The holidays are upon us, and that means hours and hours of get-togethers with family and friends. And, for many of us, that means hours of fun playing games. But what if your board game selection is getting a bit stale? What can you do to boost your game appeal and look forward to some great holiday fun this year? If you’re grabbing your phone and typing in “board game stores near me,” let us save you some time. For the very best board games and a huge game selection, Fundemonium is your local – and best – board game store!
If you’re looking for the best board games today, especially board games for kids, you can find them right here at your favorite Rohnert Park toy store.
Six Board Games That Can Make the Holidays More Fun
Board games have captured the attention and passion of humans since before written history. We know, for example, that a game known as Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed and was found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt that were over 5,000 years old. And the earliest known commercially produced board game was one called the Game of the Goose. It was a game of chance and luck that involved no strategy whatsoever. Today there are literally thousands of board games from childhood classics like Monopoly and Candyland to new games that continue to come out every year.
And here are a half dozen of the best board games you can pick up for your holiday fun.
The Fairy Game
Not every board game has to be intense and gritty (think Exit or Dungeon!) And, in fact, some younger children much prefer fun, “safe” board games. And The Fairy Game is sure to meet those criteria for your five-year-olds.
In this delightful fantasy game, Mr. Winter is trying to freeze over the fairies’ treasured flowers! By working together to fill the fairies’ magic wands, the players can succeed in banishing Mr. Winter from the garden! The objective is for all the players to work together, matching fairy cards and gathering the hidden magic gems before four snowflakes land on one flower.
Dinosaur Escape
Little kids love board games, too! And Dinosaur Escape is sure to be a winner for the four-year-old set. Fun and adventure can be a winning combination, and this game has plenty of both. The setting of the game is three dinosaurs who are lost in the ferns near a volcano that is threatening to blow!
Players work together to move the dinosaurs around the board. The goal is to get the dinosaurs safely to the island before the volcano erupts – and everyone wins! Dinosaur Escape allows kids to work together, use their memory, and incorporate a simple strategy to rescue the dinosaurs. They love the satisfaction of an erupting volcano and, of course, playing with dinosaurs.
Ticket to Ride
All aboard for a Ticket to Ride, the fast-paced, strategy board game for two to five players, ages eight and older. The game pits you and your opponents in a fun competition for train cards, which you need to run your trains between well-known American cities.
You’ll earn points for every route you complete, but you need to plan for the future—ticket cards can give you many more points if you connect the two cities shown on the ticket. The longer the routes, the more points you earn, and additional points are gained when you fulfill your Destination Tickets and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway.
Dixit
Dixit is a classic, simple, lighthearted, fun game that combines storytelling and guesswork and lets your imagination unlock the tale. One player is the storyteller for the turn and looks at the images on the six cards in his or her hand. From one of these, the storyteller makes up a sentence and says it out loud.
The other players select the card in their hands that they feel best matches the sentence and give those cards to the storyteller without showing them to each other. The storyteller shuffles all the received cards with his or her own. Then, with all pictures lying face up, every player bets on which picture was the storytellers’.
CATAN
A fabulously popular board game that is suitable for kids and adults ages ten and above, CATAN took the world by storm when it was introduced in the mid-1990s. According to the game’s makers, CATAN is available in over 40 languages. Over 32 million games were sold worldwide as of 2020.
Designed for 3 to 4 players, the game involves adventurous settlers who seek to tame the remote but rich isle of Catan. The game starts by revealing the many harbors and regions such as pastures, mountains, forests, and deserts of Catan. No two games are the same! The random mix creates a different board virtually every game.
Tiny Towns
Here’s a fun city-building board game for kids 14 and above. With Tiny Towns, you are the mayor of a tiny town in the forest, where the smaller woodland creatures have built a civilization hidden away from predators. The goal is to cleverly plan and construct a thriving town and not let valuable and limited resources go to waste.
As one reviewer noted,
Tiny Towns is good fun and delivers it time and again. It’s quick, burns more than a few neurons, and is ridiculously easy to teach. For gamers who prefer heavier games, it’s the kind of game to keep when distant relatives pop over, and the conversation dies down. For families who have played all the Ticket to Ride there is to play, Tiny Towns could be another solid follow-up.
Visit Fundemonium’s Gametopia for Great Board Games for the Holidays
At Fundemonium, you’ll discover tons of great board games for kids, teens, adults, and the whole family! Explore our wide selection of board games along with card-based games and other indoor fun products along with toys, crafts, and hobby items.
Fundemonium is more than a board game store, though. It’s your Rohnert Park Toy Store – and a fun family experience, where families and fans of all kinds of great games can meet and play. We are also a safe and friendly place where adults and children of all ages can enjoy creative fun. In addition, we have a great selection of games, toys, arts and crafts, and hobby products for your entire family. And you can be sure that our friendly and knowledgeable staff makes it their business to help you have fun.
We always do our best to quickly respond to website inquiries about card games (and more!), or you can also find answers to your questions by calling us at (707) 540-0701. Just give us a call during our business hours if you’d like to speak directly with one of our Fundemoniacs.
