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After new research and testing, we still think our long-running picks have proved to be good options for new gamers. We also added Coup, a new pick for games to bring out and play away from home.
Once the entertainment of last resort on rainy days and during power outages, board games have evolved to be varied works of interactive art with options for many styles of play. To find some of the best, we spent 70 hours researching 128 games, played 17 top contenders with 26 people, and interviewed board game experts, including a Columbia University ludology professor, the owner of board game café The Brooklyn Strategist, and the team behind The Rules Girl video series.
Board games are for everyone, so we have picks for new gamers and more-advanced players, for those looking for party games, two-player games, or games to play when you’re out with friends, and for those who prefer cooperative play to competition. This guide is a starting point to discovering games that are fun, interactive, and challenging, and our picks are a great introduction for anyone looking to get more into games. We didn’t include old-school classics (like Monopoly) or challenging enthusiast fare (like Scythe, which we do love), but our Competition section lists many other notable games. And, for more ideas, we encourage you to explore board game forums and to visit your local board game café, store, or bar for personalized recommendations based on your skill level and interests. (Board game publishers print games in limited runs, so if you can’t find one of our picks at a major retailer, a local shop may have it to buy or to play.)
Although our picks are geared toward adults, most are family-friendly. If you’re looking for board games designed with preschool and elementary-school kids in mind, take a look at our guide to board games we love for kids.
We think these intro-level options are some of the best to show new gamers the joys of board games: They require lighter strategy and are quick to learn, but they also involve enough exciting decision-making to engage adults. Many of these games are kid-friendly, and several have expansion packs to accommodate additional players or to add complexity.
This gem-collecting game is easy to learn but requires enough strategy that it keeps players enthralled over multiple rounds.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $36.
How it’s played: Splendor is a Renaissance-themed resource-collecting game. Players act as gem merchants, using tokens to purchase gem-mine cards and to attract the attention of nobles later in the game to gain even more points. For each turn, each player chooses between drawing gem tokens, buying a card, or reserving a card for later purchase and taking a gold joker token. As players stockpile gem-mine cards, they can use those cards as discounts on other card purchases. The first player with 15 prestige points (earned by purchasing higher-level gem cards and winning over nobles) wins the game.
Why it’s great: It takes only about 15 minutes to learn Splendor’s rules, which means there’s more time to play several rounds—and you’ll probably want to. After we played Splendor with three new gamers, everyone requested it again. This game was first recommended by Wirecutter staffers, but our experts also told us they liked its balance of luck and intro-level strategy. Splendor isn’t as interactive as some of the other games we played, because with this one players don’t share a board or have to barter with one another. But it was simple enough that we could chat with friends while playing and still pay attention to other people’s actions. We enjoyed playing with the eye-catching gem coins and cards, and we appreciated that this game was easily portable for game nights or trips. “You can take Splendor out of the box and put it in a gallon Ziploc,” said Wirecutter writer Alex Arpaia.
Splendor was a 2014 Spiel des Jahres nominee, and it currently has a 4.7-star rating (out of five) across 1,839 reviews on Amazon and a 7.5 rating (out of 10) across more than 48,000 votes on Board Game Geek. It’s included in Ars Technica’s board game guide.
Players: two to four Duration: 30 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
This strategic game of medieval-city-, road-, and countryside-building has easier rules and a shorter play time than Catan.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $27.
How it’s played: Carcassonne is a city-building Eurogame that involves strategically placing tiles and workers. It’s a little easier to learn than Catan, with light strategy and a shorter play time. For each turn, players draw and place a random tile to build medieval fortifications including roads, cities, cloisters, and farms, and they place their followers on those locations to gain points. Scoring depends on the size of completed developments with followers placed on them. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Why it’s great: Since all players build the map together, Carcassonne is very interactive. The rulebook is easy to navigate for players of all skill levels—Wirecutter writer Doug Mahoney recently played a game with his 9-year-old, who had no problem catching on. Turns go quickly, and we enjoyed playing the game with three and five players. (We didn’t play it with two, the minimum it requires.) Although developing a peaceful French countryside is a less-striking theme compared with those of some other games we tested, the included optional River and Abbot modes add complexity once you’ve mastered the basic game.
