For board games 2022 was pretty close to pre-pandemic levels, from the number of new releases to conventions to sheer quality of offerings. There are always more good new games each year than I can play, assuming I even have access to them in the first place. This is the best of what I was able to try. There were other games I liked that just didn’t make the cut here, and there are games I know about but haven’t actually played, so I can’t include them. I don’t log my plays (some players do), so I don’t know exactly how many new games I played, but it’s well north of 50, and I would say I played 20 or more that were good enough to recommend. Here’s my top 10 for the year. Until then, if you’ve a friend or family member who’s a fan of the great gameplay of Best of TV & Movies, you should take a look at: Fast Forward card allows a team to pass on one of four questions on their question card, without that question being offered to the other team. A hidden identity game, much like the film, it’s a grim race to find out who’s been infected with a gross alien lifeform that perfectly imitates its hosts. This is determined in random and secret via player cards at the start of the game.

These days, a good audience for a *top* TV show (think Strictly, or Ant & Dec) might be seven or eight million. Browncoats gather! Although the cult western-themed sci-fi TV show and its film follow-up Serenity might be long over, this board game adaptation captures much of the spirit of the original series. It’s one of our best-loved games; the centrepiece for many a funny, nostalgia-fuelled, not-so-quiet night in for so many families across the UK. We’re asked this fairly frequently on social media, and the answer is: ‘sorry, not at the moment – but never say never!’ As you'd expect from such a bunch of nefarious ne'er-do-wells, the aim of this strategy game is to rewrite classic Disney storylines in your favour. So if you're playing as Jafar, you'll be trying to steal the lamp from Aladdin and overthrow the Sultan, for example. But your frenemies/fellow players will try to thwart your plans for world domination in favour of their own schemes...We're used to playing heroes, but secretly, we long to be the Big Bad. This light strategy game in which you can be everyone from nasty sorceror Jafar to shape-sifting sea witch Ursula meets that dark desire, and Disney fans will just adore its aesthetic. Alien vs Predator: The Hunt Begins: Engage in a battle between two ferocious outerworld tribes in this miniatures board game. But recently, it’s been showing its age a little, and the original Best of TV & Movies game is now out of production. Boooooo!!!

So whether you’re interested in finagling Chinese sorcerers, fending off murderous space cannibals or chomping on your crewmates as a giant shark, we’ve got the top board game movie tie-ins for you. Based on John Carpenter’s 1982 horror masterpiece, The Thing: Infection at Outpost31 is a tense and simple social deduction game. You play the crew of an Antarctic research base, but some of you are infected imitations.

Split into two acts, the first part sees you beating up thugs and getting those levels in, while the second part follows the descent into Lo Pan’s lair. The Team Rules are great when you have a mix of younger and older players - it makes best use of everybody's knowledge. The Individual Rules are great when you want a more competitive game. CONTENTS: The Best of Food Game– the game for everybody who eats things! Fun teasers about the things in your cupboards and fridge. Sweets, hamburgers, crisps and cakes!

Rushing across four acts, it starts out from the wedding and moves onto the film’s final bloody climax. Mute Button card - stops a specific player in the other team answering any questions during a turn. Normally this will be played on someone who is an expert at the topic on the card. Firefly: The Game: Hop aboard the Serenity and fly across the galaxy to deliver goods and seek adventure. Meanwhile, the secret alien will be subtly sabotaging the crew’s efforts. It wants to multiply. And it’s real good at it. The main campaign comprises ten missions joined together by an ongoing story. Its latest revamped edition includes new pre-configured models that require no assembly, and a new co-operative horde mode where players must contend against swarms of aliens.Surprisingly often, this involves sending one dude down into the sea armed with a hammer and/or baseball bat. Inside the box is: Playing board, 400 Question cards, 3 bonus cards, 6 Playing pieces, game instructions. Unfold the board and lay it on the table. Each player/team selects a playing piece and puts it on the START space on the board. Put the three BONUS cards beside the card box. QUESTIONS

Once the team has answered the fourth (GREEN) question correctly and moved their playing piece onto the next GREEN space on the board their turn is over and the card is put into the "picture side" end of the box. ANSWERING INCORRECTLY And much like the show, it entails dragging contraband cargo across the galaxy with misfit mates in tow. If a player gets an answer wrong the QM then asks the SAME question to each player moving to the left until one gets it right. This player wins a bonus move to the next segment on the board that matches the colour of the question. If none of the players can answer the question correctly the QM reads out the answer to everyone. The QM now asks the next question to the original player. WINNING ZONE Disney villains are among some of film and TV's most iconic, and you can celebrate them with their very own aptly-titled board game, Villainous. The stand-alone sequel, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God, followed up in 2005, but didn't really redeem its predecessor. A third installment, Dungeons & Dragons 3: The Book of Vile Darkness was released in 2012 in a direct-to-DVD format.

Firefly: The Game

Sharky death boy can win by capturing players or munching down further on the boat. On the other hand, players need to wipe him out for victory. Paranoia and unspeakable madness are inevitable in the board game adaptation of John Carpenter’s The Thing - where you get to kill your friends on the icy fields of Antarctica. The QM takes the first card from the "question side" end of the box. He shows the Picture or reads the THEME to the player on his left then asks him the first (ORANGE) question. If the player answers correctly he immediately moves his playing piece to the next ORANGE space on the board. The QM goes on to ask him the remaining questions on the card. Each time he gets a question right he moves his playing piece on to the next space that matches that question's colour. After the player has answered the fourth (GREEN) question correctly and moved his playing piece onto the next GREEN space on the boardhis turn is over and the card is put into the "Picture side" end of the box. The role of QM then moves to the player on the QM's left who takes a new card to ask to the player on their left. ANSWERING INCORRECTLY By common consent choose one player to be the Question Master (QM) who will ask the questions for the first round. ANSWERING CORRECTLY One of the most popular outings for horror auteur John Carpenter, Big Trouble in Little China is a wild movie labyrinth of psychedelia, gang violence and haunted sorcerers sporting laser eyes.