PhD & Academic Gifts
Finding a gift for a PhD student or academic can be surprisingly difficult. The best presents feel specific to academic life without becoming another generic mug, notebook, or slogan T-shirt.
Publish or Perish is a humorous party game about academic publishing, citations, peer review, questionable research decisions, and the chaos academics know too well. It is designed for ages 14+, 3–6 players, with about 10 minutes of playtime per player.
When it makes a particularly good academic gift
- Starting a PhD: a playful welcome to the strange culture of graduate school.
- Dissertation or thesis defense: something the new doctor can enjoy with labmates after the serious part is over.
- PhD graduation: a distinctive keepsake that is also meant to be played.
- First publication: a fitting way to celebrate surviving peer review.
- Labmate, advisor, postdoc, or professor: especially for someone who appreciates dry academic humor.
- Academic Secret Santa: recognizable inside jokes in a gift the whole group can use.
Why choose a game instead of conventional PhD merchandise?
Publish or Perish turns familiar academic experiences into a shared activity. Players publish absurd manuscripts, sabotage competing research, deal with unhelpful Reviewer 2-style comments, and race to collect citations. The humor is specific enough for researchers, but the rules are approachable enough for friends and family to join.
How people are actually giving it
These verified-buyer reviews describe real occasions when people chose Publish or Perish as an academic gift.
“I’m giving this as a birthday gift to my son-in-law who’s in the process of writing his thesis. He likes playing detailed board games and has a rather wry sense of humor. I expect he will love it.”
Jill
Verified buyer
“Loved it. Great birthday present for my friend with a PhD. We played it at his birthday dinner and it got a lot of laughs.”
Drew
Verified buyer
“We are a family of five (three kids aged 15, 18, and 21), and it was a fun, slightly gimmicky Christmas present for Dad, who is a university lecturer and lives this world every day. We hear so much about it in our day-to-day lives that we thought we were in with a chance of beating him — but he won hands down!”
Sarah
Verified buyer
Which edition should I give?
The base game is the simplest gift and includes everything needed for a complete game. For someone who already loves the concept—or for a group gift—the all-in bundles add the expansion packs and more academic chaos.
Buying for a cohort, department, or graduating class?
If you need several gifts for graduating doctoral students, incoming researchers, lab members, or an academic event, see our wholesale and bulk-order options.
A gift that understands the assignment
Publish or Perish works best for people who can laugh about citations, rejected manuscripts, impossible reviewers, and the pressure to publish. It is not simply PhD-themed merchandise; it is a game built around the shared experiences of academic life.
Planning an academic group event?
For social programming and institutional purchases, see our guides to games for grad students, labs, and academic events and academic conference gifts, prizes, and games.