Carcassonne also has an expansion pack to add a sixth player and some extra mechanics to earn points (without overly complicating the game). Carcassonne was a 2001 Spiel des Jahres winner, and it currently has a 7.4 rating (out of 10) across 89,000 votes on the Board Game Geek forum, the most votes of our picks besides Catan. It also has a 4.8-star rating (out of five) across 836 Amazon reviews.
Players: two to five Duration: 30 to 45 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
This simple-to-learn game challenges players to build the best train routes across North America, and it’s fun to play again and again.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $35.
How it’s played: Ticket to Ride is a train-themed, cross-country adventure game. Players use cards to claim railroad routes and travel to cities across North America, and they gain points by connecting destinations and creating longer routes. Players can cut each other off, forcing competitors to take longer routes. Once a player is down to two (or fewer) trains after using the other 43 to claim routes, the other players get one more turn and then the game ends. Players tally their points and subtract the value of any uncompleted routes from the total; the person with the most points wins the game. (Ticket to Ride comes in several variations if you want more-advanced options; Wirecutter writer Alex Arpaia recommends Ticket to Ride Europe.)
Why it’s great: Both Wirecutter staffers and our experts recommended Ticket to Ride as an accessible game that’s fun to play again and again—like Catan, Ticket to Ride has become a game-night staple. The concept is easy to grasp, but we felt challenged to keep track of our routes and complete all of our destinations before running out of trains. This game doesn’t have as much interaction as games that involve trading, but everyone builds on the same board, and we were delightfully frustrated when other players thwarted our plans. We like the compelling train-traveling adventure narrative, and the brightly colored pieces and board are fun to look at (although the board is quite large on a table). With two players, the game took 45 minutes, though Wirecutter staffers reported that rounds could drag on with more players.
Ticket to Ride was a 2004 Spiel des Jahres winner. At this writing, it has a 4.8-star rating (out of five) across 4,542 Amazon reviews—the highest number among our finalists—and a Board Game Geek rating of 7.4 (out of 10) across 63,000 votes.
Players: two to five Duration: 30 to 60 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
These games have more-complex strategies and more of them—and, accordingly, more-complicated rules—but their underlying mechanics are simple. We think they’re great next-step options for most people (not super-serious gamers) looking for more of a mental challenge. These games also tend to have longer playing times and cost a bit more.
A settlement-building strategy game that inspired a board game revolution, Catan provides fun and competitive (if at times frustrating) play.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $35.
How it’s played: Catan is a civilization-building game in which players collect resources to create settlements, cities, and roads to earn points. They gather those resources if a dice roll matches the numbers on tiles where they’ve built settlements or cities, and by bartering with one another. Players also get points by creating the longest continuous road or having the largest army, won through development cards that can be purchased with resources. If someone rolls a seven, a robber pawn moves to block players from collecting resources, and players can strategically build settlements to block others from building next to them. The player who is the first to reach 10 victory points wins.
Why it’s great: Catan is known for popularizing Eurogames, which require more strategy than luck and don’t boot players out of a game. Catan is strategic, interactive, and fun to play. It was one of the first challenging board games that Wirecutter writer Anna Perling personally tried years ago, and she still gets together with friends every few months to play it. The rules are more involved than those of our entry-level picks, so this game is much easier to play if someone who’s familiar with it can coach other players. And the play time is longer than those of Splendor, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride. Rounds can sometimes drag on, so we recommend having snacks on hand (and beer, if you’re into that) and setting the group’s expectations from the start. Several Wirecutter staffers reported that Catan could be divisive because of its competitive play. “Catan led me to reevaluate a friendship,” said Wirecutter editor Tracy Vence. But it’s so iconic, we couldn’t leave it off our list.
Catan was the 1995 Spiel des Jahres winner, and it currently has a Board Game Geek rating of 7.2 (out of 10) across 89,000 votes and a 4.5-star rating (out of five) across 2,262 Amazon reviews.
