Gift shopping for an avid game lover or are you yourself a board game enthusiast? We’ve compiled a list of the best board games for adults so you can pin down just the right options for all the passionate game players in your life!
Blue Orange Games has come up with a stunning strategy-based board game with Photosynthesis! This is a unique game of attempting to outgrow your rivals and dominate the forest by sowing and growing your trees.
The game board and pieces are gorgeous, and gameplay is deceptively abstract and difficult – this is one for true board game lovers.
Players start planting trees from the outside of the board in, where the soil becomes more and more fertile. The game’s currency is “light-points” that you acquire by you guessed it, photosynthesizing. The strategy comes in by trying to cast shade over your opponents while continuing to grow your own forest.
A well thought out board game for adults that’s been very well received by game lovers all over! No doubt a solid gift or addition to your own collection!
Evolution is a brilliantly conceived deep-strategy game that science and biology enthusiasts, in particular, will love!
Players create and adapt their own species in a dynamic ecosystem with dangerous predators and limited resources. The point of the game is to adapt your species to eat, multiply, and thrive. With over 4,000 different species to create using all of the different “traits”, this game will never get old.
Reviews describe this game as simple and easy to grasp, yet remarkably deep and complex at the same time – that’s no small feat. Each player controls several species that either evolve and thrive, or go extinct in a dynamic environment that’s also evolving. Will your species have what it takes to outcompete your rivals and live on, or will they succumb to extinction due to a lack of effective adaptation?
The artwork and game pieces are absolutely gorgeous, so this is a charming game for those who love science and art to look at alone!
There are even some awesome expansion packs available that will breathe new life into this already highly replayable game. Some of the top-rated expansions include the Flight Expansion which focuses on birdlife and avian species and the Climate Conversion Kit which alters the gameplay a bit to include more dynamic aspects to the game, such as changing climate!
Truly an awesome option for those who like to fully immerse into game night that will prove itself to be both fun and challenging to play for quite some time!
Here’s another interesting game that will challenge your mind and patience. Unearth is a dice placement game that is an awesome gift idea for real board game buffs who appreciate a learning curve and a challenge.
The premise of the game is that there are several tribes (each player chooses a tribe) competing to unearth the lost ruins of ancient, ancestral civilizations. The objective is to uncover and rebuild the wonders of the golden age, pretty neat!
Each turn, players roll dice to uncover ruins. High rolls help to claim ruin cards and low rolls uncover stones. Players can combine stones to rebuild and claim ruins, scoring points. It’s both luck and strategy based so it keeps the game exciting and makes for endless replayability. The artwork and game pieces are also quite aesthetically pleasing making for a sharp looking board game!
Catan seems to be taking the world by storm these days! This 3-4 person, strategic board game has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, and for good reason. It’s a game that’s easy to learn, but impossible to master – this one will keep you or whoever you’re shopping for entertained endlessly!
The premise of that game is that several seafaring nations have just landed on an unsettled island – Catan. Each civilization must trade, build and settle throughout Catan in an attempt to take control of the island. Resources must be acquired to trade and develop things like roads and cities, but the board is different every game so strategies must adapt.
Collect resources through trades, lucky dice and cards and then use them wisely! There are all sorts of different resources (grain, ore, wooll brick, etc.) and different ways to utilize them. Strategies change with every game so this game will never bore you. Definitely a great buy for anyone who loves engrossing, hyper-variable board games!
Scythe is an intense strategy based board game set in an alternate-history in the 1920s. This is one impressive board game including all sorts of game pieces, currency, and an amazing game board. If you’re shopping for someone who has a real passion for in-depth, captivating board games this is a great choice.
The game is played with one to five players and lasts about two hours. It takes place in an almost post-apocalyptic type setting just after World War One where nations have fallen and different factions are now jostling for power. Each player represents a fallen leader trying to restore power over Europa and starts the game with different resources and abilities, and also a hidden goal.
It’s complex, competitive and will never play the same way – a great choice for all sorts of game buffs!
This is one of the best board games for adults around if you’re shopping for a wine lover. Read Between the Wines is a hilarious, almost Cards Against Humanity-type board game that is best played with four players and four different wines.
Several rounds are played, each one with a new wine and theme card. Theme cards pose a thought-provoking question in regards to the wine to which players answer and then vote on each other’s anonymous responses. For example, “Compare this wine to a celebrity” Get the premise? Try not to get too buzzed with this one!
Charterstone by Stonemaier Games is described as a “village building legacy game” that avid board game enthusiasts and strategists rave over!
This is a one-of-a-kind worker-placement game with tons of variability and therefore high replayability. It can be played with one to six players, and typically lasts about one hour.
The premise of the game is to colonize new lands beyond the Kingdom of ‘Greengully’ and create a thriving new village. It’s an intuitive, yet highly dynamic branching storyline where short-term decisions have a long-term impact – so this one is far from boring.
Charterstone is constantly evolving and taking turns as you continue to play, so it’s about as engaging as a board game can get. Even the rules of the game change depending upon the player’s choices.
The gameboard and pieces are all beautifully designed, and there’s furthermore a Recharge Pack available for embarking on a second campaign of Charterstone!
No doubt a unique and captivating board game for adults (and younger folks as well) that will test everyone’s minds!
7 Wonders – Duel, is a two-player, head-to-head game where the objective is to build your civilization in order to conquer and flourish for centuries!
Based on the original game, 7 Wonders, and offering similar gameplay, this two-player variant is perfect for those who enjoy heated strategy games with intimate gameplay.
