The Ultimate Board Game List: How to Choose Board Games Everyone Will Love
You want to play a game, but your group can’t decide what to play.
Maybe your 3-year-old wants to play with Daddy and his Betrayal Legacy group. Maybe your cousin’s niece’s 5-year-old dotes on your teenager and insists on playing the entire rule set for The Settlers of Catan Pirates and Explorers expansion.
Maybe you’re a brand new college student who planned a game night to make friends, but you know next to nothing about your attendees. Do they want Flamecraft or an Uno tournament? Maybe you’ll end up with some of each and the event will be doomed from the start.
You need a game, but you’re just not sure what will work and nobody wants to waste all their game time picking which game to play.
Good news! I’ve put together the ultimate board game list, all in one place, that will help you find what you’re looking for.
These are games I own and play with my family and friends. They’re time-tested, the ones we come back to again and again.
They’re also varied. Our game library spans ages, player numbers, and play styles. From high strategy for small groups to simple card games for larger parties, there’s something for everyone on this list.
Yeah, yeah, you’re thinking. You’ve seen hundreds of board game lists before. Here’s the deal: this list isn’t just here to give you games to choose from, it’s here to give you the tools to choose which game to play. Stick around and you’ll see.
Choose a Board Game…With a Purpose?
A quick detour, before we jump into the list and how it works. We’re all just trying to have fun by playing games, right?
Wrong.
Tell me, would you sit down and play a single-player board game? That’s not my thing because I play board games to connect with others and build relationships. If you’re like me, board games that bring people together will be most helpful to you.
If you’re NOT like me, and single-player games excite you, it’s possible you play board games for the challenge. If you’re in it for the challenge, board games that build skills are your cup of tea. And if single-player games don’t satisfy you, would you play several more challenging games over and over for a higher score? I sure do, trying to narrow the gap between my score and my family’s resident strategist.
Now, it’s important to remember that I am a busy, overwhelmed mom. My group of players is constantly shifting, which means I need board games for every age with minimal fuss, because some days playing games feels more like a chore than fun. I’m constantly hunting for games that play well with littles, but don’t bore me to tears AND I place high value on games that simplify my job as resident “board game officiant.”
The more effort I have to put into hunting through rulebooks, refereeing arguments, or addressing big feelings in the heat of the moment…
Whoops, got exhausted just thinking about it. You get the picture. I need games that make play easier, whether through simple rules or just really well-organized rulebooks. Because I have to train the budding strategist on challenging games, too.
So I’m playing board games to build relationships and skills, but I need games for every age that make playing easy. Does any of that tickle your fancy? Then do I have the list for you.
The Ultimate Board Game List Right Here, Right Now
I’ve organized this list into four sections: board games that bring people together, board games that provide opportunities to build skills, board games for every age, and games that simplify play so the fun comes easy.
If you’re as busy as I am, do yourself a favor and jump to the section that most appeals to you. You can always come back and browse the other sections later.
Don’t have time for either right now? Take this short quiz to get personalized recommendations sent to your inbox. You can look them over later or check the recommended sections when you have a free moment.
I’ve included a short description under each heading to let you know what I looked for in a game to place it in that category. If the description doesn’t sound quite right, try another section.
Now go find your game!
Board Games that Bring People Together
This isn’t just a list of cooperative games; these games provide an experience. Whether you’re working together to win or sabotaging other players until nobody wins, these games lead easily to an atmosphere of laughter and communication. It’s the perfect setting to get to know someone a little better or spend quality time with someone you love.
1. The Great Dalmuti
Fight your way to the best seat in the house by dropping all your cards first and claiming The Great Dalmuti seat. Be careful, the last two players out have to pay taxes to the top two seats each round. You can go all in by finding different chairs and letting the top players order the others around or you can keep it simple and stick to game mechanics only. Since seats change round by round, the game can take the sting out of losing the round and allow players to enjoy time with each other.