Players: three to four Duration: 60 to 120 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
We prefer to play Catan with more people, which you can do with this expansion pack.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
Catan has multiple expansion-pack options to change up the game and extend player counts. If you want more people to barter with and plot against, we recommend the 5-6 Player Extension, which adds replay value and more interaction. Joe Wasserman recommended the Cities & Knights expansion to add more options and resources, and the Seafarers expansion for more variety (these expansions seem to be fan favorites, as well).
This game challenges players to use multiple, advanced strategies to build an ancient civilization over three fast-paced rounds.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $45.
How it’s played: 7 Wonders is a civilization-building card-drafting game. Players randomly draw an ancient city, and they have three Ages—a total of 18 turns—to develop their civilization and earn points. Cities can produce resources, which give discounts on future purchases (similar to how Splendor works) and can be traded with neighbors (without the tense negotiations of Catan). Using those resources, players can also build their civilizations’ might by earning coins, expanding their military, building Wonders of the Ancient World, exploring science, creating guilds, and building civilian and commercial structures. The player with the most points at the end of the three Ages wins.
Why it’s great: This game’s high strategy level means it can take a few rounds to master, but the rules are easy to grasp, and the rounds don’t drag on—with only 18 turns, the game is true to its 30-minute estimate. We thought 7 Wonders was fun with the maximum number of players as well as with four players. It adapts for two players, too, but we think the game is more entertaining and interactive with more people. Even though 7 Wonders is competitive, it’s not divisive: “The rules encourage you to scuttle cards that your neighbors might want, but they won’t know you’ve done it, so it doesn’t encourage board-game-night fights,” said Wirecutter editor Kimber Streams. And while trading can get heated in Catan, in 7 Wonders neighbors cannot refuse a trade, and it doesn’t consume their resources—both parties benefit. Scoring can be tricky, but as Wirecutter writer Alex Arpaia noted, “The game includes some handy scorecards for the purpose, and a step-by-step guide in the rulebook.” Alex said she frequently referred to the guide and the smaller cheat sheet when playing.
7 Wonders was a 2011 Kennerspiel des Jahres winner and was recommended to us by Wirecutter staffers and Joey Lee, lecture professor and director for the Games Research Lab at Columbia University. It currently has a 4.6-star rating (out of five) on Amazon across 1,465 reviews, and a 7.8 rating (out of 10) across 73,000 votes on Board Game Geek.
Players: two to seven Duration: 30 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
These games are quick to learn and play, highly interactive, and designed to get a large group involved—they can help break the ice with strangers or make for a fun family activity. Many games can be party games, but in this category we looked for games that could accommodate at least six players—the more, the better.
Dixit is a simple storytelling card game with stunning art that people of all ages can learn and enjoy.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $21.
How it’s played: Dixit is a storytelling picture card game. A turn starts when one player (the storyteller) describes a card chosen from their hand using one word or phrase, and all of the other players choose the best-matching card from their hands to submit secretly. All of the submissions (including the storyteller’s card) are shuffled and revealed, and players vote on which card best fits the storyteller’s prompt. Players earn points for correctly guessing the storyteller’s card or for having other players guess their card. If at least one player (but not all) guesses the storyteller’s card, both the storyteller and that player gain more points, encouraging clues that leave room for interpretation.
Why it’s great: Dixit is a unique, family-friendly party game that’s similar to Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity. It takes minutes to learn, so it feels very low-pressure compared with Secret Hitler or Sheriffs of Nottingham, which have more-complicated rules. Although Dixit’s strategy is light, you can earn points by being clever and creative. And the art is gorgeous: Wirecutter writer Anna Perling played with several adults who took Instagram stories of the cards. Plus, multiple expansion packs keep the game interesting and let you gape at more ethereal cards—check out the spooky Daydreams pack or the bold and colorful Memories option.
Wirecutter editor Tim Barribeau said, “I love Dixit for intergenerational play, as long as everyone has an imagination.” Jon Freeman, founder of The Brooklyn Strategist, called Dixit a “brilliant social clue-giving game.” Dixit was a 2010 Spiel des Jahres winner, and at this writing it has a 7.3 rating (out of 10) on Board Game Geek across 44,000 votes, and a 4.7-star Amazon rating (out of five) across 963 reviews.
