Interactive: We looked for games where players had to engage with one another throughout the game, whether cooperatively or competitively, to trade, build, and more.We didn’t include any games that were harder to learn than Catan, but you can find many great, more-challenging games if you’re ready to progress beyond our choices. We used Board Game Geek’s community-reported complexity ratings, combined with expert input and our own testing, to compare how difficult our competitors were to learn. We favored games with straightforward, clearly written rulebooks, though you can consult many online rule-explainer videos, and many games also have accompanying apps. Easy to learn: The rules should be easy to learn, even if a game’s strategy is more complex.

Anna also asked the following game experts and enthusiasts to weigh in on our 2018 finalists: Melissa Rogerson, a doctoral candidate in the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne Crymson Pleasure, Vanri The Rogue, and AnnaMaria Jackson-Phelps from the Real Women of Gaming forum Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower game podcast and David Miller, the executive editor of game news site Purple Pawn.

She spoke in depth with Jon Freeman, a clinical psychologist and neuroscience researcher turned founder of the board game café The Brooklyn Strategist Joey Lee, lecture professor and director for the Games Research Lab at Columbia University Joe Wasserman, a board games and learning researcher at West Virginia University and the team behind The Rules Girl, a rules-explainer video series. Scoring can be tricky, but as Wirecutter writer Alex Arpaia noted, “The game includes some handy scorecards for the purpose, and a step-by-step guide in the rulebook.” Alex said she frequently referred to the guide and the smaller cheat sheet when playing.īecause so many amazing games are published each year, Wirecutter writer Anna Perling asked several professionals for their recommendations and to help us establish criteria for what makes a great game. And while trading can get heated in Catan, in 7 Wonders neighbors cannot refuse a trade, and it doesn’t consume their resources-both parties benefit. Even though 7 Wonders is competitive, it’s not divisive: “The rules encourage you to scuttle cards that your neighbors might want, but they won’t know you’ve done it, so it doesn’t encourage board-game-night fights,” said Wirecutter editor Kimber Streams.

It adapts for two players, too, but we think the game is more entertaining and interactive with more people. We thought 7 Wonders was fun with the maximum number of players as well as with four players. Why it’s great: This game’s high strategy level means it can take a few rounds to master, but the rules are easy to grasp, and the rounds don’t drag on-with only 18 turns, the game is true to its 30-minute estimate. If you’re looking for board games designed with preschool and elementary-school kids in mind, take a look at our guide to board games we love for kids. (Board game publishers print games in limited runs, so if you can’t find one of our picks at a major retailer, a local shop may have it to buy or to play.)Īlthough our picks are geared toward adults, most are family-friendly. And, for more ideas, we encourage you to explore board game forums and to visit your local board game café, store, or bar for personalized recommendations based on your skill level and interests. We didn’t include old-school classics (like Monopoly) or challenging enthusiast fare (like Scythe, which we do love), but our Competition section lists many other notable games. This guide is a starting point to discovering games that are fun, interactive, and challenging, and our picks are a great introduction for anyone looking to get more into games. To find some of the best, we spent 70 hours researching 128 games, played 17 top contenders with 26 people, and interviewed board game experts, including a Columbia University ludology professor, the owner of board game café The Brooklyn Strategist, and the team behind The Rules Girl video series.īoard games are for everyone, so we have picks for new gamers and more-advanced players, for those looking for party games, two-player games, or games to play when you’re out with friends, and for those who prefer cooperative play to competition. Once the entertainment of last resort on rainy days and during power outages, board games have evolved to be varied works of interactive art with options for many styles of play.

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