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Board gaming is enjoying a quality spike the like of which it has never seen. You’ll find plenty to choose from, whether you’re interested in family board games, horror board games, or anything else.  But just because modern games are the best they’ve ever been, it doesn’t mean that older games are bad. They’ve been around a long time, and there’s a long history of quality to enjoy.

Modern games are mostly the product of a design trend that dates back to the mid-nineties. So it’s of particular interest to go digging for gold in the years prior to that explosion. Here, in chronological order, are some gems you might have missed.

Go (~2200 BC)

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We’re not including well-worn abstracts like Chess on this list. Go is huge in Japan and China, where it originated, but it’s a little more obscure in the West. And that’s a shame because Go is a thing of staggering genius. On your turn, you place a stone of your color atop an intersection on a grid of lines. If you can cut off all four adjoining spaces for a stone of the opposite color, it’s removed. That’s pretty much the entire game, yet the strategy beneath is so deep that only very recently has an AI challenged a top human player. Place one stone and you could be playing for a lifetime.

Playing Cards (~900 AD)

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These also originated in China, and are also a game you can play for the rest of your life. Because, of course, it’s not one game but thousands. Many you’ll already know: Poker, Bridge and other popular titles constitute hobbies in their own right. But there are equally fun games played with slightly different decks across the world. You can play them fine with a standard 52 card deck: Jass, Scopa and dozens more. There are modern designers working with the deck to create new, strategically rich games like Ambition. Get a deck, get to Pagat.com, and it might be the only gaming equipment you ever buy.

Perudo / Liar’s Dice (1800)

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You’ll see this sold under various branded names, but the game is always the same. Everyone shakes some dice in secret, under a cup. Then they have to bid a certain number of a particular value they think the combined dice hold: seven fours, for example. Next player either ups the bid or calls their bluff. This straightforward setup disguises a wealth of statistics, guesswork and outright chicanery. Making a bid high enough to put the next player in a quandary is a wonderful moment. Being in a quandary, calling the bluff and finding the fates have rolled in your favor is better.

Othello / Reversi (1883)

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This is often presumed to be a classic two-player ancient abstract like Chess and Checkers. In fact, it’s much more recent and, bizarrely, two different men took credit, each rubbishing the other’s claim. On your turn you place a disk of your color, black or white, onto a grid space. The aim is to fill the grid with your color. But the disks are reversible. If you can bookend a line or diagonal of your opponent’s color with yours, all the disks flip to your side. Cue a fiendish battle of wits that can suddenly swing, even late in the game.

Scrabble (1948)

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Yes, this well-known word game does take a bit too long between turns, especially with more players. But it’s a fascinating and brilliant balance between vocabulary and spatial play. Sure it helps to know a lot of words when you’re finding ways to lay out your seven random letters. But a player that can sneak a ten-point letter into an awkward bonus space will scoop the prize every time.  And it’s so well-known it’s easy to find people willing to play. Grab your phone between turns, and get gaming.

Yahtzee (1956)

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Roll and write games, where you scribble in the results of dice or card draws, are very much in vogue right now. But let’s not forget their mass-market progenitor, Yahtzee, which is far more fun than you may remember. Sure, you’re in the hands of fate when you’re rolling the bones. But filling in the grid takes a lot more skill and statistics than many realize. There’s nothing worse than crossing in a blank and then getting the right rolls down the line. Fast, furious and family-friendly, get the pencils out and take this classic for a roll.

Diplomacy (1959)

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Wrecking friendships for over 50 years, Diplomacy is divisive in a way few other games are. Designed by a historian to examine the political geography of 19th century Europe, the game has no randomness. Players struggle to conquer the continent, with one unit simply eliminating another in combat. It’s designed so that you can’t win alone: you need allies to prosper. Yet only one player can claim victory, so betrayal and backstabbing is inevitable. Its clever catch is that movement is simultaneous. You write orders down in advance, and all players reveal them at the same time. So you don’t know who’s kept their promises and who’s turned against you until it’s too late.

