As people look for a break from digital entertainment, both to rest their eyes and their minds, tabletop board gaming becomes more and more popular. Using elements such as figurines, cards, dice, cubes, and meeples, players are increasingly introduced to interesting worlds and fantastical scenarios. While some board games focus on pure skill or luck, the best-stocked game cabinets contain titles all across the spectrum.
As the board games of the current year have gone way beyond the abstract board games of years past, players can also look forward to a variety of scenarios — from haunted houses to dirt track racing and everything in between — to meet their gaming needs. As a result, there are tons of games to sort through, in various styles and settings, to sort out the best of the best for each player type.
Sci-Fi Board Games With The Best Combat
Sci-fi fans who enjoy interstellar combat will find plenty to love with these board games.
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Editor's ChoiceTerraforming Mars
In Terraforming Mars, players control giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, to raise the temperature, the oxygen level, and the ocean coverage on Mars until the environment is habitable.
With over two hundred project cards and six different resources in play, strategic gamers will love this sci-fi adventure. -
Best AsymmetricBetrayal at House on the Hill: Third Edition
The third edition of Betrayal brings even more haunts and twists to the tabletop classic.
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Best Party GameCodenames
$12 $16 Save $4Codenames is a social word game with a simple premise and challenging game play. Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames. The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the table. Their teammates try to guess words of their color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team.
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wingspan
$52 $60 Save $8This beautiful resource management game offers a unique look at ornithology with a shockingly high replay value. Players seek to discover and attract the best birds to their wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats (actions). Featuring delightful watercolor illustrations and real-world facts about dozens of species of birds, this board game is perfect for experienced tabletop players.
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cascadia
This laid-back game uses a natural theme to deliver a straightforward strategy game.
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TIcket to Ride
Ticket to Ride is a classic train collection and route-building game set in the Industrial-era USA. Each turn, players collect train cards, place tokens on the map to secure routes or opt to gain secret objectives. The game is a constant balance of trying to take on more to gain more points while also not attempting to do more than is possible.
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Wingspan Asia
In the third expansion to Wingspan, players get a ton of content, including new, magnificent birds of Asia. This expansion also makes it easier for smaller and larger groups to play together. Wingspan Asia adds a stand-alone game for 1 player or 2 players and the new Flock mode, which allows up to 7 players at once. All in all, the game comes with dozens of new cards, new goal tiles, dice, and even a new duet map, among tons of other extras.
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Flamecraft
Flamecraft is a board game that allows up to 5 players to work with dragon artisans in a world of adorable magic. Players operate as Flamekeepers, gathering items, placing dragons, and playing cards to enhance the shops of the town. Competing to win over the hearts and minds of a town, this strategy game makes great use of shared engine building. The board and every card offer beautiful art and the wide variety of dragons and artisan roles makes this game perfect for many, many game nights.
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Frosthaven
Frosthaven is the follow-up to the smash-hit TTRPG Gloomhaven. Set in a small outpost far to the north of the capital city of White Oak, a group of mercenaries is tasked with averting the outpost's imminent doom. Dealing with the harsh elements and other dangerous threats, players must survive against the cold world of Frosthaven. Parties must work together and even with some of their enemies in order to defend against even more sinister threats.
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Rallyman: DIRT
$35 $60 Save $25Dirt and dice, cards and cars — It's a race to the finish like none other.
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Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Pandemic Legacy is a co-operative campaign game, with an overarching story-arc played through 12-24 sessions, depending on how well a group performs. At the beginning, the game starts very similar to basic Pandemic, in which a team of disease-fighting specialists races against the clock to travel around the world, treating disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand.
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Crescent Moon
This highly social game relies on lots of planning and table talk in order to win. Perfect for long game nights among veteran players, this board game offers a unique setting with truly immersive gameplay.
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Um, Actually
Um, Actually is a trivia game made by nerds for nerds to make sure they know all the nitty-gritty details of their favorite franchise. From anime to '80s and '90s themes, players can choose between different categories in each game and test themselves against the 690 questions. Plus, the game comes with dry-erase boards for art-based challenges! Based on the Dropout show of the same name, Um, Actually is actually a great time for nerdy friends and family.
Editor's Choice: Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars may not be what humans end up doing in the future, but the titular tabletop game is a natural progression path for most board game enthusiasts. The game itself focuses on a fictional future where multiple corporations and private interest groups are seeking to be the first ones to terraform Mars, letting players choose which entity they want to be.
In doing this, Terraforming Mars quickly shows players how many fun and challenging mechanics it packs into its game. Like a mash-up of Catan and Ticket to Ride, Terraforming Mars starts out as a simple resource management game until everyone is ready to start implementing their plans and sabotaging other players. The game also has five expansions available that add new planets and new corporations, ensuring that even veteran players can get a lot of unique playtime out of the game.
Terraforming Mars is the best board game currently because while it is complex enough for very experienced players, it’s also fairly straightforward once the game begins, making it easy to add in new players. The game is also one of those rare titles that can be played by just two people, making it great for a nerdy date night. Terraforming Mars is an excellent addition to a new board game library, or even a well-stocked one, because it will be taken down to be played for years to come.
Best Asymmetric: Betrayal at House on the Hill: Third Edition
Players who have exhausted the many haunts and scenarios of past Betrayal games have 50 new scenarios to plot and betray one another over in Betrayal at the House on the Hill: Third Edition. Of course, Betrayal at the House on the Hill: Third Edition is also a great entry point for new players to the series as the mechanics are more refined and the stories told by the game are more robust than ever.
The game plays out in a familiar two-part adventure. One part is a mad dash collect-a-thon adventure through a haunted mansion, the other a somewhat randomly selected scenario of horror and betrayal. This edition builds on this foundation, bringing more clearly executed rules, better backstories, and updated player models. It's a great game for any player to jump into and get a good dose of unexpected horror.
Best Party Game: Codenames
Game night often begins with a lot of nonsense chatter and catching up with everyone at the table. Many groups like to get started with quick and simple games. Codenames is perfect for small groups waiting for the rest of their friends to show up.
This easy party game involves dropping hints and references to try to get teammates to guess which “codenames” are correct. With words like “star” and “Amsterdam” on the board, it can be challenging to get players to make the right connections. Two players are designated “spymasters” (i.e., team leaders), and they are limited to a single word and a single number to tell their team which cards are their codenames.
It’s a ton of fun that builds with each round as players begin to learn how to parse clues from each other. Perfect for close friends, double dates, and families, Codenames is the best party board game.
7 Best Area Control Board Games
Area control focused board games have become more and more popular since the release of Risk, but which ones are the best?