While the year is certainly not over, given that everyone is frantically shopping for Christmas presents I thought it prudent to create a list to help potential shoppers out. Here you will find the best games I have played in 2021 and though, I make the disclaimer that some of these games have been released a bit prior to 2021 so it’s not exactly the best of 2021 but more like the best I played in 2021 with Christmas gifts in mind.

In either case, if you are shopping for a boardgame fan, these 5 games come highly recommended!

5. Great Western Trail (2nd edition)

While the 1st edition of this game was released back in 2016 and strictly speaking very little has changed between the 1st and 2nd edition, I still felt it prudent to put this one on this list not only because it remains one of my favorite games to play with my daughter (14) but because it’s such an amazingly unique and fun game.

This new version is largely a cosmetic upgrade, is even prettier than the original if you can imagine that and comes with a few organizational bits that make setup and takedown a little quicker.

Overall Great Western Trail is kind of a uniquely designed game which makes it hard to compare with other games, but it has a very simple to grasp turn progression (you move a little meep each round on a track) so its a very easy game to grasp conceptually while the action spaces, the bread, and butter of the game create a highly cerebral strategic board game that can be played repeatedly with new experiences emerging every time.

Fantastic game that plays up to 4 players, but works great with 2 or 3. It’s just long enough to make an exciting board game evening with the family while short enough to not overstay its welcome. I have had a lot of fun with this one, makes a great Christmas present in the next level family game category, though it should be noted that there are a lot of rules in the game so I would not categorize it as a beginner game, this is more for that board gaming family who is already accustomed to playing modern euro games. Not for the Monopoly-RISK crowd, it’s a notch or two above that.

4. Vampire The Masquerade: Vendetta

My gaming group and I discovered this little gem during our yearly board gaming retreat and it stuck the landing like a pro with us. This rather simple card game falls into the “look them in the eyes” category of gaming as it’s really more of a game of bluffing, counter-bluffing and bluffing the bluff… point is there is a lot of bluffing.

Simple rules and premise, this is a game about using little to gain a lot by using human psychology of people against them. Each round players compete in a fictional world in which vampires rule cities as secret societies based on the classic tabletop RPG Vampire The Masquerade.

Naturally being a fan of the tabletop RPG is a huge boon here but even if you have never heard of the World of Darkness this is actually just a fantastic game in its own right and stands on its own. I would argue it actually makes for a great family game because it really is simple to teach and learn, while being very replayable and competitive, while remaining pretty short game, averaging around 30-45 minutes tops.

Great Christmas present if you want to surprise a boardgamer with something really unique this year.

3. Talisman

The classic adventure game was released all the way back 1983, yet remains in print today and is every bit as fun as it always has been. I always say that if you have kids between the ages of 8-15 and don’t already own a copy of Talisman, this is a very easy decision. Far more interesting than the Monopolies of the world for a family game night, yet, so simple that rules explanation fits on a napkin.

These ultra-simple rules make this an adventure game that never seems to wear out its welcome with the board gaming world. In its 4th iteration, this latest edition still available today uses most of the original art retaining its retro feel for long-time fans, while still gorgeous laid out on the table for today’s standards.

Inspiring fantasy stories, the recognizable cast of characters with any generation and a sense of ownership and self-built into the game that draws players in as they struggle against the game itself while in competition with each other.

The great thing is that if you find it lands well and becomes a family favorite, it’s infinitely expandable which means every year for Christmas you can by any one of a dozen expansions that can create new experiences.

If you are looking for a great family boardgame this Christmas, Talisman has you covered.

2. Imperial Struggle

Ok this one is not for the family, this is a gift you buy for a purist board gamer with a love for history, in particular, if you enjoy games like Twilight Struggle or other 2 player competitive strategy games with a lot of depth.

Imperial Struggle for me personally is the unquestionable king of 2021, it absolutely blew me away and skyrocketed into my top 10 best games of all time like gangbusters!

There is so much to love in this complex strategy game for 2 players based on the historical conflict between Britain and France in the 18th-century colonial period. Yes, it’s heavy, complex, deep and can be quite lengthy (in the 3-4 hour range) but boy do I adore this game.

Of all the games I play this is the one I look forward to the most, it’s a true well of strategy, creating endless opportunities to fine-tune your game while at the same time the game is incredibly dynamic so there are no routines here like their often were in Twilight Struggle its predecessor.

If you have a gamer buddy who loves historical games, this is an auto-buy. It is a modern interpretation of chess if you ask me, the perfect 2 player strategy game.

1. Dune Imperium

Before I wrote a single word for this article I knew that Dune Imperium would be my no. 1 on this list and unless you have been living under a board gaming rock you already know that Dune Imperium IS the game of the year in 2021.

Dune is effectively a fine-tuning of 2 core game mechanics that have swept the board gaming space for the last decade, worker placement and dynamic deck building. It marries the two mechanics in a perfect union, layering it with an amazing science-fiction theme just in time to support the newly released feature film.

This infinitely replayable game is tightly woven which means that every game is going to come down to the wire, it requires deep planning, dynamic thinking and calculated risk-taking. Like all good Euro games there is very little luck involved and each time you play this game you will discover new strategies and opportunities that you will want to explore the next time you play.

The game is gorgeous on the table, very easy to teach and learn while offering wildly different experiences depending on how many players are sitting at the table. Weirdly while the experiences are different depending on player count, I can’t say that one is better than the other. Each brings something different to the table, requiring adjustment to strategies and approaches.

Super fun to play, love this one!

Honorable Metions

There were a few games I played this year that easily could have made this list if I expanded it to a top 10 or 15, so as an added bonus here I will throw out a few more gift ideas.

Vampire The Masquerade: Heritage: This was a really great legacy game based on the Vampire The Masquerade tabletop RPG. It requires a dedicated group to play it over time, but mechanically it’s full of surprises and true to its source material tells a great story of the world of darkness. Fantastic game, but definitely requires a regular group to really get the most out of it.

The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine: This cooperative trick-taking game falls into the puzzle category in a weird way. Essentially players are given missions that ask them to clear the board in a certain order and with specific instructions and the trick to the game is that players must communicate non-verbally through their actions while attempting to coordinate. Tricky but super fun game, great for the family.

Tapestry: While the rules of this civilization builder are simple, the strategy goes so deep it makes your brain explode all over the table. The paralysis analysis in this game is almost painful, but the game is just so good. I mean I find it difficult to recommend as a family game as it’s just a tad too much and it is a pretty long game, so it definitely falls to the hardened veteran crowd, but I haven’t played a game this good in years and it seems to have largely fallen under the radar. This game belongs in the top 10 board games on the geek, at 242 as of this writing it is criminally underrated.