My Top 10 NEW Board Games for the Family! (Your Gift-Giving Guide for the Holidays!) 🎁

[@Eckhert16]

Me and my girlfriend just started getting into board games as a hobby (we used my family member’s pile of board games as a start and planning to buy for more) and i am so happy i came across this channel. Love how you also included quick tutorials on your recommended games and very informative, helped us in what to look for next. More power to you sir and looking forward for more of your content!

[@BoardGameDave]

Hey there! Thank you so much for your comment-I'm so glad you and your girlfriend are getting into board games! What games are you enjoying right now? ☺️ If you're looking for some great two-player recommendations, my wife and I made a video going over our top 15 games we like to play together if you're interested! kzbin.info/www/bejne/inSwZJSMdsmVbqMsi=-EFJiFqBK5Wyv3D2

[@Eckhert16]

@@BoardGameDave Hello! We first started playing Carcassone and Lanterns as a start of our new hobby. Will definitely try out maracaibo and the time travel game since me and my girl are into long adventure like board games, already checked and really love your suggested vid since we are currently making a list of board games that we should try and took some notes from there as well. God Bless you kind sir and for more content to you!

[@BoardGameDave]

Oh, Carcassonne and Lanterns are both great games! Excellent choices! ☺️ Maracaibo is one of my all-time favorite games but it is a WAY longer and more complex game than a game like Trekking Through History, just so you know! Love that you've got a list going, though! It's so exciting to hear about someone just getting into the hobby! (We recently got a copy of a game called Harmonies and we've been playing it a lot! My wife really enjoys it and it sounds like you two probably would, too! I just reviewed it on the channel this morning if you'd like to know more about it!) ☺️

[@Hocoino]

Congratulations on your marraige! I wish you a lifetime of happiness! Also... Great games. :D

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much! Married life has been fantastic so far! 🥰 I appreciate the comment!

[@Zauberhafte]

Love your Videos!!! Such a great inspiration and i always find new board games to buy!!! Thank you

[@BoardGameDave]

Oh my goodness, thank you for such a kind comment! ☺️ Hope I was able to direct you toward a game you'll love!

[@mikilojzik]

Great video, some other games I would recommend are King of Tokyo, Unstable unicorns and Catan😊

[@BoardGameDave]

Great recommendations! Thank you! ☺️

[@emmafradd]

Welcome back Dave, thanks for the video! Space Base looks great. So happy for you and Hannah, congrats again! 🥳

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much, Emma! It's nice to hear from you! ☺️ Space Base is a fantastic game! I don't typically prefer race-type games, but the tension as someone approaches that 40-point threshold can be positively exhilarating! (We can play on BGA sometime if you'd like!) 🚀

[@emmafradd]

@@BoardGameDave Ah, keen as! I'll shoot you an email and we can set something up 🙂

[@BoardGameDave]

​@@emmafradd "Keen as"? That's gotta be an Aussie-ism! 🤣 We'll definitely make it happen! I think you'll really like Space Base! 🪐

[@markusbiewer2756]

Congratulations on your marraige! Wish you all the best! Great list, Just One is a hit with the family.

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you very much! ☺️ Just One is a blast for sure! So simple and still always leads to a lot of thinking (and a lot of laughter)! 🤣

[@arthm214]

Great video, thank you for the recommendations.

[@BoardGameDave]

Of course! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! ☺️

[@jadevandeluitgaarden]

Congratulations on your marriage! As someone who is always on the lookout for the perfect games to give family members for Christmas I really appreciate this list, as well as your other "Top 20" videos. Last year I made a 'game night' gift basket for my sister's family. They loved it so much and played the games every day for months. The Quest for El Dorado was their favorite of the games I included. This year I plan to give Cascadia and Yokai Sketch (the last one was an impulse buy on Spiel Essen, a nice little two player game which doesn't require much mental effort), but "Just One" or Point Salad may be going in the gift basket as well. Thanks for the ideas!

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much for your comment, Jade! ☺️ I love that you thought to make a game night gift basket for your sister's family-that is such a great idea! I have yet to play The Quest for El Dorado but it looks like a lot of fun! ☺️ Cascadia I've played before but I've never even heard of Yokai Sketch! I'll have to check that one out! Thank you for your wonderful gift-giving ideas!

[@NS-mm6jq]

Great and fast explanation of Trekking through history. Thanks

[@BoardGameDave]

You're welcome! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! ☺️

[@Jskot311]

Congrats man, love the recommendations!

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you found them helpful! ☺️

[@dimmok8344]

Good to have ya back making videos bud! And congrats again!