Acquire (1964)

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Some credit this game, by virtuoso designer Sid Sackson, as the progenitor of much of modern gaming. In an era where there were only mass-market titles and war games, Acquire was something new.  It’s a game about creating, merging and investing in companies. On your turn, you place a tile onto the grid, representing a company stock. If your placement joins two existing companies, the larger absorbs the smaller. Then, you can buy shares in any of the companies which you’ll sell later for a profit, depending on the size. The result is a masterful mix of fiendish spatial challenges and economic wiles that remains fresh and thrilling to this day.

Can’t Stop (1980)

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A second Sackson classic, Can’t Stop is an easier and more raucous game. It’s a race to reach the top of three of the eleven columns on the board. Each column matches a possible roll of two dice and the more likely the result, the longer the column. You roll four dice, make two pairs and move two markers. Then comes the kicker: you can keep rolling, or end your turn. If you carry on and fail to roll a match, you lose your progress. It’s a constant, agonizing temptation to balance luck and skill. Play it as a board game, or try the excellent mobile version.

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective (1981)

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A bizarre blend of board game, whodunnit, and choose your own adventure, this sleuthing title was years ahead of its time. Pick a scenario and head out onto the foggy streets of Victorian London as the agents of fictions’ most famous detective. Players must work together to uncover clues, solve riddles and try and piece a solution together as efficiently as they can. Do it better than Holmes himself and your group wins. Atmospheric writing elevates these scenarios into an engrossing fiction in its own right. And if you manage to solve them all, there are loads of expansion packs to puzzle through.

Settlers of Catan (1996)

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A modern classic, now known simply as Catan, this game has fallen a little out of favor. But we shouldn’t forget what a revolution it was in its time. Its mix of clever dice mechanics, trading and route planning as players competed to colonize an island was like nothing we’d seen before. In its native Germany, games like this weren’t quite so novel, but its import in English kickstarted the whole modern gaming scene. It’s worth playing for its historical value alone. Luckily, it remains worth playing to recall how addictive its sweet blend of luck and strategy can be.

Fortnite‘s Winterfest event is now over, but a new set of challenges has gone live in the battle royale game. This batch is called Remedy vs. Toxin, although there isn’t much of a theme running through the challenges, so you’ll be doing various tasks like getting SMG eliminations and earning Survivor medals.

While many of the Remedy vs. Toxin challenges are fairly straightforward, one that may give you some trouble asks you to visit three different food trucks. If you don’t know where those are located, this guide will show you where to go.

Where Are The Food Truck Locations?

Food trucks aren’t nearly as common in Fortnite as they were on the game’s old map. That said, we’ve found four of them spread out around the island, and you only need to visit three to complete this challenge. We’ve marked all the food truck locations on the map below.

How To Complete The Challenge

You don’t need to do anything special to complete this challenge; simply make your way to three of the food trucks listed above and you’ll be finished. You need to visit three different trucks, so you can’t simply return to the same one in different matches, but other than that, this challenge shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Once you’ve visited three, you’ll earn 52,000 XP for your troubles and unlock another Remedy vs. Toxin challenge to complete.

There are still a few weeks left in Season 1 of Fortnite Chapter 2, so there’s still time to complete any challenges you may have missed from earlier weeks. If you need help with those, we’ve collated all of our maps and guides in our full Fortnite Chapter 2 challenges roundup.

Respawn has released a new trailer for the next event in Apex Legends, called Grand Soirée Arcade. The event begins on January 14 and will continue through to January 28. Given Season 3: Meltdown ends on February 3, Grand Soirée Arcade will likely be the final limited-time event for the season.

Unlike previous events, which have traditionally only added one new mode, Grand Soirée Arcade adds seven. Each mode will go live one at a time, with each available for two days before the game transitions to the next one. You can see all seven modes in action in the video embedded below.

