Compiling a list of the best board games to play at any given time is more challenging than it might appear. What do we mean when we talk about an “all time” great in any medium? It’s got to be something that’s stood the test of time, like all our picks for the best classic board games. But at the same time we need to steer away from games that have become diminished by over familiarity and shift into new and exciting territory. We also want to include things that have been acclaimed as top of their particular tree at one time or another, to give some historical perspective.
That’s the thinking we’ve brought to the list below, a mixture of board games once seen as the best ever, together with some close pretenders that have earned their spot through novelty or popularity. They’re all great in one way or another, so whatever you pick you can’t go wrong. Here are the best board games to play in 2023.
TLDR: The Best Board Games to Play Now
- The Lord of the Rings: Roleplaying
- Cosmic Encounter
- Gloomhaven | Jaws of the Lion
- Frosthaven
- Pandemic Legacy Season 1 Red Version | Blue Version
- Twilight Struggle
- Agricola
- Lord of Waterdeep
- Ticket to Ride
- Concordia
- Summoner Wars
- Codenames
- The Castles of Burgundy
- Wingspan
Don't have time to scroll? Here are all the games you'll find below.
The Lord of the Rings: Roleplaying
If you have a roleplaying game group, The Lord of the Rings: Roleplaying would be a fantastic addition. It uses a modified version of the D&D 5e rules, so it's easy to pick up if you've played that game. It also does a great job of transporting the players to the wonderful world of Middle-earth. Check out our Lord of the Rings: Roleplaying review for more info.
Cosmic Encounter
Lots of games that revolve around grabbing territory tend to involve the kind of tentative alliances and festering enmities that mimic real-world diplomacy. Back in 1977, the designers of Cosmic Encounter had a brainwave: why not get rid of the territory and cut to the chase? The result is this hilarious game of shifting alliances where every player has a game-breaking alien power to leverage in the race to win colonies on five of your opponent’s planets. Crammed with variety, tactical decisions and more dramatic reversals than a prime-time soap opera, Cosmic Encounter may be the only negotiation game you need.
Gloomhaven
The king of the board gaming pile got that way through an ingenious bit of genre-blending. If you like old-fashioned dungeon crawls with a strong narrative, well, the 95-scenario campaign of fantasy adventure has you covered. If you’re a sucker for tactical combat then its cunning, card-driven face-offs against a staggering variety of foes will thrill you. But if you want heavyweight strategy then deck-building and resource gathering over the campaign plus the in-scenario exhaustion mechanic gives you plenty of meat. Truly all things to all gamers -- even fans of the best solo board games -- Gloomhaven deserves its staggering level of acclaim. And if the cost is a bit much, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion offers a smaller campaign at a much smaller price tag. And not for nothing, both of these iterations also made it on our best board games for adults list as well.
Frosthaven
This one's not for everyone, but if it's for you then you'll absolutely love it. If you’re one of the rare few who not only have seen everything Gloomhaven has to offer but also remain hungry for more, Frosthaven is the banquet to satiate you. Bigger, bolder and better than the original, if you can find time for it in your life it’s an epic gaming experience like no other. Newcomers to the series, however, would be better suited to Jaws of the Lion, above. In the meantime, check out our Frosthaven review for more info.
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
If combat-based narrative campaigns aren’t your thing, how about working together to purge the world of infectious diseases? Building on the success of the original Pandemic, this introduces “legacy” concepts to the game, in which components are added or removed as you progress through the game, based on your decisions, successes and failures. After a few plays, your copy will be a unique record of your group’s play. So in addition to offering a very personal tale to engage you, Pandemic: Legacy also individualizes your strategic experience. It’s a magical combination that has spawned two further seasons, creating an epic arc of story and strategy to enjoy with a gaming group or even as one of the best family board games.
Twilight Struggle
Billed as a cold war simulation and with bullet-pointed rules, Twilight Struggle can appear daunting to the uninitiated. But there’s a reason it was widely acclaimed as the best game of all time after its 2009 release. Players have hands of event cards that replicate key moments from the conflict, keyed to either their side or their opponent. If you play an opponent’s card you can still make moves on the board but their event also occurs. This makes every hand a thrilling, tactical dance of play and counterplay as you try to move your plans forward while also nullifying enemy events. In addition to the superb strategic workout, you might even learn some history too with this war board game.
Agricola
Another game that spent its time in the “best game ever” limelight is this unlikely game about farming. Stepping back from the theme, however, growing a family to work on a family farm is a dead ringer for the popular Worker Placement mechanism. As a result, Agricola conjures a real sense of growing and developing your humble plantation into a thriving stead, with plenty of interesting strategic bumps to navigate along the way. Its particular genius is its huge decks of cards, only a handful of which are used in each game, which ensures lots of strategic variety and allows you to tailor things like complexity and interaction to your group’s tastes.
Lords of Waterdeep
By marrying the sensibilities of Dungeons & Dragons with the mechanics of modern board games, Lords of Waterdeep made a smash hit to last down the ages. Players take the roles of power brokers in the Forgotten Realms’ biggest city, hiring adventurers to defeat perils threatening Waterdeep while building new facilities in the town. It’s these additions that take this unusually thematic worker placement game to the next level, with the new buildings entering play ensuring that new strategies are required each time. Throw in a modicum of minor “take that” cards to spice things up and you’ve got a brilliant game with very wide appeal.