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If ever there is a time for playing board games as a family it’s the Christmas holidays. And with social restrictions in place, many of us are looking for extra ways to keep the kids entertained. By this point, hopefully, most of the big gifts are taken care of, but if you’re like me you’ll be looking for those last-minute stocking fillers right up until Christmas Eve. My top tip for kids’ stocking fillers is to get something you’ll enjoy too, and all the better if the whole family can get involved!
I’ve curated this list to include highly replayable games that are aimed at kids but are also enjoyable for adults. Most are aimed at children aged eight years and over, but many would be suitable for younger gamers also. As well as being engaging and fun, these last-minute stocking fillers are all easy to learn, quick to play, and are small in size and price – perfect for giving some heft to your hosiery.
This isn’t a list of the latest releases, but favourites of families the world over. These are games that have proven popular over a number of years, so you can be confident in choosing any of them. All are critically acclaimed, having been at least nominated for significant awards in the board game world. Furthermore, they have been honoured with the approval of my own children and are games that I still gladly bring to the table to play with them. Here are my top last-minute stocking fillers for kids.
1. Bang! The Dice Game
In a shoot-out in the Wild West, players take on the role of Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw or Renegade, each with different win conditions based on eliminating certain other players. But in the chaos can you really be sure who you’re aiming at? Only the sheriff reveals his role at the beginning, while everyone else keeps their role a secret. Each player gains a unique advantage from thematic character cards and the fast-paced dice rolling mechanic helps this game to feel like a quickfire exchange.
Bang! The Dice Game faithfully recreates the theme and feel of the hugely popular Bang! but plays in a fraction of the time by exchanging hand management for Yahtzee-style dice chucking. Players will be full of suspicion when the bullets start flying and tenuous alliances are inevitable. Make sure to handle the dynamite with care – we wouldn’t want any accidents!
Feels like: A good ol’ fashion shootout, Yahtzee style. Yee-haw!
Highlight: Filling your enemies full of lead and last chance re-rolls that give you just what you need.
Best for: Action, dice chucking and temporary alliances.
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 3-8
Duration: 15 minutes
2. Best Treehouse Ever
Best Treehouse Ever is a game to inspire imagination and creativity. The young at heart will enjoy planning fantastical treetop hideouts just as much as the children will. Players compete through card drafting to build, room by room, the Best Treehouse Ever.
The challenge is securing the resources you need for point combinations while making sure to keep your treehouse balanced. Players score points for different room combinations and the game counteracts early point advantages well, so kids stand a good chance against adults.
Feels like: A mutual project more than a competitive game. There’s as much joy in seeing what others create as there is in winning.
Highlight: Checking out the best bits of each treehouse tableau at the end of the game.
Best for: Calm and creative fun (and inspiring DIY projects!)
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 2-4
Duration: 20 minutes
3. Cockroach Poker
Get your poker face on in this irresistibly fun bluffing game full of rodents, amphibians, arachnids and bugs. Players pass cards face down, declaring which one of eight different animals is on the face of the card. Receiving players can either look at the card and pass it on to someone who hasn’t seen it or announce whether they believe it’s the truth or a lie. Get it right and the card is placed in front of the person that passed it last. Get it wrong and it goes in front of the player that guessed. End up with four of a kind in front of you and you’ve lost the game.
In Cockroach Poker, kids and adults alike will revel in getting one over on each other as much as spotting the tell that gives away the lie. Sometimes you can’t help but crack up under the pressure! Simple, brilliant and fun every time – this is one of the best last-minute stocking fillers you could buy.
Feels like: Hot Potato with sneaky friends. Trust no one!
Highlight: The tension before revealing a game-winning (or losing) card.
Best for: Simplicity and a level playing field for varied ages.
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 2-6
Duration: 20 minutes
4. Dobble
Dobble is a simple, fast and highly addictive game of observation. It’s hugely popular and for good reason. Players race to spot similarities between cards that have only one image in common with any other card. There are five different ways to play, including gathering the most cards to win, being the first to empty your hand or avoiding being the last one holding the deck. Dobble is a very versatile game with great replayability.
Keen eyes and quick hands are needed to secure the win. Dobble is a great game for restless children and one that will keep you coming back for more, time and time again. There are lots of varieties to choose from, including Harry Potter, Star Wars and Disney Princess. See also Dobble Kids for younger children.
