While there's no doubt that videogames dominate the geekish gaming scene, there's still room for low-tech pleasures that involve sitting around a table with your friends, face to face, and trying to crush them like earthworms on the sidewalk next to an elementary school.
Many of the best board games fall into a category often labeled "designer games" or "Eurogames." It's a pity they have trouble finding a place at most U.S. toy stores next to Hanna Montana Girl Talk and dozens of themed Monopoly sets, but your friendly local game store, or one of many online shops, will be happy to take up the slack.
The following aren't all Eurogames, but they're mostly a bit off the beaten path for board games. Any of them would make an excellent gift for the gamer in your life.
Left: Hey! That's My Fish!
Mayfair Games, two to four players, ages 8 and up, $25
Buy it for: The geek with young geeklings
You play: Hungry penguins with an inexplicable fear of water
The object: Gorge yourself on suicidal fish more efficiently than anyone else.
Recommended for ages 8 and up, Hey! That's My Fish! can appeal both to kids and their geekish parents. The young ones will enjoy the cute penguin tokens and the straightforward rules, while older geeks will enjoy the complex spatial logistics underneath the surface. The game can easily be handicapped by giving one side more penguins, in case the parents are better at it than the children (or vice versa).
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
Ra
Überplay, three to five players, ages 12 and up, $33
Buy it for: The eBay fanatic
You play: A series of Egyptian rulers with an eye toward their legacy
The object: Create the most impressive civilization possible using the power of bidding.
One of the best auction games out there, Ra has you haggling not over digital cameras and empty Wii boxes, but over the course of civilization itself. Use your limited resources to bid on monuments, advances in art and culture and fertility-inducing Nile flooding. The metaphor kind of breaks down with that last one, but it's such a great game you won't care.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
Wits & Wagers
North Star Games, three to 21 players, ages 10 and up, $28
Buy it for: The trivia dominator
You play: A know-it-all with a head for numbers and a penchant for gambling
The object: Cash, baby.
Do you know a trivia whiz who tries to badger everyone into playing Trivial Pursuit even though the outcome is a foregone conclusion? Wits & Wagers is a simple and fun party game that adds a clever twist to the play: If you're not certain of your answer, you can bet on someone else's. The players can profit from the trivia master's expertise, or bet on the resident jock when the sports questions come around.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
RoboRally
Avalon Hill, two to eight players, ages 12 and up, $60
Buy it for: The programmer
You play: An adorable, somewhat-addled sentient robot
The object: Win the race without being blasted into slag by laser beams.
A number of arenas are provided with the game, each giving your robot a course to run with a selection of conveyor belts, laser beams, bottomless pits and similar hazards. During each turn, players randomly draw a number of Program cards, with instructions like "Move 2" or "U-Turn," and try to arrange them so their robots will actually get somewhere. The goofy science-fiction theme, the programmatic thinking and the fact that it's by the same guy who invented Magic: The Gathering make this one of the most overtly geeky board games out there.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
BattleLore
Days of Wonder, two players, ages 10 and up, $70
Buy it for: The recovering collector
You play: The commanding officer of a mix of English, French, goblins and dwarves.
The object: Depends on the scenario. Usually, kill the other guys.
Do you know someone who has thousands of dollars worth of collectible game cards and/or miniatures gathering dust in a closet somewhere? Someone who quit the scene after realizing how much it costs to keep up with a typical collectible game? BattleLore might be a good way to scratch that collecting itch while still having money for food and rent. The basic game gives you all the dice, tokens and little miniature war guys you need to fight all sorts of battles, while a sane number of periodical expansions add figures like ostrich-riding goblins and bagpipe-playing dwarves.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
Fiji
Rio Grande Games, two to five players, ages 10 and up, $30
Buy it for: The mastermind
You play: A souvenir hunter with little respect for the dead
The object: Amass a large, unsettling collection of shrunken heads.
Fiji involves a little bit of logic, and a lot of mind games. The object is to earn shrunken heads by displaying your colored beads, trying to show, for instance, the most red beads or the fewest blue beads. Your opponents are trying for the same thing, though, and ties cancel each other out. So if you think everyone else is going to show four red beads, maybe you should show three. But if they're thinking the same thing, four beads will win after all. It takes a round or two to get into the groove, but once you catch on, it's fun to try to read your friends' minds.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
The Settlers of Catan
Mayfair Games, three to four players, ages 12 and up, $40
Buy it for: The newbie
You play: An island settler
The object: Exploit the natural resources of your island paradise more efficiently than your opponents.
The Settlers of Catan is the canonical gateway to the lovely and challenging world of designer board games. The rules are fairly simple, but a lot more deep than "roll the dice and move your mice." Each turn, all players have a chance to receive resources like wood and wheat, and can trade with the active player. These resources can be turned into roads, settlements and the like, which in turn can give you more resources, until someone gets enough victory points to win. A roving robber and a set of development cards add spice, while the lovely and evocative design gives Settlers of Catan a charming atmosphere. A wonderful gift for anyone who likes games, but thinks that board games begin and end with Sorry.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
Coloretto
Rio Grande Games, three to five players, ages 8 and up, $12
Buy it for: A stocking stuffer
You play: Someone who likes color, but not too much
The object: Get lots of some colors, and none of others.
While some elaborate games can get quite pricey, there's no reason you need to go into holiday debt to give someone a good time. Coloretto goes for about 12 bucks, but it's a fun, quick and easy game for a handful of players. The game is a lot like life, requiring you to decide between settling for a little bit of something you want, or going for the gusto and risking getting a lot of bad stuff along with the good. Plus it has lizards on the cards – that's always fun.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
Go
Various makers, two players, ages 8 and up, various prices
Buy it for: The classicist
You play: A person putting stones on a board
The object: Capture the other guy's stones.
In a world where computers can beat grand masters at chess, and checkers has been solved mathematically, it's good to know that there's an ancient game where even the best computers are only pretty good. Go boards can cost anywhere from a few dollars for a cardboard model to hundreds of dollars for carved bamboo boards, slate stones and rosewood bowls. But all sets come with a vast and enthusiastic worldwide community of players dedicated to the game.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
Puerto Rico
Rio Grande Games, three to five players, ages 12 and up, $40
Buy it for: Anyone who loves games
You play: A Central American capitalist
The object: Create the most impressive company town.
It's hard to define what exactly it is that distinguishes European-style board games from American pastimes, but Puerto Rico has most of the distinguishing characteristics that set Eurogames apart. Everyone does something almost every turn, instead of most players waiting for their chance to make a move, and most of your choices affect other players directly. Puerto Rico is also based on a particular time and place, instead of a movie or fad, and the game's design is both lovely and functional. On top of all this, Puerto Rico is great fun, well-deserving of the top spot in the ratings over at Board Game Geek.
Photo: Lore Sjöberg
