Strategy board games have been exercising the mind, providing remarkable challenges, and testing skills for a very long time. There are hundreds of strategy games to choose from making narrowing options a difficult task.

Some of the more challenging and hottest board games on the”2008 Games of the Year” list include:

~Easter Island

Easter Island is an abstract strategy game. This creative board game is an easier game for younger children, eight years of age and older, and is a two-player fantasy game.

Easter Island takes place with inhabitants who have vanished from a mysterious island in the South Pacific. All that remains are gigantic sculpture, which are so huge that it’s speculated that the sculptures were fashioned by beam weapons created by great wizards.

The goal of the game is to destroy your opponent’s statues by reflecting beams of light to destroy opponent’s pieces while protecting your own. Requiring creative thinking, prior planning, and the ability to foresee future moves of your opponent while planning your own strategy, makes Easter Island an enjoyable and fascinating game.

Anyone liking chess or related games, will enjoy playing Easter Island – it’s the type of game that teaches skills in a fun way. The kids will never know they’re learning higher-level thinking skills.

~Khronos

Khronos is an advanced strategy game for ages 10 and older and for two to five players. Khronos is a fantasy game of medieval city building and takes approximately 90 minutes to play.

In Khronos, a powerful lord and his faithful companion engage in a battle for power. The game is played on three board games during three simultaneous periods – Middle Ages, Renaissance periods, and Modern period.

Players begin with four actions cards in hand and have seven turns in which to develop their domains by building a variety of military, civil, and religious structures. Some buildings are moved in time – transferred to the same place on one of the other boards.

The potential of destroying, regrouping, and uniting or dividing domains provides a challenging interaction between players making Khronos an advanced strategic game.

~If Wishes Were Fishes

If Wishes Were Fishes is a great family strategy game. This game created by Rio Grande Games can be played with two to five people and takes approximately 45 minutes. Children ages 10 and older can enjoy this strategic game with older siblings or with parents.

Players in this game are fishermen who are trying to catch the most valuable fish. These fish are then taken to the market and sold for the best price. There’s limited space in each player’s fish storage bin, so players must think ahead and decide when would be the best time to go to the market.

Logical and strategic skills have made If Wishes Were Fishes a new family 2008 Game of the Year. If Wishes were Fishes will have the family enjoying one another’s company while laughing and strategizing to win the game.

~Ages of Empires 3

Ages of Empires 3 is for three to five players, and has been adapted from a computer released game. “Games” magazine gave Ages of Empire the Best Advanced Strategy Game Runner-up award for 2008.

In Ages of Empire, players take on the role of one of Europe’s Colonial Powers. Players plan new economies in the new world while settling in new frontiers and building infrastructures in the Americas to send goods back home.

The Ages of Empire is a must-have gift for those loving strategy games.

These top strategy games are this year’s hottest picks for Christmas gifts: children, friends, and family members will be asking to play again and again.

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