Feels like: Super fun, quick-fire I Spy.
Highlight: Getting in the zone and winning a streak of cards.
Best for: Focussed attention, friendly competition and variety of play.
Recommended age: 7+ (4+ for Dobble Kids)
Player count: 2-8
Duration: 15 minutes
5. Exploding Kittens
Kittens, beards and explosions… what’s not to like? In Exploding Kittens, players try to avoid drawing the feared exploding kitten cards. To do this, players will use the powers of drawn cards to peek at the next cards, skip turns, change the direction of play and force other players to draw more cards. With Exploding Kittens, you’re sure to have a blast!
Pairs and trios of fantastical felines, like the hairy potato cat and the rainbow-ralphing cat, allow players to pilfer cards from one another. But with a limited number of bomb-defusing cards, it’s only a matter of time before all but one is blown to smithereens one cat-astrophic explosion at a time. Cat-Boom!
Browse Exploding Kittens expansions and merchandise here – if you’ve already got the base game, these would make great last-minute stocking fillers!
Feels like: A cute, silly and funny version of Russian roulette.
Highlight: The panic when there’s only the bomb left to draw and players throw everything they’ve got at each other.
Best for: Challenging head to head play
Recommended age: 7+
Player count: 2-5
Duration: 15 minutes
6. Fluxx
Fluxx is a card game phenomenon that has seen great success since its original release. There are varieties for every theme including the very festive Holiday Fluxx. In this game, players draw and play cards until someone achieves the win condition.
Of course, it’s not quite so simple, as the rules and the win condition are in a constant state of Fluxx. Stealing, swapping, rule-changing and goalpost-shifting happen frequently, causing players to throw strategies and sometimes entire hands away. Every game of Fluxx is unique and varies in complexity and length. This unpredictable card game is often chaotic, straightforward, simple and complex, and always enjoyable, making it a wonderful last-minute stocking filler.
Feels like: Nothing else. Even a game of Fluxx isn’t always like a game of Fluxx!
Highlight: Manipulating the rules to steal a win from your opponent.
Best for: A unique game every time.
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 2-6
Duration: 5-30 minutes
7. Get Bit! Deluxe
Get Bit! is a game you can sink your teeth into – or rather, sinks its teeth into you! Players are stranded in the ocean trying to out-swim a shark. Each player chooses a numbered card from their hand to reveal when everyone is ready. The highest number will end up at the front of the line, furthest from the shark, while players who chose the same number don’t change positions. Whoever is closest to the shark at the end of the round will Get Bit!
Selected cards are unavailable on the next round, so players must choose wisely. Avoiding the same card as other players requires some intuition and guesswork. And, of course, there’s some luck to it as well. The best part is the plastic figures with removable limbs. Sounds bloodthirsty, but this game is pure family-friendly fun, a worthy contender for any last-minute stocking fillers.
Feels like: Whist meets Jaws meets Lego!
Highlight: Getting bit! Kids will even enjoy dismembering their own swimmers. Sometimes it’s fun to lose!
Best for: Destructive carnage of the family-friendly variety.
Recommended age: 7+
Player count: 3-6
Duration: 20 minutes
8. Love Letter
The next of our last-minute stocking fillers is the most decorated game on this list, boasting 27 award nominations across 3 years. The Princess is the most eligible bachelorette in the land and players are suitors seeking to woo her. Since the Princess lives a secluded life in the castle, her suitors must elicit the help of members of the royal court to deliver their Love Letter. Much like the Princess herself, this game is refined, elegant and tasteful.
This is an ingeniously simple game that relies on deductive reasoning, tactics and a little bit of luck. Each turn, players will choose to play one of two cards representing courtiers, each with its own effect relating to the cards held by other players or themselves. Figuring out the cards others are holding allows you to maximise the impact of your turns and hopefully eliminate your rivals. Love Letter is a world-renowned sensation which has been adapted in a number of varieties and themes.
Feels like: A clever and intriguing parlour game that is most dignified (and a lot of fun!).
Highlight: The satisfaction of overcoming your rivals through logic and deductive reasoning. Doing this by chance is also highly enjoyable!
Best for: Tactical, deductive play that is surprisingly relaxing.
