Nativity play: the 12 best board games for Christmas parties

slot 88 is a terrifying statistical fact that if you have a roomful of friends and relatives gathered at Christmas, you are only ever 20 minutes away from someone suggesting Trivial Pursuit. Don’t become a victim this year – have an alternative ready. Here are my 12 board games of Christmas, some of which I’ve played, the rest suggested by trustworthy pals on X. They’re all suitable for at least six players and there are no overly complicated rules to learn, making them perfect for slightly boozy Christmas afternoons.

If your favourite isn’t included, please do suggest alternatives in the comments.

Ransom Notes (Big Potato, 3-6 players)
A fresher alternative to Cards Against Humanity, Ransom Notes gives players a selection of fridge magnet words with which they need to construct responses to prompts read out from cards – for example “Give someone CPR instructions over the phone” or “Describe why cocaine is illegal”. With the limited available vocabulary, answers are usually garbled and ridiculous, and it’s the funniest that wins each round. With the right crowd, it’s hilarious. (See also, Poetry for Neanderthals, which gets players to explain ideas using only single-syllable words.)

Codenames (Czech Games Edition, 4-8+ players)
Launched in 2015, this word association game has already become a staple in many households. You play in teams as rival spy networks attempting to guess the locations of your operatives on a board, by describing words in a way that only your own team will recognise. It’s fast and funny and encourages the use of little in-jokes and shared experiences in a way that really works at Christmas.

Wavelength (CMYK, 2-10+ players)

Described as a social guessing game, Wavelength gets you to split into two teams, then take it in turns to pick a card with two ends of a scale described on it. For example, “Sexy emoji / Unsexy emoji” or “Good habit / Bad habit”. The opposing team have to guess where on that scale a given clue word sits. It’s difficult to explain, but really fun for a creative group who all know each other well.