Each player builds their civilization over the course of three ages, constructing buildings and wonders along the way. Players draw cards to achieve scientific advancement, build their capital city, and strengthen their army. The game is won by achieving military, scientific, or civilian supremacy, so there are multiple strategies to pursue in order to defeat your opponent!
The gameplay is technical but moves fairly quickly once you get the basics down. Once the game is learned, each round lasts about 30 minutes.
Equipped with a gorgeous gameboard, card deck, and game pieces, Duel is furthermore an aesthetically striking board game option that you’re bound to get lost in!
Board game and bird nerd enthusiasts alike will love the unique concept and gameplay of Wingspan, where players compete as bird enthusiasts seeking to discover and attract the best birds to their aviary!
Played with one to five players, this tricky game of strategy typically lasts between 40 and 70 minutes, so it has the potential to really build some anticipation, excitement, and rivalry without being too much of a commitment.
Wingspan is also a wonderfully informative game for avid birders and novice wildlife enthusiasts alike, sourcing all of the data and fun facts for each card from reputable scientific sources. Students of biology, nature nerds, and bird watchers will no doubt LOVE the gorgeous aesthetics and information-rich characteristics of the card decks!
There are 170 unique bird cards, 26 bonus cards,16 automa cards, 103 food tokens, 75 egg miniatures, 5 custom wooden dice, 5 player mats and 1 birdfeeder dice tower included – so this is a truly extensive game set. There are furthermore multiple expansions including entire species assemblages from different environments and geographic regions such as the Oceania and European expansions.
Learning the ins and outs of this game definitely takes a bit of practice considering there are countless strategies to win. At the end of each game, however, everyone will walk away knowing more about the world of birds, so Wingspan is a particularly neat game in the educational regard!
The best part about this game is that you don’t really know who’s the victor until everyone adds up their points at the end of four rounds. There are multiple ways to score points, and ultimately, the board becomes wildly cluttered and information-heavy, so this is a particularly engaging game for those that like to go all-in!
Tapestry is a one to five-person game lasting 90-120 minutes in which players compete to “create the civilization with the most storied history, starting at the beginning of human-kind and reaching into the future.” This is a particularly great option for groups of strategy-hungry board game enthusiasts seeking a real challenge.
Players start with nothing and work to advance their civilization’s technology, exploration, science, and military. You can attempt to achieve balanced growth and consider all civilization aspects, or focus your efforts into a specific approach to find success.
Players additionally work to improve their income, build their capital city, leverage asymmetric abilities, earn victory points, and ultimately gain tapestry cards that tell the story of one’s civilization.
The game set includes 16 unique factions, 18 painted landmark miniatures, 150 building and outpost miniatures, 43 tapestry cards, 33 tech cards, 3 custom dice, a 2-piece custom insert, and more! There is even a full solo mode with automa cards for playing by one’s self!
Featuring countless inherent strategies, a wonderfully inclusive set of game cards and pieces, and aesthetically striking artwork, Tapestry is without a doubt one of Stonemaier Game’s best titles within the world or civilization-building games!
Everdell is a unique and aesthetically stunning game of dynamic tableau building and worker placement where players attempt to create the most prosperous settlement/city possible given their resources and strategy!
Everdell can be played with one to four players, the gameplay ranging from 40 to 80 minutes. The objective of the game is to create a thriving city that is furthermore prepared for enduring and expanding the following season – the game taking place over the course of one calendar year.
Each player has a collection of worker pieces that they utilize to gather resources, draw cards, and to take other special actions. There are also five types of cards in play; Travelers, Production, Destination, Governance, and Prosperity that are used to generate resources (twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries), grant abilities, and score points.
It’s a fairly complex game that no doubt takes some learning, but true board game enthusiasts will immediately fall in love with the layers to this one!
There are 128 critter and construction cards, 16 event mini-cards, 11 forest mini-cards, 110 resource pieces, 30 point tokens, 20 occupied tokens, 24 wooden workers, 1 18-sided die and 1 game board (including a 3D tree), so this is one seriously inclusive board game. Put on your thinking cap and be sure not to lose any pieces or parts with this one!
Legends of Andor is a team-based fantasy game in which two to four players unite to defend the Kindom of Andor against ever-encroaching enemy forces.
This game includes an eight-page, fully illustrated rule book along with 1 double-sided game board, 41 game figures, 4 hero boards, 1 equipment/battle board, 142 cardboard pieces, 72 large playing cards, 66 small playing cards, 20 dice, and many more components and pieces. In other words, this is a super-intensive game for fantasy enthusiasts who love going all-in.
While the game has a remarkable amount of influences and nuances, gameplay only lasts 60 to 90 minutes, creating a nice balance between complexity and time commitment. It’s a wonderful game for those seeking something in-depth, that won’t take 4 separate nights to complete!
Various quests and battles offer new challenges that are only completed together and expansion packs are also available for even more variable gameplay. The most popular expansions include The Star Shield Expansion, and The Journey to The North.
Wit’s End a great game for the brainiacs in your inner circle. This is a game for know-it-alls, playing is a challenging endeavor not for the faint of mind.
It’s described as a game of trivia, brain teasers and riddles that will really put you and your friend’s knowledge and memory to the test. The objective is to reach the end of the game board by answering questions on topics like science, history, popular culture, art geography and more!
It’s a fun and engaging game that’s been done very well. A crowd favorite on Amazon that will likely become a staple game for whoever you’re thinking of!
