Meeples Overboard

Tag: Telestrations

Best Christmas Board Games for your family 2025
The festive season is approaching. And when people think about spending more time with friends or family they often think about getting the best board game and want to know what is the best Christmas board game? However, there are a number of challenges with that question; do you want a Christmas themed board game, a gift to go under the Christmas tree or a game to play and perhaps the biggest what one family thinks is a fun game may not be enjoyed by another family.

We all have different plans for the holidays and this post will help you decide on the board games for your family Christmas plans. There will be different numbers of people, different ages, different amounts of time and levels of interest in games. Some people will be reluctant to play games as their memories are classic board games like Monopoly, but with the large choice of family board games now available, there will be something that works for your gathering.

Here are my tips for discovering what type of board game you are looking for. If you want more help on selecting an exact game, read my post How to choose a board game.

Buying board games

Where I have them, I’ve included links to my reviews or Instagram posts. In other cases I’ve linked to Amazon for ease. These are marked with * and if you buy something after clicking the link I will earn some money. However, please consider supporting a specialist board game shop. They often have great prices, and you can be confident you are getting a genuine version of the game (yes, people sell counterfeit board games).

Finding the best Christmas board game for your whole family

To help you select the best holiday game, there are a few questions you should answer first:
- do you want a Christmas-themed board game or just a great game?
- are you wanting to play the game during Christmas or are you giving it as a gift?
- who will be playing?
- when will you be playing (how will the game fit in to your plans)?
Games to play at Christmas

Christmas themed board games

At this time of year, you’ll find lots of shops start selling board games for Christmas. These are often a holiday edition of an existing game, with a few that are unique. If you want a Christmas family board game, my advice is to use the following tips and make sure what ever you select fits your plans. I don’t remember ever playing a Christmas themed game, so I’ve done some research to get a list of games that have good reviews.
- Ghosts of Christmas* – a trick taking card game based on a Christmas Carol
- Christmas Tree* – a tile laying game where you’re trying to get the best decorated tree
- Santa’s Workshop* – a worker placement game where you direct elves to collect materials and build gifts
- Dice Throne: Santa v. Krampus – a 2 player game where you attack each other using dice rolls
- Ugly Christmas Sweaters – who can design the ugliest sweater using cards
- Animal upon Animal: Christmas Edition – who can stack their wooden shapes on the snowy hills first. We loved the original version of this so recommend this for younger kids
- Holly Jolly* – you collect points by placing lights or tinsel cards on to a central tree
- Welcome To… Winter Wonderland* Pack – In Welcome to… you create a neighbourhood based on the cards turned over. This pack gives you Christmas theme paper to draw your neighbourhood. You need the base game to play.
- Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries* – collect cards to build train lines across the Nordic countries.
Large variety of ages

It can be tricky to find family-friendly games that are fair and fun for all ages. I recommend staying away from general knowledge or trivia, and if there are very young children involved avoid games which involve reading or spelling (it really slows down a game when you have to ask them to interpret their writing). Consider games like:
- Taskmaster* – amusing challenges e.g. drawing a cake with your eyes closed
- Dixit* – can you guess the correct abstract picture card from the clue?
- Codename pictures – picture association in teams
- Make ‘n’ Break – a dexterity game with differentiated challenges, so the children can have easier ones
- Magic Maze – you work together to move characters around a shopping mall, but each person can only move them in one direction – and you can’t talk!
- Tsuro* – place tiles to build paths that your dragon has to follow
Highly Competitive

Some families take great pleasure in playing highly competitive games where the focus is on who will win the game, possibly with gloating for years. We don’t play a lot of these games, so I have limited experience, but here are some suggestions:
- Anomia* – instead of saying snap when your cards match you have to give the quickest trivia answer
- Staccups – who can stack all their cups the quickest? Although you’ll find this in the games for kids section, trust me when I say it gets very competitive among adults. It is a frantic game.
- Ice Cool* – flick penguins around the school, one person trying to capture the other penguins and others trying to avoid them
- Throw Throw Burrito* – card game where you collect cards, but with occasional throwing of soft burritos at the other players. This is a crazy game.
Games for the fun of playing

Sometimes you want to have family fun without keeping score or paying attention who has won. Time for party games. We own all the following games and know we’ll always have a great time with them.
- So Clover* – linking random words together for others to guess
- Just One* – word association again, but if more than one person gives the same clue they are all removed so the guesser has fewer clues to help them.
- Telestrations – this is similar to Chinese Whispers / Telephone game but using drawings. If you are looking for grown-up games there is a version called Scrawl which is very funny.
- Concept* – a bit like charades but using a board of pictures to give the clues
- Time’s up Party – starts like charades, but each rounds gets hard until you’re are using just one word to describe a person
Co-operative games

