We know you’re starting to make a list of gifts for your friends and family, so we’ve pulled together all our recommendations in this easy to use list. Happy Holidays from GameHead!

Top 10 Games for Anyone

We’ll highlight ten choices, and we’re confident that at least one of them will fit your gaming requirements. There are laugh out loud party games here, beautifully presented board games to appeal to the whole family, fantasy adventures to transport you into worlds of peril and excitement. We’ve also found games that are the perfect gateway into areas of the gaming world you might not have explored before. Want to try a role playing game? We’ve got one. A deck building game? You can try one here. We’ve also added a couple of true gaming classics to the mix. For people who like to play games, this list delivers consistently high standards and huge doses of all-out good times.

The Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games
“Catan is a true gaming juggernaut, and if you want a game that sees everyone involved right from the outset, with plenty of interaction between the players, a healthy dose of skill and just the right amount of luck, you can’t really go wrong with The Settlers of Catan.”

Ticket to Ride from Days of Wonder
“Really, putting Ticket to Ride into our Games for Anyone section was one of the easiest decisions we’ve ever had to make here at GameHead. If you’ve never played it, go get it, and if you’re the kind of person who likes to find fault with everything, good luck coming up with things that are wrong with Ticket to Ride. It won’t necessarily convince a game-hater to have a Pauline conversion, but for everyone else this is just about essential”

The Legend of Drizzt Board Game from Wizards of the Coast
“Best of all, for all the apparent ‘niche’ of the product, this is a great game to settle down on a Sunday afternoon with the whole family for. It’s worth at least one of you having a solid grasp of the rules, but Moms, Dads, sons, and daughters will all get a lot out of completing the quests, disarming the traps, defeating the monsters, and claiming the spoils.”

Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers vs. Evil from Cryptozoic Entertainment
“Underneath it, however, is a gentle introduction to the fine art of deck building games. If you’re an experienced Gamer, this won’t wow you with dazzling mechanics never seen before. If, however, you’re new to the genre, and think it might be for you, then this is an excellent, and fun, place to start.”

Munchkin Deluxe from Steve Jackson Games
“This is the world of RPGs (without the actual role playing) turned up to eleven, and the genius of it is that you don’t have to be an RPG afficianado to get the humor. If you’ve ever seen Lord of the Rings, or think that next Christmas can’t come quickly enough so you can get to see The Hobbit, you’re likely to have a great time with this.”

Dixit from Asmodee
“Dixit is a storytelling phenomenon that delivers great gameplay whilst requiring none of your players to be any good at games. That’s another huge plus point in its favor.”

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box from Paizo Publishing
“RPGs are all about the imagination, and Pathfinder is an established system with an enormous fanbase that means there will be people almost literally falling over themselves at your local game store to help a new player out, and bring them into the RPG fold.”

Caracassonne from Rio Grande Games
“After a game is new and shiny, it becomes ‘recent’, then ‘a while ago’. Then it becomes ‘old’. Once you get that far, there aren’t many games that come out time and time again. Carcassonne is one of those games, and there’s a word for them: Classic.”

Talisman from Fantasy Flight Games
“On a rainy Sunday afternoon, with the family at a loose end, there are few games we can recommend more highly than Talisman. It’s fantasy done beautifully, and if you’ve any interest in that genre, this should be on your shopping list.”

Pandemic from Z-Man Games
“As you’ll discover, the reality is some of the best, most tension-filled and exciting hours of gaming you can have with your friends. It really is something different, and it really is very good.”

Top 10 Gifts for Gamers

What makes a Gamer? That’s a hard one to define, but if you’re a Gamer, you know it! Our ten games in this category are perfect gifts when you know that games really matter to the recipient. We’ve got some spectacular board games with great mechanics and gameplay. We’ve got innovative dice games, forays into the worlds of miniatures, clever and devious games that will stretch your gaming brain to the limit, plus some of the modern classics that are becoming giants of their genres. For many, the games on this list are the next step into the amazing world of gaming.

WARMACHINE Two Player Battle Box from Privateer Press
“Once you’re into the action, WARMACHINE is a fast and furious minis game that doesn’t take hours to set up, and the emphasis is very much on aggressive play.”

Super Dungeon Explore from Soda Pop Miniatures “The game has a charming aesthetic appeal that’s very definitely all its own, and that in itself is a triumph. You’ll find it fun without playing-for-laughs, and although there’s plenty of tactics and strategy, you won’t have to spend three weeks learning the rules before you start.”

King of Tokyo from IELLO
“Honestly, this could have made our Games for Anyone list, but we’ve put it here because this is a game that seems to have passed a lot of people by, and if you’re a Gamer, this is something you shouldn’t be missing out on. It’s hard to put a finger on precisely what makes the game so terrific, since there are lots of disparate elements coming together, but whatever the secret to the recipe, it’s a winner.”

Fortune and Glory, The Cliffhanger Game from Flying Frog Productions
“Stylistically the game looks a million dollars, with a fabulous array of miniatures crammed into the box. While you might expect the eight heroes to get some reasonable minis love, Fortune and Glory extends the effort to all the major villains, mafia thugs, a horde of Nazi soldiers, mayan temples, a Nazi zeppelin…it all fits together to provide a great backdrop to edge-of-your-seat gameplay.”

Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan from Alderac Entertainment Group “Even without the bucketloads of feudal Japanese flavor that AEG have delivered, this would be a terrific detective game. Add in the aesthetics, tremendous storyline/flavor appeal, and you have one of the more unusual and welcome additions to the 2011 list of gaming excellence.”

Ascension: Storm of Souls from Gary Games
“It will come as no surprise to regular GameHead readers that of all the many games we’re hoping Santa and his little Elves will be bringing us down the chimney this Christmas, the new big box expansion for Ascension is right at the top of the wish list. Unashamedly, we love it, and Storm of Souls is everything you’d expect from the good folks at Gary Games.”

7 Wonders from Asmodee
“There’s a lot to think about, and judging by the number of empire building games out there, games like 7 Wonders apparently tap into a profound need in many gamers to create something lasting - even if ‘lasting’ turns out to mean ‘until we start again in 45 minutes’. And start again you will, because 7 Wonders rarely languishes in the back of the gaming cabinet. It’s always there, it’s always ready to play, and it’s always good.”

Kingdom Builder from Queen Games
“Part Settlers of Catan, part Carcassonne, part Dominion, and part something new, Vaccarino has delivered something very special before. As a Gamer, this is where a new juggernaut starts, and it’s the kind of game you need to play, because if you like it, there’s going to be a lot of fun coming your way.”

Quarriors from Wizkids
“Gamers are a funny lot - we’re sometimes a bit sniffy about games with a humorous cast to them, and for some Gamers the very idea of dice is anathema, since it smacks of chance, the enemy of skill. If that’s you, go ahead and make an exception for Quarriors. It may not improve your life, but it’s probably going to make your day.”

Dust Tactics Revised Core Set from Fantasy Flight Games
“It’s all very classy, as you’d expect from FFG. Add in the intriguing nature of the alternate timeline flavor (the game is set in a very strange 1947, where war is still very much going on), and the winning hybrid of board and minis play, and this is exactly the kind of game that can lead you gently by the hand towards a whole genre of gaming you may never have contemplated before.”

GameHead’s Five Favorite Family Games

Next week, we’ll introduce five of our favorite games that hit the spot for younger gamers. Adults will enjoy playing these too, but we’ve carefully selected games with themes and gameplay that keep kids coming back for more. Featuring games from companies with a renowned commitment to the idea of Family Game Night, these are the games to see under the Christmas tree.

Got ’Em! from Calliope Games
“If you’re in the market for a fun game that is going to delight yourself as well as your kids, even when they plague you at seven o’clock in the morning to play it with you, because it’s SUNDAY and we can play ALL DAY, then Got ’Em! might be just the thing.”

Forbidden Island from Gamewright
“The trouble with writing is that it happens one word at a time, and I want to tell you about all the things that are great about Forbidden Island all at once.”

Bears from Fireside Games
“Incredibly portable, incredibly silly, and, for a game this small, you’ll come back to it far more often than you really should, and that’s the mark of a game that’s well worth having.”

Family Fluxx from Looney Labs
“Quick to setup, quick to learn, quick to play, very hard to dislike - when it’s time for ‘just one more game before bedtime’, getting the family round the table for a game of Family Fluxx is among the best things you can do with that precious gaming time.”

Magic Labyrinth from Playroom Entertainment
“The magnetic element is fascinating to kids, the memory elements are likely to appeal to any parents who like to have an educational element to play time, and even the most hardened gamer can appreciate a race game that is literally not all that it appears.”

Five Gifts for Tech Gamers

This week we’ll be bringing you our choices for five of the finest games apps available on your iPad, because sometimes everyone else is busy playing the games on our other lists!

Medici from Sage Board Games
“Medici isn’t an earth-shattering game, but it’s well-presented, never crashes, and almost always delivers an entertaining 15–20 minutes of thoughtful auction gameplay. It’s easy to recommend to just about anyone who enjoys games, so we do. Go download.”

Monopoly from Electronic Arts
“Monopoly is where it started for almost all of us, and this is a brilliant app for the back seat of the car on long journeys, with the kids endlessly entertained by whizzy graphics, an iconic board that has rarely been surpassed, and the ability to utterly stiff every other player.”

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer from Gary Games
“With intricate strategy and a kinetic mode of play that sometimes makes you feel as if you’re conducting the app rather than simply playing it, Ascension is a benchmark title that no self-respecting Gamer iPad should be without.”

Ticket to Ride iOS from Days of Wonder
“Graphics are super-slick, maintaining the Victorian feel of the original but delivering it in a gorgeous high definition package that really zings off the screen. Animations are mercifully kept to a minimum, but they still hit the right notes without ever being intrusive. Like most good conversions, the iPad here allows the action to speed along, delivering new locomotive cards to your virtual hand at a blistering rate that removes all the ‘housekeeping’ elements from the game, and leaves you to concentrate on the simple pleasures of playing.”

Elder Sign: Omens by Fantasy Flight Games
“I really can’t do more to recommend this game than to leave you with the closing words of my review: Elder Sign: Omens may be the best game we’ve ever had the privilege to download.”