Made for two to four players, Clank! A Deck Building Adventure! is described by Renegade Game Studios as a “fast and intense dungeon delving experience”.
The objective of this game is to acquire as much treasure and valuable artifacts as you can without waking the slumbering dragon in the dungeon, and then making it out alive! The game is a wonderful combination of map exploration and deck building, so board game enthusiasts of all kinds will enjoy the multi-faceted gameplay and strategy!
Players draw cards to move through the dungeon, purchase equipment, fight monsters and add more cards to their deck. For each artifact stolen, the dragon’s rage increases. You can push your luck for greater reward, or play it safe at the risk of missing out on treasure and important items. Just be careful not to CLANK! less you wake the dragon and endure damage!
Including a two-sided game board, 180 cards, 80 tokens, 30 cubes, 24 dragon cubes, and a rage tracker, this is a highly inclusive game set for those that enjoy a thoroughly in-depth board game. Gameplay however only lasts for 30 to 60 minutes, so a round or two of Clank! is not a major time commitment.
Off Topic is a fun board game for adults that forces everyone involved to put on their thinking caps and inevitably stirs up some hilarious conversation.
The gameplay is as simple as drawing a card to set the topics, and then rolling the die to set the letter that your responses must begin with. Flip the sand timer and go! Race against the clock to write down answers for each topic that begin with the letter rolled – simple as that!
The second half of the game is even more ridiculous in which you must defend and debate your answers.
You can play with two to eight players, games lasting anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, so it’s a great option for large, difficult to corral groups.
Ok, the JOOLA Midsize Compact Table Tennis Table might not exactly qualify as a board game – but we wanted to include it here none the less because of its versatility, impressive storability when not in use, and of course, ridiculously fun gameplay!
This is a scaled-down ping pong table that measures 72 by 36 inches – 2/3 the size of a regulation table. The smaller size of this table and brilliant two-piece design with collapsible legs makes storing this otherwise impossibly large game easy within even smaller apartments and living spaces.
The table comes entirely assembled – simply unfold the legs on each table-half, erect the net, and start playing! Each side of the table sets up like a card-playing table – and can of course also be used as such! When game night calls for something other than ping pong, this table will work wonderfully for laying down some cards, a puzzle, or a board game.
The smaller size of the tabletop takes just a little getting used to, but after a bit of gameplay, you and your friends will find that playing on a scaled-down table really heightens your ping-pong precision and technical play.
Otherwise a traditionally BIG game requiring a lot of floor space, JOOLA has created a stellar product here that brings the fun and excitement of ping pong into virtually any sized living space!
Perfect for dinner parties, heated rounds of gambling or stay at home date nights, this tabletop shuffleboard set is a complete blast to play! Scaled down versions of games that are meant to be played on a much bigger scale rarely match up – this rendition from Carrom, however, does not disappoint.
This is a well built wooden game board marked with wear resistant, lead-free ink. The set includes eight roller ball-bearing pucks so it comes ready to play. The whole set is of nice quality and built to last – my family has owned this game for over a decade now and it still plays like new.
This game will be seeing some play on Christmas day right out of the wrapping, so bring your A-game!
This is a great game for music lovers that can be played casually or competitively. Spontuneous is one of our favorite picks of board games for adults, but the kids can play along with this one too.
The rules are simple, a word is chosen and then players race to blurt out a song that contains the word. There is a game board and dice involved as well – the first to reach the finish wins! You can play in teams or as solo competitors but either way, your cache of song lyrics will be tested!
Suspend is a super fun and exciting game to play for all ages, not just adults but we included it here because of the strategy and skill involved. This is a Jenga-type game in the sense that all the players take turns trying not to destroy the focus of the game – in this case a balanced mess of game rods.
Although you could compare this game to Jenga, players build rather than dismantle. The idea is to get rid of all your rods by bulding them up and balancing them on the every-growing wooden game base. It’s quite challenging and can go on for a while depending on how you play – especially if there are adult beverages involved…
Here’s a nifty little travel chess set that will make a great gift for lovers of the game. If you’re shopping for a chess fanatic they’ll never leave this game behind!
The game board folds into a compact package so it’s great for travel but is not so small that it takes away from gameplay. The manufacturer has done a great job keeping the aesthetic and function of this game board to a high standard while making it the ideal travel set.
All the pieces have strong magnets to stay secure to the board so you can play on bus rides, trains, at the beach, inside wild bars or even upside down!
If you’re shopping for a board game enthusiast who’s also a die-hard Game of Thrones fan, this is the holiday gift to end all gifts. This special edition game of Risk has based the gameboard and pieces entirely on the popular series.
It’s the same game of Risk we’ve all come to know but also features some special character cards that give certain pieces and players special abilities in “battle”.
Can you think of a more fitting theme for Risk? Battle and conquer your way across the land in hopes of winning the Iron Throne. Winter is coming…you’re gonna need some board games to stay toasty and occupied.
Looking for a Christmas themed adult board game this holiday season? Look no further – Santa VS Jesus is right up your alley if you’re in the market for wildly inappropriate Xmas fun!
This is a team-based game that can get pretty rowdy. Each team competes by drawing cards that initiate riddles, puzzles and building challenges to “gain believers”. The winning team is the team with the most believers at the game’s end.
Gameplay supports up to 16 players so this is a great one for big holiday parties and family gatherings.
This is another hilarious game for adults that will have your friends and family roaring with laughter. What Do You Meme? is a simple caption contest game where the players compete to come up with the best caption card in response to the photo card.
