#also didn't rec DnD lol because that's a tabletop game but it's... very involved and like... not a game you just buy? lol

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I’ve got a question since you like board games (if you don’t mind answering). I’m doing a game for Christmas (not super important) but the prizes are board games or table top games. And I need to buy one more but I don’t know which one to get. Do you have any recommendations (that aren’t massively expensive, preferably under £20-30)? Everyone playing will be an adult, but they are my family so it can be mature but not that kind of mature.

I don't mind answering at all, this is such a fun question thank you for asking! What a good idea.

So I googled conversion rates since I'm in Canada, and I think your price range is like $35-50 CAD so that's pretty reasonable. Hopefully that's right! But most of these are closer to the lower end anyway I think, so we should be good.

1. Concept

I think it's a little more money than you're looking to spend, but there's a chance I'm wrong about pricing so I'm mentioning it just in case. Either way, it's totally worth the money and it's one of the games that gets played most often at my house. It's sort like pictionary and charades where you're trying to get people to guess a word, but instead of drawing or acting you have a board full of icons, and you need to use those to get people to guess the word or phrase. It's good for some laughs!

2. Telestrations

This one is closer to the lower end of your price range, and it's a ton of fun! It's a mix of telephone and pictionary. Everybody starts with a flip book, and they draw a card and pick a word from that card, write it on the first page, and pass their book to the person beside them. That person has to draw the word, and then pass it along again. The next person can only look at the drawing and has to guess what the word was. The next person looks at the guessed word and has to draw it. Etc. etc. until it reaches the original person. And then you get to flip through everything and laugh very, very hard. I own the "After Dark" version, which is very much not PG, but I'm sure the original is lots of fun too!

3. Organ Attack

This game is the most ridiculous thing ever and I love it. Definitely one of my favourite games. Everybody has a set of organ cards that are laid on the table in front of them face up for everyone else to see. You also have a hand of cards that include different afflictions that hurt the organs. Some are specific to certain organs (for instance, you can't afflict someone's pancreas with a nosebleed) but some can be used on any organ. The object of the game is to remove everyone else's organs with these cards and be the last one remaining! It's kind of absurd, but actually is a bit strategic and it's a ton of fun. It's also based on the Heart and Brain Awkward Yeti comics, which are great and you should consider checking those out if you haven't heard of them!

4. Coup

This is definitely a strategy (and deception!) game. You have a couple roles which grant you specific abilities, but only you know your roles. You go around the table taking turns, and the actions you're allowed to take on your turn are determined by the roles that you have (although there are some actions that everyone can take). But since your roles are secret, you can pretend to have a role that you don't have to take actions you technically aren't allowed to. If you get caught, you lose a card, and if you falsely accuse someone you also lose a card (some roles are able to make you lose a card as well, and you can use coins that you earn in the game to make people lose a card). You want to be the last person left with a card in your hand! There's another game called Love Letter which is pretty much the same idea and is also a lot of fun.

5. Fluxx

Fluxx is another card game, and this one has constantly changing rules. I can't tell you how to win because that changes as you play, too. There are several different types of cards, but the ones that make it most interesting are a) the New Rule cards, which are exactly what they sound like, adding new rules to the game (like how many cards to draw or play per turn), and b) the Goal cards, which change the objective of the game and therefore tell you how to win. It's a very chaotic game because of the constant changes, but it's pretty cool! And a really fun thing about it is that there are so many themed versions; I personally own both Math Fluxx and Monty Python Fluxx. So chances are you could find a themed version that the people in your family would be really into, and that might make it extra special!

I'm going to stop here, because we're already at 5 and these are the ones that come to mind most when i recommend board games to anyone (except Catan, which is fairly expensive and so probably more than you want to play, and it's also pretty well known anyway). I hope this is helpful, and I'm happy to chat more if you have any questions! I'd also love to hear what games you already have picked out.