The first mode is called Gold Rush Duos, which sees squads of two drop onto World’s Edge and the only weapons you can loot are gold, legendary tier items (L-STAR, Kraber, and Mastiff as well as fully outfitted versions of Flatline, EVA-8, Triple Take, G7 Scout, and Charge Rifle). After that is Live Die Live, which automatically respawns all fallen players on their still-living squadmates whenever the ring closes. This will be followed by Third-Person Mode, which forces you to play through the match entirely in third-person as opposed to first-person.

The fourth mode looks to be the most stressful of the lot. Called Always Be Closing, the mode will see the ring constantly closing in, meaning your squad will have to always be on the move or risk suffering massive damage. The all shotguns and sniper rifles Armed And Dangerous mode returns after that–though this time on World’s Edge instead of Kings Canyon. The sixth mode is Kings Canyon After Dark, which puts your squad into Apex Legends’ original map–only this time it’s at night, as seen in Fight or Fright’s Shadowfall mode. Dummies Big Day, the final mode, is an odd one, transforming all characters into colorful dummy-looking 3D renders that make it more difficult to discern who is who.

Grand Soirée Arcade adds several cool-looking legendary skins for the playable characters too–most of which seem to have a steampunk or 1960s’ funky look to them. Based on the trailer, Pathfinder, Bangalore, Bloodhound, Octane, Mirage, Wattson, Caustic, and Crypto are getting new skins. The cosmetics will rotate throughout the store during the event, so if one catches your fancy it will be better to buy it sooner rather than later. There are also new Peacekeeper, R-301, and Havoc skins that can be unlocked by completing event challenges

Going into 2020, the Nintendo Switch has no shortage of excellent games, but it’s a bit rare to find many of them discounted at the same time. Lucky for Switch owners, this is one of those rare times, as there’s a huge New Year sale going on in the Nintendo Eshop right now featuring many of the platform’s best games, including The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition, What Remains of Edith Finch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and more. The big New Year event also encompasses publisher-specific sales from Ubisoft, Capcom, and WB games.

Thousands of people are checking out the masterpiece that is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the first time following the success of the Netflix Witcher series, and if you want to play it on Switch, you can snag the Complete edition for a nice discount right now. The Switch version is currently on sale for $42, which might be the cheapest we’ve seen the port since it released in October.

Some first-party Switch games feature in the sale as well, including Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Yoshi’s Crafted World. All three of these games are excellent multiplayer options, and they’re down to $42, which is about as low as first-party Switch games go.

The Nintendo Switch has been a great home for indie gems as well, and you can snag some of the best indie Switch games for even cheaper than usual right now. We especially recommend Celeste ($10), Gris ($8.49), Neo Cab ($15), Wargroove ($16), the Hotline Miami Collection ($12.49), and Sayonara Wild Hearts (9.09). It’s also a great time to pick up Stardew Valley ($10) if you slept on it back in 2016, as the farming sim just received a huge update with tons of new content.

The New Year Switch sale is live now through January 16. That means you have about a week to check out the sale and take advantage of these deals, so check out our picks below and peruse the full offering of game discounts in the Eshop.