There are 75 photo cards and 360 caption cards, so this game can go all night! This one gets pretty X-rated so make sure the kids are in bed!
Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a unique and interesting strategy game in which players put their mind to the test building their own castle, room by room according to the wishes of the ‘Mad King’.
Each player plays as a building contractor who adds rooms to the castle their building while also selling their services to other players. Every round, one player designated as the Master Builder sets the prices for the available castle rooms and the other players pay the Master Builder to construct those rooms within their castles. Points are scored by spending the least amount of money.
Each castle built will be unique due to the 75 different shaped and themed rooms that can be placed throughout the game – so this is not a board game that becomes predictable after more than a few run-throughs. Most of the castle rooms are furthermore based on actual rooms that Kind Ludwig incorporated into his castles over 150 years ago!
The Room deck serves as a timer for the board game, deciding which rooms are available for purchase each round. Be warned, the setup and gameplay can go on for quite some time, so this game is a bit of a commitment for one to four players.
Here’s a unique and bizarre card game that you could almost compare to Russian Roulette. Exploding Kittens is a relatively new game released through Kickstarter with a hilarious concept and even funnier artwork and resulting gameplay.
The idea of the game is to NOT draw the exploding kitten cards. If you draw one of the dreaded exploding kitten cards, you explode, removing you from the game. There are “diffuse” cards that enable you to diffuse the kitten explosion if you draw one, and other aspects to the game that make it interesting and also leave room for strategy rather than just luck.
You play with two to five players and the game lasts about 15 minutes – it’s a hard and fast game that will have you shouting across the table.
It’s the same game it’s always been – players guess the coordinates of enemy warships and take turns bombarding each other until one fleet is completely sunk! It’s simple, affordable and also a conveniently portable game for use at the park, beach or where ever!
Friendships have been built, but mostly dismantled as a result of this intense, involved and long-term board game. Ahh, the trials and tribulations of Monopoly.
This is the classic version of the age-old game. Buy, sell and trade your way to the top until you monopolize the game board! No doubt a more involved game that can take countless hours to play – a true test of board game commitment!
Anti-Monopoly is a modern twist on you guessed it, the game of Monopoly. Gameplay is similar in the sense that two to four players compete for big money, but everyone must choose a side prior to the game’s start – Monopolists or Free Market Competitors.
There are different rules for each side which makes the game quite interesting. Everyone competes at acquiring real estate and big money until a victor emerges. A fun and unique twist on maybe the most classic board game out there!
Here’s a special edition of Star Wars Monopoly that your friends and family who love the series will nerd out on big time! This version of Monopoly celebrates the 40th year anniversary of the release of the franchise’s first film.
All the game pieces and playing cards are Star Wars themed and players can choose to side with the Rebels or the Empire. It’s the classic board game we’ve all come to love with a modern, Star Wars inspired twist! No doubt a great gift idea for the right person!
Monopoly: Cheaters Edition is an interesting approach to Monopoly that’s a ton of fun to play! This version of perhaps the most classic board game of all time encourages the players to cheat – in fact, it’s part of the game.
It’s still Monopoly, but you have to keep a close eye on everyone to ensure nobody cheats the system! There are cheat cards that either reward you if you successfully complete them or get you thrown in jail – plastic handcuff set included!
If you didn’t play Oregon Trail as a child, did you even have a childhood? We suppose that’s up for debate, but either way, adults will love the strategy and luck involved with this timeless classic computer game of old turned board game.
The Oregon Trail Game: Journey to Willamette Valley is a brilliantly composed race-to-the-finish style game where two to four players compete to be the first to reach the finish and seek their fortune in the West!
Players must place tiles to discover the trails, rivers, forts, and towns along the way while looking out for calamities and providing food for their wagon train all the while. The gameplay is fairly involved, so this is a lot more complex than your standard “roll the dice to the finish” type board game!
A gorgeous assortment of cards, dice, playing pieces and a gameboard to match furthermore make this game aesthetically awesome to play!
Our advice to you for reaching the finish line first – stay sharp and look out for snakes and dysentery!
The Voting Game is a game that reveals a lot about you and your friends. Be careful with this one, it’s the initiator of many an inappropriate tale and really shows everyone’s true colors.
The idea is to uncover the ridiculous and hilarious truths about the friendships of everyone playing. It’s best played with people you know well for this reason.
Take a look at some of the question cards in the image – need we say more? This one is bound to bring back some buried memories and will teach you things about your closest friends and family you never knew! Gameplay will be totally different based on who you play with, so this game never gets old!
Ya gotta love Yahtzee! This is a staple in households across the country, it’s quick and easy to learn and one of the most affordable games on our list! You simply score points based on the outcome of your dice rolls and work your way down the scoring card!
Even if who you’re shopping for likely already owns a Yahtzee set, at this price this is a great opportunity to set them up with some fresh new scorecards and dice!
Here’s a retro Scrabble set built to look like the 1949 edition that will make a great gift for an old-days enthusiast.
This Scrabble set features the classic wood letter tiles and tile racks and also includes a velvet pouch. The game board is based on the 1949 edition so it’s a great gift for lovers of the era!
Drawing Without Dignity is an uncensored Pictionary-style adult party game that pits you and your mentally twisted friends against each other in a race to draw and guess wildly inappropriate clues. Make sure to keep the kids far away from this one!
In summary, teams compete to draw out and guess disgusting, politically incorrect and taboo pictures in order to score points and win. The game includes 150 professionally printed premium playing cards with over the line words and phrases that you and your friends will be both appalled and entertained by.
It’s a great way to get a little insight into the artistic ability and mental sickness of all the players involved! Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Anomia – “the game where common knowledge becomes uncommonly fun!”. This is an exciting and fast-paced trivia/word game that keeps everyone involved at all times. This one requires some intense, on the fly thinking so you’re friends and family with quick wit and sharp minds will love it!
The premise of the game is simple enough. Players draw a card from the deck and flip it face up for everyone to see. If the symbols on two players cards match, they must immediately race to blurt out a word that has to do with both cards. Topics are wide ranging and answers can include an even wider array of people, places and things. There are a few more nuances to the game including wildcards and cascading face-offs that really keep everyone on their toes.
A great adult game that’s both challenging and addicting!
Anomia X is a slightly less PG version of Anomia that might be more up your alley if wholesome, appropriate games aren’t your thing. The same rules apply as the original game (it’s a fast-paced, blurt it out type trivia/name game) except the included category decks are far from kid-safe!
There are four different card decks included here as opposed to the standard two included with the original game. Each deck includes 72 category cards, seven wild cards and two customizable blank cards so there’s no shortage of gameplay! It’s a fun and hilarious to play over and over again so this is a great gift choice for serious game lovers!
Here’s one more version of Anomia that seems to be the crowd favorite. The party edition includes six category decks as opposed to two, so there’s a whole lot more variable gameplay here.
If you’re shopping for someone who already knows and loves the original Anomia then they will be delighted to receive some new decks to spice up their favorite game! This many decks also allows for more players – some reviews state they have played with over eight people by combining decks!
If you don’t know about this hilarious and vulgar game yet, then you’re missing out! Cards Against Humanity has taken off in recent years likely due to its ease of play and downright heinous content.
It’s a super simple game to play that doesn’t require much strategy or even an attention span – perfect for rowdy get togethers and quiet nights in. Each round, one player places a black card down to which all the other players place their funniest white card. The player whose turn it was to flip the black card chooses the funniest white card and whoever’s card it was, wins the round!
The cards are absolutely hysterical and don’t hold back in the slightest, Cards Against Humanity has some brilliant writers on staff! Fortunately, there are many extension packs that keep the game fresh like the red box, green box, and absurd box. If you have friends or family that already love this instant classic then surprise them with one of the extension packs and breathe new life into their favorite game!
Here is a crowd favorite expansion pack to Cards Against Humanity comically titled, Crabs Adjust Humidity.
It’s simply a set of 560 extra game cards to keep Cards Against Humanity fresh and unexpected. This is the special edition that includes volumes one through five, totaling to a whopping amount of ammo for perhaps the most inappropriate game out there!
Here’s one more expansion pack to Cards Against Humanity we thought you should know about! Cocks Abreast Hostility is another highly reviewed variant of the wildly lewd and offensive game every degenerate knows and loves. There are 100 white cards and 25 black cards included so it’s a good value set for the cost.
This will make a great gift for any lover of Cards Against Humanity – there’s even a second edition titled, Cock Pack Two (Fowls Deep)… charming stuff.
This is an interesting and unique board game that will make for an awesome gift for anyone who likes to learn new and different games. If you’re shopping for a true board game buff then this could be a great option they likely haven’t heard of.
Plague Inc. The Board Game is based on a popular video game where the objective is to infect the world with your deadly disease. It’s a bit dark yes, but it’s a challenging and strategic game that will put your brain to the test.
One to four players (yes you can even play solo) take the role of an unknown disease and then start the game by infecting a “patient zero” in a single country. Each player then works towards evolving symptoms, becoming dominant over other players and spreading across the world. Sounds wild right?
Wildlands is a two to four-player strategy miniature combat game that is easy to learn and play, yet has an impressive amount of depth. The game board and pieces are beautifully built, and the strategic aspects of the game never get old.
In summary, players attempt to obtain five points by either picking up their own five crystals, eliminating five opponents, or a combination of the two. The first player to score five points is the winner. We know, that’s a rather vague description, but we promise the game is simple to play with just a little bit of practice.
Wildlands has a fair amount of set up, but once you get that out of the way, you’re in action! Each player chooses one of four factions to play as; the Guild, the Lawbringers, the Pit Fighters and the Gnomads – each of which has their own strengths and weaknesses. Each player then receives 10 cards – 5 of which dictate where on the board their characters spawn, and 5 of which determine where their crystals will be located.
There are lots of nuances to the game, but the general idea is that each player positions the characters of their faction to combat other characters, and to retrieve crystals. It’s competitive, multi-faceted and always plays out differently, making it a great game for true strategy enthusiasts. Playtime is about 30 to 60 minutes.
Explorers & Pirates is an expansion for Catan that will add even more scenarios and variability to the already unpredictable game. If you’re shopping for someone who is a diehard Catan player, they’ll be delighted to receive this radical expansion! For those that love that game, this will be a truly meaningful gift.
This version of the crowd favorite game of conquest focuses on maritime exploration and resources. Build ships and harbors, assemble sailing crews and sail the seas in order to discover new lands and resources like fish, spices and goldfields! ARRR!
Here’s one more expansion of Settlers of Catan we wanted to turn you onto. This is another awesome gift idea for lovers of Catan that will breathe new life into the already highly variable game.
Catan: Traders & Barbarians allows you to play with just two players which is definitely a killer aspect that alone makes it worth owning! There are some neat new ways to explore and conquer as well as some awesome new wooden pieces.
You can add a harbormaster, a friendly thief or include some special events to name a few additions to the original gameplay.
There are five different campaigns to play through that result in totally unique scenarios and therefore gameplay. The Campaigns are titled: Caravans, Barbarian Attack, The Fishermen of Catan, The Rivers of Catan, and Traders & Barbarians. Excited to play yet??
Terraforming Mars is a unique and highly dynamic board game for adults in which players compete to be the most successful corporation terraforming the red planet.
One to five players each play the role of a corporation and work together in the terraforming process, but still compete for victory points. It’s an interesting, semi-cooperative playing style that creates different gameplay than virtually anything else!
In a highly advanced future human timeline that takes place in the 2400s, victory points are awarded to players not only for their contribution to the terraforming process, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and for completing other commendable tasks.
The game board is an actual accurate map of the Tharsis region of Mars, including real landmarks and topography as well as the Viking site where the first man-made rover touched down – pretty neat! 5 player boards are where you keep track of production and currency, while there are over 230 cards representing different corporations and projects. 80 tiles are placed by players on the board to generate oceans, forests, cities and more – this is truly a head-scratching endeavor that will test your mind!
Each game lasts around two hours, so this one is certainly a bit of a commitment. The replay value is also quite high here, so you can break this game out for years to come and better-hone your terraforming strategy!
Here’s a spooky game for horror enthusiasts that comes very highly reviewed by board game buffs all over! Betrayal At House On The Hill is a cooperative game that takes all sorts of twists and turns.
Gameplay changes every time you play and there are over 50 possible scenarios so this one never gets old.
The premise of the game is that you and your companions explore a haunted house. You roll dice to take steps and discover rooms which adds panels to the gameboard. It’s a neat concept that expands the game as you play. There are ghost stories and monsters involved and also items that affect the way the game plays out.
It’s best played with four or more people and lasts about an hour. This is another complex board game that involves a learning curve but once you’re over the hurdle it’s quite addicting!
Mysterium is a cooperative investigation themed game where everyone loses or wins!
The spooky immersive storyline is challenging and engaging to follow and leads players through different gameplay every time! The point of the game is to decipher the atrocious crime that has been committed at “Warwick Manor”. One player takes on the role of a ghost and over the course of a week, and tries to lead the psychic investigators to the culprit – pretty unique right?
Each night the investigative team is provided with visions to attempt to put together the story, but the clues are challenging and not always intuitive to interpret. The psychics must determine the weapon, location and killer or else the game is lost for all! It’s kind of a different rendition of Clue where everyone is working together, with all sorts of unfamiliar influences and game rules that make it more dynamic and fun to play.
The contents include a huge array of tokens, markers, cards, and game boards, so there’s a lot of levels to this one! Without a doubt a wonderful game for spooky, investigative enthusiasts that will prove to be different than anything you’ve ever played!
Here’s a crowd favorite cooperative game that really requires putting your heads together as a team. Pandemic one of the best board games for adults that you all win or lose together.
Its gameplay and overall premise is unique and well executed – there are very similar tones between this game and Ndemic Creations Plague Inc. previously listed. The difference is that you work as a team to stop the infection(s) rather than individually take the role as a plague yourself!
It’s played with two to four players and lasts about an hour so it’s not too much of a commitment despite its complexity.
Hasbro has come up with a great version of Connect 4 with this fast-paced, exciting game. The Connect 4 Shots Game has the same objective as the classic Connect 4 game of lining up four pieces in a row (sort of like tic tac toe) but rather than taking turns placing pucks into the grid two players bounce balls into the grid simultaneously.
It gets competitive quickly so make sure to keep track of all those bouncy balls!
Ticket To Ride is a super popular board game that can be played with the whole family. The premise of the game is that each player (2-5) competes to visit the most North American cities by railway in seven days.
Players score points by laying claim to different railway routes, completing routes on a continuous path and by completing the longest routes. It sounds a bit odd yes, but the gameplay is fun, fast-paced and easy to learn. There are train car pieces and nicely illustrated train cards that are also built into the game.
Another great gift choice for those that enjoy strategic and competitive board games!
Here’s one of the best board games for adults around if you’re looking for a drinking game in particular. CoolCats & AssHats is a fast-paced, hilarious card based question game that revolves around you guessed it, drinking.
There are questions, challenges and tiebreaker rounds all driven by the deck off assorted game cards. Each round has a winner (CoolCat) and a loser (AssHat) which drives the scoring. A great game for pregaming, wild nights of drinking at home and also more tame parties too!
Wordplay is a game for sharp minds that can think through wordy challenges. Gameplay is super simple, yet it’s quite a challenging game to play – especially if there are adult beverages involved!
This one can definitely be effectively modified into a drinking game if that’s what you’re into. It also makes for a great family game if you’re looking for something more PG.
A spinner selects the letters and category each round. Once they are decided, players race against each other to blurt out the most words that fit the determined description. For example, if the category is “places” that start with a P and contain an A, answers could include Paris, Panama or Philadephia!
Sounds easy right? Not so much – gameplay is surprisingly difficult in the heat of the moment making for some hilarious competition!
This is another highly involved, fairly complex board game for those that love both a strategic and competitive challenge. Endeavor: Age of Sail turns you into a European seafaring conquerer, taking place during the Age of Exploration.
The object of the game is to send ships to unexplored regions of the globe in order to create the most powerful empire!
The game board and pieces are very thoughtfully and artistically designed making for quite an attractive game. Fight to build and maintain the most powerful empire through area control, resource collection, building, and overall action management. The game is played with two to five players and typically lasts about 90 minutes.
