clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Polygon’s Holiday Gift Guide 2016: Tabletop games

Sometimes it's nice to unplug and enjoy a tabletop game with friends. Here are a few recent picks to help get the party started — although one actually uses a companion app.

By Andrew Hayward

If you buy something from a Polygon link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Welcome to our gift guide selections for tabletop games! Scroll down to see the list, or if you want to head back to our gift guide hub covering games, hardware and memorabilia, click here.

DND Dungeonology

Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeonology

Dungeons & Dragons can be intimidating for new players of any age, but Dungeonology tries to demystify the tabletop classic. It's a large, kid-friendly book full of illustrations, dazzling fold-out maps, and other interactive elements, and it helpfully breaks down the D&D experience and universe into approachable chunks.

Templar Publishing/Candlewick Press, $25

Mansions of Madness

Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

With the new Second Edition release, Mansions of Madness integrates a smartphone or tablet companion app and becomes faster and more compelling in the process. The Lovecraftian horror game is much easier to learn now, and the essential app both adds atmosphere and streamlines the experience to great benefit.

Fantasy Flight Games, $100

Clank!

Clank!

Your tabletop gaming group might get pretty raucous, but your characters will have to stay near-silent in Clank! Renegade's deck-building adventure finds each player's hero attempting to steal precious loot from a dungeon, but get greedy and/or create too much noise and the dragon will deal out swift punishment.

Renegade Game Studios, $60

Scythe

Scythe

Scythe more than lives up to the hype from its $1.8 million Kickstarter campaign: This was the best new strategy game we played at Gen Con, and blends elements from European worker-placement games with an area-control classic like Risk. The alt-history, "1920 Battle of Warsaw with mechs" aesthetic is sharp, too.

Stonemaier Games, $80

Codenames Organizer

Codenames Organizer

Codenames is the hottest party game around right now, and The Broken Token continues that reputation as a tabletop player's best friend with the official Codenames Organizer. Not only is it built to house both the main game and expansion set, but it even comes with an exclusive add-on card to expand the spy-themed sensation.

The Broken Token, $15


Head back to Polygon’s 2016 Gift Guide hub.

Header illustration: Alice Carroll

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for Patch Notes

A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon