16 best board games for Christmas 2023 UK, recommended by a toy expert
PUT DOWN the remote control this Christmas and get ready for some fun festive board games to play with your family.
The popularity of board games has never been higher. Kids are ditching consoles, re-repeats on the telly box are boring, and it’s far more fun to have some competitive spirit around the table this Yule.
We’ve played tons of top games in order to pick out a selection we think should suit just about every family gathering.
From those who usually say “pah” to those overly enthusiastic players, there’s something for everyone here in our round-up of the best boredom-busting Christmas board games for 2023.
Best board games for Christmas at a glance:
- Best Christmas board game: Christmas Monopoly
- Best family board game: Dodo
- Best Christmas game for adults: Santa Banter
- Best new Christmas game: OUTSMARTED! The Live Family Quiz Show Board Game
- Best Christmas game for children: Fire in the Hole
Santa Banter
- Santa Banter, £8.09 at Amazon – buy here
Finding the Christmas rhyme in time is the aim of the brilliantly festive family game.
Ready, steady, Mistle GO! Get yourself into teams and ready yourselves to describe, mime and shout out your very best (and hopefully correct) answers.
It is as much fun watching others filled with Xmas spirit trying to act out the phrase “Santa Clause watching Jaws” as it is attempting to portray “A Brussel Sprout working out”.
Laugh? We nearly spilled our sherry.
Number of players: 2+ Size: H12 x W10 x D6cm Price: £10.99
OUTSMARTED! The Live Family Quiz Show Board Game
- OUTSMARTED! The Live Family Quiz Show Board Game, £29.59 at Amazon – buy here
With this clever board game, you can set up a live family quiz at home in your living room.
The game features an app that can be connected to up to 24 devices and used as a handheld quiz controller.
Put your family and friends in the hot seat and anyone in the family can win as the game automatically adjusts question difficulty & context according to the player’s age.
Plus, the app is always updating so the questions will never be outdated.
As one happy shopper says, ‘This is without doubt one of the best games we have ever played!!’ – we can’t say better than that.
Number of players: 2-24 Size: 25.4 x 25.4 x 5.08 cm Price: £29.59
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Fraidy Cats
- Fraidy Cats, £22 from Argos – buy here
This is an utterly daft game that we can’t stop playing.
Mug the Pug is the hound on the hunt for the cats invading his space.
The first player to get their cat around the garden gates and back home is the winner but beware, Mug is on the prowl and could pounce at any time and send your moggy flying in the air.
Suitable for kids from 2 years old, this is a really fun game for families with younger children.
Number of players: 2+ Size: H20, W38, D8.1cm Price: £22
Winning Moves Christmas Monopoly Board Game
- Winning Moves Christmas Monopoly Board game,
£83.11£25.99 at Amazon – buy here
Another Monopoly board game, but this time it’s a special Christmas limited edition that’s sure to become a festive family favourite.
The beautifully designed Christmas board is enough to mean you’ll look forward to getting this game out each year.
Plus, you can play the classic family game we’ve come to know and love and trade your way to success but with a festive twist on the cards, properties and tokens.
Number of players: 2+ Size: 25.4 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm Price: £25.99
Don’t Get Got
- Don’t Get Got, £20 at Oliver Bonas – buy here
In a game all about secret missions, each requiring you to trick one of the other players, there’s no sitting about for this one.
Deal out five mission cards to each person involved and it is on you to try and trick others to fall for whatever cunning plan is presented on one of your cards. For example, pretend you’ve got a papercut from a Christmas card, and if another player gets you a plaster, you win.
There are plenty more of those sneaky shenanigans inside; three missions completed, and you win the game.
Number of players: 2-8 Size: 24 x 17 x 6 cm Price: £20
Gutter Games Beat That!
- Gutter Games Beat That! – The Bonkers Battle of Wacky Challenges, £23.98 at Amazon – buy here
The perfect present for families with competitive kids, Beat That! contains a series of whacky party games – such as ‘card flip’, ‘bounce it home’ and ‘wrecking ball’.
The game provides everything you need for the challenges, including cups, balls, chopsticks, game cards and an egg timer.
This is a great way to inject some fun into a festive get-together, family games night or Christmas party. The games are suitable for all ages and can be played anywhere for hours of entertainment.
Beat that! has received plenty of rave reviews – one shopper claims it’s “an absolute blast!” while another says it’s “absolutely brilliant and loved by all ages at a recent family party!”
Number of players: 2+ Size: 14.5 x 14.5 x 23.5 cm Price: £23.98
Jungle Hat Dunny Star Hammock
- Jungle Hat Dunny Star Hammock,
£12.99£8.39 from Zatu – buy here
Missing the jungle antics on your telly box? Then grab this game – all you must do is keep five Jungle-related words in mind.
Those words are Jungle, Hat, Dunny, Star and Hammock. Deal out the cards and then, as soon as you have a match between the spoken word and the card dealt into the pile, slap your hand down – the last one down has to take all the cards.
And yes, of course, there are other elements at play to distract you. You’ll have to play the game to find out!
Number of players: 2-8 players Price: £8.39
Fire in the Hole
- Fire in the Hole, £24.97 from Amazon – buy here
Now then my hearties, this is a sure-fire game to get all landlubbers in the party mood.
Old salts of all ages will get fired up for this pirate’s pastime of skill and sabotage, so start practising those “Aaargh, mateys!” now.
Players take turns lobbing felt cannonballs aboard the help to get four in a row. It sounds easy, but it isn’t.
Roll the dice, grab a strategy card, do the deed, and there are plenty of challenges on offer – eye patches included.
One happy customer says: ‘This is a fabulous game that keeps all of the family entertained every weekend.’
Number of players: 2-4 Size: 5.08 x 20.32 x 38.1 cm Price: £24.97
Wordmaster
- Word Master Board Game, £20 from Argos – buy here
There are word games aplenty out there, but not many are easy to play, yet challenging and family-friendly.
This box-ticking play is Wordmaster, a game to guess a hidden word. There are six categories and five letters, but only one winner.
Guess, in turn, what the hidden word is that the host has set, the first one correct wins the round and is one step closer to claiming the crown.
Number of players: 2+ Size: H5, W31, D14cm Price: £20
Spontuneous
- Spontuneous, £25 from Argos – buy here
There’s no talent required for this singing game; in fact, the less you bring the more likely you’ll win.
A game for all generations and those of questionable musical tastes, the aim, is to blurt out any song you can that includes the word given by the game.
Even if you don’t know a hit with the word in it. why not just make up a tune and see if you can fool the other players? This is one big-time grin-inducing game.
Number of players: 4+ Size: H26.67, W19.69, D5.08cm Price: £25
5 Second Rule Electronic
- 5 Second Rule Electronic Board Game, £22 from Argos – buy here
So very simple yet infinitely infuriating, you’ve just five seconds to name three things that go with chips.
You think you can, but when the timer is on so is the pressure. There are loads of cards (652 in fact), and there are Switch and Pass cards for added frustration.
This new version of the classic game includes a flashing electronic countdown timer to pile on the pressure and add to the fun.
Number of players: 2+ Size: H70, W70, D7cm Price: £22
Monopoly World Travel Edition
- Monopoly World Travel Edition, £30 from Argos – buy here
Well, it wouldn’t quite be the season without a bit of board game banter based around this classic property-playing game, would it?
This version of Monopoly takes a twist on the original so you can move about the globe and stamp your own destinations on the board as you go.
There are fun facts to be found as you play and still the peril of the board being flipped at any time.
Number of players: 2+ Size: H26.67, W40, D4.12cm Price: £30
Upside Down
- Upside Down, £14.99 from Amazon – buy here
This challenge game includes oversized eyewear, which you have to put on to complete the required tasks and win the game.
It sounds fairly simple, but it really is far from it. The glasses invert everything upside down and really do confuse the grey matter; simple tasks turn into real challenges, from writing your name to drawing a triangle.
Add your own challenges too — we tried buttering toast with them on (it went rather badly).
The game has received numerous positive reviews, with one customer saying “We had lots of laughs with our grandkids playing this.”
Number of players: 2-6 Size: 20 x 10.4 x 20.2 cm Price: £14.99
So Wrong It’s Right
- So Wrong It’s Right, £14.99 at Waterstones – buy here
What a mind-boggling, simple yet brilliant game this one is. The answers are all there, it’s just that you must deliver them in the right way to win.
You might have to change the letters of the answer, take letters away, flip letters around or, give a totally wrong answer to win.
This portable game is easy to transport and ideal for holidays. It’s fast-paced fun for family games night, dinner parties or Christmas gatherings.
Number of players: 3+ Size: 18.2 x 13.4 x 4.4 cm Price: £14.99
Chicken vs Hotdog
- Chicken v Hotdog game, £24.99 at Amazon – buy here
The time has come; the chicken takes on the hotdog in this weird yet wonderful party play.
Each character is loaded with a suction pad at its base and your challenge is to get yours to land on it.
The challenges offered are how you throw it in order to make this happen, underarm and overarm, spin and flick, fast and furious, who knows – it’s all in the cards.
The game has tons of top ratings and reviews – one satisfied customer says “Love the quirky nature of this product and (the) kids loved it.”
Number of players: 2 Size: 18 x 26.7 x 7.5 cm Price: £24.99
Dodo
- Dodo, £16.99 at Amazon – buy here
A totally unique board game, Dodo is a collaborative game for players to team up and get to the goal — ensuring the Dodo isn’t decimated.
Build the ridges to ensure the Dodo egg at the top of the mountain makes it to the boat at the bottom, or extinction awaits.
Save the egg and enjoy your stay on the island kingdom of Mangalopanesia.
This family board game is suitable for kids from 6 years old and can be enjoyed by the whole family – it’s engaging and educational with plenty of problem-solving challenges.
Number of players: 2 – 4 Size: 30 x 30 x 7 cm Price: £16.99
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