I’m thankful for a lot of things – for example, I’ve been married 35 years to a wonderful non-gamer wife who encourages my board game hobby/obsession despite her near-complete lack of interest in playing board games. For a guy in my very-early sixties, I’m in pretty good health. I work for a highly competent and incredibly kind boss with a team of folks who support each other. And I have two incredible young adult sons that I’ve managed to train/indoctrinate into the gaming hobby.

So it is no surprise that our Thanksgiving weekend together involved a lot of gaming. (And eating. Sometimes both at the same time.) The three of us (plus assorted family & friends – and even my wife!) played 40 different games over six days… some of them multiple times.

A number of the games were not “the new hotness” but instead were classics that hadn’t hit the table in a while or tried & true family favorites.

What follows is my quickie recap of all those games in alphabetical order. Maybe you’ll find something new (or new-to-you) to put on your Christmas list this year!

Note: most of this post was originally written immediately post-Thanksgiving… and then life got in the way. Maybe this will be helpful for your post-Christmas sale game shopping now!

Another note: all links below lead to reviews and articles from the Opinionated Gamers site about these games!

Two+ Plays

• Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West
  • played 5 times
  • published 2024
  • This was a Christmas gift from 2024 that has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be played. The early games (1-3) ripped right along with the smaller board and straightforward play – while the last two games took a bit longer as the board is beginning to expand. It’s clever and beautifully produced and is working like a charm for the three of us. Games 6-12 will be happening over the Christmas break next week!
• Endeavor: Deep Sea
  • played 3 times
  • published 2024
  • My copy of the deluxe edition FINALLY arrived. (Braeden & I had played it at Gulf Games this summer and I promptly came home and ordered a copy from Game Steward – which shipped last week. BTW, a unsolicited plug for Game Steward’s customer service – they dealt with my questions and concerns quickly and kindly as the waiting dragged on.)
  • The production of Endeavor is top-notch, the puzzles inherent in the game are interesting, and I like the rhythm of how the game plays out… with three players or as a solo game. (Two of the plays were early morning attempts – ahem, failed attempts – for me to beat the game while the boys slept in.)
• Unmatched: Battle of Legends
  • played 3 times
  • published 2025 (game system published 2019)
  • We actually played the newest boxes from the Unmatched line – Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (along with the Shredder/Krang player decks) and Unmatched: Lee vs. Ali. This is the second box in the Adventures series of cooperative takes on the Unmatched system (I reviewed the first box – Tales to Amaze! – here on the OG) – and it builds nicely on the design ideas from Tales with lots of TMNT flavor.
  • Braeden & I had playtested an early version of the Ali fighter. As usual, the developers at Restoration Games did a splendid job of taking in feedback & data and making him better.
  • The only letdown was the Krang player deck – which felt pretty swing-y and potentially overpowered during our single play of him.
  • Here’s my OG review of the new Unmatched sets!
• 52 Duels
  • played 2 times
  • published 2025 (on Kickstarter starting today!)
  • Following the very interesting solo dungeon crawl 52 Adventures (using printable maps & character sheets plus a deck of playing cards) comes 52 Duels. Once again, you need some printable character sheets plus 2 decks of playing cards – but this game works as a solo game AND as a 2-player head-to-head duel.
  • Here’s my preview of 52 Duels (here on the OG).
• Fast Food Franchise
  • played 2 times
  • published 1992
  • Imagine if the designer of Race for the Galaxy decided to take making a roll’n’move that both gamers & non-gamers could love… that combined some very Monopoly-ish elements with tactical board play. Many many years ago, Tom Lehmann did just that… and it’s a family favorite. Sadly, it’s very OOP – but a friend managed to pick up a copy from Noble Knight Games recently, so you can find a copy.
• Jump Drive
  • played 2 times
  • published 2017
  • Another family favorite – and a tremendous filler game when you need/want to kill 15 minutes. We play with the Terminal Velocity expansion in, which leads to slightly higher scores due to the goals and ability to build synergies off your starting worlds.
• Red Dragon Inn
  • played 2 times
  • published 2007
  • I worked very hard over the years to avoid Red Dragon Inn – a game about fighting & drinking in a variety of fantasy bars/pubs. I had no desire to play yet another “take that” game with dumb D&D-related jokes. But then my younger son got a copy back in 2023 and – surprise! – it’s actually a lot of fun in a Family Business/The Dragon & Flagon/etc. kind of way. I particularly enjoy playing Gog the Ogre… because “Gog Love Everyone”. :-)

