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20 Games Every Creative Thinker Should Play
Merry Merry Happy Happy
The board games, party games, card games, and video �games that will inspire creative problem-solving this holiday season and beyond
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“I’m interested in playing, not working.”
Captain Beefheart
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Everybody assumes the act of play is an activity for kids!
Playgrounds are for kids, Playskool is for kids, play dates are for kids—you get the point. But play is fundamental for youngs and olds! We learn the ways of the world through games, fair or not. Playing games is literally how humans learn to be creative.
As creative professionals, we need games. Just consider: Games have rules, but competing within those rules makes the game fun. We’re “at play” when we embrace constraints.
Boundaries or boards, fields or guides—games reduce our chaotic existence into something we can really grapple with.
When we play, the stakes are rarely high—so we’re free to make mistakes, and learn from them. A win feels good. A loss is an opportunity.
You can’t lose with games.
For all these reasons, games are a creative’s best friend.
They are the imaginary realms where we hone our ability to think and act creatively. They give us a jungle gym of the mind. They help us conceive realities beyond the paradigms of social order.
That’s why we created this buyer’s guide to the board games, parlor games, card games, and video games that have helped us develop and flex our creative muscles. Consider it a creative agency’s guide to good times.
To build this deck, we combed closets, catalogues, and the wunderkammer of the web to ultimately select 20 games that combine deep strategic thought, near-infinite replayability, and gorgeous artwork.
And yeah, many of these are our personal favorites, too.
Inside you’ll find the games organized by type. We’ve also included all the details a player needs to know: number of players, playing time, age level, and links to learn more and buy.
All of that, and just in time for those madcap holiday purchases.
Keep playing,
Happy holidays, we created a buyer’s guide of the most creative games.
�Carlie Fishgold�Strategist
Article Group
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This is a holiday game guide.
It will help you discover the best games for expanding your creative decision-making powers.
We chose games that afford expressive capacity and critical thinking over elements of chance. Things that are applicable to creative professionals and beyond—like tactical and strategic layering, prediction, emotional intelligence, and collaboration.
�A handful are accessible to kids 5+. Some are fast-paced, others take hours or even days. Some are single-player, others involve as many as 25 people.
You can use the legend of game classifiers for quick reference if you’re looking for a particular play experience.
Got a favorite game? Hit us up on the tweet machine @articlegroup
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1.0 Board Games
2.0 Party Games
3.0 Card Games
4.0 Video Games�
5.0 Resources
C O N T E N T S
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one
Board Games
Section
A goal. A board. Some rules. Some pieces. Let the throes of competitive strategy begin!
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“Time is a game played beautifully by children.”
Heraclitus, Fragments
±———___——
Wingspan
Considered the most attractive game of the year, Wingspan asks 1-5 players to imagine they are researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors. Gain the most points by strategizing how to help 170 real species get to their natural habitat at your network of wildlife preserves. And there’s a bird feeder tower for shooting the dice. Great for nature enthusiasts!
Board Games // 1.0
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Everdell
40-70 min
Ages 10+
Board Games // 1.0
T.I.M.E. Stories
A cooperative, story-based adventure game of "decksploration". Your team wanders a map set in past or future temporal realms uncovering clues, items, and secret locations. Once the time limit is �up, the team goes back to the present for a postmortem-and-plan discussion before resetting the game.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Arkham Horror
90 min
Ages 12+
Board Games // 1.0
30-60 min
Ages 10+
Zendo
Meditative Buddhist gamers, this one’s for you! Named after a Japanese meditation hall, Zendo is a game of inductive logic in which one player creates a rule for structures (koans) to follow, and the other players try to discover that rule by building and studying various koans which follow or break the rule. The first student to correctly state the rule wins.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: �Pyramid Arcade
A bug-themed strategy game designed for quick play, Hive sets two rival armies of spiders, grasshoppers, ants, and beetles against each other. Like chess, each insect �has its own unique movement. Your goal? Surround your opponent’s queen bee. Easy �to learn and imminently repeatable.
Board Games // 1.0
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Crows
20 min
Ages 9+
Hive
First Orchard
Win together, lose together. First Orchard is the perfect board game to introduce emerging creative thinkers to the exploration of rules for fun. Through cooperative play, 2-4 players help each other pick fruits from the trees. Harvest all the fruit before the ravenous raven reaches the orchard and win—together!
Board Games // 1.0
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: �Cauldron Quest
30 min
Ages 2+
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Party Games
Section
Turn off the tube. Turn off the internet. Grab some snacks. Gather round and attempt to destroy each other. Unless it’s cooperative play, in which case… group hug. Fun for the whole family!
