Another Gift’s Week has come and is almost in the books. As my last duty for this week, before I put down the product catalogs and take a second to enjoy the Summerween season (see “Selling Summerween“), I’m going to let you all know what I believe the games to give during holiday season 2024 are. But before I get into all that, I’d like to take a little victory lap from last year’s picks (see “Picks to Give for 2023“), as the only Euro-style game I managed to recommend actually won the Spiel des Jahres award in 2024 (see “Spiel des Jahres Winners“). I also had this game in my Pick Hits list for that year. Let’s see if I can pick another hit this year!
But first, let’s go through the ground rules for my Picks to Give 2024:
These are the games I’d give away to other people (that I like) as a gift. The selections made here may not necessarily cross over with what I like to play myself and can be from any category in the games space. This column is about mostly other people and what I think they might like to receive. Thus, the game items included in this column are what I believe to be legitimately good products which could make great gifts for friends, family, and others. They are listed in no particular order.
This year’s selections will be subject to a few new rules. They are actually be split out by category this time, one each, which was something that was requested since the prior column. It seemed like a fair request, so let’s get into this thing:
RPG Pick to Give: Dungeon Gift Wrap by Loke Battle Mats. To be clear about this pick, I absolutely refused to put a Dungeons & Dragons book as my Pick to Give, not because they aren’t the best Picks to Give this year, but because I droned on at length about D&D gifts in a previous article (see “The 50th Anniversary Makes 2024 the Year to Gift ‘Dungeons & Dragons’“). Instead, I went with a product I saw a few weeks back that is an ingenious use of gift-wrapping. Dungeon Gift Wrap is gift wrap, which everyone needs around Christmas, that doubles as a playable battle map (see “‘Dungeon Gift Wrap’“). It allows players to carefully open their brand-new 2024 Player’s Handbook, and then go play on the gift wrap; seems like a winner at MSRP $12.99.
Expert-Level Board Game Pick to Give: Rock Hard: 1977 by Devir Games. Board games are split up into two categories for my Picks to Give 2024: Expert-Level and All-Levels. It just makes things easier. For the Expert-Level game, I chose Rock Hard: 1977 because it was one of the only board games that was truly something new and impressive this year. This game, designed by The Runaways’ Jackie Fox (see “‘Rock Hard: 1977’ (Board Game)“), is great to give to fans of rock and roll that also like to play management games.
All-Levels Board Game Pick to Give: Robo Rally: Transformers by Renegade Game Studios. In last year’s Picks to Give article, I went on at some length about Robo Rally being a great gift for the holidays. This year, I’m going to make my argument for Robo Rally: Transformers surprisingly short: Let’s face it, these two IPs should’ve been mashed-up together a long time ago. This is a great game to put under the tree this year.
Miniatures Pick to Give: Halo: Flashpoint by Manic Games. Halo is one of the most popular video game franchises in existence. I first saw this miniatures game in person at Adepticon and thought to myself “This game is cool. It’s too bad this is coming out before Gen Con, I guess it’ll be a Christmas thing.” Well, here we are, and it’s my Miniatures Pick to Give for 2024 because it’s a legitimately impressive game.
TCG Pick to Give: Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Quarter Century Bonanza Boosters by Konami. It’s so hard to pick gifts from the TCG category, primarily because the Big Five games are all on pretty equal footing and the TCGs that exist beyond that group are very niche. This year, however, was definitely Yu-Gi-Oh’s year as it experienced an unusual level of popularity in U.S. markets from January through August this year. At the end of the year (see “‘Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG’ 2024 Product Release Calendar “), Konami is coming out with a Quarter Century Bonanza collectors product that is probably going to be a hit because it has all kinds of luxurious foils and Quarter Century Secret Rares. This is worth putting on shelves for Christmas.
Card & Dice Game Pick to Give: Star Trek: Star Realms by UVS Games and Wise Wizard Games. This pick goes by similar logic to my argument for Robo Rally: Transformers. Star Realms probably should’ve always just been a Star Trek card game, but I guess this is the first time the Star Trek license had been readily accessible to Wise Wizards via UVS. Regardless, this is a solid gift to give this year as it hits stores in September.
Party Game Pick to Give: Luffy’s Bento Panic by Kess Entertainment. Luffy’s Bento Panic (see ” ‘One Piece’ Party Game“) has a lot of buzz right now. It debuted at Gen Con, and it caught the eye of retailers shortly after. It is probably a good game to stock because it is both One Piece-branded (an IP that is on fire), and a lightweight party game for the whole family.
Accessory Pick to Give: Dice Jail Chair and Dunce Hat by Lynx Accessories. This was hands down my favorite accessory for 2024. Like many people, I can’t roll dice to save my life. I am, in fact, so bad at rolling dice that when I’m at the craps table, I automatically pass on being the shooter every time for fear that people will lose gobs of money because I am so inept at dice rolling. People like me need a way to punish lousy D20s that critical fail on almost every roll, and this product fits the bill. I’d bet there are other people that feel the same way I do, so stock this gem.
Those are the picks, see you next year!
For more great suggestions for gifts merchandising this holiday season, click here.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Source: ICV2
