Having collected and played hundreds of different board games, I have accumulated a top 10 list for overall best games I’ve ever played. This list is made of my own personal best games, and I make no claim to have played all games out there (not even close). I also have a bias for short, high-strategy games — so keep that in mind.
Games that did NOT make my list: Chess, Go, Stratego, Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, Catan, Battleship, Candyland… these are games that have stood the test of time — some of them are even good — but not one of them is in my top ten (or even 20) games of all time.
Requirements for this list: FUN, SIMPLE, ENGAGING, HIGH REPLAYABILITY, STRATEGY IS REQUIRED, and TIME TO PLAY IS 10 MIN-1 HR
My Top 10 Boardgames of All-Time
- Acquire (Everything Monopoly should have been)
- Bang! the Dice Game (Take-That/Party game)
- Crokinole (Only dexterity game on the list, finger flicking fun)
- Hive (Think Chess, but without a board)
- Imhotep (Every decision is important)
- Pandemic (Still the best cooperative game out there)
- Quantum (Unique combination of luck mixed with abstract strategy)
- Santorini (Just an amazingly simple and fun game with unlimited “god” combos)
- Splendor (Always a new game, luck, lots of options, decisions are important)
- Tzaar (Always a new game, another abstract game that’s better than chess)
***Be sure to click links to go to Board Game Geek website to read more about them.
OK, so that was really tough…
Here’s my top 11-20 games
- Age of War
- Good Cop Bad Cop
- Love Letter
- Onitama
- Patchwork
- Quarto
- Smallworld
- Star Realms
- Unearth
- Yinsh
I hope that helps you identify some great new games you haven’t played. If you have any questions or would like specific category recommendations, please comment or message me.