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Tis the season, nearly. The Christmas period is upon us and the Zatu blogging team have been racking their brains to help you come up with suitable board games to fit into your Christmas Stocking. We have a huge list of suggested stocking filler games for you. I, personally, love a game for Christmas. You need to get those you love something they can play with, and a game falls perfectly into that category. It is even better if it fits in the stocking, nestled in and around your new pair of socks and assorted chocolate goodies. Here’s what the team thinks for ideas to help you out this year.
The Gang - Pete Bartlam.
What conjures up the Christmas spirit more than a game of cooperative poker? All the thrill and excitement of Texas Hold-‘em without all that competitive nastiness and the risk of financial ruin. If this sounds appealing then I give you The Gang from Kosmos. Done up in a glittering gold and red mini box and with high production cards and poker chips this makes an ideal present for Christmas to fill a stocking or tuck under the tree. What’s that you say, Ebeneezer? Don’t worry it’s at a very pocket friendly price too!
But are your game-loving friends going to fall for The Gang’s charms or be held hostage to a daylight robbery? Well, at first I wasn’t too sure. Even reading the premise that you effectively play Texas Hold-‘em round by round but instead of betting on your hand against your opponents, either genuinely or bluffing, you are trying to guess where all the hands will rank in the pecking order, I was non-plussed. So then I tried playing it with my friends and it all came together. You can’t talk or give anything away about your own hand but you can speculate what others might have. You take a chip that shows what you think your ranking is. You can also take the one from in front of someone else if you think they’re wrong and you’re free to make comments about how stupid they are!
The rounds proceed as the cards come out and you watch for others changing their minds when the card they wanted does or doesn’t turn up. After the end all hands are revealed in the order of the final Red chips. A success robs the Bank Vault and a failure triggers the Alarm. Three wins wins and three losses sees you all in jail! There are Challenge cards and Specialists to either hinder or abet you if you wish and a special shout out for the latter which each have a personality but cleverly portrayed in the style of a Court card. The games are quick, not over-taxing and with a great go again factor.
Cartaventura - Ross Coulbeck
Cartaventura games are the perfect stocking filler, both in size and gameplay, and come in a variety of editions for you to choose from. There are adventures abound from Oklahoma to Versailles, from Vinland to D-Day and beyond. The gameplay is easy to learn and pretty self-explanatory. You draw from a deck of square numbered cards, laying out a journey and only setting out the cards as the adventure dictates. Sometimes it will tell you to turn a card over which uncovers more options, or replace a card with another from the deck. As you make decisions on your journey, reading what's on the cards, you will uncover more of the story and eventually discover where it leads. It is likely you will reach some ends that are less than ideal, but that's ok because you can just restack the deck and start again with more knowledge. Then, once you think you have finally discovered all the endings, you can pick up a different adventure and pass the original along to someone else so they can experience it too.
Vegetable Stock - Favouritefoe
I love Christmas. I mean I really love it. It isn’t Halloween yet and our decorations are already up! Hallmark movies are on a loop on the telly and Heart Christmas is playing in the car. It may seem weird to see pumpkins and candy canes vying for space, but why limit the best time of the year to one month?!
It’s also the time my mind starts to turn to small gifts that could work as a stocking filler.
Nothing too pricey and definitely nothing too large. Living on a farm, it’s also nice to keep a link to all things bucolic. VEGETABLE STOCK is therefore a perfect one for us to add to the buy-list.
A simple game of vegetable selling, it’s over in a flash, but gets under your skin in the best way. There's a market which, at the beginning of the game, randomly assigns a value to each of the 5-per day on offer. Then at the start of each round, reveal 1 more card than player count. Then on a turn, players take a card and place it face up in front of them. The revealed card will show 3 random vegetables on it. The total number of each revealed veggie on the left over card increases the prices in the market. But, if any type reaches higher than 5 coins, stock in that mighty morsel crashes and it falls back to the bottom again. After 6 rounds (6 cards), players total the value of each veggie they have harvested according to the final values in the market. The winner is the player who earned the most money.
This is such a clever wee game. Watching what other players are taking, and knowing what veggies are amassing in your own harvest is vital. Similarly, predicting the effect of the leftover card on your growing haul is essential. Every drafting decision presents a delicious dilemma which makes it a perfect stocking filler game!
Sprawlopolis - Sophie Jones
Sometimes, board games can be bulky and pricey. But hidden gems like those from Button Shy prove that intricate gameplay can come in small, affordable packages, great for stocking fillers. These wallet-sized games may be tiny, but they pack a punch with a surprising amount of replayability.
