10 More Christmas Gift Ideas for Gamers
Part 1 covered Days 1 through 10 of my daily Christmas gift guide video series. These are Days 11 through 20, written up for anyone who would rather read the list than watch the videos. Same rules as before: heavy on retro, every pick under $100, most well under $50, and prices are as of late October and early November 2026. Holiday sales move fast, so double check the price before you check out.
11. Evercade Retro Console
Real cartridges are back, carts about $20 each.
The Evercade is a retro console built around something we all miss: real physical cartridges. No downloads, no subscriptions. You buy a cartridge packed with licensed classics, pop it in, and play. Atari, Namco, Interplay, Technos, and dozens more publishers have collections on Evercade, and new cartridges are still coming out.
The games are the real arcade and console versions, the cartridges look great lined up on a shelf, and there is a handheld and a home console version so it fits however your gamer likes to play.
Cartridges run about $20 each, which makes this the gift that keeps giving. Every birthday and Christmas after this one, you just buy them another cart.
12. Hallmark Video Game Ornaments
Put a console on the tree, about $20 to $30 each.
Hallmark Keepsake ornaments are the easiest gamer gift on the list: tiny versions of the consoles and characters we grew up with, made to hang on the Christmas tree. The console ornaments are the stars. NES, Super Nintendo, original PlayStation, original Xbox, Dreamcast, and Xbox 360, and several of them light up and play the actual console startup sounds.
There are character ornaments too: Mario, Sonic, Pokemon, Zelda, Minecraft, and Halo. Most run about $20 to $30, so you can grab your gamer’s favorite console or character without guessing a shirt size or buying the wrong game.
Start with the system they grew up on. That is the one that gets the nostalgia reaction every time.
13. A New Controller
The gift that never misses, third party from around $30, first party $65 to $75.
Controllers wear out. Sticks drift, buttons get mushy, and every gamer is quietly putting up with one that is past its prime. A brand new controller never misses.
Go first party if you want the safe pick: an Xbox Wireless Controller, a PlayStation DualSense, or a Switch Pro Controller. They just work and they feel great.
Want to save money without giving up quality? Go third party. 8BitDo makes retro-styled controllers with modern features and Hall Effect sticks that do not drift. GameSir is the budget champ, packing Hall Effect sticks and pro features in for way less than first party prices.
Figure out which system they play, and you cannot go wrong.
14. A Physical Gaming Magazine Subscription
The 90s mailbox experience, all year long.
Print gaming magazines are not dead. You just have to know where to look. A subscription is the perfect gift for a retro gamer: it keeps showing up all year, and every issue is a little hit of nostalgia in the mailbox.
Game Informer is back in print after shutting down in 2024, $59.99 a year for print plus digital. Retro Gamer covers nothing but classic games, and the US print subscription is $114 a year. Nintendo Force is the spiritual successor to Nintendo Power at just $3.49 a month in print. PC Gamer still prints a US edition for $36.95 a year. Old School Gamer is all retro, all the time, arcades, consoles, even pinball.
That is just the start. There are Sega-only, Commodore 64, Amiga, and indie game magazines still printing too. Pick the one that matches their childhood and you have got a gift they will thank you for twelve times a year.
15. Pixel Frames Shadow Boxes
image credit to Amazon.com
Retro game scenes in 3D, about $30 each.
Pixel Frames are shadow boxes that pull a classic game scene right off the screen. The art is laser cut in layers, foreground, midground, background, so a flat 2D game suddenly has real 3D depth inside a wooden frame.
They are officially licensed and the lineup is pure retro: Street Fighter, the Sonic 2 Special Stage, the Battletoads Turbo Tunnel (yes, that Turbo Tunnel), Mega Man, Castlevania, and more. At 9 by 9 inches they hang on the wall or sit on a shelf, and they come with a little commemorative plaque.
About $30 each, which makes them an easy game room upgrade for the retro gamer who already owns all the games. Fair warning: nobody buys just one. You start with your favorite game and end up with a whole wall.