2. Apples to Apples
Play the card that best fits the green adjective and be the first to collect enough green cards to win. It’s not a game about adjectives, it’s about knowing the players best of all! Some players interpret the cards literally, while others go for irony or laughs. Since the player that drew the green card chooses which card wins, you’ll need to get to know them fast to know the best card to play.
3. Outfoxed
In this cooperative guessing game, all the players race to find clues before the sneaky fox gets away with the pie. If the fox makes it to the hole before you guess the thief correctly, everyone loses. This kid’s game keeps adults on their toes since the dice decide whether the fox moves or not. With easy adjustments to increase difficulty, the game stays interesting enough that adults will be as hooked as kids.
4. Forbidden Island
The island (your board) is sinking into the ocean and players have to work together to collect four treasures and escape before the whole thing is gone. While some cooperative games can turn into one player running the show, this game better balances player roles to include everyone. It also tends to have several reasonable choices for progression, which lends to more conversation and debate.
5. Saboteur
Complete the tunnel to the golden nugget to earn golden nugget rewards. The player with the most nuggets at the end of the third round wins. Except a few players may be designated saboteurs, tasked with preventing the miners from completing the tunnels, in which case they earn the golden nuggets instead of the miners. You’ll be talking the whole game, trying to figure out which player is the saboteur (or which players!) and stop them from disrupting the game.
6. Hanabi
In this cooperative game, create several stacks of firework cards by playing the numbered cards in order on the proper colored stack. The catch is that you can’t look at your own hand and you can only give limited information to the other players. You’ll be biting your nails hoping that you can give the other players enough information to play the right cards and they’ll be able to remember it all, but everyone will be talking.
7. Exploding Kittens
Winning this game is simple: be the last player to avoid an exploding kitten card. It’s all about the laughs and luck in this cat-themed gem. If you’re lucky, the cards will fall in your favor and you’ll be the last player standing. If not, you’re out, but you can enjoy laughing at the descriptions on your cards.
8. We Didn't Playtest This at All
In this hilariously unpredictable card game, your only goal is not to lose. Follow the instructions on the cards and cross your fingers that you last longer than the others. You might find yourself winning because you’re the last person not to speak or because you’re the youngest player, but it’ll be so ridiculous that everyone can’t help but laugh.
9. Dixit
On your turn, choose one of your picture cards and describe it in a word or phrase. You want to be specific enough that some players pick the right card, but vague enough that some don’t. Gain points if you strike the right balance or if you play a card that pulls votes on another player’s turn. Whoever has the most points once players hit 30 wins! This is another game where having a feel for the players can make a big difference.
10. Codenames
Team up to guess all your agents using a board of words. Give a clue and tell them how many related words, but no other information. Inside jokes and shared experiences come in handy when single word clues are all you have. The more you know how someone thinks, the faster you’ll succeed.
11. Pandemic
Save the world together by eradicating disease before it’s too late. Use each person’s special skills to collaborate or the game might beat you. This cooperative game lends itself well to conversation and debate over the best strategy.
12. Trash Pandas
Get the most points by collecting the most of each kind of trash in this litter-themed game, but if you roll a symbol more than once, you’ll get no actions and therefore, no points. The gamble adds a risky dynamic to this game, lending it an air of high stakes that keeps everyone on their toes while the raccoon theme and silly card names guarantee nobody will be able to take themselves too seriously.
13. Munchkin
Battle monsters, collect items, and be the first to reach level 10 to win in this RPG-esque board game. Or just sabotage everyone else by adding monsters, curses, and who knows what else to the mix. It’s a game of inside jokes, heaping on the struggles, and making deals to get ahead or maybe just catch up. Sure, reaching level 10 is fun, but the journey is the most exciting part.
14. Dinosaur Escape
Help the baby dinosaurs escape the volcano before it explodes! Use the die, your memory, and cooperation to get all the baby dinos to safety or lose to the fiery volcano. Communication will be key to coordinating the parts of this cooperative kid’s games, making it a great way to connect and promote discussion with younger players.
