Best of Lists

The best board game like 7 Wonders is It’s a Wonderful World. Five ranked picks — plus the two games everyone recommends that you should not buy.

Spirit Island is four things at once — asymmetric powers, an escalating clock, a combinatorial turn, and a theme reversal. Five alternatives ranked by which of those they actually keep, with publisher-verified specs and an honest note on who should skip each.

The best game like Gaia Project is Terra Mystica — its own designers’ fantasy ancestor. Here are 5 heavy engine-builders matched to which part of Gaia you loved.

The 5 best board games like Everdell, chosen by which part of Everdell you loved — the cozy woodland world, the card engine, or the art. Picks: Creature Comforts, Wingspan, Wyrmspan, Meadow, and Cascadia.

The best board game like Terraforming Mars is Ark Nova — but the right pick depends on which part of TM you loved. Five publisher-verified alternatives, ranked, with who each is for and who should skip it.

Loved Ark Nova and don’t know what to play next? Underwater Cities is the closest match, Terraforming Mars is the famous answer, and New York Zoo is the light one. Five honest picks, with who should skip each.

Loved Cascadia? Here are 7 nature and tile-laying board games we recommend next — from Harmonies and Wingspan to budget picks like Cartographers — with a clear who-it’s-for on each.