Players: three to six Duration: 30 minutes Rules: Website (PDF)
This thrilling wordplay game scales for small and large groups.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $13.
How it’s played: Codenames is a word-guessing game that has players divide into two teams. One player from each team acts as the spymaster and provides one-word clues to get their team to figure out which word cards on the table conceal their team’s own agents. When guessing, players must avoid cards that represent the other team’s agents, bystanders, and the assassin (which causes an instant loss). Only the spymasters have access to a key card that reveals which cards correspond to which characters. The first team to locate all of their agents wins.
Why it’s great: This party game is a cinch to learn and very interactive. As a Bananagrams and Scrabble enthusiast, Wirecutter writer Anna Perling loves this game. And all of the groups she’s played with have caught on quickly and enjoyed playing several rounds; they also took more risks as they got more comfortable with the gameplay. It’s flexible, too: It can accommodate a few more players beyond the eight-person limit (though with a bigger team, debating may take longer), and the rules also include two- and three-player variants. Wirecutter writer Signe Brewster said, “Codenames is the best cross-generation game. I can play it with my parents or with nieces and nephews. It’s also fairly easy to pack up into a baggie and take on a trip.”
(The Rules Girl’s team also recommended Codenames Duet as a two-player or cooperative version, with a slightly different setup (PDF) but similar mechanics. You can also add the word cards from Duet to the base game for more word choices.)
Both Columbia University’s Joey Lee and The Rules Girl team recommended Codenames. It was the 2016 Spiel des Jahres winner, and it’s the top-rated party game on Board Game Geek, with a 7.7 rating across 55,000 votes; at this writing, on Amazon it has a 4.8-star rating (out of five) across 2,856 reviews.
Players: two to eight Duration: 15 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (companion), iOS (companion)
Game nights at home are great! But when you want to grab a few drinks, eat a meal that you don’t have to cook, or just get out of your apartment, bringing a game with you is a fantastic way to have fun out in the world. Good travel games should be small enough to fit in your bag, purse, or glove compartment and not take up too much space on a table. They should also play pretty quickly and prioritize interaction within the group.
A card game of deception and intrigue, Coup plays quickly, packs up small enough to easily fit in most bags, and encourages you to betray your friends.
May be out of stock
*At the time of publishing, the price was $13.
How it’s played: In the Coup universe (Coupniverse?), players wield power in a dystopian government of the future with character cards through which they exert influence. In addition to basic actions that all players can take, these five characters allow the player to take specific actions, such as stealing money from other players, assassinating other players’ characters (removing it from their hand), trading influence cards, and so on. Each player starts with two character cards that are placed facedown on the table in front of them.
That’s where the bluffing comes in. On your turn, or in response to another player’s action, you can claim to have whatever character you’d like and use their power accordingly. If another player thinks you’re lying, they can call you on it, forcing you to either discard one of your influence cards or to reveal the character card that allows your action, causing the challenging player to lose one of their cards. Once a player loses both cards, they’re out of the game. The last player with influence left to wield wins.
Why it’s great: The basic gameplay of Coup is simple. Every player has a list of actions they can take and clear goals to accomplish. But the mystery of who has which cards—and, importantly, how good you think your friends are at lying about their cards—is where the real drama of the game comes into play. During play-testing at a bar in Brooklyn, everyone at our table of six was continuously engaged. And we quickly became the most energetic group in the bar, as accusations and questioning led to some tense moments and reveals. This also makes Coup a joy to replay. Our group played multiple times, and we were all reluctant to move on to the other games we needed to test. The game box is small and the pieces are easy to keep track of, with only two cards each and a small assortment of money tokens. At the time of publication, Coup had a 7.0 rating (out of 10) across 31,000 reviews on Board Game Geek and a 4.7-star average (out of five) across 1,377 reviews on Amazon.
Players: two to six Duration: 15 minutes Rules: Website
Cooperative games allow players to work together toward a common goal, instead of competing against one another. This style of game is especially great if you want to keep the peace during a family function, or if you have that one friend who gets too cutthroat during competitive board games.