Thanksgiving & the Brotherhood of the Traveling Boardgame

This is actually three different pictures of a single game of Battle of Hoth, played on three different tables as table #1 became a serving table for the Thanksgiving meal, table #2 became the kids table for the younger family members, ending with table #3 borrowed from someone’s bedroom.

That’s what I call dedication.

A Single Play

• Ancient Knowledge
  • published in 2023
  • If you like card combos, have I got a game for you. There are oodles of ways to create combinations in Ancient Knowledge… enough that it becomes a sequencing puzzle in addition to figuring out what to put together. The decline mechanic at the heart of the game is really neat. BTW, I don’t recommend it for a full complement of four players (too much downtime!) but 2-3 works great and the solo mode in the Heritage expansion is well done.
• Bärenpark
  • published in 2017
  • A simple game of drafting & playing tiles that can be complicated by using the elements in the expansion. We just added in goals and grizzly tiles… and my younger son won through a combination of good play and hate drafting.
• Baseball Highlights: 2045
  • published in 2015
  • The name implies the genius of the design – with a six card hand, you aren’t simulating a whole baseball game… you’re just showing us the highlights. Set in a future timestream where robots are batters and pitchers have cybernetic arms, this wonderful game melds deck-building with hand management in clever and interesting ways. My older son & I played a full World Series with him edging me out in Game 7. (BTW, this has consistently shown up on my top 100 games lists over the years.)
• Blöde Kuh
  • published in 2018
  • Everyone needs something silly to play – and this card game of chasing down escaped farmyard animals was just the ticket for the post-Thanksgiving lunch crowd. There are some clever plays to be made – but sometimes the cards just mess you over. Thankfully, the game is short enough that it’s still enjoyable when that happens.
• Buffet Boss
  • published in 2023
  • We’ve been describing this a “gamer Animal Upon Animal” – which probably isn’t entirely fair. It is a stacking game… and the “gamer” parts include drafting food to put in your bowl (well, on your bowl) and trying to satisfy certain hidden scoring conditions. With the addition of trying to build the tallest bowl and the humorous (but friendly) “3 second rule” for food knocked out of the bowl, it’s been well-received everywhere we’ve taken it.
• Clash of the Gladiators
  • published in 2002
  • Knizia at his dice-y best… it’s an excuse to make gladiator movie jokes & beat on your friends for fun & profit. The initial draft of gladiators is followed by non-stop dice combat – but there are good tactical plays and bad tactical plays. And rabid animals who want to eat your men. (This is another game that appears on my top 100 games on a regular basis.)
• Colt Express
  • published in 2014
  • I’m painfully aware that Colt Express is one of the Spiel des Jahres winners that some folks do NOT love… but I have enjoyed the heck out of it each time it hits the table. My favorite way to play is 2 teams using the Armored Train expansion, but we went with vanilla Colt Express due to two new players at the table. Amazingly, I actually won this game by (a) avoiding conflict with others, and (b) vacuuming up all the loot I could find.
• Daybreak
  • published in 2023
  • Here’s what makes Daybreak work so well: the importance of conversation, the built-in design elements that prevent quarterbacking, and the high level of tension throughout the game. It’s not difficult to teach the outline of the game – but some folks have had a LOT of trouble figuring out how to play cards and assess the best tactical choices. That’s not the three of us, of course – we actually managed to go carbon neutral and draw down in turn four!
• DC Comics Deck-Building Game
  • published in 2012
  • This is a go-to filler with my boys and/or my game group. My sons and I can knock out a three player game in 30-35 minutes since we know the cards so well. It’s just a simple deck-builder, but the art is great and pulling off combos is a lot of fun.
• Diamant
  • published in 2005