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much, Gary!! 🥰 I'll be back again next week to talk about... metal coins!! 🤣

[@lisahasegawa2674]

Welcome back! Is that a real wall behind you? Hahaha, Congratulations (again!) and so nice to see you back on the KZbins. Love Project L, we have Space Base but haven't played it yet. I am very intrigued by Tiny Towns - it looks delightful. I gave up Point Salad for Point City... it's slightly meatier?

[@BoardGameDave]

Haha, who knows? Maybe I'll reveal that the background was another fake backdrop the next time we move! 🤣 Thank you for the comment! You've got to get Space Base to the table! There are some tricky rule nuances but overall it's a very simple game to learn and play! So is Tiny Towns! ☺️ And I'm hearing great things about Point City-and it's only $23! Maybe I'll go ahead and get that one for myself!

[@roberthultsten]

Congratulations 🎉 and welcome back! Looking forward to seeing you more often again.

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you very much, Robert! ☺️ Hopefully I'll be back to uploading every week now that we're a little bit more settled into our new place! 🏡

[@Cleansweep38]

Love Just One! We don’t worry about scoring. We usually play 3 games. Good times with that for both gamers and non gamers!

[@BoardGameDave]

Just One is such a clever little game! ☺️ And yeah, we've been fairly lax with the scoring as well-it's kind of the least fun part of the game, isn't it? 😅

[@meeplechat5046]

Congratulations, Dave on your life changes! Great video. You’re just missing a Santa’s hat…haha. Can you share how you set up your overhead camera? Feel free to reach out to me directly if easier. Thank you and happy holidays!

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much! ☺️ And we’re not quite in the Christmas phase of decorating the place yet! Maybe soon, though! 🎅🏻 As for the overhead camera, that was literally my iPhone on a 90° clamp mount that was attached to a cat tree that I dragged over from the window! 🤣 I’ve always needed to be creative with my overhead shots! Let me know if you want a link to the exact product I use!

[@meeplechat5046]

@@BoardGameDave Oh wow. That’s creative! Yes can you send me a link? Then did you have another camera filming you directly and ran both cameras at the same time?

[@BoardGameDave]

@@meeplechat5046 Absolutely! Here's the link: a.co/d/9wnr9Nw It's not my favorite thing in the world but it works! There are SO many other brands and designs out there, too! And yup-my DSLR is on a tripod with the phone mount just outside of frame! ☺

[@meeplechat5046]

@@BoardGameDave Awesome, thank you!

[@BoardGameDave]

@@meeplechat5046 Any time! ☺

[@DaniCha]

You reminded me about Tiny Towns! I have to give that another try. Great list!!

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you for checking out the video, Dani! ☺️ Have you only played Tiny Towns once? It’s been such a big hit with some of our casual gamer friends! 🏡

[@armandovillarreal3554]

Congrats on your marriage and new place! Exciting times! And a great video topic to kick things off with 👍

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much! ☺️

[@zmollon]

Congrats and welcome back. I've been enjoying space base on BGA>

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much! ☺️ I love playing Space Base on BGA! It's super convenient that it'll automatically resolve turns for you so it's very easy to play turn-based games online! (I just invited you to a 2P turn-based game if you're interested!) 🚀

[@blackboardgaming5348]

Welcome back, and congratulations on the marriage!

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much!! ☺️ We're loving married life so far!!

[@blackboardgaming5348]

@@BoardGameDave it will only get better!

[@BoardGameDave]

I think you might be right! ☺️

[@Cleansweep38]

Trekking Through History is a game that I would like to try! The game play is intriguing and I love the fact that the cards have that educational backside. (Kind of like wingspan, where you can learn about the birds!)

[@BoardGameDave]

Trekking Through History such a great game! I'm really looking forward to playing it again with Hannah sometime soon! ☺️ And it's definitely like Wingspan where it makes learning new facts easy and fun while you're gaming! I love it!

[@Gamesablaze]

5 minute dungeon is a fun one that gets people’s energies up. It’s a real time game where you fight monsters and deal with events in a dungeon until you defeat the boss, but you have to do it in 5 minutes. It’s a pretty simple game too.

[@BoardGameDave]

I've heard about that game many times but somehow never realized it's a real-time game! That sounds interesting! Thank you for the recommendation! ☺️

[@terrytoriq]

The new place is looking good, Dave. I love the light and I hope all the walls are real this time ^^ Small note - your audio sounds a little echo-y. The feeling is like you are standing a bit away from you microphone (your phone I am guessing) and you are shouting a bit to make sure you are being heard. It's not bad but it's noticeable. You might want to consider a clip-on mike. Also, welcome back ;)

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much, Terry! Yes, these walls are in fact real! 😉 And thank you for the feedback on the audio! It was a little echo-y for my taste too but I didn't notice that until I started editing the video. This won't be the permanent setup-I'll be down in the basement eventually which will be better for sound! A clip-on mic isn't a bad idea! 🤔 I also just bought a small RØDE shotgun mic that I've been experimenting with... hopefully that will help, too! Thanks again! ☺️

[@Rachlovescooking]

Does anyone have any idea where we can buy kluster? Can't seem to find it in the US

[@BoardGameDave]

Oh no! It looks like it’s out of stock almost everywhere at the moment! 😰 Cape Fear games says they have it in stock online… that might be worth checking out?