Pandemic challenges players to work together—and keep their cool—as they attempt to save the world from disease.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $21.
How it’s played: In Pandemic, players collaborate to save the world from a rapidly spreading epidemic of deadly diseases. Players draw cards and use four actions per turn to help cure diseases by building research stations, treating diseases, sharing knowledge, or discovering a cure. Players can also draw epidemic cards, however, which increase the speed and scope of disease proliferation. By curing the four diseases, players win. They lose if they can’t contain the diseases—by allowing too many outbreaks, running out of cards in the player deck, or running out of disease cubes to put on the board.
Why it’s great: Pandemic is an intense cooperative game that challenges players’ thinking. As Wirecutter editor Tim Barribeau summed it up: “Three ways to lose, one way to win.” It’s a highly interactive game because players work together to choose actions. “Pandemic is a great introduction to stressful co-op games that are easier to lose than to win,” said staff updates writer James Austin. You can increase the game’s difficulty—the rulebook lays out Introductory, Standard, and Heroic modes, with the harder modes adding extra epidemic cards—so you can grow with the game as you master it. A 2009 Spiel des Jahres nominee, Pandemic has a 7.6 rating (out of 10) across 87,000 votes on Board Game Geek, and a 4.8-star rating (out of five) across 2,672 reviews on Amazon.
Players: two to four Duration: 45 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
Most modern board games are designed with larger groups in mind, and although many include two-player rules, those modes can be convoluted and less fun. For this category, we looked for games that were great with only two players and weren’t checkers, chess, or Go.
With a quaint quilting theme, Patchwork challenges your puzzle-piecing skills.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $27.
How it’s played: Patchwork is a strategic two-player puzzle game, similar to Tetris but with a sewing theme. Players move around a shared time-track board to collect buttons, and then use them to buy fabric pieces to construct a quilt on their individual gridded boards. On each turn, a player can choose to move their piece along the track to gain buttons or purchase one of three patches laid out in a circle to add to their quilt. Players win by gaining the most buttons and filling in as many spaces on their personal quilt boards as possible.
Why it’s great: Patchwork’s rules are simple, but the game challenged our pattern-recognition skills even as we played multiple rounds. Trying to knit our pieces together as tightly as possible without overlapping was a unique, surprisingly complex challenge. Play time is relatively short, at around 30 minutes, so we were able to get in several rounds. And there isn’t a lot of downtime between turns since this is a true two-player game. The order of the quilt pieces can vary, and the pieces are two-sided, so Patchwork is highly replayable—you have countless ways to construct your grid. For trips or game nights, we love that this game is small and portable; you could easily pack the tiles and pieces in a bag. Even though we aren’t quilters, we thought this calmly themed game with beautiful pieces was delightful to play.
The Rules Girl team originally recommended Patchwork to us, and it was a 2015 Spiel des Jahres recommended game. At this writing, Patchwork has a 7.7 rating (out of 10) across 37,000 votes on Board Game Geek, and a 4.7-star rating (out of five) across 510 Amazon reviews.
Players: two Duration: 15 to 30 minutes Rules: Website (PDF) Apps: Android (mobile game), iOS (mobile game)
There are many, many worthy games we didn’t mention in this guide. We started with 128 well-reviewed and widely loved games, but it obviously wasn’t possible to include them all here. If you’ve played our picks and are looking for even more games, below are some of our other finalists:
Azul: Azul’s strategy and theme are unique—you’re a Portuguese artisan decorating the walls of a palace, and you gain points based on tile placement. Once you master the slightly tricky rules, the game is easy to play, with short rounds, and it has beautiful art. We enjoyed working our brains while playing Azul, and it won the 2018 Spiel des Jahres award. But it’s not interactive, and we don’t think it prepares players for next-level strategic Eurogames as well as some of our picks do.
Santorini: Our previous pick for a great two-player game, Santorini is fun and easy to learn. Wirecutter editor Kimber Streams described the strategy as a “mash-up between checkers and Connect Four.” Although god cards can add oomph after you’ve played a few times, this game has a short play time and light strategy, and if more than two people are involved, players can get knocked out early on.