  • A push-your-luck game that (a) works with up to 8 players, and (b) has an incredibly high number of “should I go for it!?”moments in light of its short [15-20 minutes] playing time. I’ve played Diamant with gamers, elementary school kids, Bible study groups… and even with a group of groomsman at a wedding rehearsal – and each time has been a success. It works with 4-8 players, but it really shines with 6-8. (The Incan Gold version is the easiest to find in the U.S. – but the versions from Europe have much better production quality.)
• DungeonQuest
  • published in 1985
  • I have always described this game as “similar to playing Dungeons & Dragons with a DM who hates your guts” – it’s a short (no more than an hour…and often shorter!), brutal & intensely fun experience game/dungeon crawl. As a Jackson family Thanksgiving tradition, it’s mainly a chance to watch my nephew find new ways to die. This year, he was actually the only one of us that survived!
• Faraway
  • published in 2023
  • I was doing my devotional reading and I came across this quote from Soren Kierkegaard: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” And I immediately wanted to play Faraway again. (Faraway is clever, easy-to-teach, fast, a heckuva lot of fun, and the BGA implementation is great as well.)
• Fishing
  • published in 2024
  • Trick-taking crossed with a constant drip of more & more powerful cards – there’s a method to Friedemann’s madness here that makes it one of my favorite card games of the last few years.
• Flash Point: Fire Rescue
  • published in 2011
  • Braeden and I undertook the thankless job of trying to rescue people from the High Rise Building map (from the Urban Structures expansion)… way too many potential victims deciding to hide near cabinets full of hazardous materials.
  • If I had a regular group, I’d be tempted to pick up the legacy version of Flash Point.
• Ice Cool
  • published in 2016
  • Cute little flicking game with the ability to put some serious english on the penguins you are propelling across the board.
• Innovation
  • published in 2010
  • Collin and I adore this very swing-y game of tableau building and card combos. In fairness, Braeden would rather stick his hand in a blender and/or play Settlers of Catan rather join us in a game. If you’ve never played, give it a try. If you like it, the Ultimate edition of Innovation was just released earlier this year.
• Marvel Champions: The Card Game
  • published in 2019
  • Braeden has become a huge fan of the Marvel Champions system… though I only play now when he or one of Collin’s friends is in town. (Thus the gifting of my Marvel Champions collection to him to get him the OOP decks he was missing.) I still think it’s an excellent system, but I don’t love the deck-building part of the pre-game. (Honestly, I prefer the river draft of DC Deckbuilding or Marvel Legendary or even the non-deck-building goodness of Sentinels of the Multiverse.)
• Neos
  • published in 2009
  • One of my grail games for a number of years – a fellow OG writer found me a copy of my very own. The simplicity (play a card to your line of ribbons to create scoring patterns) is sweet – and the push-your-luck element is mitigated by how quickly the game plays.
• Pig Pile
  • published in 2001
  • It’s still fun for me to realize that the same designer who did Memoir ’44 and Liar’s Dice also created this “Better Than Uno” bit of card shedding mayhem. A family favorite – and not just because of the tiny plastic pigs you use to keep score.
• Pitch Out
  • published in 2020
  • Another flicking game – this time a two-player battler with some special powers. The nature of the blocking pieces (which are also how the game is stored) means you need a smooth table to play. It doesn’t come out very often but I’m glad I own a copy.
• Race for the Galaxy
  • published in 2007
  • After you climb the iconography mountain to figure out the game, Race for the Galaxy is an amazing adventure in hand management & reading your opponents’ mind – made even better by clever card design & interaction as well as great sci-fi art. Braeden & I have been playing with the Xeno expansion lately – since it’s a mix of cards we don’t know as well.
• Return to Dark Tower
