Looking for the perfect gift for your loved one this Valentine’s day? We’ve got you covered! Couples who game together stay together, so here’s ten great games to buy and play with your loved one this Valentine’s Day, or on any other day for that matter. You’ll want them all in your collection!
Slide Quest
Slide Quest from Blue Orange Games is a cooperative adventure game that doesn’t require too much thought nor time to play. That makes Slide Quest perfect if there’s little ones in your family that you’d like to include in your gaming sessions or if your significant other doesn’t care for learning complex rules of some other heavy board games.
In Slide Quest each player takes a handle (or two) and tilts the board sliding your hero along their path to help save the day. Barriers, enemies, and other obstacles will challenge you over 20 ever-increasingly difficult levels to play.
Quirky Circuits
Keeping with our theme of working together and being fun for all ages, Quirky Circuits from Plaid Hat Games is just as great with your children as it is with adults. Players can’t speak. You’ll need to make robotic noises to communicate as all players add movement cards to a programming que in any order. They’re then revealed and your character performs the actions. With 24 scenarios of ever-increasing difficulty there’s a wealth of variety and replay value here.
Cities: Skylines
In Cities: Skylines from Thames And Kosmos you’ll need to work together with your partner to plan and build your own city. Commercial, Residential, and Industrial zone cards all provide different benefits and drawbacks and it’ll take careful planning to manage your money, pollution, crime, traffic and education. To further complicate things, each game piece you play on the board is a uniquely shaped puzzle piece – making each play through completely different.
For a happier gaming experience we recommend removing the “news” cards which all have negative consequences or building restrictions and starting off with an advisor. The best part of this game? Even if you don’t have someone to spend Valentine’s Day with you’ll still be able to enjoy Cities: Skylines the board game by yourself in solo mode.
Horrified
Horrified by Ravensburger has quickly become my playgroup’s go-to co-op game with four players. While Horrified can be played solo and with up to five players, we’ve found four player games to be the sweet spot. That makes Horrified an excellent choice for double dates where you don’t want to be competing against each other. We can’t praise this game enough. Horrified has completely replaced Pandemic for us.
Class of 98
Do you enjoy solving mysteries? In Class of 98 from HuntAKiller.com you’ll put your detective hat on to solve a murder. While this isn’t a traditional board game, your table with be filled with evidence for you and your loved one to sift through. This game will take critical thinking to figure out “who did it” and spawn conversations with whoever you’re playing with. Our play through lasted weeks, and while Class of 98 from HuntAKiller.com isn’t replayable, it’s an immersive physical experience that just isn’t replicated elsewhere.
Kenny G Keepin’ It Saxy
What could be more romantic than mood lighting, wine, jazz music, and Keepin’ It Saxy with Kenny G by Big G Creative? You’ll need to work together with your partner and “use the power of jazz” to keep Kenny G grooving. There’s an alarming number of first world problems for you to work through in the morning, afternoon, and evening of the everyday life of Kenny G. If only we had the problems in Keepin’ It Saxy.
Parks
Parks by Keymaster Games is the most gorgeous looking game we’ve played in the past year. Depending on your playgroup and number of players, Parks can either be slow paced or be cutthroat fast. Players journey over four ever-increasingly long seasons collecting resources which can be traded in to visit parks and take pictures. While on the surface Parks may seem light, there’s a fair bit of strategy and planning involved until another player blocks your path.
The breathtaking artwork and high quality components set Parks by Keymaster Games apart from other table top games we’ve recently seen and make it a must own for your collection. Keymaster Games is also launching a Kickstarter for the expansion called Nightfall and Parks: Memories.
Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes All
Looking to have a wicked good time with your friends? Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes All from Ravensburger let’s you play as one of six iconic villains: Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar, Prince John, Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook.
There’s also two expansions standalone three player expansions that can either be played by themselves or mixed up with each other and the base set: Disney Villainous: Wicked to the Core, which features Hades, Dr. Facilier, and Evil Queen and Disney Villainous: Evil Comes Prepared, which features Ratigan, Scar, and Yzma.
Each villain in Disney Villainous has their own unique victory conditions, and players are competing against each other with devious plots. Thwarting a rival’s progress and letting loose your most evil laughter makes the Disney Villainous a dreadfully wicked fun time.
Brain Fart
Some couples are competitive. Brain Fart by Play Monster Games is a party game that my playgroup keeps coming back to again and again. In Brain Fart you’ll roll nine dice which have subject categories on them and then hit the brain. The brain will display a letter and start a timer. Players go around in a circle naming something from one of the categories that starts with the letter displayed on the brain. If the timer runs out on your turn you’ll hear a Brain Fart. You’ll get a chip, and it’s time to reset for the next round. The player with the least amount of chips is the winner at the end.
Sega Genesis Mini
If tabletop games aren’t your thing, perhaps reliving some of the best classic Sega Genesis games (or playing them for the first time) will be. The Sega Genesis Mini is a plug and play device which features over 40 classic video games that’ll provide hundreds of hours of fun for your entire family.
Nine of the games on the Sega Genesis Mini are co-op, so that you and your loved one can play together on the same side: Altered Beast, Contra: Hard Corps, Darius, Golden Axe, Gunstar Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Streets of Rage 2, ToeJam & Earl, and World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