In co-op games you play as a team and either win or lose together. There are many brilliant games in this category. They are particularly useful if you want to keep arguments to a minimum or there are different levels of experienced players.
- Magic Maze – you are all moving the same pieces around the board, but each person can only move them in a certain direction – and you can’t talk
- Forbidden Desert – you need to find the components of an airship so you can escape, but the land keeps moving due to sand storms
- Pandemic – you need to find the cure for 4 different diseases by sharing information from around the world
- Mysterium* – as a group of psychics you get visions about a murder, and you need to work out which is the correct vision
Long games

Long games are great if you want an evening of fun, or you want to keep people occupied for several hours. They are often more complex so you probably want to read the rules before Christmas.
- Sleeping Gods – this is an original game where you exploring a map creating your own story (this is the longest game, it took us about 12 hours – over several months).
- Terraforming Mars – a tile laying game where develop Mars from the current lifeless planet to one that is habitable
- Hogwarts Battle – a Harry Potter deckbuilding card game. The early years are quick, but they build in complexity and length as you progress through the story. Our Year 1 game took 10 minutes and Year 5 over 2 hours (we haven’t played year 6 or 7 yet).
- Dead of Winter* – there has been a Zombie apocalypse, and you need to get food and protection for the safe colony, by exploring outside. Probably not considered a family game for young children.
Quick plays

Sometimes you just want a simple game that will fill a spare 15 minutes, with minimal set up.
- Tsuro* – place tiles to build paths that your dragon has to follow
- Just One* – word association again, but if more than one person gives the same clue they are all removed
- Happy Salmon* – an absolutely silly game where you are trying to find matching cards using hand gestures and possibly shouting
Flexibility

Sometimes you want to play a game, but also know that people may need to duck out e.g. to watch children or cook dinner. These games allow people to leave (and possibly join) without impacting on the game play.
- Codenames – team based word association – can you guess your words before the other team
- Just One* – word association again, but if more than one person gives the same clue they are all removed
- Concept* – a bit like charades but using a board of pictures to give the clues
- Anomia* – instead of saying snap when your cards match you have to give the quickest trivia answer
Problem solving games

If you want to solve a mystery, there several games you can try, some fall under the broad heading of escape room type, but all of them have a problem that needs solving. Note these are usually one time plays.
- Exit – escape room style game series
- Unlock* – escape room style games with an app to check answers, give clues and time you
- Adventure – choose your own adventure style game
- Chronicles of Crime – explore locations and interview witnesses using the app (some of these crimes are not suitable for children)
- Suspects – you get to interview the witnesses of a crime before deducing who is the culprit.
Large groups

Over Christmas you may be looking for games that play more than the traditional 4 or 5. You can sometimes buy expansions that let you increase the number of games, but all these play at least 6 players in the basic box.
- Dixit – can you guess the correct picture card for the clue?
- Anomia* – instead of saying snap when your cards match you have to give the quickest trivia answer
- Codenames* – team based word association – can you guess your words before the other team
- Concept* – a bit like charades but using a board of pictures to give the clues
- Just One* – word association again, but if more than one person gives the same clue that word is not given to the guesser
- Telestrations* – similar to Chinese Whispers / Telephone game but using drawings
- Tsuro* – place tiles to build paths that your dragon has to follow
- Mysterium* – as a group of psychics you get visions about a murder, and you need to work out which is the correct vision
Quirky games

Perhaps you want a game that is different to the usual game so your festive game becomes a family legend as people remember it for years to come!
- Micro Macro Crime City* – you use a large image of the city to solve crimes, where’s Wally style (looks cute, but you may not want to share all the crimes with your children).
- Ice Cool* – flick penguins around the school, one person trying to capture the other penguins and others trying to avoid them
- Chronicles of Crime – explore locations and interview witnesses using an app and QR codes (some of these crimes are not suitable for children)
- Potion Explosion* – create potions by drawing marbles from the board and creating “explosions”
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf* – a social deduction game, can you work out who is the werewolf (just to add I’m dreadful at this game as it turns out I can’t bluff)
- Mysterium* – as a group of psychics you get visions about a murder, and you need to work out which is the correct vision (one of you will play the ghost giving out the visions).
Choosing your Christmas board game is the first step. The second step is to learn how to play the game and the third is to teach it to the other players. I recommend you learn it in advance. If you are giving the game as a gift and can’t open the instructions, look for details online. You will probably find the written instructions, but possibly more helpfully videos explaining how to set it up and play.

