Published on: November 14, 2025
written by Kiomye Thompson
–
With the holiday season quickly approaching, many of us are searching for the perfect gifts for friends and family. This month, I’m changing things up with my review, rather than focusing on just one game, I’ll be highlighting three great board game options. Holidays is all about bringing people together and I wanted to highlight different options that would play great with families or in a group setting.
Flip 7 is a quick, clever card game that fits perfectly in a stocking. Landmarks lets you team up with friends to escape an island using creative wordplay. And Fit to Print is a fast, puzzle-style game where you compete to layout the best newspaper before time runs out, chaotic in the best way!
If any of these sound interesting, join me for a free board game demo on December 2nd, where you can try them out. Plus, all featured games will be 10% off during the event!
–
Flip 7
Flip 7 is an exciting, fast-paced card game where you race to reach 200 points. You’ll flip over cards valued anywhere from 12 down to 0, just don’t flip the same number twice, or you’ll bust! The rules are simple enough to teach in a minute, and the gameplay is snappy, making it perfect for players who enjoy games like Uno or other quick-fire card games.
Its compact size makes it an excellent stocking stuffer and an easy game to keep with you on the go. While having a table helps, it’s far from required! I once played Flip 7 in a long line with friends, and it was the perfect way to pass the time. When we were done, I simply tossed it back in my purse.
The clean card design, travel-friendly box, and straightforward rules make this one of my favorite go-to quick games. It’s the game I bring out for family members who don’t play many board or card games, because it’s instantly accessible and always gets people laughing and engaged. A great little gift for just about anyone—and a great addition to your own everyday carry.
–
–
Landmarks
f you’re tired of cutthroat party games, this one swaps ruthless competition for teamwork, while quietly keeping a competitive option in its back pocket. At its heart it’s a cooperative deduction game: one player becomes the clue-giver and offers single-word hints to steer the rest of the group around a deserted island. Your collective mission is to locate three treasures and reach the exit, but the island isn’t friendly. Traps and curses lurk on spaces, so every choice matters and you’ll need tight word-association thinking and careful teamwork to avoid disaster.
What makes this title especially neat is that it wears two hats well. In full co-op play the tension comes from collaboration: listening, parsing ambiguous clues, and committing to shared strategies. It’s a great fit for mixed groups, families, coworkers, or friends who prefer puzzle-solving together over winning at all costs.
If you want a competitive jolt, switch to the teams mode. Instead of escaping together, teams race to find their own treasures first. Gameplay in this mode feels a lot like Codenames, you’ll have clue-givers for each team and rely on one-word connections, but with an extra dash of chaos: the words and placements other players add to the board can upend even the most carefully curated clues, leading to surprising, hilarious, and tense moments.
Accessible rules, quick rounds, and the flexible modes make this a fantastic gift for holiday parties or large groups. It teaches you to listen (and mislead) in equal measure, and whether you’re in it to cooperate or to compete, it delivers memorable table moments.
–
–
Fit To Print
Fit to Print is a charming, fast-paced tile-laying game that works beautifully for both small groups and large gatherings. It plays 1–6 players out of the box, but its newsroom teams mode lets you pair up and expand all the way to 12 players, making it the biggest option of the games I picked. At its core, players rush to gather newspaper tiles—stories, photos, and ads, before assembling them into the front page of a woodland newspaper. When you think you’ve collected enough, you call “Layout!” and begin arranging your page under pressure; once everything is in place, you shout “Print!” and lock it in. That real-time scramble creates a fun, frantic energy, but the game is surprisingly flexible too. If chaos isn’t your style, there’s a turn-based mode that slows the pace, as well as a solo puzzle mode that turns the experience into a thoughtful optimization challenge. Each player has their own desk board and a unique character ability, and each round introduces new goals or constraints through Breaking News cards and little twists that keep the gameplay fresh.
What makes Fit to Print such a great holiday gift is how well it adapts to the group you’re playing with. In a big party setting, team play turns the game into a lively, collaborative race that’s full of laughter. With more strategic players, you can lean into careful tile drafting and clever layouts. And for families or casual gamers, the simplified modes offer all the fun without the pressure. It’s bright, quick, welcoming, and endlessly re-playable game that feels just as at home on a quiet evening as it does at a loud holiday gathering.
–
–