  • published in 2022
  • Currently, our favorite way to play this incredible game is with the Covenant expansion. That doesn’t mean we always win – it certainly didn’t this time. (BTW, I was a playtester for the upcoming Expeditions expansion – it’s really good.)
• Rise
  • published in 2022
  • We call this “Tracks: The Game” – but the chaining of actions from the various tracks as you develop your nation/country is really quite intriguing. Once you’ve got the basics figured out (about 1/2 a game is what it takes), this rips right along.
• Sanctuary
  • published in 2025
  • I’ll be the first to acknowledge that this is streamlined Ark Nova… and being an Ark Nova fan, I knew I was likely to enjoy this before I got it to the table. Even with that, I was impressed at how well-done this version was. I do think that downtime could be an issue at the higher player counts (4 and 5) and would likely suggest something else with that many folks.
• Showmanager
  • published in 1997
  • A wonderful card-drafting game that whips along at a breakneck pace and offers a consistently enjoyable gaming experience as the players cast (and miscast) theater productions. This is a classic that everyone should try (I don’t think my sons had ever played it before – my bad!)… as long as you don’t play the vastly inferior Atlantic Star version.
• Sniper Elite: The Board Game
  • published in 2022
  • I could care less about the video game that inspired this board game… but when I can shorthand the description as “Scotland Yard but Mr. X can shoot the people chasing him”, I’m in. David Thompson & Roger Tankersley did a great job of keeping the game straightforward but with plenty of room for chrome (and new maps!). Both sons are big fans as well.
• Spooktacular
  • published in 2025
    • This is a Euro game (manipulate meeples to score points) that is dripping with humor and theme (movie monsters taking over a movie theater and devouring the patrons) from Level 99 Games. Collin loves it – and so do a number of his college friends. I like it – it’s relatively short (45 minutes) and the combination of the card system and special powers allow for creative combos.
• StreetSoccer
  • published in 2002
  • It doesn’t so much simulate soccer (like Pursue the Pennant attempts to simulate baseball)… instead, it uses a backgammon-ish mechanic to simulate the feel of a soccer game – and does so brilliantly. It’s a 15 minute go-to game for myself and my sons.
• Tag Team
  • published in 2025
  • A head-to-head fighting game between pairs of heroes with an auto-battler element that I’m still wrapping my head around. Again, both boys really like it, so that means I end up playing it with them.
• Tales of the Arthurian Knights
  • published in 2024
  • Win, lose, or just wander around medieval England… I love this “choose your own adventure” game. Designer Andrew Parks took the original bones of Eric Goldberg’s Tales of the Arabian Nights game (first published in 1985) and created a richer and more coherent game experience by combining his deep love for Arthurian legend with clever game design improvements.
• Thebes
  • published in 2007
  • Still one of the best examples of a game design integrating theme & mechanics – drawing tiles from the bag “feels” like archaeology. As well, the use of the “time cost” mechanic makes the game fluid & gives each player a plethora of tactical options.
• Vantage
  • published in 2025
    • Massive exploration game with some well-thought systems for encountering the world. (I especially like the dice management system.) I think it bogs down a bit at the end but the journey to that point is worth taking. (Note: I did like it much better as a 2 player game rather than a 3 player – each added player slows the game down.)
• Zirkus Flohcati
  • published in 1998
  • Another classic game of pushing your luck and card-counting… from (you guessed it) Reiner Knizia. I have the lovely original edition (in German!) and Collin has the most recent stick-figure edition. I am aghast at the very creepy edition with flea heads on human bodies… but some people like it.

Thank you for reading – have a wonderful holiday season! (Here’s hoping the game you want is under the tree RIGHT NOW.)