The long, dark stretch of winter break is the perfect moment to crack open the game cabinet or dust off your console for some quality game time.
In honor of the Year of Games—a yearlong celebration of play, game design and fun—UChicago News asked gamers around the University for their recommendations.
Whether you’re looking to spend hours on brain-numbing strategy or a few minutes laughing with family and friends between rounds of holiday cookies, here are games for every kind of player.
Strategy games to make you think
Blue Prince (2025), recommended by Patrick Jagoda, faculty, Departments of Cinema and Media Studies, English Language and Literature, and Obstetrics and Gynecology
Blue Prince is a unique puzzle game that balances strategy, chance and storytelling in an atmospheric environment. You play as Simon P. Jones who has inherited Mt. Holly Estate, the mansion of his recently passed great-uncle, on the condition that you discover the 46th room of what appears to be a 45-room estate. Each day, the distribution of rooms shifts, and the player must draft the room order based on randomized cards in an ever-expanding deck.
While this is a video game, it often plays like a tabletop game. At the same time, Blue Prince draws on the specific video game legacy of "roguelike" games that include procedural generation, movement across a grid and replay with the expectation of frequent failure. The game's world includes myriad mysteries that continue even after one might find the 46th room. This combination makes it one of the most innovative, if at times maddeningly challenging, puzzle games in years.
Available for PlayStation 5, Xbox and Windows.
Sultan’s Game (2025), recommended by Ziyi Lin, Ph.D. student, Departments of Cinema and Media Studies, and East Asian Languages and Civilizations
For players craving a winter break escape that’s equal parts strategy, storytelling and spectacle, Sultan’s Game is a must-play.
Fresh off its INDIE Live Expo Grand Prize win, the card-based strategy gem casts the player as a beleaguered minister navigating a kingdom under the terror of four types of magical cards: Carnality, Conquest, Bloodshed and Extravagance. Each card unleashes a seven-day death-countdown quest under the watch of a tyrannical sultan, forcing you to decide whether to survive, subvert or completely upend the world you inhabit.
What elevates Sultan’s Game beyond its richly stylized gameplay is the sheer craftsmanship of its world-building. The jewel-toned art direction, lavish soundtrack and sprawling matrix of narrative branches create an experience that feels both immersive and mind-stirring.
Available for Windows and Mac.
Forbidden Island (2010), recommended by Maggi Valdes Steib, staff, Alumni and Volunteer Experience
Forbidden Island is a cooperative strategy survival board game, best played with four players. With each turn, the island waters rise, landmark tiles become “flooded,” and teamwork is essential to successfully airlift everyone off the island. Our family loves playing this game while siblings are in town for the holidays.
Available to purchase online or at your local game store.
Tabletop and board games to spark friendly competition
One Night Ultimate Werewolf (2014), recommended by Hanu Shahdadpuri, Ph.D. student, Department of English Language and Literature
This winter break, I’ll be getting in as many games as I can of the old-but-gold tabletop One Night Ultimate Werewolf. My college Shakespeare troupe and I used to spend long winter hours huddled around with hot chocolate, quarreling and accusing one another of lycanthropic deception. It’s been a cold-weather classic for me since.
ONUW is a fast-paced version of the game some know as Mafia or simply Werewolf. Amongst a village of three to 10 players lurk one to two werewolves whom the others must identify and indict within 10 minutes to survive. The werewolves, on the other hand, must stave off suspicion to win.
I love the game’s brisk pace, which lets you play round after round in succession, and how fundamentally it depends on interpersonal dynamics. It’s delightful to uncover people’s unexpected prowess at lying and scheming … especially people you thought you knew well!
Available to purchase online or at your local game store.
Corrupt Bargain: The 1824 Presidential Election, recommended by Brendan Whyte, Library
Corrupt Bargain is a very simple but tense and exciting area-control game, best with four players. Take on the roles of candidates Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford, soapboxing and backstabbing their way around the 24 states seeking election. If you can't win the popular vote, you can always influence the politicians themselves to get yourself into the Oval Office. Includes 80 event cards featuring details about period politicos, and an excellent historical background article.
