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And/or to have around for those long winter nights with holiday visitors.

The 2005 Good Gift Games

By Matthew Baldwin

Being with friends and loved ones is what makes the holidays special—and once you’re fed up with that, it’s time to humiliate them over a board game. Here are this year’s best tabletop entertainments.

I’m something of a game connoisseur, myself—I write reviews for a few publications, host regular game nights, and even do a little freelance designing on the side. So for nearly a decade I have been writing an annual Good Gift Games Guide, to steer folks toward those games that serve well as an introduction to contemporary board games. In particular, I look for three traits:

—Easy to learn, with rules that can be explained in less than five minutes
—Entertaining enough that even the guy who comes in dead last has a great time playing
—Quick, lacking downtime and requiring around an hour to complete

Each of the following games meets these three criteria (or is strong enough in one category to compensate for the others), and was released or re-released in this calendar year.

Thanks to Lifehacker.