Ever wondered what the absolute best board games of all time are? Well, we’ve been researching, reviewing, and discovering the answer to that question for you by identifying the best game in various categories based on innovation, strategic depth, and player engagement. Don’t get us wrong – there are loads of amazing board games out there that won’t make this list, and some of them could even suit your particular gaming style or taste better. But when it comes to the consensus of board gamers worldwide, these 9 take the win with the most votes and recommendations of all time. You’re bound to love most of them, if not all of them, and should definitely consider adding some to your collection.
Introduction to Board Games
Board games have been a staple of entertainment for centuries, providing a platform for social interaction, strategic thinking, and friendly competition. From the ancient game of Chess to the modern-day phenomenon of Gloomhaven, the world of board games is vast and diverse. These games offer a unique way to connect with friends and family, challenge your mind, and immerse yourself in different worlds and scenarios. Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or a newcomer, there’s always something new to discover in the ever-evolving landscape of board games.
What is a Board Game?
A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves one or more players moving pieces or tokens on a pre-designed board, following a set of rules and objectives. These games can range from simple, quick-play experiences to complex, multi-hour adventures. Board games can be competitive, where players vie against each other to achieve a goal, cooperative, where players work together to overcome challenges, or even solo experiences designed for individual play. The beauty of board games lies in their ability to combine strategy, luck, and social interaction, creating memorable experiences for all involved.
Types of Board Games
Board games come in many shapes and sizes, catering to different tastes and preferences. Some popular types of board games include strategy games, party games, cooperative games, and more. Each type offers a unique experience, whether you’re looking to outwit your opponents, work together to achieve a common goal, or simply have a good laugh with friends.
Area Control Game
An area control game is a type of board game where players compete to control territories, resources, or other areas on the board. These games often require strategic planning, resource management, and tactical decision-making. Examples of area control games include Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan. In these games, players must carefully consider their moves to gain and maintain control over key areas, often balancing offense and defense to outmaneuver their opponents. The thrill of expanding your influence and the challenge of defending your territories make area control games a favorite among strategy enthusiasts.
Game Mechanics and Strategies
Board games often feature a range of mechanics and strategies that players can use to achieve their objectives. Understanding these mechanics can enhance your gameplay experience and help you develop winning strategies. Some common game mechanics include resource management, worker placement, and area control, each offering different challenges and rewards.
Light Strategy
Light strategy refers to a type of gameplay that requires minimal planning and decision-making. These games often feature simple rules, short playtimes, and a focus on social interaction, making them perfect for casual gamers or those looking for a quick, fun experience. Examples of light strategy games include Codenames, Taboo, and Pictionary. These games are easy to learn and play, providing a great way to engage with friends and family without the need for deep strategic thinking.
In contrast, heavy strategy games like Twilight Struggle, Scythe, and Gloomhaven require more complex planning, resource management, and tactical decision-making. These games often feature longer playtimes, more intricate rules, and a greater emphasis on strategic thinking. They are ideal for players who enjoy delving into detailed strategies and long-term planning.
Ultimately, the best board game is one that provides an enjoyable and engaging experience for all players involved. Whether you prefer light strategy, heavy strategy, or something in between, there’s a board game out there for you.
The Top Nine Best Board Games of All Time
Carcassonne
Age: 7+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-5 Time: 30-45 minutes
Whenever you Google for the best board games of all time, you’re almost certain to have Carcassonne pop up on every list. The reason? This is not just one of the earliest tile placement games that set the stage for so many others, but the original gameplay, themes, and structure remain top-notch even compared to all the games that have followed.
For those who’ve never played, Carcassonne is a tile-placement game set in the South of France. Each tile represents a city, road, cloister, or grassland – or some combo thereof – and they must be placed adjacent to existing tiles on the board of a similar kind. So, cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, and so forth. The combo tiles are what allow you to spread that tile type to the next part of the landscape (e.g., city + grasslands combo tile can bridge the gap between city and grasslands). Once tiles are placed, the players then place their meeples – knights in the cities, monks in the cloisters, farmers in the fields, and robbers in the roads. As areas are completed, placed meeples garner points for their owners.
As you play through, you must consider where your meeples really go – will they garner enough points for me to be worth it? Or will expanding my city be more useful than expanding my farms? Your ultimate goal is having the most points, brought to you by careful placement of both tiles and meeples. Players can score more points by strategically placing their meeples in high-value areas and completing features like cities and roads.
Catan
Age: 10+ (Community 8+) Players: 3-4 Time: 60-120 minutes
Right behind Carcassonne is Catan, another tile-laying game that has heavily influenced the whole genre – and remains one of the best-selling board games of recent history. The game, formerly known as The Settlers of Catan, is all about creating the most productive community on the Isle of Catan. Tiles in the game represent terrains like deserts, hillsides, forests, mountains, and fields, through which you accumulate resources (sheep, brick, wheat, ore, wood) and then build cities, settlements, and roads. Source cards come into play in this game, helping you accumulate your needed supplies for building and growing your society. Each hexagonal tile contains the terrains, which produce different resources that you need.
To set up the game, tiles are randomly placed and then surrounded by water tiles. Numbered discs are placed on the tiles, and then players are given two settlements to begin the game with. These are placed on intersections and borders of the tiles, and then players are given a handful of resource cards based on the terrains where their settlements reside. Catan’s mechanics of resource management and strategic placement can be compared to other games that involve similar gameplay elements, offering a variety of experiences for enthusiasts.
Turns consist of rolling the dice, collecting resources, improving your settlements, and building up your personal territories. As the game proceeds, players earn points by building and developing – and whoever reaches 10 points first wins.
- Engaging Gameplay: Dynamic resource trading and settlement-building.
- High Replayability: Modular board setup keeps each game fresh.
- Strategic Depth: Balancing negotiation and resource management.
- Luck Factor: Dice rolls can lead to uneven resource distribution.
- Player Downtime: Waiting for turns can be lengthy with more players.
- Component Management: Many small pieces can be cumbersome.
7 Wonders
Age: 10+ Players: 2-7 Time: 30 minutes
Go back in time to when the 7 Wonders of the World were under construction. Gather resources, develop your military prowess, and create trade routes. Build a glorious city and a singular architectural wonder to make your mark and draw the respect you’re due…
The fantastically appointed 7 Wonders board game remains one of the absolute best board games of all time thanks to its gameplay mechanics, gorgeous design, and replayability depicting the ancient world. 7 Wonders is a card game that involves strategic card drafting and resource management.
The game spans three ages, during each of which two to seven players receive a single card at the start. Players then reveal their chosen card simultaneously and pay or collect resources, interact with each other, and work to develop their Wonder. Use your individual playing boards to work your powers, choose more cards (ultimately gaining six for each age), and work your strategy wisely to use the cards for your best results. Some cards have powers that work immediately to your advantage, and others give bonuses and upgrades that play into the game later on. Choose your actions wisely and work towards the masterpiece that the world will never forget.
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Age: 10+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-4 Time: 45 minutes
Probably the goofiest game on the list, The Quacks of Quedlinburg remains one of the best board games of all time thanks to its beautiful design, and artful crafting, and ridiculous premise that creates fun times for practically all people.
The premise for this nutty game is that every player takes on the role of a quack doctor – a charlatan – or a snake oil salesperson. Your goal as this Quack of Quedlinburg is to create a special, secret brew of unique ingredients and figure out how to sell it for the most money possible. You must craft your potion carefully, though, or you’ll mess up the whole batch and won’t be able to sell a bottle!
Each player starts out with their own bag of ingredient chips and uses these chips each round – simultaneously – to create their potions. Add the chips to the pots, adding higher-value ingredients to scam more money out of people. But if you go too far, you’ll wind up with a cherry bomb and lose everything. Whoever has the most coins after nine rounds wins the game. Players can score more points by carefully selecting their ingredients.
Forbidden Island
Age: 10+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-4 Time: 30 minutes
The adventure-themed game of Forbidden Island has been deemed one of the all-time best games for 2 to 4 players. Your mission, should you accept it, is to fearlessly explore the island and discover treasure among the ruins. You’ll play as teams, working together to outmaneuver the dangers and the other team to collect the treasure and escape with your lives.
The gorgeously appointed game has players take turns moving their pawns around the island game board, with tiles that start sinking as the game progresses. You must engage with thoughtful strategies to avoid the sinking tiles and rising water levels and make your escape with the goods. Similar to other games that emphasize teamwork and strategy, Forbidden Island requires players to collaborate closely to succeed.
The game is carefully crafted with high-quality board game components, including the beautiful board, the plastic treasure pieces and wooden pawns, and the durable cards. The game offers multiple difficulty levels and different characters to choose from (each with its own abilities), optional island formats, and even some game variations for the ultimate experience. Folks say the game has incredible replayability, thanks to all these things, and love playing with two people or four people, but recommend it ideally for that higher count as the playing pace picks up more with larger player counts.
Clue
Age: 8+ Players: 2-6 Time: 45 minutes
In the game of Clue, one of the most popular classic board games ever, each player takes on the role of a detective. Moving from room to room, using dice and clues along the way to solve the whodunnit, you consider each character and who, how, and where they might have done in the victim. To find the answer, look at the confidential file, dealt at the beginning of the game, but only after you’re certain you have the answers. If you’re wrong, you’re out and you’ve got to leave the rest of the detectives to find their way. If you’re right, you’ve solved the case and won the game.
It’s a fairly simple game that’s easy for kids as young as 8 to play, quick to teach, and incredibly fun for everyone involved. Use your deductive reasoning as you examine your cards, check other players’ cards, and slowly tick off the answers to the question “Whodunnit?” Clue is considered a good game due to its engaging deductive reasoning and strategic gameplay.
The game has been so popular over the years that it’s been released in many variants and fandoms. There are over 100 variants, so you’re bound to find one that fits your exact taste and fandom if the original doesn’t quite do it for you. Some of the variants include:
Clue Escape: The Illusionist’s Club
Clue Escape: Midnight Hotel
Clue Express
Clue FX
Twilight Zone – Tower of Terror
Alien vs. Predator
What We Do in the Shadows
Carnival
Critical Role
Dexter
Disney Villains
Doctor Who
Dungeons and Dragons
Small World
Age: 8+ Players: 2-5 Time: 40-80 minutes
Heaps of fun lie ahead in the tiny world-conquering game of Small World. All the players, between 2 and 5, must vie for control of the world in which their fantasy races live as they realize their tiny world just isn’t big enough for everyone. Dwarves, elves, giants, orcs, wizards, amazons, and even some humans go to war – represented by the players – aiming to take over territory and bump their enemies over the edge, literally!
Each player chooses two of fourteen fantasy races, each with unique powers, and then race against the clock to see who will conquer their neighbors. As each turn rolls through, players use multiple tiles from their chosen creatures to occupy adjacent territories, defeating the weaker enemies and putting others into decline. At the end of each turn, players score coins for territories occupied – and, ultimately, whoever has the most coins at the end of the final round wins the game and claims the rule of Small World.
Small World’s fantasy races and strategic gameplay are reminiscent of games set in Middle Earth, drawing upon similar themes and lore to create an engaging experience.
Ticket to Ride
Age: 8+ Players: 2-5 Time: 30-60 minutes
Easy and quick to learn, with elegant gameplay and loads of replayability, Ticket To Ride well deserves its place on the list of best board games of all time. The game is perfect for players as young as 8 and welcomes as many as 5 players total – making it a great option for families or small groups of friends gathered for fun.