[@Gamesablaze]

Dutch Blitz is also another simple fast playing card game that I like.

[@BoardGameDave]

Dutch Blitz is such a classic! 👨🏻‍🌾 We played that game a ton back in the day! So fun and chaotic!

[@Cleansweep38]

Love Project L. I’ve only played twice, but enjoyed it both times!

[@BoardGameDave]

Project L is fantastic! My friend Gary borrowed it to play it with his wife and they enjoyed it a lot, too! So did my aunt in Japan! ☺️ Definitely a great gateway game!

[@Cleansweep38]

I love it because my mind clicks with Tetris type of games. I can’t explain why, but it’s kind of like how young children can pick up an instrument and understand how it is played. I just understand shapes, or at least I feel comfortable with them.

[@Cleansweep38]

Congrats again on the new house and I do like the new background! Maybe put a little something holiday related to add some color and magic to the seasons upcoming! Oh, I also got in September, a game called Chomp. Dinosaur themed idea of point Salad

[@matt_stowball]

I've got 5 out of the 10, and played 1 more. Great recommendations

[@BoardGameDave]

Wow! That's a lot of overlap! You must have good taste! 🤣 Any recommendations for a family game that I didn't mention?

[@matt_stowball]

@@BoardGameDave Haha sure: Caesar's Empire, Carcassonne, Cascadia, Coloretto, Crossing, Exploding Kittens,. Kingdomino Origins, No Thanks!, Qwirkle and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you for all the recommendations! (And in alphabetical order, no less!) ☺️ I’ve played several of them!

[@Cleansweep38]

I like the theme of building a city over a salad, although your mind is to busy concentrating on your actions, in both games, it’s hard to appreciate your collection until the end of the game. The big difference to city over salad is the Civ. Tokens. The buildings give you points, Civ. Tokens, or permanent resources to help you buy other buildings, so there is a little more meat to the game. I Highly recommend that if you play, DO USE THE 2 BUILDING/RESOURCE tokens, that comes with the game! Both in real life and video watching, I’ve found it’s easy to forget to use them and that’s when the mistakes happens! Everyone needs to help everyone remember. The best way is to pass the tokens around the board to each player, before they start their turn! (Remember refill is ALWAYS LEFT to RIGHT and TOP to BOTTOM) Finally, keep the Draw Deck straight and neat. You can see what the top card is, but you are not to see any other cards under it.

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much for the detailed response! I had forgotten about the civilization tokens-that makes the game play similarly to Splendor which is a big draw for me! 💎 And thank you for the tip about the building/resource tokens! I'll definitely keep that in mind! I'll put Point City on my want-to-buy list now!

[@Cleansweep38]

I own Tiny Town (The Base Game) I enjoy this as solo. There are several videos on KZbin, that are play along with. I enjoy playing that way. The people I play with are not fans, but I enjoy it! My group and myself as well do enjoy Space Base! I also enjoy Machi Kori, but they do not.

[@BoardGameDave]

I enjoy Tiny Towns so much but have yet to check out any of the expansions! I'm sorry your gamer friends aren't fans of the game... but that's what solo modes are for, right? I did film a solo playthrough for that one-did you happen to see it? ☺️ I do enjoy both Space Base and Machi Koro but I feel like Space Base gives you more agency and is maybe just a little less luck-dependent? 🎲

[@Cleansweep38]

I enjoy them both too. Again, with Machi Koro, it’s the building buildings thing I like most. I also have the Kickstarter Collector’s Edition of Suburbia. I’m sitting on a hundred dollar game, maybe more, that I’ve only played twice. :( my group doesn’t fancy that game either. Last time I was there, Earth and Ark Nova were the Hotness! They did not like my Village rails, that I brought.

[@jinsungpark1643]

New background and new games! Congrats on your marriage:)

[@BoardGameDave]

Thank you so much! ☺️ Eventually I'll be down in the basement with a more permanent setup but this worked out well for now! (A lot of that was Hannah's doing!)

[@aaronbowe5855]

Love point salad!