Board Games that Build Skills
I’m not just talking about counting, math, or taking turns (although they’re all necessary skills to have). These games will teach you to prioritize, weigh decisions, regulate emotions, measure, sort–a wide variety of skills that apply directly to life. All in a good day’s fun. The games on this list are packed with skills that have real-life applications.
1. Storytime Chess
This game of strategy is all about moving your pieces to best advantage. Checkmate the other player’s king to win (but enjoy the “mini games” that teach you to play along the way). Chess is a strategy game that utilizes all sorts of skills, but Storytime Chess focuses on learning how to play through a story. Educational skills, executive skills, spatial skills and that’s just the start of the list.
2. Settlers of Catan
Settle the board to earn resources and points in this expansion game. First to 10 points wins. Management of resources, prioritization, haggling, and spatial skills all lead to a better game. Since the board is different every time, you’ll have to make choices for the best moves on a game by game basis.
3. Betrayal at House on the Hill
In this supernatural haunted house, explore the house to discover new rooms and wait for the haunt to begin. Each haunt has different rules and roles so you’ll never get bored and will also have to learn on the go. Plan, execute, and adjust your strategy as the game changes and utilize character strengths in an attempt to survive until the end of the game.
4. The Castles of Burgundy
Collect and place tiles on your board to earn the most points. Think it sounds easy? Choose from boats, animals, technologies, castles, mines and 6 different types of buildings to maximize your moves and your points to win. Efficiency is key, but you’ll have to adjust to which game pieces show up on the board and what other players are taking away.
5. Happy Bunny
Move the bunny along the board, picking carrots along the way. The bunny gets all the carrots with a bite mark and the farmer gets the untouched carrots. Once the bunny reaches the barn, measure the bunny’s line of carrots against the farmer’s line of carrots and the longest line wins! Practice sorting, measurement, and sportsmanship (there’s a competitive variant) all in a kid-friendly carrot farm.
6. Phase 10
Be the first person to complete all 10 phases with different combinations of cards. The first person to drop their completed sets and get rid of all their cards ends the phase. If you completed the phase you move on, but if you don’t you’ll have to repeat it until you finish it. The math skills are apparent in this number sorting game, but it’s the sneaky skills you acquire that are the most valuable.
7. Lifeboat
Survive the journey to shore and receive the most points to win in this survival of the fittest competition. Juggle treasure, thieves, navigation, relationships, and survival to make it to the end. With so many ways to earn points, players will need to weigh which path and what seat in the boat will benefit them the most. But don’t jump too quick! You’ll need to convince the other players to let you make your moves or you’ll have to hoard weapons and fight them for it.
8. Five Crowns
Get the least points over 11 rounds to win the game. In each round, your goal is to create sets of the same number or runs in the same suit so you can drop your cards the fastest. If you don’t, you’ll have a final turn to play as many cards as you can and anything left in your hand is points. You’ll have to juggle risk, sorting cards, and account for the changing wilds over all the rounds if you want to succeed.
9. Oceanos
Dive to the bottom of the ocean floor and expand your submarine as you discover sea creatures. If you draw the right cards, you can earn more points than all your opponents. Increase your odds by expanding your point options through submarine upgrades, but try not to miss too many opportunities, because you only have 3 rounds to earn your points. You’ll need to prioritize upgrades to increase opportunities, manage limited cards, and take risks to beat the other players.
10. Rummikub
Be the first to place all your tiles in sets to win this number tile placing game. Memory and planning will be to your advantage, hidden beneath the obvious math skills you’ll practice.
11. Honey Buzz
Earn the most points by making honey, gathering pollen, and raising more bees to work for you. Allocating your bees will be a huge task, to your advantage or disadvantage depending on how well you can pull it off. You’ll also want to pay attention to the game-specific ways to earn points and you’ll have to decide the best moment to sell your honey and pollen. So many moving parts and so many skills in play.
