✓ Players Up to 4 at once

✓ Price $79.99 (was $89.99)

✓ Setup About 30 seconds

✓ Power None needed

✓ Bag 11 in, 1.8 lb

✓ Returns 60-day money-back

On Saturday night my sister cleared the dining table, unfolded the Fence across the middle and handed out paddles before anyone could start on the dishes. My 9-year-old nephew took the first game off my dad, who demanded a rematch, then another. By ten my mother-in-law had claimed the fourth paddle and nobody had touched dessert. My dad was still calling for one more game after midnight, and the set was back on the table before breakfast.

Pepper Pong is the Shark Tank paddle game, sized to fit whatever table you already own. The Fence is the net, and it folds flat. You get four Mullet paddles with foam faces, so two-on-two works straight out of the bag, plus three foam balls that each move at a different speed. Jalapeño floats, which is where the kids and my dad started. Habanero is the rally ball most of us settled on. Ghost Pepper is quick enough that my sister and I kept it to ourselves once the younger ones went to bed. Games go to 11 and you have to win by 2, and each one runs 5 to 8 minutes, so the loser always gets a rematch.

Foam hitting foam is close to silent, so an 11 pm game doesn't wake the baby upstairs. Pepper Pong says it tested the set on granite, marble, glass and wood without a single scratch, and her oak dining table came through the weekend clean. It plays just as well on a kitchen counter or the living room floor. Everything goes into an 11-inch bag that weighs 1.8 lb, and on Sunday it rode to the in-laws' next to the leftover pie.

One set is $79.99, down from $89.99. Two sets are $124.98, which works out to $62.49 a set, so you keep one and give one. Both are pre-order prices, and pre-orders ship in 3 to 5 weeks. If it has to be wrapped sooner, Ship Now sends it in 2 to 3 business days for $15 more. Free shipping starts at two sets, and there's a 60-day money-back guarantee if the family shrugs.

✓ Players 2

✓ Price $69.99

✓ Setup Arrives assembled

✓ Power None needed

✓ Board About 14 x 18 in

✓ Returns 30 days, unused

On Sunday morning, my sister and her 15-year-old son sat on the rug with KLASK between them on the coffee table, both bent so low their noses were about a foot off the board. You can hear this game from the kitchen: magnets clicking, and somebody yelling about every 20 seconds. He lost 6 to 4 and asked for a rematch before she had let go of her magnet.

Each of you holds a magnet under the wooden board and uses it to drag a small striker around on top, trying to knock the ball into the other goal. You both play at the same time, which is why it gets so loud. The white magnets, which KLASK calls biscuits, sit in the middle of the board, and if two of them stick to your striker, your opponent takes the point. You also hand over a point if you lose control of your striker or let it fall into your own goal. First to 6 wins, and a game runs about 10 minutes.

As a present it asks almost nothing of whoever opens it. KLASK comes fully assembled and needs no batteries, so ours went from box to coffee table in about a minute. It has a long awards list: a Spiel des Jahres Recommendation in 2017, the Guldbrikken jury special award in Denmark, Family Game of the Year in Sweden, and a 2018 Toy of the Year nomination for innovative toys. It averages 4.8 out of 5 from 155 reviews. It costs $69.99 and standard shipping is free, which puts it $10 under Pepper Pong.

The problem at a family Christmas is the head count. One board is for two people, so once the cousins wanted in on Sunday afternoon it turned into a line by the couch, and somebody was always waiting. Getting four people into one game means buying KLASK 4, a separate board at $109.99. The pieces are small, too. Biscuits and balls roll off the table and under things, and a spare part set costs $11.99 when one goes missing. Returns are 30 days, unused, in the original box, so once it's been played, it's yours.

Should You Wrap It?

I'd give it to two siblings who keep score on everything, or to a couple who want something for the coffee table once the kids are asleep. Teenagers are a good fit too: my 15-year-old nephew asked if he could keep it in his room. Anyone 8 and up can play. If your plan for Christmas night is four people in one game, Pepper Pong is the better fit. KLASK is a duel, and a very good one.

✓ Mount Over the door

✓ Price $44.99

✓ Setup Assembly required

✓ Power None needed

✓ Backboard 18 x 12 in

✓ Returns 30 days, unused

The SKLZ hoop needs assembling, so I put it together on the hallway floor Saturday morning while my 9-year-old nephew held the ball and asked every thirty seconds if it was done. Once it was on his bedroom door, he stayed in that room until lunch. On Sunday he was shooting before breakfast in his pajamas, calling his own makes out loud like a TV announcer.

It's a mini basketball hoop that hangs over a door. The backboard is a clear, shatterproof polycarbonate panel, 18 x 12 in, and the 9 in steel rim sits on a spring so it gives a little when a shot comes in hot. My favorite part is the lever on the side. Flip the rim up and the door opens and closes with the hoop still hanging there, which matters on a kid's door that gets slammed twenty times a day. Foam pads line the slide-on mounts, so you don't drill anything. One 5 in rubber ball and a pump come in the box, and the whole thing weighs 3.85 lb.

