Best New Editions of Board Games Coming to Retail in December, 2025

0:07 Hey, I'm Grant with Grant's Gamerecks, coming to you from my sister's house in Massachusetts. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. Um, I've been doing all my top 10 games of the year, you know, different categories videos, but I also promise you information on retail releases every month, and December is no different. Uh, I am going to combine the best new additions and the best expansions video into this one video for this month just because we don't have that much of either of those things. So, it makes sense to do it as one video and, you know, it's still going to be a fairly short video. So, we only have we have four new editions coming to retail in December and then three uh expansions coming to retail this month. So, I hope you're getting chance to play games. I hope you're getting a chance to take a break from, you know, work and life and stuff like that during the holiday season. So, uh, happy to bring you this information.

1:08 First up this month, Aries Games is releasing the game Wonder Waffen. Plays two to four players in 90 to 150 minutes, and it is a mediumweight game. Uh, this is an asymmetric war game. So, if you're a fan of war games, this is the final days of World War II. And the two two different players or, you know, in teams of two will play as either the Allied forces or the German forces. And again, asymmetric sort of play styles and win conditions. The Allied players must carefully balance the urgency to rapidly advance toward Berlin with the need to limit the Germans scientific research. Whereas the German players will have to move forward on the research track trying at the same time to put in a to put up a desperate fight against the against the Allies advance.

2:05 So, you know, as with many historical war games, there's real history here. the uh the German forces were trying to develop this sort of [snorts] super weapon at the end of World War II. And so that's what you're doing in the game here. And uh you know, it's always interesting playing like real uh historical games like this because I hope I'm rooting for whoever is playing the Allies. I I want the Allies to win, you know. So uh that is Wonder Waffen. CGE is releasing code names XXL second edition. So earlier this year CGE released new versions of regular code names and it just had a new cover sort of new artwork, new graphic design, some new words in it. And this is the XXL version. So just think jumbo version of codeen names but the new version of codeen names with the updated art and design. Uh plays four to eight players and you know 15 to 30 minutes and it is a lightweight game. So you know the jumbo version really does have big old cards in it. So, if you if you want to take up more table space or you want a sillier version or or you want people to be able to see from across the room much easier, then check out the XXL version and there's now a second edition.

3:31 Exploding Kittens is releasing the game Horrible Couple. This is a new version of the game Horrible Therapist. Uh, and so this one plays two to eight players in about 15 minutes. and it is a lightweight party game. So, if you're looking for a new party game, uh, check out Horrible Couple. Uh, in the game, you are putting together sort of comic strips and trying to have the funniest one. You start with a question card, then a response card, and then you top it off with a ludicrous compromise card. So, you're sort of building a comic strip with the cards. Uh you can play it both cooperatively and competitively.

4:17 There are two modes of the game. So um you know and you can play it obviously with just two players. If you're a couple, you can play it, but you can also play it with a number of couples because it plays up to eight players. Or you can just play it with friends and and be weird, you know, if you want to want to play this couples game for but but just sometimes I make my uh roommate play couples games with me because I think it's really funny to force him to play games with me when we're not in a relationship and have no interest in being so. So, uh yeah, but you know, it's kind of nice that there's both a cooperative and competitive version of horrible couple. Hasbro is releasing Monopoly Deal K-Pop Demon Hunter. Uh this uh plays um I don't remember how many players Monopoly Deal plays. It plays a few players. I think it's like two to six. Uh and plays in like 15 minutes and it is a lightweight game. It plays two to five players. Excuse me. Uh and plays in like 15 minutes and it's a lightweight game.

5:24 So, Monopoly Deal is I I think a more fun version of Monopoly. It distills Monopoly down into just a card game version where you are playing cards, messing with other people. You can still charge rent and then you're trying to get um sets of properties to win the game. Well, this gives this is still Monopoly Deal, but has all K-pop demon hunter artwork and theme to it. So, you know, obviously that has been a big sensation, that movie. And so, if you're a huge fan of that movie and you sing all of the music, I've never seen it, but boy, do I know the music because people sing it all the time and play it all the time. So, um you know, it's uh you can have that version of Monopoly Deal now. So, those are our four new editions coming to retail in December.

6:14 And then also, let's talk about the three expansions coming to retail in December. We have Galileo Galilee Luna from Capstone Games. Plays one to four players in about 60 minutes and it is a mediumweight game. Galileo Galile uh is was one of my top uh games of the year. Uh I just released my top strategy games of the year and this was number three I believe on my top strategy games of the year. So it's a game I really really like. Uh this Luna expansion adds a few things. It introduces the moon as a new object of observation. So in the base game, you can observe other planets or you can observe constellations. Now you have a new thing you can observe, the moon. Uh it adds a new scoring mechanic to explore. It also adds four new playable characters. So each of the character has sort of one asymmetric special ability. So now there's four new characters all with their own asymmetric special ability. Uh, and there's also powerful inquisitors that enter the game, offering great rewards to to those who can successfully persuade them. So, if you if you uh like the m inquisitor mechanic, now there's new powerful inquisitors.

7:31 Capstone is also releasing Pagan Fate of the Rono content pack number seven, Behind the Veil. Um, this is a two-player only game. Plays in 30 to 60 minutes and it is a mediumweight game. Interesting thing about this expansion, this Behind the Veil expansion. You need both the the base game Pagan and the Beyond the Palisades expansion. So, you already need both of those for this to work. Uh, Pagan Fate of the Road is a really great two-player game where it's highly asymmetric where one person plays as a witch and one person plays as a witch hunter and you're trying to persuade town folks, but you kind of have different ways that you're doing it and playing it. Uh this uh con this card pack expansion reveals the ancient history of Rowan Oak, its secret rights and forgotten packs that haunt the very heart of the centuries old trees. So it adds some new cards that add some, you know, more replayability and uh new mechanics into the game. And the last expansion I'm going to talk about this month, CGE is releasing SETI Space Agencies. Plays one to four players in 40 to 160 minutes. And it is sort of maybe on the edge of that medium plus weight to heavyweight game. So if you want a heavier weight game, um you know, STI uh was a a really popular game

9:04 recently, sort of a big space themed game. Uh this expansion adds a few things to the game of STI. It introduces powerful asymmetric organizations. So you will get an organization at the start of the ability at the start of the game. And each of those organizations will have unique abilities will have strategic advantages, starting conditions that redefine how you approach the game. So, if you like asymmetric powers or unique special abilities, then that is in there for you. Um, it also adds quick start cards. So, essentially, you get a card that gives you some things at the start of the game and allows you to skip the first round of the game. You basically play rounds two to five. And I like when games do that, when they sort of jump you right into the action. Uh, and so, you know, and the opening round is definitely the slowest round of the game. So, now you get to skip that and dive right into the action. Um, there's also, um, three new alien species, each with their own unique twists and over 40 new project cards inspired by realworld initiatives. So again, there's just this just adding a lot of content, switching up the gameplay, jumping you into it faster, adding unique special abilities.

10:25 So if you're huge fan of STI, and there were a lot of fans of SETI, you know, I mean, it was on a lot of top 10 uh games of the year uh lists last year when it came out. And so if you're looking for more for it, then uh you have it now. So, those are our new additions and expansions coming to retail in the month of December. Uh, I will be back with a couple of uh additional top 10 videos and also then I will um I'm going to release some like most anticipated games of 2026 videos soon. So, stay tuned for all that sort of stuff. So, thanks so much for being here. As always, I hope you find some information about some games that you're interested in. I'm Grant with Grant's GameRex.