16. Video Game Soundtracks on Vinyl
The music they love, in a package they can hold, about $40 to $50 for a double LP.
Some game music is too good to live inside a console. Video game soundtracks on vinyl are one of my favorite gifts to give a gamer. It is the music they love, in a big beautiful package they can hold, display, and actually listen to.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the one everyone will be talking about this year. Lorien Testard’s score is stunning, and the Deluxe 2LP is about $45. For the retro and Xbox crowd, Halo 3 on vinyl, Martin O’Donnell’s legendary score, finally spinning on a turntable. From there the rabbit hole is deep: Streets of Rage, Sonic Mania, Cuphead, Doom, Bloodborne, Zelda. If they love the game, there is probably a record of it.
Labels like Laced Records, iam8bit, and Materia Collective press most of these. A double LP usually runs $40 to $50, and the big box sets go up from there. One heads-up: the popular ones sell out and get repressed, so if their favorite game is in stock, do not wait on it.
17. Boss Monster Card Game
Be the final boss for about $25.
Every retro gamer has spent hours fighting through a dungeon to reach the boss at the end. Boss Monster flips the script: this time, you ARE the boss. You build your dungeon room by room, stock it with treasure to lure heroes in, and make sure those heroes never make it out alive.
The whole game is dressed up like an 8-bit side-scroller, pixel art cards and retro box art included. It plays with 2 to 4 players in about 30 minutes, works just as well with family as with hardcore gamers, and there are expansions, so it is another gift you can add to at the next birthday or Christmas.
The base game lists at $24.95 from Brotherwise Games. For the retro gamer who lights up every time they clear a dungeon in an old RPG, this one is an easy yes.
18. Video Game Art Books
Coffee table books for gamers, most run $40 to $60.
Some games are so pretty they deserve a book, and that is exactly what these are. Video game art books are big, beautiful hardcovers packed with concept art, character designs, and the story of how the game got made. They are the perfect gift for the gamer who already owns the game itself, because this is the version that goes on the shelf.
The Art of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the big one this year: 352 pages of art from one of the most beautiful games in years. It runs $60 and releases November 24, so preorder it now and it lands in time for Christmas. The Art of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands brings the Borderlands chaos in a $50 hardcover that is usually on sale for less. And for retro fans, The Game Console 2.0 photographs over a hundred consoles inside and out, exploded views and all, for about $30 to $40.
There is one for just about every beloved game and series. Find their favorite and you have found your gift.
19. Novelty Gaming Socks
The stocking stuffer that goes IN the stocking, $10 to $15 a pair.
Socks have a reputation as the boring Christmas gift, and plain socks deserve it. Novelty gaming socks are a different story. We are talking socks covered in controllers, Game Boys, pixel hearts, and 1UP mushrooms, the kind a gamer pulls out of the drawer on purpose.
They are also the easiest gift on this entire list. No sizes to guess beyond adult, no system compatibility to worry about, no batteries, no setup. About $10 to $15 a pair, and multipacks run $15 to $25 if you want to give them a whole rotation. Grab a pair for every gamer on your list and that whole row of shopping is done.
20. NES and SNES Cartridge Coasters
Your favorite cartridge, now protecting your table, about $15 a set.
These coasters look like the cartridges we grew up with, NES and SNES, but instead of going in a console they protect your table from coffee cups, soda cans, and game night drinks. Functional, retro, and right at home in a game room, on an office desk, or on the coffee table.
Sets usually run about $15, and I have seen them cheaper if you shop around: a set was $12.99 at Steve’s Hallmark when I checked on November 2, and single NES cartridge coasters were $7.99 at Meijer. Etsy sellers make SNES sets too, with Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, and Yoshi’s Island. Prices will bounce around during the holiday sales, so check before you order.
What game cartridge would you want as a coaster?
More coming
That is Days 11 through 20. The series is still rolling, and Part 3 will cover the next batch of days once I write them up. If you want to watch instead of read, the videos are going up daily.
What is the best gaming gift you have ever given or received? Let me know on X or YouTube