It has no game built in. There's nothing to keep score with and no rules in the box, and with one ball, two kids means taking turns and arguing about whose turn it is. Dunks and hanging are off limits: SKLZ says a dunk can break it, and the backboard carries a do-not-hang warning. I read my nephew that rule before his first shot. You also need a suitable door, and SKLZ doesn't publish what thickness the mounts fit, which is a gamble if your doors run thick.

Ordered by itself, it costs $7.50 to ship, since SKLZ only ships free from $75. Orders leave in 1 to 3 business days and most land within 5 to 10 business days. It ships to the 48 contiguous states only. Returns are 30 days if it's unused, and there's a 1-year warranty against defects.

Should You Wrap It?

Buy it for the kid who dribbles through the kitchen and keeps being told to take it outside. It belongs on a bedroom door, and it makes a good second box next to the main present. This is the gift that gets used in January, when it's dark by 5 and nobody wants to go out. At $44.99 it's $35 less than Pepper Pong, and it's built for one shooter at a time.

✓ Players 2

✓ Price $49.99

✓ Setup Attach the goals

✓ Power 4 AA (not included)

✓ Table 30 x 15.75 in

✓ Returns 30 days, unused

Two of the cousins claimed the coffee table on Saturday afternoon and stayed hunched over it for most of an hour, the puck flying off the rails and twice off the table entirely. After every goal, whoever scored flicked the scorekeeper slider up a notch and kept a finger on it so nobody could slide it back. Neither of them would stop for snacks.

It's a 30 x 15.75 x 3 in air hockey table that weighs about 8 lb and sits on any table you have, coffee or dining. A fan floats the puck on a layer of air. You get 2 pushers and 3 pucks, and each goal end has a sliding scorekeeper that runs from 0 to 9. It arrives preassembled except for the goals: attach those, load the batteries and play. GoSports rates it for ages 6+, and the Black and Oak finishes both cost $49.99.

Sort out the batteries before you wrap it. The fan runs on 4 AA batteries that aren't in the box, and there's no way to plug it in. Tape a pack of AAs to the lid, because nobody wants to hunt for batteries on Christmas morning while two kids stand there holding pushers.

It holds 4.2 out of 5 from 123 ratings on Amazon, and weak airflow is the complaint buyers raise most. It's strictly two players, so a third kid waits a turn. Shipping is free only once an order reaches $75, which means the table alone pays it. You get 30 days to return it unused in the original box, with return postage on you and a restocking fee possible, and the warranty covers 6 months.

Buy it for a kid 6 or up on a tight budget, and count shipping and AAs on top of the $49.99. It's the cheapest head-to-head game on this list, and two kids can play it hard for an hour straight.

Should You Wrap It?

Yes, if it's for two kids and the budget is tight. Pepper Pong costs $30 more at its $79.99 pre-order price. That buys four paddles, so up to four people play at once, and it never needs batteries. The whole set packs into a bag about a third the length of the GoSports table. The GoSports keeps the edge on price, and two kids going at it on the coffee table is as intense as anything here.

✓ Battery Up to 14 hrs

✓ Price $99.95

✓ Water IP68

✓ Charging USB-C (no cable)

✓ Weight 0.85 lb

✓ Returns 30 days, free label

The JBL Grip spent the whole test weekend hanging by its little fabric loop from a cabinet knob by the kitchen, playing carols off my phone while everyone else played games at the table. I only picked it up when it needed the charger.

It's a compact Bluetooth speaker for $99.95, shown here in red, one of seven colors. The IP68 rating means it's dustproof and can sit under 1.5 m of water for 30 minutes, and it's built to keep playing after a 1 m drop onto concrete. It weighs 0.85 lb and stands about 6 in tall, which fits a generous stocking. JBL rates the battery at 12 hours, plus 2 more with Playtime Boost. Auracast pairs two Grips for stereo or links it with other JBL Auracast speakers, and the JBL Portable app has a 7-band EQ. The ambient light on the back kept glowing on that cabinet well after midnight.

Battery life is its weak spot. RTINGS measured just over 6 hours in its own test, well short of JBL's rating, and I had it on the charger twice over the weekend. It charges over USB-C, but there's no cable in the box, so wrap one with it. RTINGS also found it lacks deep bass and isn't very loud, which was fine for background carols. It has no speakerphone either, if someone hoped to take calls on it.

It ranks last on a list of family game gifts because it's a speaker with no game in the box. For one person, say a teenager or a dad who cooks with music on, it's the best gadget here. It holds 4.2 out of 5 from 156 reviews. Ground shipping is free, and a return within 30 days comes with a free label.

Should You Wrap It?

Wrap it for one music lover. For the family game, Pepper Pong costs $79.99 on pre-order and puts up to four people around one table with nothing to charge. The Grip is the tougher object by far. If the budget covers both, the Grip makes a good second gift.