I hope these tips help you find a game that is perfect for your Christmas and helps you spend quality time together. Do let me know in the comments what are your favourite Christmas board games and which have become a family tradition.

*Disclosure – this post includes affiliate links which means if you buy something after using it I will earn some money from the seller for suggesting you visit them. However, it will not cost you anything extra.
September 19, 2024
How to choose board games for kids
Does the thought of playing board games with your kids fill you with dread? Do you think you’ll end up playing an incredibly dull game or one that never seems to end. If so, I suggest your kids are playing the wrong ones.

There has been an explosion in the development of interesting games over the last few decades, including board games for kids. However, based on the repetitive recommendations I’ve seen over the last few months I’ve realised that people don’t know the range that is available, don’t know how to choose board games or are overwhelmed at the choice.

If you’re stuck on the first one, there are lots of ways to find out about new games; ask friends, visit a board game cafe, do a web search or follow board game bloggers or vloggers. I’ve just started an Instagram account dedicated to board games so come and follow me.

But how do you tell if a board game is correct for your children? Below is my list of things to consider when you choose board games for kids, but the most important thing is to not overthink it. If you get a game and:
- it is too difficult – come back to it when the children are older
- if it seems too simple – keep it for when you want a quick play game or pass it on to someone with younger children
- if you dislike – it read the instructions / watch a video and try it again. I didn’t enjoy Hero Realms the first few times I played it but now I understand how it works I play it frequently
Things to consider when you choose board games for kids

Number of people playing

Games can be played by 1 player up to multiple player party games. Some are flexible in how many players can join in, while some are fixed. Check the box before buying it or you may end up always having too many or too few people to play. The box will usually tell you the players for example:
- 2 players — 2 players only
- 2–5 players — a minimum of 2 players to a maximum of 5 players
- 2+ — at least 2 players with no maximum (this is often team games)
Age of the players

Most games have a recommended minimum age but, this doesn’t mean the child’s literal age. It is guidance but you can take into account their ability to participate, for example do they need to read cards, remember symbols or have they used similar mechanisms before. My son played Chocolate Factory* (with support) when he was 7 years old, even though it is labelled as 14+ because he’d played other engine building and card drafting games so understood enough of the rules to get involved.

Attention span

How long will your children be able to keep their attention on a game to complete it? There is a huge variety in the length of games from minutes to days. If you are just starting to play games or your children are young you may want to pick ones with a shorter duration. I think it is better to play a game more than once in a session than to have a game that feels like it is dragging and people start complaining. But older children may love the challenge of playing a longer game.

Focus

What is your children’s focus like? Will they be able to focus on the game during other people’s turns or could they wander off? If you need to keep calling people back to the table it will make the game longer and can lead to unwanted tension. If this is the case you may want to consider games with real time or simultaneous action, where players do things at the same time. Such as Sushi Go* or Dixit*.

Other real time games*
Theme

Some games have a theme such as Japan, Dinosaurs or World War 2. So if you’re children are particularly interested in a topic you may want to look for games to go with it.

Game Play

What games have your children enjoyed or not enjoyed before? This may give you an idea of a game mechanism they enjoy or may tell you some mechanisms to avoid. For example, if they’ve enjoyed Jenga you could look at Junk Art*, or if they’ve enjoyed Monopoly or The Game of Life you could try other Roll and Move games such as Talisman* or The Magic Labyrinth*.

Competition

Do your children like competition? If not there are an increasing number of co-operative games where you work as a team to win against the game. For example Forbidden Desert* or Stuffed Fables*.

Other co-operative games*
Complexity

Games come with different levels of complexity or weight. Although there isn’t an agreed definition of the complexity levels, the more complex games tend to have longer rule books, more time spent thinking and planning than taking turns and less luck. For comparison Monopoly which needs little thinking or planning has a light complexity rating of 1.66 / 5 on Board Game Geek. So think about your children do they like to think a head or prefer quick decisions?

Space to play

Some games need a lot of space to play them so consider how much space you have, and can you leave a game up if you don’t finish it in one sitting? We usually play games at our dining room table, however it is slightly narrow to have a board and cards around it, so we feel a bit squished for some games. We recently introduced our children to Terraforming Mars* and our first game took 4 hours over three sessions, so we ended up moving the game from the dining table into a different room so it wasn’t in the way.

My final advice to you is to try games out to work out what your family likes, and don’t limit yourself to “children’s games”. Expand yours and your children’s gaming experience.

