All guides

Board game gift ideas sorted by who is playing: families, couples, big groups, kids and seasoned gamers, with player counts, ages and award winners.

Gifts for board game lovers sorted by what they enjoy: card sleeves with a size chart, box organizers, dice trays, travel games and award winners.

Small card games that fit a stocking: Sushi Go!, Love Letter, Exploding Kittens, Skull, Coup and No Thanks!, with player counts and ages from the publishers.

Board games for adults sorted by the kind of game night: strategy for thinkers, party games for groups and co-op games for teams, with award notes.

Two-player board games to give a partner or a friend, matched to the occasion: 7 Wonders Duel, Patchwork, Jaipur, Lost Cities, Star Realms and Onitama.

What a cooperative board game is, how the game itself becomes the opponent, and six co-op picks from The Mind to Pandemic, with players, ages and play time.

Party games for groups of 4 to 12, sorted by player count and type: Codenames, Just One, Decrypto, Telestrations, Wavelength and Dixit.

The next strategy board game after Catan, Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne: step-up picks matched to the game they love, plus every Kennerspiel winner.

Family board games that work when ages are mixed, with publisher ages, player counts and play times for Kingdomino, Dixit, King of Tokyo and more.

Board games for kids grouped by the publisher's age rating, from Candy Land and Dragomino to Codenames, plus every Kinderspiel des Jahres winner since 2016.

Scrabble, Clue, Risk, Monopoly, Sorry!, Yahtzee and Candy Land as gifts: player counts, ages, short histories and which deluxe or bookshelf editions exist.

Signs of a counterfeit board game from publishers: missing logos, blurry print, glossy boards and prices too good to be true, plus what to do if you get one.

What the Spiel des Jahres red, gray and blue badges mean, every winner from 2019 to 2026 in all three awards, and how to use the list to pick a gift.