game is needed. |
Number of Players: 3-6 Age: 10+ Time: 60-120 mins
Now that the stockings are stuffed and hung by the chimney with care, we’re off to bake some cookies! Stay tuned for our next post: Games to Play While the Cookies Bake!
0 Comments
Turkey Day is fast approaching, and we’re all looking forward to Thanksgiving Dinner! So we decided to put together a smorgasbord of food-themed games for you to play at your Thanks-Gaming Gathering!
First up are the easy games! These games are quick and easy to learn and play, and play quickly enough that you could easily pull them out while the pumpkin pie bakes, or the turkey rests!
First up are the easy games! These games are quick and easy to learn and play, and play quickly enough that you could easily pull them out while the pumpkin pie bakes, or the turkey rests!
Maki stack
 Number of players: 3 - 6 Playtime: 15 mins | Divide into two even teams of Sushi Chefs. Draw a card to see what sushi order you need to make! Depending on the order, you’ll need to either communicate clearly or work together as a team to Maki Stack the sushi components to match the card before your opposing team gets their order completed! The first team to complete their order gets the card, and the first team to collect 6 challenge cards wins the game! |
Funky Chicken
 Number of players: 2 - 6 Playtime: 15 mins | Flip your card and find a partner to dance your cards away in Funky Chicken! This fast paced game takes almost no set up and hardly any time to play, but the Funky Chicken is sure to leave you all laughing! |
Happy Salmon
 Number of players: 2 - 6 or 3 - 12 Playtime: 15 mins | Flip your card and find a partner to high five, fist bump, or Happy Salmon your cards away! This fast paced game takes almost no set up and hardly any time to play, but Happy Salmon is sure to leave you all laughing! Additionally, with both the green and blue fish, this game easily expands to play 12! |
Dirty Pigs
 Number of players: 2 - 6 Playtime: 15 mins | Can you get your pigs dirty and sneakily keep your opponent’s pigs squeaky clean? Play carefully and be the first player with all happy, Dirty Pigs! |
Nutty Noodles
 Number of players: 2 - 4 Playtime: 15 mins | Think and act quickly to efficiently serve all the monsters the perfect combination of Nutty Noodles to be named Employee of the Month. But be careful you don’t poison one of them with an ingredient they’re allergic to! |
Acorn Soup
 Number of players: 1- 2 Playtime: 5 - 10 mins | Work with your favorite little helper to put together the perfect Acorn Soup by carefully reading the recipe and adding the ingredients! |
Sushi Go
 Number of players: 2 - 5 Playtime: 15 mins | Carefully determine which cards to keep and which cards to pass on to your opponents in SushiGo! With each round and every game depending on the cards you get (and pass), this game plays differently every time! Just, don’t forget the pudding! |
The next set of games are still easy as pie to pick up and play, but you’ll want to wait for the break between Supper and Dessert!
Ratzzia
 Number of players: 2 - 5 Playtime: 30 mins | Roll the dice and place them strategically to be the first rat that manages to hoard twenty-five bits of food! Think carefully about when to call the Cat in to clear the board and who to steal food from in Ratzzia! |
Foodfighters
 Number of players: 2 Playtime: 20 - 30 mins | Will you lead the Mighty Meats to destroy the Villainous Vegetables, or will your opponent defeat your Meathead forces? Lay your armies on the table and find out in Food Fighters! |
Point Salad
 Number of players: 2 - 6 Playtime: 15 - 30 mins | Amass the perfect collection of vegetables for your Point Salad! Draft the right cards to score the most points and be ready to change your strategy if a better salad comes your way! |
Truffle Shuffle
 Number of players: 2 - 4 Playtime: 15 - 30 mins | Shuffle the sweet chocolatey confections around to best complete three sets of orders in Truffle Shuffle! Will you earn the most points for your box of chocolates? |
Ramen Fury
 Number of players: 2 - 5 Playtime: 30 mins | In Ramen Fury, players use their noodle to build the perfect bowl of ramen by collecting the cards they need to fill their ingredient list while also watching for their opponent’s attempts to steal ingredients or add unsolicited chili peppers! |
Foodies
 Number of players: 2 - 5 Playtime: 20 - 30 mins | Are you the ultimate Foodie? Then you’ll have no trouble crafting the perfect menu and hiring the best chefs in the business to fill out your food court! |
Menu Masters
 Number of players: 2 - 5 Playtime: 20 - 40 mins | You have fabulous ideas for food, but can you outwit your opponents and become the best of the Menu Masters? Think strategically and be careful not to get lost in the crowd in this quick-to-learn Menu Mastering game! |
This last game is a behemoth, but we couldn’t do a whole blog about foodie games and not include it! This is the game more experienced board gamers could set up to play while the turkey is roasting, or after everyone else has slipped into their tryptophan-fueled naps!
