🎁 Skeleton Code Machine Gift Guide 2025

Gift ideas for those who love tabletop board games and roleplaying games, collected from this year's Skeleton Code Machine articles.

Welcome to the second annual Skeleton Code Machine Gift Guide!

I always enjoy reading a good gift guide even if I have no intention of purchasing everything. It’s a fun way to capture the popular items of the day and fun to look back on later. So here are some recommendations based on games we’ve explored this year.

Burning Banners

For the wargamer: This year I was able to get a bit more into wargaming with Burning Banners (2024) and A Gest of Robin Hood (2024).¹ They both have the advantage of playing well at two players, are able finish a game in about an hour or two, and yet give a pretty deep and satisfying experience.

The White Castle

For the euro gamer: Not everyone wants high interaction and conflict in their board games. If you have a friend who loves multi-player solitaire (perhaps with a tiny bit of interaction), The White Castle is a solid little worker placement game. A duel version was just released, but I think the original plays just fine at both 2-players and 3-players. Again, it’s a small box which is an important feature for me lately.

Compile: Main 1

For the head-to-head competitive player: I played a demo of Compile: Main 1 (2024) at PAX Unplugged last year and instantly fell in love with it. As a former (casual) Android: Netrunner player, it sort of scratches the same lane-battle itch but with an easier on-ramp for new players. There’s no deck construction outside of the game. Just draft some small decks, combine, and you’re ready to play a 30-minute game.² And it all fits in a tiny cube box that can go in a backpack. Alternative pick for this category is Dracula vs. Van Helsing.

Pacts

For the players who love area control: I never seem to tire of area control games, so I was happy to demo Pacts (2025) at PAX Unplugged this year with the designer. It distills area control and “I cut, you choose” mechanisms into something greater than its parts. At a reasonable price and in a small DVC box, it would be a good gift.

Necomancer Heretic

For the indie TTRPG lover: Consider printing out a favorite one-page RPG or choosing a zine and combining it with a notebook, pen, deck of cards, and dice:

• Lacksmith printed out on nice, thick paper paper with cards.

• Necromancer Heretic and a thematic deck of cards with some skull themed cozy accessories for some quiet journaling.

• Menagerie of the Void with a pack of quality notecards and pen.

The goal would be to create an “analog solo gaming kit” with cozy vibes. And don’t forget the EP Solo Games bundle is back in stock. ;)

Signal

For the player who wants something odd: Of the games I’ve played this year, Signal (2025) is one of the strangest. It’s a cooperative game where one player is the alien and the others are researchers attempting to communicate with it. The goal of the game is to use induction to figure out what the rules of the scenario are. It also has the advantage of coming in a nice little box common to all games from DVC.

Black Sonata

For the solo gamer: Most new board games seem to have solo modes these days, but Black Sonata (2017) is the first I’ve seen with elegant hidden movement and deduction mechanisms. It’s also a small box game that plays in about 30 minutes. The game goes out of print periodically, but as of today it is in stock from Side Room Games.

Tumulus, the Skeleton Code Machine Quarterly

For the game designer: If you know someone who loves tabletop games, a 4-issue Tumulus subscription would be perfect. They will receive one print-only issue per quarter and there’s no pesky auto-renewal that you need to worry about. And they’ll get their first issue right away — Issue 05. “Step into the fairy ring.” Also, Make Your Own One-Page RPG and ADVENTURE! Make Your Own TTRPG Adventure would make good gifts too.

What games are you wishing for or gifting to someone this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

— E.P. 💀

P.S. Want more in-depth and playable Skeleton Code Machine content? Subscribe to Tumulus and get four quarterly, print-only issues packed with game design inspiration at 33% off list price. Limited back issues available. 🩻

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1. A word of caution that A Gest of Robin Hood is a counter-insurgency (COIN) style game. The rulebook can be really hard to understand if the players have never played highly asymmetric COIN games before. Of the two, Burning Banners might be easier to learn.

2. I might be in the minority of this opinion, but I strongly suggest against playing Compile with the optional Control component. I think it leads to multiple unsatisfying attempts at compiling your protocols and unnecessarily extends the game. I’d rather play 3-5 short games than one long game with Control, but you do you.