Gifts for board game lovers

The pictures that already exist

Look at the group chat. There's nearly always something in there worth printing:

• A board mid-game, shot from above, when the position had got interesting.
• The table with everybody round it, taken by whoever remembered.
• Something drawn: a map somebody made, a scoring sheet with a running total going back years.

Any of those beats an expansion, because none of them can be bought.

What gifts for board game lovers usually get wrong

Two failures, and they're opposites. The first is buying a game, which assumes you know a collection you have not seen. The second is buying something generic with meeples printed on it, which assumes the hobby is the identity, not the evenings.

The hobby is the evenings. Anything that points at the specific table (these people, that game, the night it went to the wire) sidesteps both failures at once, and it doesn't require you to know the collection at all.

Choose something the group will use

Pick something the whole group sees, not only the host: a poster for the games-room wall, or a mug that turns up every session. A photograph of the people round the table suits either, and a digital download lets them print or share it themselves.

Getting a usable photograph of a table

Three things, and none needs equipment. Shoot from directly above, not at an angle, so the board is a rectangle and not a trapezium. Turn the big light off and use a window or a lamp from one side, so the pieces have shadows and read as objects. And wipe the crisps off the table first, which sounds facetious and is the single most common reason a game-night photograph can't be printed.

If the game came with figures somebody painted, the miniature photography guide covers getting close enough to them without the phone losing focus.

What to avoid

Anything involving the publisher's artwork. A print of somebody else's box art is their design, not a gift you made, and it's exactly the kind of thing this approach is meant to replace. The photograph of your own table is the part that belongs to your group.

Board game gifts for Christmas

A photograph of the table where your group plays is a present the whole group can enjoy. Every print is made to order, so allow 4-9 working days and order by Thursday 10 December for Christmas (Tuesday 15 December with Priority delivery), because a good photograph often takes a couple of attempts. A canvas or framed print suits a games room, and a mug suits a couple who play at the kitchen table. Organising a group swap? Secret Santa ideas lists formats by starting price. Order dates and stocking fillers are on the Christmas gifts for tabletop gamers page.