No doubt an addicting board game for adults that lovers of history, in particular, will get a kick out of!
This adult version of Telestrations is an absolutely hysterical game that’s great for parties and get-togethers. If Pictionary and the game of telephone were combined, this would be the result!
Each round starts with a card that tells a player to draw something. The next player then has to guess what the drawing is (the original card) and then the next player, in turn, has to draw what the second player interpreted the first drawing as. This goes on for one more guess and then one more illustration – followed by a final guess so the initial drawing subject is likely to be lost along the way.
Did you follow that? It’s really quite simple, but you can’t imagine how ridiculous the results can be!
There is a way to score the game if you choose to make it competitive and it can also be played in teams if you have a lot of players at bigger gatherings making it a highly versatile party game. Just remember, this one is not safe for kids!
Taboo is a fun word game played in teams in which you attempt to get your teammates to say the guess word, without being able to say the forbidden words.
For example, if the guess word was swimming pool, forbidden words might include lifeguard, diving board and bathing suit. How do you get your teammates to correctly guess the guess word? It’s harder than it seems!
There are 260 cards with over 1000 guess words as well as a timer and squeaker that is squeaked if someone says a forbidden word. It’s a fun and easy game to play that can also be modified into some hilarious drinking games with a little creativity!
No description needed here! This is an addicting tabletop game of flick-football that you or whoever you’re shopping for will quickly master.
Play competitively, play just for fun, or make wagers with friends if you’re feeling frisky. It’s an inexpensive game option that will make a great gift for any football enthusiast!
Raptor is a fast-paced, two-player game in which you and your opponent try to outwit each other in order to win.
The premise of the game is that a Mamma Raptor has escaped from her enclosure and laid her eggs in a dinosaur park. A team of scientists must neutralize her and capture the baby raptors before they run wild. One player plays the roles of the Raptors, the other plays the role of the scientists.
Each side has their own unique deck of cards that they use to accomplish their objectives, and the game board creates some dynamic gameplay as well. The raptors win the game if three babies escape or if the scientists are eliminated from the board. The scientists win by successfully capturing three raptor babies or by eliminating the momma raptor.
The contents include 1 game board, 15 tokens, 9 cardboard rocks, 18 cards, 16 figurines, 2 player sheets, and a rule book. The gameplay is simple and lasts only about 25 minutes, but there is an awesome amount of strategy and potential tactics involved that keep it interesting and highly replayable.
A wonderful game for couples that won’t get old, Raptor is an underrated diamond in the rough for board game and strategy enthusiasts alike!
Blink is a great card game to take on the go and play anywhere! It’s a lightning-quick matching game where players race to get rid of all their cards. Match the color, symbol or count of cards to get them out of your possession until there’s none left.
It’s a super affordable gift idea that will be fun and entertaining for anyone that likes fast, competitive games with minimal setup, game pieces, and time commitment!
Balderdash is a hysterical but calculated board game in which you score points for successfully lying to other players.
The game is driven by question/definition cards. A question is asked, and then players write down their response. If you don’t know the answer, you have to come up with something to try and pass as the true answer. Players score points for calling out bluffs and for successfully bluffing – it makes for a dynamic game that you really need to keep an eye on everyone while playing.
Another fun option for parties and gatherings that’s affordable and easy to play. If you’re shopping for family or friends who enjoy unique games of deceit, give this one a shot!
Mobi is a scrabble-type game, except it’s driven by numbers and math equations rather than letters and words. Gameplay is easy and exercises your mind – a great game for those that enjoy a little mental calisthenics from time to time.
All the tiles conveniently fit into a little whale pouch (hence the name Mobi), so this one is highly portable as well. A great game to gift for the beach, the park or for at home!
Here’s one more math driven, Scrabble-like game from Conceptual Math Media. Equate is quite similar to Mobi (previously listed) but includes a game board with multipliers and tile racks.
It’s a simple game, yet will test your math skills against those of your friends. A great gift for brainiacs and lovers of numbers.
Prime Climb is a challenging, fast-paced math game that will really put your addition, subtraction and multiplication skills to the test! This is a fun one to play despite its numerical origins – it can actually become quite rowdy depending on who you’re playing with.
The objective of the game is to get both of your pawns to the 101 tile at the center of the board. The game deals in prime numbers, so the math involved along the way to the finish is particularly tricky! There are cards that affect gameplay and also opportunities to send your opponents back to the start so rounds can get pretty heated fast!
Definitely one of the best board games for adults that balances mathematics with strategy!
Latice is a great game for your friends who enjoy strategic gameplay. This is a simple board game that even children can play, yet it has unassumingly deep layers of strategy that make it super replayable and impossible to master.
The objective of the game is to play all of your tiles on the board. Match tiles by color or shape and match multiple sides to earn extra moves. There are also “wind tiles” incorporated into the game which can be used to shift the tiles of your opponents.
No two games will ever play out the same way, so this is one that will keep you or whoever you’re shopping for entertained for quite some time!
Latice is played with two to four players and takes just 20 minutes to play through. There are also several different versions of the game available through this link that feature different aesthetics and game pieces.
Cranium is a team based game that involves all sorts of tasks and challenges to reach the end of the game board. It’s a great board game for people that like to play cooperatively and also for those that like to exercise their minds as well as their acting and artistic ability.
Players roll dice and land on colored spaces that correspond to category cards with challenges. Teammates then work together to complete the assigned challenge and continue moving towards the center of the board. It’s Pictionary, charades and more all combined into a rowdy board game.