How to play: Players collect cards of various types of train cars. These cards are then used to build railway routes throughout North America. As the train routes grow, they collect points for the owners and earn additional points when they fulfill destination goals that connect from a specific city to the goal destination. Ultimately, the player who builds the longest train route wins. Players can score more points by strategically planning their train routes to maximize their connections and fulfill multiple destination goals.
The game comes with 144 cards, wooden scoring tokens, and 225 custom-molded train cars for gameplay.
- Easy to learn with straightforward rules.
- Fast gameplay with high replay value.
- Combines strategy with fun map-building.
- Light on player interaction.
- Can feel repetitive without expansions.
- May be too simple for heavy strategy gamers.
Risk
Age: 10+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-6 Time: 120
One of the most popular board games in history, Risk had to be added to this list in its original iteration, though you’ll also find many favored variants around. The basic premise of the game is world domination – players aim to build territories through rolls of the dice, army placement, and attacks on the enemy, ultimately seeking to take over the map. While it’s kind of a heavy topic, kids as young as 10 (8 and up according to the community) can play and experience the fabulous fun of this war game. Risk involves tactical combat and strategic decision-making to achieve world domination.
And if the basic premise doesn’t quite grab you, one of the many variations might take you over the top:
Risk Legacy
Risk 2210 AD
Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Game of Thrones
Star Wars
Godstorm
Star Wars Original Trilogy
Risk: Europe
Star Wars – Clone Wars
Risk Express
Back Ops
Napoleon
Transformers
The Walking Dead
Additional updates and special anniversary editions
Runners Up
Several additional games should be mentioned as runners-up, since we simply didn’t have enough room to write more. These include games dating back centuries to recent games suited for partygoers, families, or dual players.
Scythe
Chess
Wingspan
Mysterium
Blokus
Azul
Codenames
Understanding how a game works can significantly enhance the gameplay experience by fostering strategic interactions and enjoyable player engagement.
They’re definitely worth checking out as well, particularly if you’re looking to build up a really solid collection of games anyone can enjoy playing.
Conclusion
This collection of the best board games of all time is certain to provide some inspiration for your next game night. Grab copies of a few of them – or all! – and bring them along for some card playing, dice rolling, deductive fun as you try to take over the world, solve the great mystery, or just plain con your fellow players. Best night ever!
FAQ
1. What makes Carcassonne one of the best board games of all time?
Carcassonne is celebrated as one of the best board games due to its pioneering tile-placement mechanics, engaging gameplay, and enduring appeal. Players strategically place tiles to build cities, roads, and fields, earning points by effectively positioning their meeples. Players can score more points by strategically placing their meeples in areas that will yield higher scores as the game progresses.
2. Why is Catan considered a significant board game in recent history?
Catan, formerly known as The Settlers of Catan, revolutionized the board game genre with its resource-gathering and community-building mechanics. Its strategic depth and replayability have made it a staple in many collections, contributing to its status as a best-selling game. Compared to other games that involve resource management and strategic placement, Catan offers a unique blend of strategy and social interaction.
3. How does 7 Wonders stand out among other board games?
7 Wonders is renowned for its unique card-drafting mechanics, beautiful design, and strategic gameplay set in the ancient world. Players develop their civilizations over three ages, making strategic decisions to build wonders and accumulate points. It is a card game that involves strategic card drafting and resource management.
4. What is the premise of The Quacks of Quedlinburg?
In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, players assume the roles of quack doctors concocting potions with various ingredients. The game combines strategy and luck as players draw ingredients from their bags to create the most valuable potions without causing explosions.
Players can score more points by carefully selecting their ingredients.
5. What are some notable variants of the classic game Risk?
Risk has numerous popular variants that offer different themes and gameplay experiences. Notable versions include Risk Legacy, Risk 2210 AD, and themed editions like Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars, each adding unique twists to the classic world domination gameplay. Risk involves tactical combat and strategic decision-making to achieve world domination.