Happy Holidays! Boardgaming continues to make inroads to wider audiences, and there’s no better time to get (or get your friends and family) into the hobby than an extended holiday break. There are boardgames out there to meet up with almost any taste.Boardgames are timeless, just as good today as they will be years in the future, so a purchase today will still be serving you well after the lockdowns go away. As we at GamerDad have done for the past 20-odd years, it’s time for an annual rundown of recent boardgames well worth your time. Feel free to delve into some past year’s guides for 2022, 2020, or older as they’re still great candidates for your consideration. You might not find all these titles at your local mega-mart but many can be found online or in a friendly local game store. Some may argue $60+ boardgames (or more) are expensive, but compare that to video gaming (and where multiple copies are required for multiplayer play) and the economics of boardgaming shows their true value. For each game, I’ve provided the publisher (to help you find it), an approximate MSRP (you can probably find it lower), the number of players, the expected time for one game, and the manufacturer’s recommended ages. These age listings are often set for legal reasons and I would say most could easily be skewed lower for experienced younger gamers.

On with the show!

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Tags: Misc, Unplugged

With a couple of musical movies, holiday specials, and a TV series, Trolls is one of DreamWorks most successful franchises.  And now there’s a new video game!  An evil troll has hypnotized everyone by playing smooth jazz from his magical clarinet, and now it’s up to Poppy, Branch, and others to stop him in this 3D platformer.  You can even create your own troll character to play as!  The game is available on current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television

Play as a mean alien as you drive around your buzzsaw equipped UFO and mow down cows in Excessive Trim.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

Alive Paint is a virtual coloring book program where when you finish a picture, it starts a little animation.  It’s available on PlayStation consoles and Switch, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids.  And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs.  Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.  I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything.  And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon.  In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon.  And that begat a few Smurfs games, too.  Like a kart racer I reviewed last year, and a 3D platformer I reviewed the year before that called The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf.  The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone is the sequel to that game.  In this installment, Handy Smurf has invented the Smurfomix, a gun that shoots out pastries and cakes.  But he’s having trouble getting it to work right so he decides to sneak into Gargamel’s Lair to use a magic green stone to help improve it.  But when Handy accidentally breaks the green stone, a mysterious being named Stolas is freed and wreaks havoc and scattered green crystals everywhere.  Now Handy, Brainy, Storm, and the other Smurfs must make a temporary alliance with Gargamel to stop the chaos and save the day.  It’s a bit of a shock, but this game is actually kind of good, and it’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television

Get ready for the craziest NASCAR game ever!  I think this game just got the license to use the NASCAR official track logos and that’s it, because the rest of the game is its own thing.  You’ll race around official tracks like Daytona and Talladega, but these aren’t just your typical ovals.  No, these circuits have twists, turns, boost pads, and more!  It’s more imaginative and based on fantasy and is very arcade-like.  NASCAR Arcade Rush is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

Help a space lady make it to the exit of each level in this hybrid single screen 2D precision platformer mixed with an action puzzle game.  Your heroine has a gun that when you hit a box with a bullet, you’ll swap places with it.  Use this skill to solve all sorts of puzzles and bypass obstacles in Swapshot, available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

Hallmark always has a wide variety of Christmas ornaments every year, and in the past few years they’ve even had lots of video game themed ones!  I got a bunch of them this year as well, as I always do, so let’s take a look at them!

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Tags: Misc

Taito has made a name for themselves with famous arcade titles with worldwide popularity.  Notable ones include Space Invaders, Bubble Bubble, and Bust-A-Move.  Another super popular arcade game they made was Operation Wolf.  It was a light gun game with military themes, and while it certainly wasn’t the first light gun game, it really helped boost that genre’s popularity.  It spawned many ports and sequels, like Operation Thunderbolt.  Fun fact: In the movie Wonder Woman 84, when she is beating up the bad guys in the mall, you can see an arcade in the background and an Operation Wolf machine!  Of course, the movie was supposed to be set in 1984 and Operation Wolf didn’t come out until 1987, but I guess I’m the only one who would notice that.  Anyway, now there is a new game in the series with Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

For nearly every little girl who loves to play with Barbie dolls, the ultimate dream is to own Barbie’s Dreamhouse, a giant dollhouse for Barbie and her friends.  And now your little girl can have that dreamhouse without having to put in a second mortgage and spend all night putting it together with Barbie Dreamhouse Adventure.  It’s basically a virtual dollhouse for the Switch. When I first popped this review copy into my Switch, the game seemed vaguely familiar.  Turns out I reviewed this game five years ago when it was just a mobile app.  But this version takes out all the in-game purchase crap and adds a bunch of new things, so that’s good.  As a 47 year old man, I don’t have any interest in Barbie, but the franchise sure did get a boost of popularity this past year with that new live action movie that just came out (never saw it myself).  But let’s take a tour of Barbie’s Dreamhouse and see what all you can do!

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television