Button Shy’s games come in a slim wallet and consist of just 18 cards. My favourite is
Sprawlopolis, a city-building game you can play solo or cooperatively with up to four people. To start, you flip three cards to reveal objectives, each with unique ways to score points as you build your sprawling city. The first player takes three cards, plays one, and then passes the remaining cards to the next player, who picks up a new card giving them three choices. This means every player is part of the city’s growth, one card at a time.
When playing solo, you still play with a hand of three cards, but instead of passing them along, you just keep picking up as you go. Once all cards have been placed, you tally up your score, including points from the objectives and the largest zones in your city. But here’s the catch: for every unconnected road network, you lose a point. The challenge is trying to keep roads connected while maximising points which is harder than it sounds.
For a game of just 18 cards, Sprawlopolis has loads of replayability. Each game feels different as new objectives appear, changing your scoring strategy. And trust me, there have been times I’ve scored in the negatives thanks to careless road placement.
Squeezed into a pocket-sized wallet, Sprawlopolis is a great gift for any gamer, especially frequent travellers who want a quick yet challenging game on the go. So, if you are looking for a stocking filler game, check out Button Shy’s collection and for a guaranteed hit, add Sprawlopolis to your list.
Kariba - Abigail Bradish
When I tell you I love a small box game boy do I mean it and Helvetiq produce a tonne of them in their pocket range. Generally somewhere around the £10 mark and any one of them would make the perfect stocking filler. My personal favourite is Odin, but my top tip to fill the toe of that festive footwear is our family favourite Kariba.
In Kariba You have 8 thirsty animals ranging from the tiny mouse, to the lumbering elephant who all want to take a big slurp of H2o from the local watering hole. Unfortunately for the smaller animals they’re really quite scared of any larger creatures and get frightened away if too many are next to them. Each turn you’ll be playing one or more of the same kind of animal to the watering hole and when there's three or more, that beast scares away the next smallest animal into your score pile. Win the largest amount of cards and win the game. Suitable from age six, and with a play through time of around 15 minutes, you’ll end up with more than one game for sure. Kariba comprises of 64 cards and a watering hole made in a nifty jigsaw piece style that all fit into a dinky 11x6cm box.
A super fun game, easy to teach and play, with more strategy than you’d think. And before you start feeling sorry for that poor mouse who's the smallest animal and afraid of most of the bigger guys, never forget which large eared, long snouted lumbering creatures don’t like mice…
IOTA - Roger Bell West
This card placement game by Gene Mackles is a head-cracker in a tiny tin.
You’ll start with four cards in hand and one on the table. Each turn, you play one or more of them into a line: within a line each card characteristic (shape, number of dots, colour) must be all the same or all different. If other players have left a 2- or 3-card line and you have the right cards, you can extend it, and if your line intersects with other lines your cards have to conform with them too. You score the face value of each card in each line you’ve created or extended, double if you created a 4-card line, double again if you played all four cards. Then refill your hand.
So it’s a bit of a combination of several older games: Quirkle, for the spatial component of lines, SET, where you’re trying to work out what fits into an empty space on multiple axes at once, and perhaps also a smidgin of Rummikub as you take up and extend other players’ sets. The rules aren’t complicated, but as well as sprawling across the table the game occupies a great deal of cognitive space as you try to retain the idea that this space needs a green one triangle, that space needs a red three or four cross or circle, and that space is “dead” because nothing will fit both the lines that would intersect in it.
So while this fits in any stocking it probably isn’t one to play with the family after Christmas dinner; save it for a group of roughly similar competence, because otherwise it’ll just be frustrating for the players who can’t keep up. And don’t make it the last game of the evening when everyone’s tired.
Colour is one of the three card characteristics, and if a player can’t tell red from green from yellow from blue they won’t be able to participate.
Tinderblox - Ryan Burdus
Tinderblox is a nice little dexterity game about stacking blocks to create the biggest campfire possible without collapsing the tower. The game is short and sweet, but it plays on the classic Jenga game with a new and interesting theme and a different game mechanic altogether from its inspired counterpart. The game fits within a matchbox-sized tin, able to fit in the palm of your hand. It’s a nice party game, is very easy to pick up the rules and instantly start playing along with your family and friends, making it the perfect stocking filler at Christmas. The rules consist of just one small single-paged leaflet, that’s how easy this game is to understand! So even your families' grandparents and younger children will be able to join in on this one (hopefully they have steady hands for this one). The game is played by having players pull cards, telling them a block/block formation to place and a hand to use to do so. The player then stacks the required block/s onto the existing structure and is out if the structure falls when they place their block/s.
Oh and to make the game more nerve-wracking, the blocks have to be picked and placed with these tiny plastic tongs that come with the game, making it even harder to place and balance the blocks throughout the structure. This gameplay loop goes on until just one player is remaining. I know, it's super simple, but I promise it’s a blast to play, really affordable, perfect for all ages, travel-sized, and is one of my favourite dexterity games out there right now! If you end up loving it there’s even a small expansion for the game, adding new blocks to the game and I’m sure you can make up any other home-crafted rules you want to improve your experience further.
Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms - Steve Conoboy
Imagine you could have an entire world inside a sock! No? You’re right, it’s ridiculous, impossible… Except it’s not! There’s a lump in your stocking that looks like a pack of cards, except it’s much more than that. Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms comes in a diminutive package(clue’s in the title), but there is so much game inside.
It all seems straightforward for the first couple of rounds, then the strategic possibilities show up. Should I expand into enemy territory or get started on the tower before the opposition does? Start a pre-emptive war or collect resources defensively? Invest in magic or expand the army? Every one of these aspects can score you points - sometimes big points - at the end of the game. Most points win, and it’s the big old thumb-and-forefinger L for everyone else.
The small form factor does not hold back this deep and rewarding game in the slightest: in fact, the manner in which the gameplay ramps up and hinges on some genuinely tense decision- making leads to a very more-ish game and one that has become an instant personal favourite. It’s amazing to think that you get so much for so little. The price-point is insane for the amount of game you get. Heads up - you’ll need a 12-sided die in your stocking for the solo mode, so add that onto your Christmas wish list.
My recommendation? Leave Santa an extra mince pie on Christmas Eve, it might just persuade him to treat you to this stocking filler!
The Sock Game - Grace Naomi
What could be a more perfect stocking filler, than a game which comes with two stockings (ok socks)?! This family friendly game comes with two matching (and rather lovely socks), with an array of small objects from Lego cubes to toy cars to a golf tee. But this is no ordinary stocking, no oranges (Terry's or otherwise) or coal here!
You'll need to divide into two teams and spin the dial to choose what object(s) the two teams need to pick, and then it's a race to see who can feel their way around the bottom of the sock and pull out the correct object first to win a point. Is it a poker chip or a draught piece? A hairband or an elastic band? This game is both extremely frustrating (everything feels the same at times) but also surprisingly rewarding!
You can adapt and play it as suits you, your friends and family and is something anyone and everyone can enjoy (although the objects are small so beware choking hazards with small children). It's a quick game and one everyone can have a go and a laugh at (no relationship splintering games of Risk/Monopoly here)! So go on, buy a stocking for a stocking this Christmas and have some fun!
Oh my Goods! - Lorna F
"At just over the size of two adjacent decks of playing cards, Oh My Goods! packs a pocket size punch. This big game in a little box would be perfect for the stocking of any Catan fan as it has a similar vibe, but with more depth and less blocking or ‘take-that’.
Each player begins with a meagre char-burner and one worker. The other cards can be used as either resources or buildings. The produce from some builds can feed others to create more complex (and higher scoring) goods. A shared pool of resources is revealed each ‘day’, but not all are seen before you make your decisions. Push your luck with what each day brings, and choose your buildings wisely.
For those that like the format, but would like more player interaction and story there are two small campaign expansions to Oh My Goods!; ‘Longsdale in Revolt’ and ‘Escape to Canyon Brook’. So you'd be sorted for next year's stocking… and the one after that.
If you're looking for something for someone that likes card games or strategy games, Oh My Goods! is a great, inexpensive option. Being mid weight and only 30 minutes per game, it can be a main event for a casual board gamer, or a great thinky and highly replayable starter for a hobbyists game night
Poopy McPoopface - David Ireland
This is my go to because of my sense of humour. Who wouldn’t want to find a poop in their Christmas stocking? Let me explain. BubbleGum Stuff have created this game in a box/container shaped like a poo and I think it looks hilarious. I would love to see the reactions of people drawing this one out of a Christmas stocking on Christmas morning.
Moving on from my silly sense of humour, the game is really good fun. For 2 to 4 players, it plays out really fast. Players set up the cards in front of them, 3 cards face down, 3 cards then face up on top of the 3 cards face down, then deal 3 cards to each player to form a hand. You are ready to start. Player 1 then plays a card and draws a card from the deck, players take turns playing this way. When the deck is exhausted, and hand exhausted, pick up the cards face up in front of you. When you have played these 3 cards you have to play the face down cards but play them blind.
What’s the catch?
The majority of the cards have a number printed on, the next player has to play a card equal to or higher than the card in play. If they cannot, they pick up the entire pool of cards in the middle. When the objective is to get rid of all your cards this is a huge problem.
This is such an amusing and fun game to play, the perfect stocking filler. Who doesn’t love a bit of toilet humour on Christmas day?
Merry Christmas
We hope this feature has given you plenty of stocking filler ideas. We’ve had a lot of fun going through our collections to see what games fit in our Christmas stockings. Enjoy your gaming sessions and Merry Christmas!
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