With board gaming becoming quite a mainstream hobby, the days of purchasing Catan or Carcassonne for your teenage children or gaming-adjacent friends are long gone. Those people are no longer interested in gateway games and lightweight filler, and this Christmas they are likely to be looking to the BoardGameGeek Hotness list or the Top 100 for their next gaming fix.
Thankfully, we’ve partnered with Asmodee UK to hand pick 15 of the best games across both these lists, with a specific focus on which games might make excellent presents for the more serious gamer in your life. Review copies were provided for a handful of titles on this list (either just now or in the past) so please take that as full disclosure with respect to any bias.
Each game on this list should be perfect for someone who is already an experienced gamer and really likes to explore more complex systems and mechanics, whilst also retaining some of the best features in modern games. There will be lots of theme here and the potential to tell some great stories, but please be aware that any game featured here is likely to need more than a five-minute skim read to get to grips with.
Finally, each game has a link to where you can purchase the game, however both the team at Asmodee UK and we at BigBossBattle feel passionately that you should support your friendly local game store wherever you can. To help with this, please see here to find a nearby stockist who will hopefully be able to help you with any game on this list.
ARCS
BGG hotness rating: 1, Overall BGG rank: 193
Considered by some to be the “Best Game of 2023” and currently ranked number one on the BGG Hotness list, ARCS is a challenging and exciting game from Leder Games and Cole Wehrle. Here at B3, we generally enjoy Leder Games products and Root remains the 23rd best game we’ve ever played.
ARCS is made up of five chapters (usually) and each one consists of six rounds in which players will use the cards they are dealt to make tricks. Each round has a suit and each card provides action points, specific actions and possibly ambition symbols. The other players can then follow on and play cards of the same suit to take additional actions and so on.
This leads to relatively fast-paced, simple to understand gameplay but with lots of decisions. You never quite know what hand of cards you’ll get, and with a board in front of you that has mechanisms like combat and area control, there’s a lot to process. I don’t love ARCS quite as much as some do, but I do think it’s a really fun, exciting game that works for gamers who don’t mind a bit of confrontation.
Slay the Spire
BGG hotness rating: 28, Overall BGG rank: 179
With a BGG ranking slightly higher than ARCS but a Hotness level quite a bit lower, Slay the Spire is a large solo/cooperative card game based on the excellent videogame of the same name. There are both Kickstarter and retail versions of this game with more “fancy” content available in the Kickstarted version, but I’m covering the retail edition here, and I think that the components on offer here are just great as it stands.
In Slay the Spire the players take on the game. Each session is split into multiple encounters with a map (of which there are a few in the box) guiding you from the bottom of the spire to the top (get it now?) There are often choices to be made between a left or right fork and each one leads to something like an enemy encounter, a chance to regroup or less frequently elite or boss enemy encounters.
On a turn, players will simply use the cards in their hand to deal damage to the enemies, buff themselves or their allies or otherwise influence the board (perhaps by applying a status effect.) The more players there are, the more enemies will spawn, and so Slay the Spire works perfectly well with any number of players from one to four. The most important thing about Slay the Spire is how well it captures the spirit of the videogame, and fans of the videogame will love both the gameplay and the aesthetics.
You can buy Slay the Spire on Amazon.
Unfathomable (and From the Abyss)
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 592
Whilst Unfathomable is no longer considered among the BGG Hotness, it appears in this list because of the recently released 2024 expansion “From the Abyss.” With the expansion content added in, Unfathomable not only builds upon the original mechanics which it borrows from an older game (Battlestar Galactica) but massively improves upon the original.
Unfathomable is a game about treachery and madness on the high seas. The players take on the role of crew members with specific items and abilities, but during setup a number of special cards will be shuffled and dealt which might mean that not everyone is on the same side. Aside from being relatively heavy in terms of rules, it’s this treachery mechanic that made me add Unfathomable to this list.
Imagine yourself sitting with three or four friends this Christmas, but instead of having a jolly time over mulled wine, you’re actually wondering which member of the crew has just sabotaged your efforts to get the engines running. Accusations will fly, someone will be locked in the brig, half the time you’ll get it wrong and laughter almost always follows. Unfathomable is a fantastic game for players who know how to make heavier games fun, and for fans of interaction both on and off the board.
