Highlights
- With a diverse range of genres and gameplay styles, board games offer something for every type of gamer. Whether players prefer cooperative gameplay, legacy games, or quick and simple experiences, there's a tabletop niche for them.
- Finding the right board game can be overwhelming, but websites like Boardgamegeek.com provide valuable information and player reviews to help make informed choices. Players can rely on their rankings to discover the best games across all genres.
- Many iconic video games have been adapted into board game versions, serving as a great entry point for newcomers to analog gaming. Games like D eep Rock Galactic, Doom, Stardew Valley, and Fallout offer unique experiences that capture the essence of their digital counterparts.
Just like with video games, the world of board games is diverse and unique. With genres like co-operative games, Legacy games that are played over multiple sessions, and more, it is no surprise that many gamers find a tabletop niche that they love.
10 Simple But Great Board Games
Players who enjoy quick and simple board games should be sure to try out these examples if they haven't already.
With so many different board games, finding the right board game can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are many board games based off of iconic video games that can serve as an entry point to the analog gaming world. Boardgamegeek.com is also a phenomenal source of information where people can read player reviews and see how each game was rated on a scale of ten. The site uses this data to rank each of the thousands of board games across all genres, so that players can reliably choose only the best games out there to add to their collection.
10 Deep Rock Galactic
Board Game Geek Rank #2404
- Co-operative
- 1–4 Players
Deep Rock Galactic is a dwarf-themed co-op extraction shooter that took the gaming world by storm in 2018. Players control a customizable dwarf from one of four distinct classes —Scout, Engineer, Gunner, or Driller — to explore procedurally generated caves, mine gold and minerals, and kill any aliens that show up along the way.
The officially-licensed board game reached its funding goal on the first day of its Kickstarter campaign. As with the video game, players work together using the unique exploration and combat abilities of their chosen dwarf to explore (by drawing and flipping tiles over), kill aliens that spawn on the board, and collect minerals before extracting from the cave.
9 Doom
Board Game Geek Rank #1523
- 1 vs Many
- 2-5 Players
The original Doom came out in 1993 and has had many sequels and multiple reboots. The most recent series consists of Doom (2016) and Doom: Eternal. In Doom (2016), the Union Aerospace Corporation has been invaded by demons, who invaded Mars with the help of cultists high up in the UAC's hierarchy. The Doomguy wakes up and has to rip and tear through the demons to push them back to hell.
The Wildest Things That Doom Can Be Played On
The original Doom is an iconic title but doesn't require much to run. These devices surprisingly have no problems getting the game to work.
This is the video game that Doom: The Board Game is based on. One player controls the demons while the other players control a team of up to four marines. Each game is unique, with different board setups and mission objectives for the marines, ranging from restoring the UAC's power to venturing into hell itself.
8 Stardew Valley
Board Game Geek Rank #1231
- Co-operative
- 1–4 Players
Stardew Valley revitalized the farming sim genre to the point that all new farming games are now compared to it. Players have to fix up their grandpa's old farm, rebuild the local community center, and end up making friends and improving the titular valley along the way.
In the board game adaptation, players work together to achieve these same goals. They must keep the changing seasons in mind and work together to decide how to spend their actions each turn; fishing, mining, farming, and making friends with the locals. All players win or lose together when the game ends, either by restoring the community center or running out of Season cards.
7 Fallout Shelter
Board Game Geek Rank #1154
- Family
- 2–4 Players
In the Fallout universe, some people were able to shelter in specially constructed Vaults on the day that the nuclear apocalypse began. The idea was that their descendants would live in the Vault until it was safe to leave and return to the outside world. Fallout Shelter was originally a mobile game that put players in the role of Vault Overseer, the person in charge of a Vault and its people.
In the board game, players manage their vault dwellers to eliminate threats, make improvements, and gain happiness. The winning player will be elected as the next Overseer once the game ends.
6 Fallout
Board Game Geek Rank #1195
- Thematic
- 2–4 Players
The Fallout series is well-known for the open-world exploration introduced in Fallout 3. Players create a character to explore the wasteland — whether that's in Washington D.C., Boston, Las Vegas, or West Virginia — and navigate multiple storylines, side with good or evil factions, and make interesting narrative choices along the way.
The board game ports this unique style of exploration and role-playing to the tabletop, allowing players to choose one survivor with unique strengths and weaknesses, including being a radiation-resistant ghoul or a ferocious Super Mutant. The board is revealed over the course of the game as players explore and have to complete quests in order to win.
5 Bloodborne
Board Game Geek Rank #736
- Co-operative, Campaign
- 1–4 Players
Bloodborne is a soulslike game set in a gothic city called Yharnam. The player is a hunter who must fight through man and monster alike to find a way to end the plague that causes Yharnam's citizens to go mad.
In the board game, players work together against unique foes that activate and attack based on stats and rules unique to each enemy type. Each player controls a hunter that can be equipped with a variety of weapons and skills, and each player works to win or lose together. As with the video game, death and losses happen frequently, but are never the end of the campaign.
4 Civilization: A New Dawn
Board Game Geek Rank #704
- Strategy
- 2–4 Players
The long-running Civilization series is one of the most popular and highest-rated strategy games around. Players choose a civilization based on real-life nations like The Aztecs, The Roman Empire, and the United States. Their people start in the Stone Age and must progress through the eras by researching new technologies, founding new cities, and unlocking cultural milestones. Victory conditions range from converting the whole world to the player country's religion to wiping out every other civilization.
Civilization: A New Dawn is based on the newest video game in the series, Civilization 6. It maintains the same premise and even has multiple victory conditions. Players who love the PC game will enjoy battling for supremacy on the tabletop.
3 Age Of Empires 3: The Age Of Discovery
Board Game Geek Rank #308
- Strategy
- 2–5 Players
Age of Empires is a classic real-time strategy series where each entry focuses on a different time period. Age of Empires 3 was set during the colonial era, and players had to maintain relationships with their home countries (or rebel against them) in addition to building up their city and defeating their neighbors.
In the board game, players compete to expand their colonial holdings across three ages. Each home country bestows specific advantages that players can exploit to outmaneuver, and sometimes outgun, the other players in order to win.
2 Anno 1800
Board Game Geek Rank #280
- Strategy
- 2–4 Players
Anno 1800 is a city builder strategy game where players develop their island nation during the Industrial Era of the 19th century. Players have to balance diplomatic relationships, production chains, citizen happiness, and technological progress in order to win, or they can play in a rich sandbox mode where they can develop their city however they see fit.
Anno 1800: 9 Best Ways To Make Money
Money is one of the most important resources in Ubisoft's Anno 1880, and these tips can help players rake in a lot of cash with minimal effort.
The board game puts each player in charge of their own home island, competing for the most influence points. These points can be earned by exploring the Old and New Worlds, celebrating festivals, expanding trade, and more. At the end of the game, the most influential city wins.
1 This War Of Mine
Board Game Geek Rank #181
- Co-operative
- 1–6 Players
This War of Mine is a game about civilians surviving a brutal war. Players manage a group of survivors hiding out in a tenement by day and exploring and scavenging by night. Danger is ever-present for this group of non-fighters, as the game highlights the horrors of war endured by people caught in the crossfire when their homeland erupts into the chaos of civil war.
Unlike most co-op board games, players don't control a specific character, but instead take turns using actions by anyone in the group of survivors. This emphasizes the importance of the group for survival, and how nobody can make it alone. Players all win or lose together, depending on whether their people survived the duration of the war that is tearing the city apart.
13 Great Board Games To Play
Tabletop gaming has tons to offer, but these are the best board games of the year that everyone should play!