Available to purchase online.
Immersive games for a perfect winter escape
Everdell (2018), recommended by Emily Mixter, staff, Office of Civic Engagement
If you love strategy but need a retreat after the grind of finals, Everdell is like the tabletop equivalent of wrapping yourself in a warm blanket.
Set in a wooded wonderland, this wholesome world-building game invites you in with beautiful artwork as you build a tiny civilization from the ground up. If you love cozy games but still want to keep your strategic mind sharp, the gameplay is immersive without ever feeling stressful.
Available to purchase online or at your local game store.
Dave the Diver (2023), recommended by Kelli Chavez, staff, Office of Civic Engagement
Dave the Diver is a good mix of "cozy" and stressful (iykyk). You play as Dave, who dives for fish, cooking supplies and tools by day and works at a sushi restaurant by night—serving the fish you've caught!. The art style is unique and the underwater scenes are beautiful and relaxing, as long as you avoid the sharks!
This game is good for anyone who enjoys games where you forage for items and for fans of Diner Dash.
Available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Windows and Mac.
428: Shibuya Scramble (2008), recommended by David Hall, fourth-year student in the College, staff, Weston Game Lab
Ever wanted to read a choose-your-own crime thriller, slapstick comedy and psychological horror story, all at once? 428: Shibuya Scramble is a hyperlinked visual novel adventure game where you must assume multiple identities to solve a kidnapping plot that unfolds in the center of Tokyo. Over ten hours, you'll play as a young detective tasked with solving the case, a freelance writer racing to finish a magazine and a person mysteriously trapped in a cat costume, to name a few.
The way that Shibuya Scramble breaks our conception of linear narrative has even inspired me to write my senior thesis about it. In playing multiple interconnected throughlines and traversing an ever-evolving web of plot points that change with each character's actions, it opens up infinite potential for us to think about ergodic literature as it exists in the digital age.
Available on PlayStation 3 and 4, Android, iOS, Windows and Wii.
Untitled Goose Game (2019), recommended by Wren Vela, third-year student in the College, staff, Weston Game Lab
In Untitled Goose Game, you play as a horrible goose let loose on an English village. It’s pretty inexpensive and a joy for people who love task-oriented games (me).
Available for Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Side-splitting card games for the whole family
Dutch Blitz, recommended by Emma Rund, staff, University Communications
Dutch Blitz is a fast-paced, family-friendly card game that pulls from solitaire's gameplay to create a truly chaotic and delightful (if a little stressful) competition. Who can empty their Blitz pile first??
Available to purchase online, on mobile or at your local game store.
Poetry for Neanderthals (2020), recommended by Walmy Sveen, staff, Biological Sciences Division, Medicine
In Poetry for Neanderthals, a person picks a card with a word on it and uses one-syllable clues to allow their teammate to guess the word. If the guess is successful, the cardholder provides clues to a related compound word or phrase on the card for additional points. It's suitable for ages 8 and up, and can be played by four to 10 people.
Also, there is an inflatable club for tapping rule breakers on the head. This game makes me laugh every time I play it.
Available to purchase online or at your local game store.
Monopoly Deal, recommended by Lindsey Weglarz, staff, Division of the Social Sciences
Monopoly Deal is a card game version of classic Monopoly; it has all the competitiveness and cutthroat action of Monopoly, but the game takes less than 15 minutes. The rules are streamlined, and even younger children can play with a bit of help (my 5-year-old loves it). It's a great game to play when someone says, “I'm bored!” on a dreary winter day.
Available to purchase online or at your local game store.
Quiddler, recommended by Andrea Morris, staff, Biological Sciences Division
Quiddler is the best! The game does not take a long time to play and only requires a Quiddler deck. Combining Scrabble and gin rummy, players must combine letters to form words to score the most points. You can even play solo. The rules permit looking up spellings or even words, which is a good way to teach children new vocabulary. My 20-something child, my mid-70s friend and I (early 60s) recently enjoyed a game together.
Available to purchase online or at your local game store.