Food Chain Magnate
 Number of players: 2 - 5 Playtime: 120 - 240 mins | Can you helm your fast food chain to greatness and become the unequivocal Food Chain Magnate? Make smart decisions about all aspects of your business and be careful of your competition! |
There you have it, our Thanks-Gaming Smorgasbord of games to play all day, with the whole crew! Let us know what you think in the comments! We’re off to contemplate pie; pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate silk pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie...
 | Publisher: 25th Century Games Designer: Yuri Zhuravljov Players: 2- 4 Players Time: 20 -40 mins Age: 10+ |
The Space Race between the United States (USA) and the Soviet Union (USSR) was a remarkable time in history with many far-reaching achievements in science, space exploration, communication, and technology. Space Explorers is dedicated to all of the folks that helped make space travel possible and honors one of the greatest achievements in the 20th century.
Each player controls a R&D (research and development) Hub in a Space Research Center and will spend the game trying to attract the most brilliant minds to join their team and complete projects/ missions. The “Space Race” is on and hopefully due to your eagerness to succeed and ability to build your own team you will be the first to launch satellites, man spaceships, and put orbital stations into space. Your goal is to gain the most progress (victory) points in the end. You earn points by recruiting specialists and completing projects.
Set up is fairly easy. Each player gets a research “Hub” board, reference card, 5 research tokens (Engineering (blue), Testing (green), Science (yellow), Construction (red), and Space Flight (purple)), and takes one specialist from the deck. In the center of the table is the “Space Research Center (SRC)”. The SRC contains 6 face up specialist cards (Engineers, Testers, Scientist, Builders, and Astronauts) and project/ mission tiles (2+ the number of players). The project tiles are double sided and the rule book suggests you toss each tile in the air and play with the side that lands face up or just shuffle them up by whatever means you deem necessary.
Educational Note: The project /mission tiles are historically accurate. Well at least by name and image of the vessel. On one side they have the early USSR (Soviet Union) Spacecrafts (Sputnik 1, Sputnik 3, Vostok 1, Voskhod 2, Proton 1, Luna 9, Lunokhod 1, Venera 7, Mars 3, and Soyuz 19) . On the reverse side you have the USA Spacecrafts (Explorer 1, Telstar 1, Apollo 11, Gemini IV, Tiros 1, Lunar Orbiter 3, Mariner 2, Pioneer Venus 2, Voyager 1, and Skylab).
The first player is the person who's been to space most recently. If you haven't had the pleasure of joining some of the Great Astronauts like Yuri Gargain, Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, or even Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, then the first player marker goes to the player who most recently read or watched something about space. The Soviet Union recently launched the first satellite, the Sputnik 1 (1957), into outer space. The gunshot has been fired and the starting line has been crossed and in the spirit of the golden age of Astronautics the space race is on….again!
Obviously the first thing you want to do is assemble your team and plan to complete projects/ missions. On your turn you must take one of two actions…….
After taking your action, if you are able, you may complete an available project/ mission. You may only complete one per turn. To complete a project/ mission you compare the skill level of the specialist in your hub with the skill level of the project or mission. If you match or beat the level required you complete the mission.
The game ends when all projects are completed or when one player recruits the 12th specialist to their Hub. However the round will finish ensuring all players have an equal amount of turns. The player whose research & development Hub produced the most progress points (victory) is the winner!
Space Explorers is an entertaining game that can generally be played in about 30 minutes. I like the closed loop resource system even though it took a bit of getting used to. It was weird to feel like I was giving my opponents an advantage. However, they were in turn giving me an advantage. One thing to note when playing, only the top specialist in each division of your Hub will give you the benefits of their abilities. Once you recruit a new specialist to that division they go on top. So you’ll want to be careful and aware of the abilities you are covering up and adding. I also liked that Space Explorers pays reverence to early space exploration and the men and women who participated in those endeavors.
