9. Bohnanza
We got this game for Christmas last year and have played it gobs of times since then. It’s made by Rio Grande and they usually come out with pretty fun games but sometimes they’re very long, complicated, and require so much strategy to ever have hope of winning. 
I love Bohnanza because it’s pretty simple – it’s a card game so there aren’t a million pieces to set up and figure out. 
And he cards are efficient – the back of the deck is a graphic of a coin so when you harvest your bean fields for coins you use the back of the same card. It’s simple and efficient and smart. Play is pretty easy to figure out – each player can have up to two bean fields. On each turn you must 1. Plant bean cards 2. Draw, trade & donate bean cards 3. Plant traded and donated beans and 4. Draw new bean cards. Cards must stay in the same order they are drawn which adds an element of strategy. The more beans you collect of one variety, the more coins you earn for harvesting. And all varieties of beans have different value. It’s a quick game to learn and play and even I can beat my strategy expert husband sometimes! It’s inexpensive at around $15 on Amazon.
10. Dodge Dice
This is a fast paced, simple game great for all ages. My 7 and 5 year old play and although they don’t always follow the rules exactly, they have fun. The object of the game is to collect the fewest points. The dice include an Action Die, Penalty Die, and Dodge Dice. 
All the dice are rolled on the first die – the penalty die is set and is not rolled again until the first roll of the next round. Whatever color dominates the dodge dice is the color you’ll want to collect. In my photo it was blue. Each player rolls all the remaining dies on their turn until 1. The Stop icon is rolled or 2. All the dodge dice are the same color. When one of those two things happens the round is over and the last player to roll collects the penalty points UNLESS he plays skip chips. Players can play one skip chip before their turn to skip their turn or two skip ships after their turn to ignore the results, even if they would otherwise end a round. 
The game is over when the first player reaches 100 points. It’s a simple, fun, and fast paced game great for kids and adults to play together. And it’s also inexpensive! That’s one of my favorite things about all these games – it’s less than $10 on Amazon. And that’s it, our 10 favorite games. Happy holiday shopping!
