Best New Board Games 2011 - 2012

7 Wonders Game

Amazon Price: $30.00 (as of 05/30/2012)

In 7 wonders you play through the 3 great ages of civilization in order to gain power, prestige, and beat out your competitors. In each age you have the choice of building up quickly or buying cards from certain ages that will give you discounts later on. You can play with 3-7 players (a 2 player alternate version is also listed in the instructions) and if you love strategy games, then it's the one in 2011 that you'll want to get.

Abacusspiele - Valdora

Amazon Price: $44.36 (as of 05/30/2012)

Playing pieces are moved about a board with mines set up in between cities. Players can move their playing pieces on their turns, and refill a coin supply, which is helpful in getting commission as well as paying off other players.

Jump Gate

Amazon Price: $24.99 (as of 05/30/2012)

The game is arranged with a jump gate board surrounded by eight planet boards as well as a black hole board. Players draw cards in order to be able to move their playing pieces and leave markers on various boards in the game, earning themselves more points, which are counted at the end of the game. Just be wary of the black hole board, because if you happen to leave markers on that board, you lose points at the end of the game.

Jaipur

Amazon Price: $22.88 (as of 05/30/2012)

Arimaa

Amazon Price: $34.99 (as of 05/30/2012)

Playing pieces have more power according to the size of the animal, of which there are eight rabbits, two cats, two dogs, two horses, one camel, and one elephant. Strategy lies in arranging your pieces however you want at the beginning of the game, so that you can effectively move a rabbit to the other side, or else block the other player from accomplishing this goal. Each turn, a player gets four moves. He or she can either choose to move a single piece four spaces, or else he can split the spaces between playing pieces. All of the playing pieces can move in any direction, except that the rabbits can never move backwards. A player may use two moves to push or pull an opponent's playing piece using one of the larger animals, which is useful for putting your opponent's playing piece on a trap space.

Angry Birds: Knock On Wood Game

Amazon Price: $10.50 (as of 05/30/2012)

The mission card tells the player how to set up the wood pieces in a structure in which the pigs are hiding from the birds. The players then use a slingshot to slingshot the angry birds into the wooden structure (which is actually made of plastic in this game) and knock down the pigs. Depending upon a player's accuracy in slingshotting the birds, he or she gets a certain number of points. The first player to reach 1000 points wins.

Gears Of War The Board Game

Amazon Price: $31.12 (as of 05/29/2012)

At the end of a player's turn, he draws an A.I. card, which describes some sort of locust attack or else a multiplication of locusts. Players attack the locusts with dice, but the game is in a lot of ways geared so that the locusts have a better chance of winning (for instance, the locusts attack with more dice than the soldiers).

Small World Underground

Amazon Price: $36.85 (as of 05/30/2012)

The tokens each belong to a different race of "people", and there is a lot of strategy involved in conquering other peoples and defending yourself. The characters in this game are kind of strange, but certainly creatively thought out (there are allusions to movies like Lord of the Rings and Tombraider in these characters).

Burger Joint

Amazon Price: $19.99 (as of 05/30/2012)

The restaurant owners build their own chains, and ultimately, the chain that is the most popular (popularity is decided by points earned at the end of the game) at the end of the game wins!