Best Nintendo Switch games on sale right now

• Ape Out — $7.49 ($15)
• Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection — $30 ($40)
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night — $28 ($40)
• Celeste — $10 ($20)
• Civilization VI — $30 ($60)
• Devil May Cry — $15 ($20)
• Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition — $40 ($60)
• Donut County — $6.49 ($13)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ — $15 ($60)
• Fitness Boxing — $35 ($50)
• Gris — $8.49 ($17)
• Hotline Miami Collection — $12.49 ($25)
• Jackbox Party Pack 4 — $12.49 ($25)
• Just Dance 2020 — $26 ($40)
• Kirby Star Allies — $42 ($60)
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — $34 ($60)
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — $42 ($60)
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle — $15 ($60)
• Mega Man 11 — $15 ($30)
• Moonlighter — $10 ($25)
• Mortal Kombat 11 — $24 ($60)
• My Friend Pedro — $14 ($20)
• Neo Cab — $15 ($20)
• NBA 2K20 — $30 ($60)
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch — $35 ($50)
• Okami HD — $12 ($20)
• Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition — $14 ($20)
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy — $20 ($30)
• Resident Evil 0 — $15 ($30)
• Resident Evil 4 — $20 ($40)
• Samurai Shodown — $45 ($50)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts — $9.09 ($13)
• South Park: The Stick of Truth — $15 ($30)
• Splatoon 2 — $42 ($60)
• Stardew Valley — $10 ($15)
• Super Bomberman R — $10 ($40)
• Team Sonic Racing — $20 ($40)
• Terraria — $21 ($30)
• Wargroove — $16 ($20)
• What Remains of Edith Finch — $14 ($20)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition — $42 ($60)
• Yomawari: The Long Night Collection — $20 ($40)
• Yoshi’s Crafted World — $42 ($60)

The Pokemon Company revealed a ton of Sword and Shield news during today’s Pokemon Direct, but that wasn’t all to come out of the presentation. As has become tradition, a variety of freebies are available right now following the Direct, including a demo for the newly announced Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remake.

To help you catch up on all the offerings, we’ve rounded up everything that’s available after today’s Pokemon Direct below. You can also check out all the biggest news and announcements from the Pokemon Direct in our recap.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX Demo

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX launches for Nintendo Switch on March 6, but in the meantime, you can download a free demo of the game right now from the Switch Eshop. The demo lets you play through an early portion of the story, and any progress you make in it can be carried over to the full game when it releases. The title is also now available to pre-purchase. You can read more in our Pokemon Mystery Dungeon pre-order guide.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Update

A new update is now live for Pokemon Sword and Shield, which lets you get a small taste of the games’ expansion pass content, even if you haven’t pre-purchased the pass. After downloading the update, you can head to Wedgehurst station, where you’ll run into one of the new characters from the upcoming Isle of Armor expansion. The character you meet will differ depending on which version you’re playing: in Sword, you’ll see Klara, while in Shield you’ll meet Avery.

Free Galarian Slowpoke

The Sword and Shield update also adds a new Pokemon to the game: Galarian Slowpoke. All players will have a chance to catch this Pokemon, whether or not you’ve purchased an expansion pass.

Expansion Pass Pre-Order Bonuses

The expansion pass for Sword and Shield costs $30 USD and is available to pre-purchase now from the Switch Eshop. If you do pick one up, you’ll receive a special bonus: a Pikachu uniform and Eevee uniform for your trainer. You’ll get a code for the outfits via email after you’ve purchased the expansion pass, and you can redeem those codes in-game via Mystery Gift to claim the uniforms.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are getting two big expansions that will add a ton of new creatures to collect, but if you don’t want to buy the extra content you’ll still be able to obtain the monsters. Nintendo announced that the expansions will launch alongside free updates for all players, allowing all Sword and Shield owners to be on a level playing field for trading Pokemon.

“These updates will allow those who don’t have the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass to obtain the Pokemon that appear on the Isle of Armor and in the Crown Tundra through other means, such as trading,” the presentation stated.

That means if you don’t purchase the expansions but have your eye on the new Legendary Kubfu, you just need to find a friend to trade one to you. It’s probably not viable to ask your friends capture all of the new Pokemon for you this way, but it seems reasonable enough if you just want a few in particular.

The two expansions will take place on new territories, and also pack new cosmetic options for your avatar and even your bike. Free updates are also coming to Sword and Shield that will add more than 200 older Pokemon. The first expansion, Isle of Armor, is coming in June. The second, Crown Tundra, will follow this fall. The expansion pass costs $30 and includes both sets of DLC.

In the meantime, a free update has gone live that lets you talk with a few of the new characters from the expansions, and even catch a special Galarian Slowpoke. You’ll need items from the two expansions to evolve it into a new breed of Slowbro and Slowking, respectively.