With the holidays approaching, it can be hard to figure out what gifts to get for your loved ones. Thankfully, I have some gift ideas to help you through the season. And if you are headed to a boring holiday gathering, All but one of these gift ideas will help give you something to do (the fourth is a video game that only has multiplayer online, but it can keep someone occupied). That’s the genius of games!
What: Geomag Mechanics Gravity Loops & Turns
Who is it ideal for: Kids and the adults who build stuff with them, people who like Lego and science.
Description: Geomag is a line of building toys whose twist is, the sets use magnets to allow you to build cool toys. It combines the fun of building with lessons about gravity and magnets.
Mini review: I’ve reviewed a number of Geomag sets before, and this is easily the best. I built this one with my eight year old niece and it was great working with her to construct it. She said “It’s so satisfying just to click it!” The set is so visually impressive (with bright green colors and two levels) we started drawing a crowd when we were building it – my 2 ½ year old was particularly entranced. The best part was the sense of accomplishment we felt when we got the loop-de-loop to work.
Final verdict: This is a fun set to build and an even cooler toy to use when it is built. My niece and I worked together to build it and its a great family activity with a STEM angle. I do think it might be a bit too complicated for her to have built on her own.
What: Don’t Be a Dik Dik
Who it is ideal for: Adults who like light party card games with a bit of juvenile humor, fans of Unstable Unicorns and Cards Against Humanity (without the completely offensive material that game has), fans of card passing games like Sushi Go.
Description: This is a card passing game whose primary purpose in life is to work in sexual puns around animal names (hence the game title). You pass your cards hoping to get rid of your cards by collecting pairs. If you get stuck holding the Dik Dik, you lose. The art is cute, which goes well with the juvenile but harmless card names, including Blue Footed Booby, Tufted Titmouse … you get the idea. The cards, which come in a neat tuck box package, are high quality as well so they should withstand quite a few game nights
Final verdict: This game will take you about 2 minutes to explain to your non-gamer friends before you can dive into a silly game that allows you to snicker at the things you laughed at back in junior high.
What: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: The Board Game
Who it is ideal for: Remember when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was the biggest show on Television? Apparently my Mom does, because when I told her I got this game, she was super mega excited. Like the show, this is a trivia game, so fans of Wits and Wagers and Trivia Pursuit will like this game.
Description: The game includes a lot of neat little details that tie into the show’s branding, from the ascending ladder of winnings and question difficulty to digital lifelines using your smartphone. The cards are sturdy and organized by color. The organizing tray is a nice detail that keeps your cards organized.
Final Verdict: For a branded game, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire has nice components. This is a perfect game for someone who has run through all the questions in their trivia games.
What: Super Slow Sloths
Who it is ideal for: Sloths are hot right now. This game is exceptionally branded to everyone’s favorite slow animals.
Description: Most board games have you racing around the board trying to be the fastest around the board. Super Slow Sloths is the first game I can think of that rewards you for being the slowest. For a small game, Super Slow Sloths boasts some neat components. The character pieces are cute little sloth standups and the cards are full of more sloth cuteness. Even the spinner is a sloth! While the slothosity is great, the board is the real innovation – it can be built in a circle or assembled in a wavy line. It’s a neat little gimmick.
Final Verdict: Super Slow Sloths is a cute game that meshes perfectly with its theme.
What: Marvel’s Avengers (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)
Who it is ideal for: Comic book fans, gamers who won’t touch a board game, me (but I already own it)
Description: This game has been out for a year and is generally considered to have failed to live up to its promise. So why am I recommending it? The game, while a little behind schedule, has kept its promise to continue to release free new DLC content. Since release we’ve gotten both Hawkeyes, Black Panther and soon, the long promised arrival of Spider-Man, who is a PlayStation exclusive. I’ve put in a ton of hours into this game, and while it isn’t perfect (it can be a bit repetitive) it is quite satisfying to smash with my favorite Avengers characters. Plus, the game is downright cheap right now, and you get all the DLC for free.
Final Verdict: Is Avengers the best video game ever? Not by a long shot, but at its current price point, it is worth the money (and if you stopped playing a long time ago, it may be worth giving it a try again to check out Spider-Man.
Thanks to Geomag and Ginger Fox Games for providing review copies.