Kingdomino: Kimber played this 2017 Spiel des Jahres winner and likened it to Carcassonne—in Kingdomino, you build a map and gain points by grouping land types together, but on your own board. Although it’s fun, Kingdomino is less interactive than our picks, and its rulebook is less straightforward.
Sheriff of Nottingham: Recommended by several staffers, this bluffing party game is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it, but it takes longer to master than our picks. I played with a group of four, and though we enjoyed a second round, it took me more than 20 minutes to explain the rules—not ideal for a party game.
Clank: This deck-building game came recommended to us as a more fun and accessible alternative to the popular Dominion. But it took us far longer to play than the estimated time on the box, and players can “die” with zero points and then have to wait out the rest of the game.
Photosynthesis: We were excited to try Photosynthesis, which has stunning art and a rare theme that doesn’t center on capitalism. Unfortunately, the game was extremely slow and not very interactive.
Secret Hitler: This deduction-based party game has complex rules and a difficult learning curve. Although it was fun once our eight players understood how to play, we dismissed this game because of its potentially offensive theme.
King of Tokyo: Wirecutter writer Liz Thomas loves this game, which has a host of wacky characters, from zombies to aliens, that battle players to become the King of Tokyo. But we cut it because players could get eliminated early on.
Kingdom Builder: We dismissed this tile-laying, settlement-building game because our experts said there were better games in this genre, and it has a weaker Board Game Geek rating—7.0 out of 10, across 15,000 ratings—than similar games like Carcassonne and Catan.
Betrayal at House on the Hill: We think Betrayal at House on the Hill is too complex for beginners, but some of our staffers love this game.
Of the games we tested to bring out to bars or restaurants, Love Letter was by far the easiest to transport, fitting into most pockets that would hold a cell phone. We liked the concept and gameplay. But whereas Coup led to a lot of energetic talking, interacting, and accusations among our group, Love Letter was mostly furtive, suspicious glances as we quietly tried to assess who held which cards. That could be good for some quieter outings or settings—like a coffee shop, or a restaurant while you wait for your order—but our test group preferred the interaction and conversations that Coup facilitated.
Zombie Dice is a quick, simple “push your luck” game that everyone in our test group picked up on quickly. But overall it was too simple compared with the other options, and it didn’t hold the group’s attention for very long.
Welcome to the Dungeon is another push-your-luck-style game, with more strategic depth than Zombie Dice—especially because your choices in each round add more pressure on the other players—but it wasn’t as engaging as Coup.
The following games came up in our research, were recommended by experts, or were mentioned by Wirecutter staffers, and will likely be fun, too:
Captain Sonar, Terraforming Mars, and Power Grid felt too challenging for our next-level specifications.
Mysterium is a cooperative deduction game that Wirecutter staffers like, but compared with our party-game picks, it has a drawn-out playing time and lower replay value.
Camel Up isn’t as popular as our picks, and reviews report that the directions can be confusing.
We like Qwixx a lot but dismissed it in favor of party games that could accommodate more players.
Munchkin and Sushi Go weren’t as compelling or as fun in our experience as our party picks.
We love the look of Sagrada—you use dice to make stained-glass windows on an individual board—but it has lighter strategy than our picks.
To find the best board games for adults, we polled Wirecutter staffers about their favorite games, and considered nine roundups and reviews of board games, including those from Ars Technica, Popular Mechanics, Vulture, and Smithsonian.com. We also checked out the recipients of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres board game award, and we scoped out the best-selling and most popular games on Amazon and Board Game Geek, a prominent gaming forum.
Because so many amazing games are published each year, Wirecutter writer Anna Perling asked several professionals for their recommendations and to help us establish criteria for what makes a great game. She spoke in depth with Jon Freeman, a clinical psychologist and neuroscience researcher turned founder of the board game café The Brooklyn Strategist; Joey Lee, lecture professor and director for the Games Research Lab at Columbia University; Joe Wasserman, a board games and learning researcher at West Virginia University; and the team behind The Rules Girl, a rules-explainer video series. Anna also asked the following game experts and enthusiasts to weigh in on our 2018 finalists: Melissa Rogerson, a doctoral candidate in the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne; Crymson Pleasure, Vanri The Rogue, and AnnaMaria Jackson-Phelps from the Real Women of Gaming forum; Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower game podcast; and David Miller, the executive editor of game news site Purple Pawn.