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“But what a superb game the three of us are playing. Who is the demon? Who is the liar? Who the human being? Who the cleverest? Who the strongest? Who loves the most?
Anaïs Nin
Parlor Games // 2.0
Depends
Ages 8+
Ultimate Werewolf
Werewolf is quite possibly the best party game ever devised by humans, full stop. The game represents a conflict between simple villagers and bloodthirsty werewolves. At the start of the game, each player is secretly assigned a role on one of these teams. The game then has two alternating phases: a night role, when werewolves covertly “kill” other players, and a day role, in which surviving players debate the identities of players and vote to eliminate a suspect. The game continues until the villagers kill all the werewolves, or the werewolves eat all the villagers.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: One-Night Ultimate Werewolf
Parlor Games // 2.0
Red Flags
A card game of terrible dates, in case you don’t have enough of those! Perfect for parties, Red Flags is all about convincing your friends to go on—you guessed it—terrible trysts with would-be partners. Use Perks to create the ultimate matchmaking setup for The Single. Then, try to spoil the date by introducing Red Flags. LGBTQ+/pronoun+ inclusive, with a filthy expansion pack of Dark Red Flags available, too.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Bad People
30 min
Ages 17+
Parlor Games // 2.0
Dialect
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Sign
Depends
Ages 14+
The linguaphile’s RPG. Dialect is a game about what it means when language is lost. Up to 10 players role play the story of a community called “the Isolation” by building a dialect born of three core aspects of its culture. A language building deck dictates how words emerge, and how they’re lost. The aftermath of word death is deeply felt when something core to the game experience can no longer be expressed. Hands down the most elegantly illustrated game guide. And it integrates well with other RPGs as an invented language tool.
Parlor Games // 2.0
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: �Secret Hitler
30 min
Ages 13+
The Resistance
Like Ultimate Werewolf, Resistance is a game of social deduction that pits two teams against each other. In this case, the teams are an evil government and a resistance group, and players are assigned various roles related to these groups. The only thing the Resistance knows is how many government spies exist, not who they are—they must then work amongst themselves to reveal the spies, or die trying.
Parlor Games // 2.0
15-45 min
Ages 6+
Game of Phones
Glued to your screen? No problem. In this Apples-to-Apples style game, each challenge requires using a smartphone in various ways. When a card is drawn for the round, the prompt is read aloud to up to 25 players, e.g., "Show the last photo you took." Strategize around knowing what each rotating judge will be moved by most. First to ten points wins! ��Board Game Geek Reivew
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Heads Up!
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three
Card Games
Section
When you need a break from your other primary device for a good time, switch to cards.
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“No, the way the cards had fallen meant that I had to face more about them than they could know about me...”
James Baldwin, No Name in the Street
Card Games // 3.0
30-60 min
Ages 8+
DiXit Series
This 3-6 player storytelling game is one of creative guesswork and visual inspiration. Get participants to agree that your story truly ladders back to your card and win a round. The first to reach 30 points wins. The ultimate prize: a unique, additive tale players create together. Anyone sharing a common language can play. �
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Hanabi
Card Games // 3.0
Munchkin Deluxe
You don’t have to be an OG dungeon master to get �down with Munchkin. This insanely expansive and satirical take on RPGs pokes fun at role-player stereotypes through card play. The game asks 2-8 people to “Kick down the door,” and think around fantasy obstacles to win treasure with rad tools, such as a...checks notes... Napalm Staff. So, there’s things like that. Like the box says, “Winners are always the unassuming ones.”
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: �Exploding Kittens
90 min
Ages 10+
Card Games // 3.0
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Magic the Gathering
30-60 min depending
Ages 6+
Keyforge
A unique deck-based card game in which players buy complete decks to compete, but no two decks are the same. You and your opponent are the Archons: the most powerful beings in the universe. You find a safe. You need three keys to open it. Be the first to gather enough Æmber pieces to make the keys by playing creature, artifact, action, and upgrade cards. It’s basically a card game version of an escape room. But with steampunk. And aliens.
Card Games // 3.0
30-60 min
Ages 8+
Karma
A super-competitive race to rid your hand of �cards, with a twist: Play a card of equal or greater value, or the discard pile is yours. Special Karma cards help you avoid amassing more cards by passing the burden off to another player. But be careful who you burn. This game brings new meaning to “sleight of hand.”
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Quiddler
Card Games // 3.0
20-40 min
Ages 10+
Space Explorers
A fast-play, engine-building card game with a flair of Soviet nostalgia. Play the head of your own R&D hub at a space research center in the Golden Age of Astronautics (aka the Cold War). Attract a team of 12 specialists to your facility and build one of 20 historic spacecrafts into orbit. First to launch wins. Hammer and sickle not included.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Tapestry
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Video Games
Section
Just me, myself, and UI. And maybe a couple hundred million other registered player accounts, basking in the glow of simulation scenarios.
