Devir Games we Love for This Holiday Season (Ongoing List)

Devir Games has put out a ton of fantastic experiences in the past year – some of these are new this year, others are games I haven’t had the chance to play, but finally did in 2024! These are the ones we have enjoyed most – no worries, links are not affiliated and will take you directly to Devir’s webpage! Let’s dive in!

White Castle + Matcha Expansion

What can I say about White Castle and the Matcha expansion. This is a fantastic, yet tight, worker placement game where you will be collecting resources, putting your meeples out onto the board, and trying to make it all work within just a few turns. This game moves pretty quick if everyone knows how to play, but be careful because one or two wrong moves could sewer your chances of winning.

White Castle is not for everyone, but if you love a game with tight turns and deep strategy, this is one I think you will enjoy. The production is great overall, it looks fabulous on the table, and with the right group I think you could have a lot of fun. One piece of advice for this one – don’t play with someone who historically takes a long time to think out their turns. There is a required balance here between thinking out EVERY possible combination of actions, and having a strategy in your head and working towards that. That person might win, but it won’t be fun.

You can read some of our thoughts here!

Bitoku 

I have NOT played Bitoku as much as I would like, but it’s a game that requires a ton of setup and a decent amount of rules. White Castle is a deep strategy game, but there isn’t all that much to teach. This is deep as well, but requires a much longer teaching process. Don’t let that get you down, however, as this is another fantastic game from Devir. It looks PHENOMENAL on the table, and will catch the eye of anyone walking past. Just, again, be ready for that lengthy “how to play” session before you actually play for the first time.

This is the sort of game that requires a lot of play to really get the most out of the experience. I’m not sure anyone in our gaming group actually understood how this game worked the first time around. That being said, by the third or fourth game, everyone was really enjoying their time with it. This is definitely a “you get more out of it, the more you put in” sort of experience.

You can read some of our thoughts here!

Rock Hard 1977

This might possibly be the most thematic game I’ve played all year, and potentially ever! In Rock Hard 1977, you will attempt to achieve superstardom in the Rock and Roll world by working jobs, recording albums, doing shows, and so much more. The game even tackles the darker elements of the Rock and Roll world with “candy” you can take that gives you a boost, to only potentially hurt you later when your cravings get too high.

You don’t need to have a love for Rock and Roll to appreciate this one, though, as the various actions and mechanisms built into the game are fun, regardless of theme. If you do love the Rock and Roll genre, however, there might be something extra here that makes you really excited to get this to the table again and again.

You can read some of our thoughts here!

Daitoshi

I’ve only had the chance to play two games of Daitoshi so far, but to be fair it’s only been three days since the game arrived! Like Rock Hard 1977, Daitoshi is dripping with theme as you expand the city and anger the Yo-Kai, all the while working your factory board to earn the most points possible. I talked at length about how much I love the look of Daitoshi, and the gameplay is utterly fantastic as well.

This isn’t the easiest game to get to the table, and the first few times you play there will be a fair amount of setup that will be required. Once you do get it setup, however, the game is phenomenal. I love that there is almost no down time either since you’ll need to pay attention to what others are doing, especially when they take production turns and you can earn some resources as well!

You can read some of our thoughts here!

Cities

DEVIR titles do tend to take a bit of time to setup and explain, so whenever they release a lighter game I’m pretty exctied. Listen, I love heavy DEVIR experiences, but there is something for a quick and easy game every now and then. Cities feels like that game, perfect for experienced players but also easily understood by novice board game players. Usually I ignore the time and ages printed on boxes, but 10+ feels about right for this one.

There is a decent amount of strategy here as you decide in which order you want to take buildings, tiles, and cards each round, and with turns being pretty snappy, it’s a quick experience as well. At a decent price, this will be one of our better plays-per-dollar experiences on our board game shelves!

You can read some of our thoughts here!