[@BoardGameDave]

Point Salad is amazing!! 🥗

[@CasperSpanggaard]

I really want Shifting Stones, but can't buy it anywhere in my country 🙁 Thanks for a great video 😃👍🏻

[@BoardGameDave]

Oh, no! I'm so sorry to hear that! 😔 Hopefully that'll change soon! (Perhaps you could play it on BGA in the meantime!)

[@CasperSpanggaard]

@@BoardGameDave oh it's on BGA?! I will definitely try it out 😃

[@BoardGameDave]

@@CasperSpanggaard Yes! I'm happy to play a turn-based game with you if you're interested! I'm "BoardGameDave" over there as well! ☺

[@CasperSpanggaard]

@@BoardGameDave I'd love that 😃👍🏻 I'm Spanggaard over there. I will start a game later between us 😃👍🏻

[@BoardGameDave]

I’m looking forward to it! 🗿

[@Cleansweep38]

Shifting Stones would be a nice solo game for me.

[@BoardGameDave]

It's such a great little solo puzzle! And you can get the game for $19 right now-absolutely worth the price! ☺️

[@Cleansweep38]

True that! I also dislike games with timers! I do not think fast, so the pressures of time makes me unlike games that require it. I live telestrations! I played it only once and we didn’t use it. However we did encourage people not to make it like you’re writing a novel

[@BoardGameDave]

Yup, real-time games are definitely not my usual go-to when it comes to board games! Although they can be a chaotic kind of fun, that's usually not the experience I'm going for when I play a board game! 😅 Telestrations is so much fun! That's a great recommendation for a family game-we always just used scrap paper and called it "picture down the lane"!

[@thomasjdm7388]

Dave, do you accept new boardgames to review?

[@BoardGameDave]

Hi, Thomas! 👋🏼 Sometimes I do accept review copies but lately I’ve been much more particular about taking on review games since I don’t have quite as much time to learn/play/review new games these days!

[@thomasjdm7388]

@BoardGameDave ok Dave. Thank you. I understand. You mentioned you are a music teacher. That's great! I went to grad school for an MEd- but never taught a class. 😅. I'm pretty proud of this game, and plan on making several more- I think my time in grad school affects the games. You are my favorite game reviewer!

[@Cleansweep38]

Prefer Point City over Point Salad

[@BoardGameDave]

I haven't had a chance to play Point City yet! I'd love to give the game a try, though... I've watched some review videos and it seems really great! What do you like about Point City over Point Salad? 🏙

[@goodgood9955]

Hues and Cues: off off off off off off off yellow.

[@BoardGameDave]

🤣🤣🤣

[@goodgood9955]

@@BoardGameDave looking at Trekking through history reviews. Thanks.

[@BoardGameDave]

@@goodgood9955 Trekking through History is a great one! I'm planning to do a solo playthrough of that one... "soon"! 😅

[@ayo564]

mensa is a high iq society ss was probably chosen as a favorite? i dont know exactly but thats the gist of it

[@BoardGameDave]

Yeah, that's about all I know about Mensa too! Not sure what attributes they're looking for in their "Mensa Select" games, but they picked a good one with Shifting Stones! ☺️ (Actually, I'm looking through their yearly picks on their website now and there are a lot of great games on there!) www.mensamindgames.com/about/winning-games/

[@RemyBuB]

Your table is like a shout out to your fake background. Congrats on the marriage, home, and adulting.

[@BoardGameDave]

Hey, I really like my table! 🤣 But I am in the market for a new one! The Jasper from BoardGameTables, maybe? Super exciting! ☺️ Thank you for the comment!

[@RemyBuB]

@@BoardGameDave don't change it! It looks good! Unless you get a gaming table. That would be cool.

[@BoardGameDave]

Haha, thank you! I think it looks good, too! But a gaming table would be really nice for the basement! 😁

[@Majin10]

You should show more of your face and less board game :^P

[@BoardGameDave]

Hahaha!! 🤣 I wasn’t expecting that comment!!

[@Ryan_Schlutz]

lol. Too funny. #callback

[@matt_stowball]

Could you turn down the background music in future? It's really distracting

[@BoardGameDave]

Hey there, Matt! Thank you for the feedback! I actually spend a LOT of time obsessing about the volume levels for my videos and I'm currently hovering between 5-7% for all of the background music these days. I'll experiment with dropping it even a little lower! 🔉 Thanks again!

[@matt_stowball]

@@BoardGameDave Thank you, that would be very much appreciated

[@BoardGameDave]

No problem! Thanks for letting me know!

[@santamonicakitchenremodele5184]

Love Project L. I’ve only played twice, but enjoyed it both times!

[@BoardGameDave]

Project L is such a fun one! I always tell people it's like Tetris the board game! ☺️