100 Best Board Games – What’s your vote?
“What’s your favorite board game?”
When people find out that we review family board games, this is the first question they ask.
If not that question exactly, then something along those lines.
And I usually answer back with a question.
Not because I’m being rude, but because the answer to my favorite board game depends on the setting – how many are playing? what ages? how long? how much strategy? etc.
Or I may cut to the chase and rattle off 5 or 6 games that I love.
But this time around, I’m not going to stop with 5 or 6. And I won’t even stop at my Top 14 (like I did with our favorite games lists 2 years ago.)
This time around, I’ve made my list of my favorite 100 board games!
What finally got me to make my Top 100 Board Games list was voting in The Dice Tower 100 Best Board Games – People’s Choice list. Every year, The Dice Tower publishes the Best Board Games of All Time list. And it’s open to anyone who wants to participate.
You don’t have to list 100 games though. The tool lets you submit your top 20 games. But if you only want to give a shout out to 5 games that you think are the tops, then just vote for those 5.
My Favorite 100 Board Games
With my list I’m not claiming that these are the 100 best board games ever invented. Of the 100’s of different board games I’ve played, these are simply the ones that I enjoy the most. Click on the board game name to see our full review.
- Dominion
- Memoir ’44
- Power Grid
- Kingdom Builder
- RoboRally
- 7 Wonders
- Yinsh
- Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation
- Alien Frontiers
- Scotland Yard
- Carcassonne
- Hive
- K2
- Code 777
- Ticket to Ride: Europe
- Telestrations
- Castle Panic
- King of Tokyo
- Gravwell
- Battlestar Galactica
- Stone Age
- Small World
- Pandemic
- Blokus
- Sequence
- Wits and Wagers Family
- Monkey Lab
- Lemming Mafia
- Settlers of Catan
- Roll Through the Ages
- BANG!
- Abandon Ship
- Shadows Over Camelot
- Forbidden Desert
- Catch Phrase
- Inkognito: The Card Game
- Big Boggle
- Mastermind
- Risk Legacy
- Ingenious
- Escape: The Curse of the Temple
- Sounds Like a Plan
- Say Anything Family Edition
- Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition
- The Resistance
- Spot It
- Incan Gold
- Word on the Street
- Wits and Wagers Party
- Tsuro
- Mamma Mia
- Fast Flowing Forest Fellers
- Rattus
- Forbidden Island
- Chess
- Tobago
- Rollick / Reverse Charades
- Fastrack
- Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin
- Martian Dice
- Clue
- Dixit Odyssey
- Flash Point: Fire Rescue
- Time’s Up: Title Recall
- Gloom
- Survive: Escape from Atlantis
- Can’t Stop
- Set
- Timeline
- Quarto
- Careers
- Lord of the Rings
- Scattergories
- Pizza Theory
- Hey! That’s My Fish
- Takenoko
- Pony Express
- Guesstures
- Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan
- Taboo
- Bubble Talk
- Ligretto Dice
- City Square Off
- Quoridor
- Fortune and Glory
- Rummikub
- Risk Star Wars
- Mystery of the Abbey
- Defenders of the Realm
- Snake Oil
- Pentago
- Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War
- Flip Out
- FITS
- Jungle Ascent
- Wits and Wagers
- Pirate versus Pirate
- Rack-O
- Qin
- For Sale
And the process wasn’t easy. I took my first stab simply based on the games I have a desire to play most often. Then I compared it to the list of games I’ve actually played the most. Then I looked at my ratings for games we’ve reviewed and those I’ve rated on BoardGameGeek.
Once that was sorted, I went line by line moving things around based on this simple question: “Given the choice (and in the ideal setting for each), which of these two games would I want to play the most?” Then I’d move a game up or down based on my answer.
Party games were the toughest to fit in and sort out because they’re hard to compare side-by-side with strategy games. But they definitely deserve their spots.
It took a few hours, but it’s safe to say that the Top 60 on this list are very solid. I’ll happily play them anytime.
(It also means I need to adjust some of my ratings on BoardGameGeek now.)
Will my list change next year?
Most likely – because I plan to play many new games every year. For example, there are plenty of board games ranked in the top 100 on BoardGameGeek that I have yet to play. And when I get the chance to play them, who knows, they may very well jump into some top spots on this list.
If you need some additional ideas, here’s some other resources to get your juices flowing:
- The Dice Tower Best Board Games People’s Choice 2013
- BoardGameGeek All Games list – with over 72,500 games in the database, there’s plenty to choose from.
Now, go cast your own vote.
What… no… Monopoly!?
I’ll have to cast my top 20 vote. 1. Monopoly 2. Monopoly: Deluxe Edition 3. Monopoly: Star Wars 4. Monopoly: Pokemon … 12. Monopoly: Star Wars Episode II … 20. Monopoly: I Love Lucy “California Here We Come!”
Last year I was a little surprised that Pandemic was #1. That’s one game that didn’t click as much with me as it seems to have clicked with the general public. Most of the other games that I played in the top 40 or so I like a lot actually.
(just kidding about the Monopoly by the way, Dominion really is the best game)
Aaron – nice disclaimer at the end. I got a good laugh when I started reading because I could tell from your prior comments on our reviews that Monopoly really wouldn’t be on your top 20 list. (but other readers wouldn’t make that catch.)
Here’s mine: 1.Quelf 2.Quelf 3.Quelf 4.Quelf…….18.Quelf19.Quelf20.Quelf Can you guys do a review on Quelf please?
Derek – We have played Quelf (years ago), but didn’t post a review on it. However, we have posted a review on a Quelf derivative called FURT.