Recommended age: 10+
Player count: 2-4
Duration: 20 minutes
9. One Night Ultimate Werewolf
One Night Ultimate Werewolf fosters suspicion and deceit as players lie, mislead and hold back information to avoid revealing too much while also trying to figure out who everyone is. Strong reasoning skills will get you so far, but can you trust the other players? And can you spot their tells? When the time runs out someone will die. How sure are you that it will be the right person? More importantly, what can you do to ensure it isn’t you?!
One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a social deduction game in which players must determine who is a villager and who is a werewolf. Starting with eyes closed, players take turns to open their eyes and perform an action associated with their character. Many actions involve switching roles so players often won’t even know if they still have the same one they started with. Once everyone has taken their turn, players must work out which side each person is on and vote on who to put to death.
Feels like: Murder mystery at the mad hatter’s tea party.
Highlight: Figuring it all out before the time runs out. But you’ll still need to convince everyone else!
Best for: Suspense, surprise, group play and replayability
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 3-10
Duration: 10 minutes
10. Rhino Hero
Rhino Hero is a Jenga-like card game featuring a building-scaling, superhero rhinoceros. It is ideal for playing with younger gamers and is a perfect gateway to the board game hobby. Players take turns constructing floors of a building. Firstly, they’ll place wall cards, then add a roof card from their hand. Roof cards show where the walls of the next floor must be placed and sometimes initiate specific actions, like placing an extra roof, moving Rhino to a new floor or changing the direction of play.
A game of Rhino Hero can end in two ways: with a winner (the first player to use all their roof cards), or with a loser who collapses the tower. There is a strong dexterity element but with less advantage for older players than games like Jenga. There is also some hand management which allows for a degree of tactical play. This is a cute, tension-building game that will have you giggling together as the clumsy Rhino destroys yet another home! The 5+ age recommendation makes it one of the most accessible last-minute stocking fillers on this list – perfect for families with younger and older children.
Kids will also enjoy trying to build the biggest tower, which can be a good cooperative activity.
Feels like: Bright and colourful superhero house of cards.
Highlight: Conquering nerves and shaky hands to keep the building standing at high levels.
Best for: Engaging young players
Recommended age: 5+
Player Count: 2-5
Duration: 5-15 minutes
11. Sushi Go!
A game all about grabbing what you need and making a meal of it. Sushi Go! matches mechanics and theme brilliantly. Hand-rotation and card-drafting work well to simulate the feel of dining in a conveyer belt sushi restaurant (kaiten-zushi). Players must make tough decisions as they choose which sushi to keep and which to pass on, uncertain if they’ll get another chance at the one they want. With everyone taking turns together, there’s little time for younger (or older) gamers to get restless. What’s more, the adorable artwork and ease of both play and point-scoring make this game an ideal choice for kids and a perfect last-minute stocking filler.
Each player starts a round of Sushi Go! with a hand of cards representing different kinds of sushi. From this hand, they can select one card to add to their plate. Hands are then rotated to other players and play continues until the last card in each hand is played. Points can be scored from different numbers and combinations of sushi depending on the type collected. The end result is a satisfying selection of sushi and hopefully lots of points.
Feels like: A point salad game without the salad.
Highlight: The tableau of cute and tempting sushi at the end of the game.
Best for: Simultaneous play, player engagement and cute artwork.
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 2-5
Duration: 15 minutes
12. Walk the Plank
Walk the Plank is an entertaining and fast-paced programmable movement party game. Players take on the role of pirates hoping to survive the clumsy carnage of the plank to win their Captain’s favour (and their lives!). Players pre-select the actions their pirates will take before revealing and performing those actions in turn order. Shove, drag and charge your crewmates over the edge to be the last pirate standing, or else prepare to Walk the Plank!
Without knowing what the other players will do, things quickly get out of control. Players can expect the brainless buccaneers to accidentally rescue their enemies, charge into their allies and saw off the plank beneath their very own feet!
Feels like: Chaotic slapstick comedy on the high seas.
Highlight: The satisfaction when you predict your opponents’ moves and send them to a watery grave!
Best for: Laugh out loud competitive play.
Recommended age: 8+
Player count: 3-5
Duration: 20 minutes
Happy Shopping!
That’s it – 12 great last-minute stocking fillers for kids. If you hurry, you might still be able to order in time for Christmas delivery! For more last-minute stocking fillers, check out our stocking filler section here.
From all of us here at Zatu, we wish you a safe and happy Christmas.