Under $25 is the hardest gaming gift tier, because it is the one manufacturers fill with novelty. The trick is to ignore anything designed to look like a gift and buy something the person will use without thinking about it.
The genuinely good options
- Controller grips and replacement thumbstick caps. Cheap, consumable, and universally useful. Worn stick tops are a real annoyance nobody bothers to fix for themselves.
- A microfibre cleaning kit and compressed air. Deeply unglamorous and genuinely appreciated by anyone with a console or a PC.
- A screen protector, if they own a handheld. The highest-value protective purchase in gaming per dollar — see what protection actually prevents damage.
- A short high-quality cable — USB-C, or a decent HDMI. Everyone is using a bad cable somewhere and nobody replaces it voluntarily.
- A good game. Plenty of excellent titles sit under $25 permanently. Our list is in the best games under $20.
- A retro cartridge or disc for something they loved as a child. Frequently cheap, always more thoughtful than an accessory — check what's still affordable and how to spot reproductions.
What to avoid
What works
- Consumables and accessories that solve a real annoyance
- A well-chosen cheap game they have not played
- Anything that protects hardware they already own
- Cables, because everyone has a bad one
What doesn't
- Novelty mugs, socks, keyrings and desk ornaments with game logos
- Unbranded wireless controllers — the sticks are always the corner that got cut
- 'Gaming' branded versions of ordinary items at a markup
- Cooling accessories for handhelds — mostly ineffective, see our testing summary
- RGB lighting strips, unless you know they specifically want them
If you know their platform
Knowing what they own dramatically improves this tier, because it lets you buy the specific small thing their setup is missing. Our platform guides are in gifts for console players, gifts for PC players and gifts for retro collectors.
If you do not know, a gift card is a better gift than a wrong guess, and there is no shame in it.
The timing
Black Friday falls on November 27 and Cyber Monday on November 30, which is the best pricing window of the year for the accessory end of this tier. Buying gifts in that week routinely moves items from the under-$50 band into the under-$25 band — see our Black Friday guide.