This holiday season take a break from Netflix, Prime Video, and video games with some good old fashion board games. We say “old fashion” but the truth is that today’s games are not going to make you roll your eyes as an opponent saves all her cash for Park Place and Boardwalk. Today’s best sets make use of new game mechanics to keep the game interesting and moving along. Here are our favorite nautically inspires ones!
Ticket to ride rails & sails is the new nautical installment of Amazon’s #1 best-selling board game and a Konrad family favorite. Players collect cards of various types (trains and ships) that enable them to claim railway and sea routes on a nicely illustrated double-sided board, featuring the world map on one side and the Great Lakes of North America on the other. Elegantly simple and fast to learn, it takes the ticket to ride series to the next level!
Young families might prefer Ticket To Ride First Journey, ages 6+
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL – The one problem with this game is it costs $80 and rarely goes on sale BUT, today only, Amazon is selling it for $44.99!
No board game of the last 20 years has received more glowing reviews, awards, and interest than Catan. In this game your adventurous settlers seek to tame the remote but rich isle of Catan. Start by revealing Catan’s many harbors and regions: pastures, fields, mountains, hills, forests, and desert. The Seafarers expansion pack makes the game even more fun! In this version, you embark on an epic quest to settle the home island, build ships, and chart nearby waters. Guide your brave seafarers to victory through cunning trades and wise development. Be first to create new sea lanes and settle the newly-discovered isles.
The random mix creates a different board, virtually every game. This game is not as easy to learn as Ticket To Ride, but it is more addicting.
Note: Catan Seafarers is an expansion game meaning you need to also buy the original Catan in order to play the seafarers version.
Catan Explorers & Pirates introduces you to valuable harbor settlements, shipbuilding, exploration, and overseas settlement—the most important basic rules of this expansion. Each subsequent scenario introduces a new mission and its simple new rules. The game culminates in Scenario 5 (“Explorers & Pirates”), which incorporates all of these very rich new themes in a diverse and exciting campaign of bold exploration and piracy!
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL – Today only Amazon is selling this game for just $28.00
Note: Explorers & Pirates is an expansion game meaning you need to also buy the original Catan in order to play the seafarers version.
This is Captain’s favorite game and one we play frequently during coffee breaks at gCaptain HQ.
The mysterious island of Atlantis has been discovered in the middle of the ocean, and there are rumors of great riches to be found there! After reaching Atlantis, the explorers are ready to return home with treasure. But Atlantis begins to sink!
In a panic, the adventurers try to find a boat to return home, while the less fortunate will have to swim for it. Nobody is safe from the Sea Serpents, Whales, & Sharks that live in the ocean around Atlantis!
In Tsuro of the Seas, players sail the treacherous waves of the Mystic Seas in an engaging game of adventure. As the captain of one of the Emperor’s mighty Red Seal ships, you will chart your course with wake tiles, taking great care to avoid your opponents’ ships… and the monstrous Daikaiju lurking among the waves. Guide your ship with a steady hand and be the last captain sailing the Mystic Seas to win!
The hottest new trend in gaming is cooperative games that have no winners and losers. Instead, players work together to accomplish goals. In this game Ravine, you and your friends survived a plane crash but find yourself on a desert island. Working together you must forage for food, craft fire, and build shelters before you fall into despair and madness.
You’ve got crabs is a team-based party game from the creators of exploding kittens and the #1 bestseller 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth. Try to collect four of the same card before any of the other teams, then pass a secret signal to your teammate. If your partner sees your signal and yells, “you’ve got crabs,” you gain a point. If an opponent sees your signal and yells, “you’ve got crabs,” you lose a point. The team with the most points wins the game. This game is great for parties, or weddings, or long nautical voyages.
Ok, so maybe new games don’t interest you, or maybe you’re looking for a gift under $20. In that case it’s hard to beat the classic board game Battleship. Battleship is the classic naval combat game that brings together competition, strategy, and excitement. In head-to-head battle, you search for the enemy’s fleet of ships and destroy them one by one. No ship is safe in this game of stealth and suspense. Try to protect your own fleet while you annihilate your opponent’s. It’s a battle that you must win!
Looking for more nautical gift ideas? Check out our gCaptain’s other Holiday Gift Guides!
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