Happy holidays from the Pandasaurus team! Give the gift of gaming this holiday season with these great small box games. From a mix of award-winning designers, these titles are sure to spread joy to experienced and casual gamers everywhere. Their small size, great gameplay, and reasonable price points make them the perfect stocking stuffers!

Build the most beautiful garden in Ohanami!

This elegant drafting game has received a lot of positive support from big personalities. Tom Vasel gave it a Dice Tower Seal of Excellence, calling it a game he could play “over and over again.” Players will draft 10 cards and add them to their gardens, either on top of or behind an existing stack. Each round, additional garden features score, shifting players’ focus from flashy rock formations to calming water pools. Ohanami takes the captivating aspects of The Game (the thrill from playing cards in consecutive order) and turns it into a competitive yet relaxing game.

The Game: Quick & Easy… harder than it looks!

Gamers at any age will enjoy the new gameplay of The Game: Quick & Easy. Players will need to work together to play all the cards in the deck without sharing what’s in their hands! One deck counts up from 1 to 10 while the other deck counts down from 10 to 1. Cards played on these decks must follow the ascending and descending rules. There’s a trick though: you can ignore the number when playing a card on top of a matching color! With only 50 cards, gameplay is quick, but beating the game is no simple feat. Those familiar with the mechanics of The Game will have no problem understanding the rules of this new version.

How fast do you think the Robots are going?

We are so excited to add this 2020 Kinderspiel des Jahres (Childrens Game of the Year) nominee to the Pandasaurus catalog! Movin Meeples described it as having “that smile inducing element of mind reading that will be familiar to fans of The Mind and The Game, but it’s even simpler and family oriented.” Each round, one player will take on the role of the Robot and have to telegraph to the other players how fast they’re moving mentally. After just two exclamations of “beep!” players will guess which item the Robot reached on the track. Robots is a perfect game to add to younger players’ stockings!

Are you ready to play The Game?

We’ve mentioned The Game a few times in this article already - and for good reason! This colorful card game is a staple in our catalog. The amazing artwork by Kwanchai Moriya has an incredible presence on the shelf AND on the table! In this Spiel des Jahres-nominated game, players will work together to play all 100 cards in the deck. However, they have to discard cards into two piles: one counting up from 1 to 100 and another counting down from 100 to 1. Meeple Mountain describes the real challenge as “trying to stop playing” since players will want to play again and again!

Read your friends’ minds in The Mind!

The Mind is one of the most awarded titles in our catalog! Its ingenious and addictive design by Wolfgang Warsch was all the buzz at its release and is still frequently praised in gaming circles. Players will work together to play cards in numerical order without speaking whatsoever. How do you make the right decision when the game is on the line? The answers lie in this little box. Earn extra lives, helping hands, and work your way through all the levels. W. Eric Martin from BoardGameGeek likens it to “performing a magic trick on your fellow players while amazing yourself in the process.” Experience the magic for yourself!

Professional telepaths need to try The Mind: Extreme!

For an even more challenging experience, try The Mind: Extreme! This title combines the ascending and descending decks from The Game and the mind-reading communication style of The Mind into a hardcore gaming exercise. If you can make it past the first level, you might even experience other obstacles - like playing your cards face-down!

Illusion: Can you trust your eyes?

Another hit from Wolfgang Warsch, Illusion is a fun lightweight game of optical illusions. Players will need to arrange cards in sequential order of how much of a given color is visible on the card. The twist? Each card is a visual-trick designed to mess with your senses. On your turn you can add a card to the row if you think you've got it right, or if you think a friend has made a mistake you can call them out and challenge their solution! Geeks Under Grace described it as “part pattern recognition, part puzzle, and part visual perception.” However you describe it, it’s a lot of fun!