Background Image
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“Humanity has advanced—when it has advanced—not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”
Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker
Video Games // 4.0
15-20 hours
M 17+ for Mature
Control
Do you like to throw things? Control is a supernatural action-adventure game of telekinesis and levitation. You play Jesse, wandering the halls of a government building under attack by The Hiss, an entity from another dimension. Battling rogue objects and government agents under mind control? No problem. You’re the modern feminist version of Carrie and you’re never out of bullets. Designers will love this game: Easter eggs include sarcastic poster art and thoughtfully drastic Brutalist architecture.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Alien: Isolation
Video Games // 4.0
The Witcher Series
Voted Best Role Playing Game and Game of the Year, �this action RPG series is one of moral ambiguity. You are monster-slaying legend Geralt, The Witcher. Forage for alchemical ingredients or steal potions from friends and foe. In a beautifully rendered world with great variation in events, decision-making has great consequence. Character development becomes personal. Bonus: there’s dice poker. And it’s addictive.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: �The Elder Scrolls
70+ hours
M 17+ for Mature
Video Games // 4.0
Never Alone
(Kisima Ingitchuna)
Cooperation is essential to solving the puzzles of the universe. That’s the moral of this playable Iñupiat fable and documentary created in partnership by Alaska Native elders. Players learn to use each other's strengths as they play a little girl and her arctic fox, seeking the source of �an endless blizzard that threatens her village. Even single-player mode has built-in cooperative lessons. Proceeds fund the Cook Inlet Tribal Council's cultural revitalization efforts.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Gylt
5 hr: 1 player; 3.5 hr: 2 player
E for Everyone
Video Games // 4.0
80+ hours
M for Mature
Life is Strange
Choice and consequence mechanics for the win! �This hand-drawn (!) interactive drama game plays out in five episodes. Rewind play decisions, see both outcomes, and pick the most intriguing story path. But beware, time traveler. Butterfly effect applies. This game is a tearjerker with serious replay value.
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: �Spiritfarer
Video Games // 4.0
40+ hours
E for Everyone
Baba is You
Imagine the laws of physics are physically written in front of you, spelled out like fridge magnets. And all you have to do to bend those laws is change a word.
Baba is You is that concept—applied to itself. You play Baba, a fluffy white bunny in a single-player word puzzler. Reaching the goal is about rewriting the rules. That even could mean changing the goal. Refreshingly simple. Low-fi chic. �
If you like this, you’ll also enjoy: Felix the Reaper
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5.0
Resources
For scratching that game -curious itch
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“Read I must, game I shall.”
Yobama
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Parlett’s Oxford History of Board Games
David Parlett explores the fascinating origins and development of our favorite games, highlighting the importance of game-playing as a vital part of the human experience. Buy here.
Play Anything
How filling life with play—whether soccer or lawn mowing, counting sheep or tossing Angry Birds—forges a new path for creativity and joy in our impatient age. Buy here.
Deep Play
Diane Ackerman tackles the realm of creativity by exploring one of the most essential aspects of our characters: the ability to play. Buy here.
Books
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Super Better
An innovative guide to living gamefully, based on a program aiming to help people achieve remarkable personal growth. Buy here.
Fun, Taste, & Games
John Sharp and David Thomas reclaim fun as a productive and meaningful tool for understanding and appreciating play and games. Buy here.
Transgression in �Games and Play
Contributors explore boundary-crossing in video games, examining both transgressive game content and player actions. Buy here.
Books
An online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images, and videos for over 101,000 different tabletop games.
A toolkit for innovators, rule-breakers, and changemakers. These are games for your workshops and creative meetings. Useful!
Gizmodo’s video game review and blog site. Consistently great stuff.
Sites
A small dungeon layout generator for RPG adventures. Great for Dialect, Dungeons & Dragons, etc.
A not-for-profit organization that analyzes modern media’s relationship to social issues including gender, race, and sexuality. Fantastic game review section!
A choice site for the latest video gaming news, game reviews, and trailers.
Video game-centric news, culture, reviews, and videos.
The world’s first web-to-print game publishing company that offers easy-to-use systems for making your own board games, card games, or custom playing cards.
A podcast series about the past and future of play and innovation, hosted by Steven Johnson, bestselling author and co-creator of the PBS series How We Got To Now.
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Credits
Copy:
Carlie Fishgold, Steve Bryant
Design:
Alexandra Joshpe, Haley Saba
Created by
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