How do you choose board games for kids?

If you’re looking for suggestions, please ask in the comments or on my Instgagram and I’ll do my best to help.

*Disclaimer – This post contains affiliate links which means if you buy something I may earn a percentage of the value. However it does not cost you any more.

Frequently asked questions

How can we try game before buying them so we know we like them?

I think the nicest way to try games is to play with friends. If you ask around I’m sure you’ll discover your friends have a variety of games. You could visit a board game cafe. You’ll probably need to pay a fee for the table hire, but while your there you’ll be able to try lots of games and get taught how to play them. A third method is trying digital versions of games, either on a platform like Board Game Arena or using an app.

Does it matter if we choose the wrong game?

Absolutely not. Spend the time to think about why was it the wrong game. Was it too simple or too hard? Were people tired? Perhaps you weren’t sure on the rules. There are many reasons why a game may not be enjoyed, but it doesn’t mean it is a bad choice, it might just not be the correct choice for now. Think about whether you want to try it again later and if not, pass it on to someone else as they may love it.
August 16, 2020
Telestrations game review
Telestrations* is a party game described as a drawing version of the childhood game Telephones (or in the UK Chinese Whispers). You start by drawing a word and passing it round the group to see if the last person can work out what the original word was — which from my experience is not often.

We have a similar game called Scrawl which our children have been desperate to play, however as its rated 17+ it is not suitable for them. We played Telestrations earlier in the year when we visited some friends and the children loved it, so when Asmodee offered us a copy to review they were very keen for us get our own copy

Game Type – Real time drawing party game, meaning everyone draws at the same time.

Aim – The aim is to have fun, although if you’re feeling competitive you can aim to be the person with the most points at the end.

Players – 4-8 players, it is better with more players.
The box says 12+, but we’ve played with our 8 year old. The ability to play with younger children is likely to depend on whether they can read the words and write their guesses.

Time to Play – The suggested time is 30 minutes. This will depend on how many rounds you play and whether you stick to the 60 seconds maximum limit to draw your picture.

Components

The box comes with a plastic insert to hold all the components and it does a good job of holding them in place even if you store the box on its side. Inside the box you get:
- Box of double sided word cards
- 8 erasable sketch books with different colour binding coils
- 8 dry erase markers
- clean up cloths (these are stored under the sketch books so you may not find them if you’re not playing the full 8 players)
- 60 second timer
- 1 die.
How to play

Objectives

The main objective is to have fun. However, if you’re playing with a competitive group you can score the best pictures and correct guesses, and in that case the person with the most points wins

Setting up Telestrations

Each person gets a sketch book and marker and write their name in the front of the book. Decide if you’re playing the yellow or blue side of the cards (this side or that side) and take a card.

Playing Telestrations

Roll the die and match the number to a word on your card, this is your secret word. Write it on the first page. Everybody does this at the same time.

If you’re playing with an even number of players turn to page 1 and draw your word. If you’re playing with odd numbers turn to page 1 and pass to the next player, so they can draw it (they’ll need to look at your secret word). This ensures the last turn is a written guess.

You have 60 seconds to draw the picture. When the timer has finished, turn the page and pass the book to the person to your left. They look at the previous page and guess the secret word. After writing their answer, they turn the page and pass the book to the left. This continues until you get the sketchpad with the same colour coil back.

Ending the game and winning

When you get the notebook with the same colour coil back you reveal the pictures and guesses. We like to do this in reverse, starting with the last guess and working back to the secret word.

We’ve never scored it. But if you want to score, there are two options included in the instructions, based on accuracy of guesses and favourite guesses or drawings.

Can you guess the two secret words below?

Do I recommend it?

Yes. Telestrations is a great, fun, simple party game playing up to 8 people. You can use it as an ice breaker if people don’t know each other very well or as light relief between other games.

Things I like

Simple to learn
- Funny
- Involves drawing
- Quick moving as everyone is doing the same action at the same time
Things that may create challenges
- Need 4 or more people
- Younger children may smudge the pages and get pen on their fingers etc
- If younger children are not great at spelling or writing, it will make it hard to work out their guesses
Other games you may want to consider

Other Party Games*
- Codenames Pictures (my review)
- Telestrations (my review)
- Just One
- Decrypto
- The Resistance
Other real time games*
- Magic Maze
- Sushi Go Party
- Exit: The Haunted Cabin
- Galaxy Trucker
*Disclosure – this post includes affiliate links which means if you buy something after using it I will earn some money from the seller for suggesting you visit them. However, it will not cost you anything extra.
June 30, 2020