From Outer Space to a Railroad Race

Bored with the usual board games? These six lesser-known games are great for winter evenings at home or as gifts…

•Battlestar Galactica is fun even if you have never watched the TV series on which it’s based. As in the ­series, players work together to overcome the challenges faced trying to ensure the survival of humanity. But one or more players are secretly Cylon saboteurs. It’s a game of bluffing and sniffing out bluffs.

Details: Average play time is two to three hours…three to six players…ages 10 and up. List price $49.95, but available online for less than $40. FantasyFlightGames.com

•Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game lets you be an Indiana Jones-style adventurer. Players travel around a spectacular map of a world that is on the brink of World War II as they search for ancient artifacts and fight Nazis. The game has lots of great-quality components and is full of adventure and suspense.

Details: Average play time is one hour…two to eight players (or solo)…ages 13 and up. $99.99 list price, but available for less than $75. FlyingFrogProductions.MyBigCommerce.com

•Rampage, a family-friendly game that began as a popular 1986 arcade game, lets you be a ravenous King Kong-, Godzilla- or werewolf-like monster. Players move their monsters around the city laid out on the game board, dropping them onto buildings, flicking vehicles at buildings and blowing buildings over. Whoever collects the most points by knocking over buildings and “eating” the residents of the city wins. The game is surprisingly addictive.

Details: Average play time is around 30 minutes…two to four players…ages eight and up. List price $59.99, but available for less than $40. Rprod.com

•The Settlers of Catan involves players competing to build the most powerful civilization through a ­combination of savvy strategy, good luck and smart trades negotiated with other players. Playing cards represent resources such as wood and bricks that can be used to construct cities and roads. It’s one of only 25 games that have been inducted into the Games magazine Hall of Fame, which is populated mainly by far better-known games such as Monopoly.

Details: Average play time is around one hour…three or four players…ages 10 and up. List price $42, but available for less than $40. MayfairGames.com

•Ticket to Ride players collect train car cards and then use them to complete routes between North American cities. Players face a key decision on each turn in this easy-to-learn strategy game. They can collect more train cards or complete a route. Wait too long to complete a desired route, and another player might claim it first—but claim a section of rail too soon, and an opponent might figure out where you’re headed and cut you off.

Details: Average play time around 45 minutes…two to five players…ages eight and up. $49.99 list price, but available for less than $40. Store.BottomLinePublications.com

•Zombie Dice is an inexpensive, fast-paced, easy-to-learn dice game. Players assume the role of zombies who take turns rolling dice with the goal of “eating” as many brains as possible. You can roll multiple times on each turn if you like—but beware, the dice depict shotgun blasts as well as brains. Get shot three times on a turn, and you don’t get to eat that turn’s brains.

Details: Average play time is 10 to 20 minutes…two or more players…ages 10 and up. List price $13.99, but available for less than $10. SJGames.com

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