12. Wingspan
Earn the most points by collecting birds, laying eggs, and best utilizing the special effects of each bird you collect. You’ll face challenges such as limited actions, increasing costs, and shifting priorities from round to round. Skills such as flexibility, planning, working memory, and many more will only increase your chances of winning.
13. Puerto Rico
Build your city, fill your island with plantations, populate your board with colonists, produce and sell goods, and earn the most points to win. Each action is tied to a role that provides bonuses so you’ll have to use those roles wisely to accomplish your tasks. The person who uses the roles to earn the most points wins! Only with high levels of planning and prioritization will you succeed.
14. Flamecraft
Visit shops and place dragons to earn the most prestige points in this whimsical dragon market. Each visit to a shop offers goods and reward opportunities that can earn each player more prestige points or an opportunity to enchant the shop for prestige and rewards. You’ll need to balance movement, goods, dragon abilities, and changing opportunities for prestige if you want to succeed.
15. Plague Inc.
Earn the most points as you evolve a disease and try to infect as many countries as possible. Points are also currency, so you’ll need to balance earning and using them to upgrade your disease and spread it farther and faster. If you strike the right balance, you’ll spread your disease across the globe and beat the other players, too.
Board Games for Every Age
Need a game your toddler can play that your teenager can also enjoy? Start here. These games are my picks for spanning the widest age gaps because sometimes we just want everyone to play together, instead of running four and a half games at once.
Work together to defend your castle towers by taking out all the monsters before they get too close. If the monsters knock down all the towers before you defeat them, you lose. The game mechanics are simple enough that younger and newer players can join and since it’s cooperative, the more advanced players have incentive to help other players. Even kids who might be too young to play can join in, moving the monsters while the game keeps their interest, but without disrupting the game if they run away after a few turns.
In this classic card game, get rid of all your cards the fastest to win! I’ve played this one with kids as young as 2-years-old and adults in their 80’s. It’s simple, fast-paced, and has withstood the test of time as a classic that’s been around since the 1970s.
3. Sleeping Queens
Be the first to wake five sleeping queens and use your cards to prevent the other playings from succeeding first. As a game designed by a kid for kids, the mechanics and rules are simple to follow, but it’s interesting enough to keep older players’ attention. It’s the perfect upgrade from Uno if you’re looking to transition younger or newer players from the simplest games to more complex mechanics.
4. Ticket to Ride First Journey
In this kid’s version of Ticket to Ride, race to complete five destinations before the other players by connecting the designated cities on the board with your colored train pieces. It’s not only a perfect introduction to Ticket to Ride games for younger players, it’s a great intro game for newer and younger players. It’s not so simple that the adults will get bored either. It’s just as fun as the original Ticket to Ride (or maybe more!).
5. Rat a Tat Cat
Score the lowest number of points in your four card slots by placing cat cards instead of rat cards. The twist? You don’t know what’s in front of you and you can’t look. It’s simple enough for younger and newer players, but the memory element and starting without knowledge of your own cards keeps it interesting enough to play with adults, too.
6. Sushi Go
Score the highest number of points by collecting sushi-themed cards. Choose wisely, because each hand is passed to the next player at the end of the round. The game is simple enough: pick a card, then pass your hand. The mechanics are simple enough to include younger players and the strategy comes with time, whether you’re 5 or 50.
7. Dead Man's Draw
Dare to draw the next card as you collect only the points on the highest number of each suit. If you draw more than one of the same suit, you bust and don’t collect any cards. The card effects might force you to bust, but anyone who can remember them all can play (and there’s a cheat sheet for anyone who can read).
8. Sorry
In this classic, move all your pawns around the board and into home before the other players. Counting and number recognition are the only necessary skills to join this game, and both are optional if you have someone willing to help.
9. Gold n’ Grog
Earn the most points by collecting treasure from the draw piles, but beware of monsters and “walk the plank” cards. With cards to draw or cards to play, the most difficult task is remembering what each card does. Most have instructions on them, if you know how to read.