You can buy Unfathomable on Amazon.
Final Girl (Season One, Season Two or Feature Films)
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 112
Almost unbelievably, Final Girl is the highest ranked game on this list so far. Why is that unbelievable? Well, because it’s a completely solo experience. No cooperative mode, no competitive or multiplayer mode. Just solo. As it happens, Final Girl is also the highest funded solo game ever to appear on Kickstarter, so it makes this list because if you know a hardcore gamer who struggles to get game time, this could be a perfect option.
Final Girl comes in a bewildering array of options that are both a strength and a weakness. On the plus side, you could buy the “Core Set” (which is mandatory to play) and then any one Feature Film set and you’re almost at stocking filler level of pricing, or you could buy one or both of the Season One or Season Two sets and get multiple Feature Films and extras.
What am I talking about with Feature Films though? Well, that’s what Final Girl is, really. In each Feature Film you will play as the plucky female character who so often survives against all odds. Every Feature FIlm comes with a setting and bad guy, and across the two seasons you’ll see unlicensed but visually similar variants on Freddy, Jason, Alien, IT and more. Every Feature Film is a tough, scary challenge with its own unique rules and components, and Final Girl is perfect for horror fans and solo gamers.
You can buy the Final Girl Core Set, and here’s a link to the recommended first Feature Film – Camp Happy Trails.
HEAT (with Heavy Rain)
BGG hotness rating: 5, Overall BGG rank: 40
The fact that HEAT was released in 2022 and yet still features in the BGG hot list at number five should tell you all you need to know. With a core experience based on racing around the four tracks in the base game (or six if you have the expansion), HEAT is infinitely replayable thanks to its multitude of included expansion modules.
In the most basic mode, HEAT is the lightest game on this list, and so gains full marks for versatility. You could easily play the basic variant of this game with grandparents or younger players, and HEAT is very much a family game when played like this. Add in the sponsors, weather, spectators, modifications and AI Champions modules however, and things get much more complex and exciting.
With loads in the box and such flexibility, HEAT might be my best all-rounder here by a good margin, but if you want to expand on it further, then the Heavy Rain expansion adds an additional double-sided board, more modification cards, support for up to seven players (yes, really) and much more. Absolutely crazy value and flexibility make HEAT a great option for almost any setting.
Great Western Trail: New Zealand
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 130
Another high-ranking game that has long since slipped off the hotness list, Great Western Trail: New Zealand is part of Stefan Feld’s trilogy of “cowboy” games — except this time, the focus is on sheep, rather than cattle.
Perhaps the most accessible game in the trilogy, yet with the potential for deep strategy and great replayability from one game to the next, Great Western Trail: New Zealand tasks players with driving their flock across New Zealand, adding new and valuable breeds of sheep to the fold and shearing them at waystations along the way to boost income.
As with all Great Western Trail games, the board is built-out as the game unfolds and new buildings increase opportunities for expansion, but also for income. By the end of the game, players will shift their focus from building up their economy to honing their point-scoring potential, ensuring a clever, exciting experience with every game.
You can buy Great Western Trail: New Zealand on Amazon.
Frosthaven
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 26
As the sequel to Gloomhaven and a proper “hardcore” experience, Frosthaven is without doubt the most daunting prospect on this list. With over 100 missions, numerous playable characters (who can be expanded almost without limits and even retired mid-campaign) you don’t just play Frosthaven, you commit to it.
Seriously, Frosthaven weighs in at over 10kg of content, and what makes that even more spectacular is that there are very few miniatures in the box relative to the size of the game. Enemies are represented by standees (whilst player characters are miniatures), and the action is driven by multi-use cards.
Frosthaven delivers the kind of massive RPG experience that some people simply cannot resist. In video game terms, this is Baldur’s Gate 3 or Dragon Age: Veilguard — it’s massive, imposing and exciting. Every character is unique and different, each one somehow unique not only from the next — but also from characters you’ve seen in any game. Frosthaven is a game that you may never finish, but every session feels like a deep and rich adventure.
