Best family board games to give this Christmas (2026)

We watch a few hundred games get played every week, so we have a fair idea of which ones come back to the table and which ones go back in the box. This is the list we give people at the counter in December, sorted by who you are buying for. Every game on it was on our shelves on 9 October 2026, with the price we charge. The shop page has the live price and stock, and most of these are on our library shelves too, so you can play one here before you buy it.

Families with young kids

• Halli Galli, €18. Fruit cards, a bell, ring it when you spot five. Six-year-olds beat their parents at this, which is the point. 2 to 6 players, 10 minutes, ages 6 and up.
• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, €16. Say the word, flip the card, slap the pile when they match. The loudest ten minutes in the building, in a good way. 2 to 8 players, ages 8 and up.
• Drop It, €23. Drop shapes into a clear tower without landing on a matching colour. Calm, tactile, and the kind of game a child will set up on their own. 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up.
• Stack O' Cats, €39.95. Forty wooden cats, one bag, and a tower that gets more ridiculous every turn. Pretty enough to leave out on the shelf.
• Dixit, €30. Give a clue for a dreamy picture card, and hope some people guess it but not everyone. Works with a nine-year-old and a grandparent at the same table. 3 to 6 players, 30 minutes.
• Magical Athlete, €29.99. A race where every runner cheats in a different way. Chaotic, quick, and funnier than it has any right to be.

Two players

• Azul Duel, €35. The two-player Azul. Draft tiles, build your wall, and punish the other person for what they leave behind. 30 to 45 minutes, ages 10 and up.
• Battle Line, €24.95. Nine flags, two hands of cards, and a bluff every turn. Half an hour, and one of the best two-player games ever made.
• Star Realms Core Set, €22. A space-combat deckbuilder that fits in a jacket pocket and plays in 20 minutes. The one we recommend to couples who want something with a bit of fight in it.
• Santorini: Second Edition, €49.95. Move a builder, build a level, be the first onto the third floor. Looks like a toy, plays like chess, with god powers to keep it fresh.
• Backgammon, €22. A wooden set. Five thousand years old and still going. Never a bad present.

Big groups and parties

• Flip 7, €18. Flip cards, bank your points or push your luck and bust. Three players or eighteen, 20 minutes, and everyone wants a rematch. The card game of the last two years.
• Skull King, €22. Pirate trick-taking where you bet on how many tricks you will win before the hand starts. A full table can lose an evening to it.
• 6 Nimmt!, €15. Play a card, hope you do not take the sixth, collect bullheads if you do. Up to 10 players and the rules take a minute.
• Monikers, €35. Charades in three rounds, each harder than the last. For an adult table, it says 17 and up on the box and it means it. 4 to 16 players.
• ito, €26. Everyone has a secret number. You can only hint with examples, never a number, and the whole table has to put them in order. Co-op, 10 minutes, 2 to 10 players.
• Skull, €25. Flowers or skull. Place one face down, dare the table to call it. Seconds to learn and the bluffing never gets old. 3 to 6 players.

People who say they don't like board games

• MicroMacro: Crime City – Full House, €30. A huge city map, a magnifying glass, and crimes to solve by finding tiny scenes in the crowd. Nobody thinks of it as a board game, and everyone plays it.
• Jibber Jabble, €9.95. A co-op word game where the team spells out clues one letter at a time, without discussing it. Ten minutes, fits in a coat pocket.
• Lacuna, €32. Two players, a cloth of flowers, and pins to claim them. Ten minutes, beautiful, and from the designer of Root.
• Sagrada, €48. Build a stained glass window out of dice. The one we hand to anyone who says they only like puzzles.
• Rummikub, €18. Tile rummy. Half of Ireland already knows the rules, the other half learns them in a round.
• Wingspan, €65. Build a bird sanctuary, card by card. The art and the little egg pieces win people over before the rules do. 1 to 5 players.

The gamer who has everything

• Brass: Birmingham, €84.95. Canals, rails, and an industrial revolution. Rated the number one game in the world on BoardGameGeek, and the one serious players keep asking us for. 2 to 4 players.
• Heat: Pedal to the Metal, €79.95. Formula 1 with cards. Manage your gears, take the corner too fast and overheat. 1 to 6 players, an hour, and it looks lovely on the table.
• SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, €67.49. Run a space programme, launch probes, find life. One of the biggest games of the last two years.
• Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, €54.95. A 25-scenario co-op campaign in a box that teaches itself. The way in to Gloomhaven without the 10 kilo box.
• Sleeping Gods, €109.95. It is 1929, your steamship is lost under strange stars, and there is an atlas to explore and a storybook of choices. A campaign a couple can play over a winter.
• Return to Dark Tower, €199.95. A motorised tower that glows, growls and drops skulls into the realm while you quest against it. For the person who has everything else.

Stocking fillers under €20

• The Fuzzies, €18.95. Pull fuzzy balls off a tower with tweezers without toppling it. 5 minutes, ages 6 and up.
• Tinderblox, €18.50. A campfire in a mint tin. Stack the blocks with tweezers, do not burn the camp down.
• Time's Up! Express, €12.99. The travel version of the party game. Three rounds of guessing names, each with fewer words allowed.
• Rory's Story Cubes, €13.95. Nine dice, 54 pictures, make up a story. Good in a restaurant while you wait for food.
• Skyjo, €19.95. Flip and swap cards, lowest score wins. Two minutes to teach and it ends up being played every night of the holidays.
• Dominoes, €5. A proper double-six set. Five euro, and it will still be in the house in twenty years.

Before you buy

Count the players. A game for two is no use at a table of six, and a party game is a waste on a couple. Be honest about how long they will sit, an hour is a long time for most families. And if you are not sure, come in, pull it off the library shelf and play a round with a coffee. We do that with people every December, and it is the easiest way to get it right.

We are at 75 York Road, Dún Laoghaire, open till 10pm Monday to Thursday and 11pm Friday and Saturday. The full range is in the shop, and if the game you want is not there, ask us at the counter.