Educational Connections:
Each player controls a R&D (research and development) Hub in a Space Research Center and will spend the game trying to attract the most brilliant minds to join their team and complete projects/ missions. The “Space Race” is on and hopefully due to your eagerness to succeed and ability to build your own team you will be the first to launch satellites, man spaceships, and put orbital stations into space. Your goal is to gain the most progress (victory) points in the end. You earn points by recruiting specialists and completing projects.
Set up is fairly easy. Each player gets a research “Hub” board, reference card, 5 research tokens (Engineering (blue), Testing (green), Science (yellow), Construction (red), and Space Flight (purple)), and takes one specialist from the deck. In the center of the table is the “Space Research Center (SRC)”. The SRC contains 6 face up specialist cards (Engineers, Testers, Scientist, Builders, and Astronauts) and project/ mission tiles (2+ the number of players). The project tiles are double sided and the rule book suggests you toss each tile in the air and play with the side that lands face up or just shuffle them up by whatever means you deem necessary.
Educational Note: The project /mission tiles are historically accurate. Well at least by name and image of the vessel. On one side they have the early USSR (Soviet Union) Spacecrafts (Sputnik 1, Sputnik 3, Vostok 1, Voskhod 2, Proton 1, Luna 9, Lunokhod 1, Venera 7, Mars 3, and Soyuz 19) . On the reverse side you have the USA Spacecrafts (Explorer 1, Telstar 1, Apollo 11, Gemini IV, Tiros 1, Lunar Orbiter 3, Mariner 2, Pioneer Venus 2, Voyager 1, and Skylab).
The first player is the person who's been to space most recently. If you haven't had the pleasure of joining some of the Great Astronauts like Yuri Gargain, Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, or even Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, then the first player marker goes to the player who most recently read or watched something about space. The Soviet Union recently launched the first satellite, the Sputnik 1 (1957), into outer space. The gunshot has been fired and the starting line has been crossed and in the spirit of the golden age of Astronautics the space race is on….again!
Obviously the first thing you want to do is assemble your team and plan to complete projects/ missions. On your turn you must take one of two actions…….
- You may take a specialist into your hand. It's your choice whether it is a face up specialist from the Space Research Center or from the specialist deck. There is no cost for this option.
- You may recruit a specialist to your Hub (team). This can be either from the face up specialists in the Space Research Center or from your hand. To recruit you will need to pay the research cost for that particular specialist. This can be done in a few ways and you may combine any or all of them.
- Research is currency and like any good research it is also knowledge and it is shareable. You may pay the cost outright using research tokens and then pass the ones you used to the player on your left. This creates a closed loop resource system.
- You may return specialists to the Space Research Center (this can be more than one). Each Specialist returned counts as two research icons. Keep in mind, these do not carry over to the next round and must be used immediately.
- Specialists have abilities that will aid you along the way as long as they are the top card in that division. These may be research icons you can use for recruiting new specialists.
- Research is currency and like any good research it is also knowledge and it is shareable. You may pay the cost outright using research tokens and then pass the ones you used to the player on your left. This creates a closed loop resource system.
After taking your action, if you are able, you may complete an available project/ mission. You may only complete one per turn. To complete a project/ mission you compare the skill level of the specialist in your hub with the skill level of the project or mission. If you match or beat the level required you complete the mission.
The game ends when all projects are completed or when one player recruits the 12th specialist to their Hub. However the round will finish ensuring all players have an equal amount of turns. The player whose research & development Hub produced the most progress points (victory) is the winner!
Space Explorers is an entertaining game that can generally be played in about 30 minutes. I like the closed loop resource system even though it took a bit of getting used to. It was weird to feel like I was giving my opponents an advantage. However, they were in turn giving me an advantage. One thing to note when playing, only the top specialist in each division of your Hub will give you the benefits of their abilities. Once you recruit a new specialist to that division they go on top. So you’ll want to be careful and aware of the abilities you are covering up and adding. I also liked that Space Explorers pays reverence to early space exploration and the men and women who participated in those endeavors.
Educational Connections:
- History of Space Exploration
- Space Race
- Cold War
- World Powers
- The Space Race's effect of the world, communication, medical, and technology.
- USA Spacecrafts Explorer 1, Telstar 1, Apollo 11, Gemini IV, Tiros 1, Lunar Orbiter 3, Mariner 2, Pioneer Venus 2, Voyager 1, and Skylab.
- USSR (Soviet Union) Spacecrafts Sputnik 1, Sputnik 3, Vostok 1, Voskhod 2, Proton 1, Luna 9, Lunokhod 1, Venera 7, Mars 3, and Soyuz 19.
RSS Feed