You can buy Frosthaven on Amazon.
Clank! Catacombs (with Clank! Lairs and Lost Chambers)
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 87
Another Top 100 game here is Clank! Catacombs, and this one is also a contender (alongside HEAT) for the most accessible game in this list. Ironically, Clank! Catacombs is also a card driven game, but where HEAT focusses more on hand management, Clank! Catacombs is what we like to refer to as a “deckbuilding game.”
In Clank! Catacombs, the players control burglars who are exploring a series of catacombs that are represented by tiles that are drawn and placed in a semi-randomised way. The players use their cards to move, add more cards to the deck, to fight monsters and to trigger special effects as they explore. As they travel deeper into the catacombs, they’ll discover valuable treasure and at some point, the dragon that guards these caves will awaken.
Expanded with the new Clank! Catacombs – Lairs and Lost Chambers release, Clank! Catacombs now has the potential for even more nasty creatures to be unleashed in order to track down our adventurers. So what makes this game feature on this list? Well, Clank! Catacombs can be quite mean — with adventurers who don’t make it out of the caves simply being killed (and probably eaten) by the dragon. Clank! Catacombs always creates a ton of laughter and delight whenever it hits the table, and I highly recommend it.
You can buy Clank! Catacombs on Amazon.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 2,459
Well, it’s hard to ignore the relatively low ranking for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game but allow me one indulgence here. Skyrim (as I shall call it from now on) is a faithful adaptation of the beloved videogame that pitches the player(s) as members of the Blades faction and supports from one to four players without any real overhead to setup or gameplay.
I’ve added Skyrim to this list because firstly I just really enjoyed it, and secondly because it offers a superb, deep and relatively challenging adventure for fans of the videogame or RPG’s in general. Yes, games like Frosthaven are much heavier and a lot longer, but for intermediate gamers or perhaps teenagers who aren’t quite ready for something quite so massive, Skyrim fills the gap really nicely.
With excellent miniatures in the box and a load of tokens for monsters, Skyrim is a very nice production. The board is superb, as are the cards and other components — but should you want to bling it up even further, a miniatures pack and several content expansions are also available. This means that Skyrim would make a fantastic present at a good price, and could lead to more options for future gifting occasions.
You can buy The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game on Amazon.
Starship Interstellar
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 8025
A clear rank outsider in the BGG lists, Starship Interstellar makes it here because it is just such a crunchy, overlooked gem. Starship Interstellar pitches the scene that humans have wasted the resources of our solar system — harvesting the energy from the sun and simply accelerating it rapidly towards supernova.
In Starship Interstellar, players must build a spaceship that is capable of escaping the earth over a number of following generations. We’ll use short-range travel to access planets like Mars and Jupiter and mine their resources, we’ll invest in technologies to help our efforts, and we’ll contribute towards the starship itself to gain points.
With action rounds based on the use of tokens and then an admin round where these tokens come back, others are added and various governance actions take place, Starship Interstellar is complex and heavy — but it’s very, very good. The story it tells is thematic and desperate, creating a real compulsion to build the ship and get people off the planet. Definitely a leftfield choice, but for the gamer interested in space travel and/or sci-fi, Starship Interstellar could be a must.
You can buy Starship Interstellar on Amazon.
Descent: Legends of the Dark
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 456
With its incredible artwork and app-driven gameplay, Descent: Legends of the Dark offers an attractive prospect for the modern game. The large box contains a multitude of unusually stylistic and glorious miniatures, and perhaps more interestingly, a massive crate of three-dimensional terrain pieces that you’ll build out on your table.
Imagine the scene — it’s a dark night between Christmas and New Year, your gamer friend is hosting you on a fantasy adventure. You open the box of Descent: Legends of the Dark and have your characters set up in minutes, the app tells you which pieces you need to begin the board and you pop a few fully-realised trees onto the table. The app guides you through your first steps and helps bring the story to life so that your friend doesn’t need to spend hours creating a custom adventure to narrate to you.
