- Nov 4th 2024
- Posted by Chris Cornejo
Ultimate Gift Guide for Board Gamers and Families 2024
Mox Boarding House is a place to gather and share with friends, new and old. We are a one-of-a-kind board game café experience, a place for the gaming community to grow, and we’re proud to present to you our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide! Games make fantastic gifts, providing replayable, community experiences for your friends and family. Whether or not your friends are deep into the hobby, or have only ever played Monopoly or Scrabble, there’s something to be found for everyone. And many of the games we’re recommending support local game designers and were crafted in the Pacific Northwest!
Abandon All Artichokes & Starry Night Sky
Abandon All Artichokes - 2-4 Players | Ages: 10+ | 15-30 mins
Starry Night Sky - 2-4 Players | Ages: 10+ | 30-45 mins
Abandon All Artichokes and Starry Night Sky are a pair of fantastic family games by Mox’s own Emma Larkins. Both games are for 2-4 players of ages 10+ and take between 15-45 minutes to play.
In Abandon All Artichokes, there’s good news and bad news. You have a bumper crop of vegetables to harvest, which is great! But you don’t want any artichokes, and there’s a lot around. Craft your hand and deck to get rid of as many unwanted artichokes as you can before the end of the game!
Starry Night Sky has you exploring the cosmos with your trusty telescope, discovering new stars and mapping them into constellations of your own making. Make the most of the stars you find to win the game!
PNW: Card Games Inspired by the Pacific Northwest
Pair this book with a deck of cards and you have six different games of varying complexity for anywhere from 1-8 players. Designed by Thomas Cardwell (a member of our sister company, Card Kingdom), each game celebrates a different aspect of living in the Pacific Northwest. From foraging for mushrooms to hiking across mountain ranges to protecting and feeding a pod of orcas, this beautifully illustrated (by PNW artists) book provides hours of clever games with something inside for anyone.
2-4 Players | Ages: 12+ | 30-60 mins
Illimat, by Portland’s Keith Baker (designer of Gloom and D&D Ebberon), is a 30-60 experience for 2-4 players. Using heirloom-quality materials with a classic design and feel, this farming card game has you combining and collecting cards to get more than your rivals. But the change of season and wandering luminaries can drastically alter your carefully laid plans!
Rabbit Rabbit - 1-10 Players | Ages 13+ | 30-60 mins
Flatter Me - 2 Players | Ages: 5+ | 15-30 mins
We have another pair of games, this time from Portland designer Ami Baio.
Rabbit Rabbit is a trivia card game for up to 10 players, with the trivia revolving around myth, folklore and superstition. Do you know why rabbit ft are lucky? You will after playing Rabbit Rabbit!
Flatter Me is a charming, quick, 2-player game that’s all about compliments. Played like the classic card game War, each player flips up a card revealing a compliment directed at the other player. Whoever receives the most fitting compliment wins the cards. Simple, and wholesome!
2-4 Players | Ages: 10+ | 30-60 mins
Based off of a graphic novel and designed by Portland local Tyler Tinsley, this deck building game for 2-4 players of ages 10+ takes about 30-60 minutes to play. Your deck represents your very own Tea Dragon, and you can either play cards from your deck each turn to trigger effects and strengthen your position, or buy cards to bolster your deck. Taking place over fours seasons, whoever has the most points (and best bond with their Dragon) at the end of the year wins!
Players 1-4 | Ages: 10+ | 30-45 mins
Cascadia, from Seattle-based Randy Flynn, is all about creating the most harmonious ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest. This tile placement game for 1-4 players ages 10+ takes about 30-45 minutes to play, and is as simple as selecting a tile to add to your growing ecosystem. Earn points by fulfilling wildlife goals and creating the largest habitat corridors – with variable goals in each game, each playthrough is its own special puzzle.
Players 2-4 | Ages: 10+ | 15-30 mins
From Gwen Ruelle and Sam Bryant, Fire Tower has you directing a wildfire to cover the most area while keeping their tower safe. Abstract and beautifully designed, this game for 2-4 players of ages 10+ takes 15-30 minutes to play, this game is easy-to-learn but difficult to master as each environment offers new challenges and strategies.
Stop by your local Mox Boarding House, spend an evening with us, and try out a game from our game library – we have hundreds of titles and they’re all free to play while you’re with us. And if you do try out a game from the library and like it enough to buy a copy to take home, you can get 15% off that game!
So come in, play a game, and have a bite and drink in our restaurant. We have craft cocktails, delicious food, and even private rooms to rent out for a curated game night experience. With options for all ages, there’s something here for everyone.
If you’d like to keep up on our events and the newest games, you can sign up for our newsletter here. We look forward to seeing you!
