On the first day of Christmas, Our Board Game Life gave to thee… 7 stocking fillers and a partridge in a pear tree!

Yes, I’m back with another gift guide, and this time I’m featuring some actual games!

I can’t resist a small box game – the smaller, the cuter, the better! So here’s some pocket games we’ve played and loved, and would make perfect stocking fillers this Christmas – from classics to some you may not have heard of.

Love Letter

Image copyright: Z-Man Games

A classic that has been in our collection for a long time, Love Letter is a great ‘after dinner’ game. Starting with just a hand of 1 card, on your turn you draw a second card and choose which one to keep and which one to play. Each card has a character with a specific power, whether that’s looking at another player’s hand, protecting yourself for a round, or trying to knock out another player. Win the round by being the last player standing or, if the deck runs out first, being the survivor with the highest value card in your hand.

This is a 16-card game with luck, deduction and cheeky player interaction. Best of all, there’s so many versions of Love Letter out there, you can get a version based on the gift recipient’s fave IPs (although some are out of print so harder to get hold of). 

Monopoly Deal

It’s not Christmas without some Monopoly, and this is the best Monopoly you can get! Legit.

Monopoly Deal is a modern card game adaptation of the famous board game that’s been inciting family feuds since the 30s. Collect properties, claim rent, bank money and even swipe properties off others. The first person to collect 3 different sets of property cards wins!

Image copyright: Hasbro

A game of Monopoly Deal only takes 15 minutes, so it can provide some Monopoly nostalgia without the dragged out property battles that usually only end when the banker is accused of cheating.

Chess-à-Tête Classic Edition

Inspired by another classic game, Chess-à-Tête is a 2-player card battle based on chess (obviously!). Play chess pieces, actions and combat cards and try to take out your opponent’s King – before they get yours! This is a really fun application of a chess theme using terminology from the game, like how a combat card named after a specific gambit requires the same chess pieces that you’d use if you were playing the actual gambit during chess.

Matt likes chess, I don’t like chess, and we both like Chess-à-Tête (you can read more about why we like it here). Just make sure you’re buying the Classic (second) edition, which has a few gameplay and quality of life improvements from the original first edition. There’s also mini-expansion packs available for the Classic edition, which lets you switch in different cards.

Dobble (aka Spot it!)

Dobble is a smash-up of Spot the Difference and Snap, and I love it! The tin includes a deck of circular cards with various images on them, but the magic is that any two cards will have only 1 image in common.

Image copyright: Asmodee

There are a few different ways to play Dobble, but all of them involve trying to identify the common image between 2 or more cards. Despite the original version being out for years, we both only played Dobble recently and I was shocked with how much I enjoyed it (look out for more posts on these soon!). It’s simple and suitable for families, making it a perfect Christmas option.

The classic version uses images of random everyday items, but there are so many Dobbles out there, from dinosaurs to Disney. Some are just reskins, and some add some twists to the gameplay (there’s even a Catan version, which could be a fun option for ‘serious’ gamers). And if you wanted one to fit in a mouse’s stocking, there’s even a ‘World’s smallest’ version!

Image copyright: Asmodee

Tinderblox

Tinderblox is a micro-dexterity game where players use tweezers to add fire cubes and logs to an ever-growing campfire tower. What you add is determined by the draw of a card – it can be a single item or a combo, and even sometimes forces you to use your non-dominant hand! The first player to topple the campfire is the loser.

Alley Cat Games have a range of small tin games, but Tinderblox is the OG that kicked off the series. And there’s 4 Tinderblox versions to choose from:

• Tinderblox Day, also just referred to as Tinderblox – this is the classic OG (we have this one).

• Tinderblox Night – like the original, but with harder cards.

• Tinderblox Sunset – same as the original (I think!), but made from more sustainable materials and including a Marshmallow mini-expansion.

• Tinderblox Storm – with waterproof components, making it perfect for actual camping! It also includes a Storm mini-expansion.

Image copyright: Alley Cat Games

The Kringle Caper (Holiday Hijinks #1)

For the more puzzle-minded, Grand Gamers Guild has a series of 18-card holiday-themed ‘escape rooms’. We completed The Kringle Caper last year and really enjoyed working through each puzzle to solve a crime on Santa’s behalf. It felt like the perfect balance in terms of difficulty and time (it took us around an hour from start to finish). You do need access to the internet to play, as you need to enter each solution onto the website to find out which card to pick up next.

Image copyright: Grand Gamers Guild

If you’re after a different theme, there’s loads of options in the Holiday Hijinks series, and they even have a couple of conservation themed 18-card escape room style games, too. (Note: not all of these are easily available in the UK).

Flip 7

We’re finishing off with a banger, and if you’ve not come across Flip 7 yet I’ll be shocked – it’s an incredibly popular, addictive, push-your-luck card game. And there’s even a festive Grinch version now (if you can get to a Walmart, that is).

Each turn you choose whether to flip a new card and add it to your score, or stick and keep the current score you have. Flipping is tempting, but risky, because if you draw a repeating number, you go bust! The higher the card number, the more often it appears in the deck, so there’s a fun balancing gamble of risk and reward. And if you manage to flip 7 (roll credits!) without busting, you get extra bonus points and bragging rights. There’s also some special cards that can give extra points or let you mess with other players.

Image copyright: Asmodee

Anyone who can grasp Pontoon (aka Twenty-one) or Blackjack can handle this game, making it perfect for families across the generations. It’s so simple, but so fun, and you’ll love jeering and cheering each other on with each card flip.

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If you want more gift giving inspo, check out our gift guide for board gamers that aren’t board games here.