Later, you’ll have multi-tiered environments to explore, complex abilities and skills that link to other players in your party, or allow you to go it alone as an absolute tank. Descent: Legends of the Dark isn’t overly long and it doesn’t have limitless replay value, but for ten or so evenings, you and your friends will be able to tell some fantastic stories and share great experiences.
You can buy Descent: Legends of the Dark on Amazon.
Caverna
BGG hotness rating: N/A, Overall BGG rank: 50
At over ten years old, Caverna is never going to be considered hot anymore, but try to seek it out and you won’t find it sitting on shelves by the bucketload. This worker placement and farming game from Uwe Rosenberg has many fans and is certainly a title for the discerning gamer.
Caverna supports anything from one to seven players (erm, really) and has already been adapted quite superbly to the online platform at www.boardgamearena.com. Caverna is incredible, with so much scope and flexibility that each time you play it, the experience will be different — and yet enough similarity in the core actions that it’s possible to build up patterns of efficiency in your mind.
Players will begin with a relatively bare board. From there, they will excavate caverns, chop forest, build pastures and stables as well as new rooms for their workers (dwarves) to live in. They’ll farm pumpkins and wheat, and herd cattle, sheep, donkeys and pigs. More adventurous dwarves can train as adventurers — gaining experience as they go. Caverna is the very definition of an absolute classic, and is a must have for any serious gamers collection.
Revive
BGG hotness rating: 32, Overall BGG rank: 98
Just creeping into the BGG Top 100 and also still fairly hot is Revive, a game in which players emerge from bunkers 5000 years after the end of the world and attempt to — you guessed it — revive the planet. At the outset of the game, everything is covered in snow, and the players use basic actions to explore, collect resources and expand their capabilities.
By the end of a game of Revive, the landscape will be transformed into liveable terrain — with cities appearing and the players having massively expanded their skills to trigger a whole run of actions with every turn. The decision space is quite broad, but the actions themselves are simple, so whilst Revive takes a while to master, it’s relatively simple to learn.
Revive makes this list — and commands its high positions on BGG — because it has a nice theme that really fits the mechanics, and players enjoy how the board changes over the course of each game. Nonetheless, the decisions are relatively tough to make in terms of pure efficiency, and so repeated plays between hobby gamers will yield new and exciting strategies with every game.
Age of Innovation
BGG hotness rating: 46, Overall BGG rank: 78
Whilst Age of Innovation occupies respectable ratings in both the BGG Hotness list and the Top 100, it is also the current best game we’ve ever reviewed. As the sequel to Terra Mystica, Age of Innovation comes with incredible pedigree. This is the sequel to the game that some people consider to be the best eurogame ever — and it solves every little issue with its parent title and enhances it in almost every way.
A medium to heavy eurogame, Age of Innovation demands a lot from players. The setup can be simplified for new players by using a pre-configured variant, but for experienced players, setup is actually part of the game. Players must choose a race of fantasy creatures to play as, and lock in two different abilities to use during the game — the combination of which can be absolutely critical to your strategy.
What makes Age of Innovation perfect for this list is not only the fact that it’s popular and complex, but also because it’s just so rewarding to play. With a tight in-game economy, Age of Innovation makes players think about every single action. If you don’t optimise everything, you could risk a loss, and even if you do play well, if you didn’t build a fantastic combination during setup, you might miss out to those who choose more optimally. It’s a fantastic puzzle, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
You can buy Age of Innovation on Amazon.
Based on this list alone, it’s clear that the world of tabletop gaming is more exciting than it ever has been. Games now include better components, higher quality mechanics and more satisfying puzzles than they have at any time in history – albeit at the cost of slightly higher complexity.
We really hope that you find something on this list that meets the needs of a friend or family member who enjoys games, and that you’re able to spend quality time with them enjoying their gift during this festive period. If anything, the most important thing about gaming is having that quality time with people you care about.
Just as a quick reminder, whilst we would love it if you bought any of these games via the links we’ve provided, you can also look here to find a nearby stockist who will usually be happy to demo these games, talk you through them and provide additional support should you need it.