You can categorize board games in many different ways, organizing them by skill level, player count, or play time. You can group them by the types of play pieces, such as tiles or a pair of dice; the theme, like trains or military; or the mechanic. A game’s mechanic is “the verb of the game, or the action that a player does repeatedly, whether it’s betting, singing, throwing, bidding, trading,” Columbia University’s Lee said.
For our original round of testing, with our experts’ notes and feedback from Wirecutter staffers in mind, we decided to divide games into new-gamer, next-level strategy, party, cooperative, portable, and two-player categories, and we determined that all of our picks should meet the following criteria:
Aesthetics weren’t a crucial determining factor, but we did consider games with compelling, beautiful art (especially for more-expensive games). And although a companion smartphone/tablet app wasn’t a testing criterion, it is a bonus for most of the games on our list.
We narrowed our list of 115 games to 16, reading the rules and watching explainer videos to understand how the games were played. We then asked seven board game enthusiasts, reviewers, and experts to rank each game based on our criteria. Additionally, Wirecutter editor Kimber Streams and Anna each played 13 different games from our final list, with 18 people.
For our 2019 update, we added a category for games that you could bring with you to play at a bar or restaurant. We used the same criteria in determining which games to test, with an added focus on how portable the game was and how much space it took up on a table.
After narrowing a list of 13 additional games down to four, Wirecutter updates writer James Austin got a group of six players of various gaming experience levels together at a bar in Brooklyn to play through the options and rate them against our criteria. He also had a group of Wirecutter staffers try one of the games later to give their rating.
Jon Freeman, founder, The Brooklyn Strategist, phone interview, January 4, 2018
Joey J. Lee, lecture professor of technology and education, and director of the Games Research Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University, email interview, January 8, 2018
The Rules Girl team, creators, game-rules explainer videos, email interview, January 8, 2018
Joe Wasserman, board games and learning researcher, West Virginia University, phone interview, January 10, 2018
Melissa Rogerson, doctoral candidate, Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne, email interview, February 5, 2018
Crymson Pleasure, Vanri The Rogue, and AnnaMaria Jackson-Phelps, staff, Real Women of Gaming, email interview, February 5, 2018
Tom Vasel, host, The Dice Tower podcast, email interview, February 5, 2018
David Miller, executive editor, Purple Pawn, email interview, February 5, 2018
Aaron Zimmerman, Nate Anderson, and Tom Mendelsohn, Ars Technica’s ultimate board game buyer’s guide, Ars Technica, December 8, 2017
William Herkewitz, The 50 Best New Board Games, Popular Mechanics, March 1, 2018
Rachel Kaufman, The Ten Best Board Games of 2017, Smithsonian.com, November 21, 2017
Anna Perling is a former staff writer covering kitchen gear at Wirecutter. During her time at Wirecutter, she reported on various topics including sports bras, board games, and light bulbs. Previously she wrote food and lifestyle pieces for Saveur and Kinfolk magazines. Anna is a mentor at Girls Write Now and a member of the Online News Association.
James Austin is an associate staff writer currently covering games and hobbies, but he’s also worked on just about everything Wirecutter covers—from board games to umbrellas—and after being here for a few years he has gained approximate knowledge of many things. In his free time he enjoys taking photos, running D&D, and volunteering for a youth robotics competition.
We’ve rounded up 25 of our favorite board games and toys.
These games can introduce kids to new genres, help them build skills, and offer provocative and age-appropriate challenges, engaging themes, and distinctive designs.
Thousands of board games are released each year. We share some staff favorites that require more strategy, have deeper narratives, or are particularly beautiful.
We’ve found some truly excellent Cyber Monday deals—on toys, games, and crafts—for kids of all ages.
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