The season of winter or you can say the season of the holiday has started. Well, in this chilling winter season what’s better than playing board games that can be played with family and friends and which can bring cheer and joy right inside your house? There are tons of winter-themed board games available out there on the market. But for making your holidays enjoyable and cheerful, we have come up with a list of top 10 winter-themed board games. All these holiday-themed board games are full games that have been selected based on the reviews of other people and our own experience.
10. Hey, That’s my fish!
2-4 Players • Ages 8+ • 20 minutes to play
In this game, players are supposed to collect as many fish as possible with the help of their waddle of penguins. When a player gets a turn then he or she has to move one of his or her penguins in a straight line and the hex tiles on which these penguins are moved has 1 or, 2 or, three fish on them. After that, the player has to collect the hex tile which the penguin started its movement from, and this creates a gap, and these gaps can’t be crossed by the penguins in future turns. When the penguin can’t move to any other place, then it’s removed from the game, and the owner claims the tile on which penguin stands.
9. Race to the North Pole
2-4 Players • Ages 7+ • 45 minutes to play
Race to the North Pole is a quite interesting game that has been released by Playmore Games. The race to the North Pole facing the storm and snow is difficult. The game board is made of two layers, and the top layer of the board rotates and has holes in it to showcase the lower board parts. With every rotation of board which occurs because of the storm. The goal of the game is quite simple, and that is to get to the North Pole before any other player. This game surely needs luck as well skill, but we would say that it requires skill more than luck to win this game. Maybe it can qualify to be one of the snow board games.
8. Snowdonia
1-5 Players • Ages 10+ • 30-90 minutes to play
In the game Snowdonia, the players will represent work gangs, and they will be offering labors for completing the construction of Snowdon Mountain Railway. This game is nothing like other board train games and believes us it is one of the unique and interesting board game available in the market. You will be supposed to make way for railway track along the mountainside, lay tracks and construct stations and viaducts. The challenging part is that you will have to complete all this while fighting with the harsh weather of the Welsh mountain and then some other challenges included in the game. You may also use the assistance of a train for moving stuff and collect necessary materials available in the stockyard. For obtaining bonuses, you will have to obtain work contracts. Can you surpass the contribution of other players and complete the work efficiently for fulfilling the project’s requirement? Truly, it can be one of the best Christmas board games.
7. Mount Everest
2-5 Players • Ages 10+ • 90 minutes to play
“Mount Everest” can be counted among the best winter-themed board games. In this game, you will be in the role of an experienced mountaineer, and you have climbed highest earth’s highest mountain several times. But the main challenge before you is to take a group of tourists to the mountain’s peak and bring them back safely. Each player in this game will control a team of expert mountaineers (two in number), and these two mountaineers will have to lead tourist’s team to the mountain’s peak. Identical decks are provided to players in this game which are used moving around on the board. Players will have to decide where they must set camps and also needs to decide the amount of oxygen that they should bring to the peak. Oxygen is the only thing that will make sure that you receive acclimatization cards and it will allow the tourists to complete the climb safely. Players can also decide the type of clients that they would like to take with them. But know this fact that more the number of tourists will be the journey will become more accident prone.
6. 12 Days
3-5 Players • Ages 8+ • 15 minutes to play
12 day is a card game and is a holiday-themed game. This game is ideal for people above the age of eight and the playtime comes around 15 minutes or more. The setting of 12 days is around the 12 days of Christmas. So you can call it a Christmas card game too. The cards use in the game are also names accordingly. The total number of cards available in this game is 92 cards, with 12 of them being the holiday cards and the rest 80 being the gift cards. It is true that understanding this game is quite simple, but you should know that this game requires a bit of strategy in it. The interesting thing about this game is that there are two ways by which you can score points in this game.
5. A Few Acres of Snow
2 Players • Ages 14+ • 60-120 minutes to play
Martine Wallace is a well-known name in the field of board games. If you haven’t heard about him, then you should know that he has contributed a lot in this field and have created numerous engaging multiplayer games such as Brass, Steam/ Age of Steam, Automobile, and others. The newest addition to his successful venture is “A Few Acres of Snow.” This game offers players to relive the famous conflict between Britain and France, which eventually lead to the formation of Canada as France gave up it’s holding. In reality, A Few Acres of Snow is not a pure War-game. Wallace has borrowed the idea from the deck building mechanism of Dominion. After trying this game, the only thing that we would like to say about this game is that it was a genuine pleasure to play this game.
4. K2
1-5 Players • Ages 8+ • 30-60 minutes to play
As the name suggests, this game revolves around K2 Mountain. In this game, each player will control a team of two mountaineers, and their main aim is to climb the K2 Mountain and return before other teams. In each turn players from their hand will play three cards. These cards can either be movement cards which will help them to ascend or descend from mountain to safe places on the mountain, or the accumulation cards to get the required amount of oxygen according to the available air. The main difficulty during the climb will be facing the extreme weather conditions and the issues which will arise because of other climbers blocking your path. The player who will get his or her climbers to the highest point and survive until the end of the game will win the game. It is a winter card game perfect to play with friends and family.
3. Snow Tails
2-5 Players • Ages 10+ • 45-60 minutes to play
You will get the role of brave sledder in this game in the tough climatic condition of Arctic Circle. Players in this game will be brave sledders testing their endurance and skill. In this fast and furious game packed with action not all players will be able to match with the pace and surely won’t make it to the end of this game. Hang on to the sled and experience the full speed setting of the Huskies.
In this game, you will get different modular pieces, and these pieces will set together to form difficult and different courses. Players also have dog decks, and these dog decks can be drawn to play onto the sled mat. Remember that movement will never be in a straight line, and the sled might drift right to the left. Speeding into the corner or losing control of cart will give dent cards and these cards will eventually result in limiting the player’s hand size. It can be called the board game of the Arctic.
2. Winter Tales
3-7 Players • Ages 14+ • 90 minutes to play
This shared plot between good and evil can give you immense pleasure. It is a storytelling board game the players will tale and live this tale which revolves around the characters of fairy tales, who represents hopefulness and goodness, and the other side will be of the soldiers of winter, and they incarnate fierce winter cold and evil. Players in this game will team up with one of the faction and will either fight for the comeback of the spring or shivering coldness of endless winter. It is quite interesting game as different players will have a completely different story to tell, creating a shared plot. It can qualify to be your Christmas board game for the year.
1. Dead of Winter
2 Players • Ages 14+ • 180 minutes to play
This new installment of entertainment launched by Plaid Hat Games tests the survival ability of players in this game. The main challenge is to survive the game by facing inside as well as outside challenges. The main catch in this game is that each player has secret objectives it can even be to put the main objective of the team at risk. If you are not the one with the secret task of destroying your team and jeopardize their attempts, then you must better be careful as anyone from your team can be the betrayer. Overall this game is quite exciting and presents a thrilling experience in front of the players.
Make this winter holiday exciting and action-packed for yourself as well as your family. Enjoy your holiday with some of the best winter-themed board games. Among all the winter card games and winter board games the best one that we found to be exciting as well as interesting was dead of winter. Select the one that interests you and enjoy holiday-themed board games this holiday.