10. Race to the Treasure
Create a path across the grid, collecting keys, before the ogres make it down their own path. If the players make it before the ogres, the players win. It may be a kid’s game, but the ogres get a straight shot down the board and the occasional loss will motivate the adults to play again as well as the kids.
11. Dragonwood
Gather number cards to earn dice to defeat monsters. Earn points for every monster you’ve defeated and the most points wins. While this game includes a few more moving parts, the mechanics aren’t too difficult, which makes it a good option for younger or newer players.
If you’re looking for board games for a specific age group, instead of board games that appeal to the broadest age ranges, try these lists (I’ll add more over time):
Board Games that Simplify Play
Sometimes you need a quick, simple way to explain a complicated game and sometimes you just need a really simple game. Don’t mistake simple for boring! Most of these have simpler mechanics so it’s easier to jump right in. The less barriers between you and the fun, the better.
In this jigsaw puzzle meets board game, you place board tiles and meeples to outscore your competitors, but watch out. If you mismanage your meeples, you won’t be able to claim spaces on the board until you retrieve one. The mechanics are so simple: pick and place a tile, then place a meeple on it (or don’t!). Score any finished board elements and take back those meeples.
2. Splendor
Use gems to buy development cards that earn you prestige points and bonuses. Through development, you can create higher development opportunities or receive a visit from a noble for more prestige and the player with the most prestige at the end of game wins. Gems, cards, and nobles are the only elements to juggle for the entire game.
3. Blink
Be the first to place all your cards using a common element to one of the decks in front of you. You’ll need to be quick to find the similarities in this fast-paced game or the other player will play all their cards first. You only need 2 players and the simple mechanics mean jumping straight into the fun.
4. Skip Bo
In this simple classic, make stacks of 12 and be the first to make it through the deck dealt to you. Counting to 12 may sound too easy to turn into a card game, but with other players adding cards to the stacks, you’ll find the simple mechanics don’t detract from the fun a bit.
5. Hoot Owl Hoot
Get all the owls to the nest using color cards before the sun reaches its final space. This one is as simple as Candyland, except for the part where you have to convince the other players (often toddlers and preschoolers, based on the age recommendation) to help the owls work together.
6. Waterworks
Be the first to connect your faucet to your spout in this game of pipes and wrenches. Add leaky pipes to other players to slow them down, but remember you’ll have to fix your own leaks before you can continue your pipe. It’s simple: build pipes, fix leaks, and be the first to finish.
7. Spot It
Every card has a match and your job is to find it first. It may be “just a matching game,” but it’s simple enough for kids to play, the speed element makes it challenging for adults, and with so many simple variations, it’ll keep popping up in your game rotation without feeling stale.
8. Crossing the Woods
Try to get the squirrel across the board to her home before you run out of cards in this cooperative game. It sounds simple (and playing sure is!) but players can only look at one card and place it on the movement track without sharing any information with the other players. Once five cards are placed on the movement track, the squirrel moves. If you make it to her house, you win, but if you run out of cards before she reaches home, you lose.
9. Monopoly Deal
Get three sets of properties first to win the card game version of an old classic. It’s shorter and only requires a deck of cards, but with all the charm of the original.
Put the Ultimate Board Game List into Action
By now you’ve probably skimmed at least one section. Did you find something you like? Do yourself a favor and click on the full review for that game where you’ll find tips for connection, skill-building, and how to make the playing experience as easy as possible for your group!
Still deciding? If you’re easily overwhelmed by the choices (like me!), try this quiz to determine what you value when you play. It’ll deliver a short list of personalized recommendations straight to your inbox AND point you to the right section of the list for future options.
Speaking of future options, save this list! I’ll update it regularly with new family favorites, underrated staples, and games with opportunities to bond with your favorite people, all while putting life skills to the test.
This is amazing.