You need at least four people to play, so this is a good one for parties or game nights with the family or friends.
Sheriff of Nottingham is a unique game of trickery, bribery and deceit that is super easy to play. Truth be told, this game is only as fun as the people you play it with, but if your game night includes some rowdy characters this one is a blast to own!
Players take the role of various merchants and also take turns being the Sheriff of Nottingham throughout the game. The premise of the game is to acquire as much wealth as possible by bringing both legal goods and illegal contraband into the city.
Players have to claim their goods when they enter the city, but as you might imagine the illegal contraband is not permitted and the most valuable. Lie and bribe your way into Nottingham and build your riches!
Gameplay requires three to five players and typically lasts about one hour.
This is a silly and ridiculous concept for an adult board game, but it’s actually quite well reviewed and fun to play! Conspiracy Theory is an interesting board game that tests your knowledge on hundreds of different conspiracies.
If you’re shopping for a tin-foil hat wearing wacko, they’ll get a big kick out of this one.
Players must answer trivia questions to collect matching card sets and make their way across the board. Categories include Aliens, Mythos, Technologies, Schemes and Random so there’s no shortage of content. Government coverup cards are also part of the game and will make uncovering the truth difficult!
Deplorables The Game, is a bipartisan election game perfect for politically charged game nights and those who are passionate about the state of our government affairs.
The goal of the game is to choose a donkey or an elephant token and then run a campaign in order to get 270 electoral votes to win the White House. The playtime is anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes and three to ten players can play.
Launch an FBI investigation to take down other players, use the Drain the Swamp Gator to defeat opponents or evoke a Primary Challenge against other opponents in an attempt to take away votes. Strategy is slimy and cutthroat, a true representation of politics these days.
Customer reviews insist this game remains light-hearted and won’t induce political arguments, although that’s up for you and your gang of friends/family to decide! The game board, cards, and pieces are all creatively designed and the entire game itself comes off as quite collectible to us, so keep this one pristine if you choose to try it – it may be a piece of history someday!
FONG stands for funny, offensive, naughty, and gross. This far from kid-friendly option combines multiple styles of gameplay all wrapped into one outrageous party game for up to 10 players.
This is a point-based game where players compete against each other. There are four different types of categories, each containing 50 cards for a total of 200 cards. Each category card is worth a certain number of points, and the first player to 69 wins!
The categories are which is Worse?, which is more gross?, dare cards, and never have you ever. There are some silly nuances to the game that ensure it ends up being wildly inappropriate and memorable for everyone involved, so rest assured this is a fun game to play with your rowdy and profane friends and family.
Hellapagos is a semi-cooperative, fast-paced survival game that turns cutthroat as gameplay escalates.
The game takes place on a deserted island where players work together to escape before the hurricane arrives, or else perish! Everyone works together to stay alive, but as the game gets nearer to its end, competition and betrayal enter the picture.
You can play with up to 12 players, and rounds typically last just 20 minutes so it’s a quick and action-packed game that’s great for larger groups. The game board, pieces, and playing cards are furthermore all quite attractive, making the game that much more fun to play!
Diplomacy and treachery go hand in hand with this one, so don’t trust anyone!
Dinosaur Island is a wonderfully complex, strategy-based board game for adults where players build and manage their own dinosaur park in an effort to attract the most visitors to score points and win!
Described as a ” nail-biting worker placement game” for up to four players, this game takes all sorts of twists and turns throughout gameplay and offers excellent replayability. You can play with up to four players, or even play solo if you choose to. Gameplay typically lasts 90 to 120 minutes.
Collect DNA, genetically engineer dinosaurs in the lab, hire employees, and more in an attempt to create the best Dino Park. Just don’t forget to ensure park-security and safety stays up to par, otherwise, you’ll encounter issues!
There are 10 custom heat transferred translucent amber DNA dice, 50 dino meeples, 20 unique dino recipes, and several large, scythe-like double-thick cardboard player boards that keep dice in place all totaling to quite the extensive and complex board game. There’s a bit of a learning curve here, but the mental effort is well worth the reward.
No doubt a unique, challenging and addicting game that dino nerds and enthusiasts, in particular, will love!
Peptide: A Protein Building Game is a particularly awesome board game option for medical workers, students of biology, and science nerds alike!
Two to five players compete to build peptide chains out of amino acids in order to build the protein chain worth the most points. Player draw organelle cards in order to compile resources or actions and then attempt to match colored RNA cards with Amino Acid cards, which each require three specific RNA. By connecting Amino Acid cards in succession to form a protein chains, players score points.
All of the science vocabulary, organelles, and cells are scientifically accurate, so this is furthermore an educational game for those that are interested in learning about cellular biology. The gameplay is suitable for kids 10 years old and up and will make for a wonderful teaching aid in highschool level classrooms, but adults will likely find the gameplay is perfectly suited for a grown-up game night!
Here’s a fun and engaging game for avid international backpackers, and aspiring world travelers alike that’s both informative and exciting to play!
Trekking The World: A World Travel Board Game pits players against each other with the goal of becoming the ultimate globe trotter. Each traveler races to visit world-renowned destinations and collect rare souvenirs along the way, including 48 real-world locations -each featuring gorgeous illustrations and quality information meant to inspire a trip of your own someday!
The game is played with two to five players, and described as “easy to learn, difficult to master”
Are you shopping for an avid game lover or are a board game enthusiast yourself? We've compiled a list of the best board games for adults so you can pin down the perfect options for all the passionate game players in your life!
