Top board games for pc

Have you ever wondered how long you'd last as a horror movie character? Betrayal at House on the Hill lets you find out. Setting players loose in a mansion that's revealed room by room, something is waiting inside - and it's not pleasant. Betrayal's gameplay is drenched in tension as a result. You never know what's lurking beyond the next door, so everyone will need to work as a team if they want to get out of this house alive That deadly game of guess-who keeps you coming back time and again, while 50 unique scenarios ensure things don't get too predictable.

It's a masterpiece. The odds are against you from the start in Pandemic , but that's the beauty of it. This co-op epic is never less than thrilling, and good communication not to mention the ability to think on your feet is your only hope of winning. It never feels hopeless, though; despite players being tasked with holding back a clutch of super-diseases from spreading across the world, they're armed with unique abilities that can help them turn the tide.

This injection of strategy helps Pandemic reach the top spot as one of the best board games overall. Its namesake may be long gone, but Blockbuster: The Game is still the life of the party. This movie quiz is fast-paced and surprisingly brutal, but it's never unfair. In fact, it's the best board game for get-togethers by a mile. That's because you don't need to be a film buff to play - no in-depth knowledge is required.

It's a game that can support lots of players, too; so long as you've got two teams, it doesn't really matter how many people are involved. That makes it a good choice if you're unsure how many people you'll be entertaining for.

As you might have guessed from the name, Wingspan puts birds front and center - your aim is to attract the biggest variety of feathered friends to your preserve. This isn't as dry as it might sound, though. Clever mechanics form a moreish, satisfying loop that'll keep you coming back to increase your score on the next go around.

The lack of direct competition also turns it into a relaxing, zen-like experience. You don't need to worry about the competition undoing your hard work, and other players often benefit too if you play a special ability.

That means you'll enjoy Wingspan regardless of whether you win or lose; it's just plain satisfying. Powered by unique combat and a setting that's reminiscent of The Witcher, Gloomhaven is the fantasy adventure of your dreams. An engrossing RPG stuffed with branching storylines, miniatures, and a world that's influenced by your decisions, it's the sort of game you can lose yourself in for months. No, really - it'll take dozens of hours to complete. Crucially, it also leans on 'Legacy' elements.

That means it features secret gameplay mechanics that unlock over time, ensuring the game never becomes stale. Looks can be deceiving, and Root is the perfect example. Despite an inviting art-style, this is about as hardcore a strategy game as it gets.

Multiple factions with their own special rules - not to mention objectives - leave plenty to get your teeth into. The action takes place in a quiet woodland realm, but all is not well beneath those trees; the animals that live there want to kick the stuffing out of each other, and you'll need to hatch schemes that'll put them on top. Families have been arguing over board games for more than a century, and now there's enough choice to sink a Battle ship. Where should you start?

We've got a few suggestions up our sleeve. No matter whether you want a quick distraction for a weekend get-together or something to do after Christmas dinner, these board games for families will hit the spot. Ticket to Ride is one of the most laid-back board games on this list, and that makes it a great choice if you want something to play with your family.

Thoughtful and relaxing, it's a delight for all ages. Sure, that railway theme may not light your world on fire. But there's an undercurrent of strategy holding everything together, allowing it to hit the perfect balance of being family-friendly without losing any tactical depth.

Catan whisks us back to the age of explorers; faced with an uninhabited island, players have to settle it before their opponents do. And because everyone's fighting to civilize the same frontier, clever manoeuvring is the order of the day. Foresight and good communication are rewarded too thanks to the island's limited resources, so this favorite is one of the best board games for players that want more of a challenge. It may be set eons ago, but this board game isn't some dusty old relic.

Your job is to help a legendary city like Athens achieve greatness through scientific discoveries, trade, military conquest, or by constructing one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Because doing so requires cards from a shared pool, you'll need to keep an eye on what your opponents are doing to make sure they don't scupper your plans. If friends and family are descending upon you en-masse, Articulate! Having appeared on shelves since , this is a trivia classic that almost anyone can get involved with. Its long life isn't a mystery, either; the rules are straightforward and easy to get your head around. Plus, its broad range of subjects mean you don't need to be a font of obscure knowledge to win.

Azul is gorgeous to look at, and its gameplay is every bit as mesmerising. A good description for this one would be 'color-based crossword'; you have to line up tiles to make patterns or complete the perfect set. It's a soothing process that's more of a personal puzzle than a head-to-head challenge, and that puts it alongside the best board games if you're a fan of head-scratchers. Inspired by a French city of the same name thanks to its sprawling medieval walls, Carcassonne's board is created as you go.

Because you earn points for placing meeple - little wooden people - on completed towns, roads, and farms, you end up in a high-stakes tug of war to steal settlements from under an opponent's nose or keep them away from your investments. It's a must-have. Need board games for kids that'll delight your children but won't make you tear your hair out if you join in? Don't worry, we've got you covered. Regardless of whether you need something to take with you on the road or for an evening at home, you'll find the best board games for little ones and their grown-ups below.

King of Tokyo is a great choice for big and little monsters alike. Putting you in charge of tongue-in-cheek super-creatures that are based on classics like Godzilla, it's about stomping all over the city and getting points in the process.

Fast-paced and full of character, it'll delight players of any age. Being able to play as a 'Space Penguin' also makes it a winner in our books. This bizarre little game is perfect if concentration is a problem; it's got the secret sauce of being fast-paced yet easy to understand. More specifically, it can be completed in under 15 minutes. That means you won't mind playing round after round, especially because Sushi Go's gameplay is so moreish.

It's different every time you pick it up, too - you never know which cards you'll be able to choose from. You can usually tell how good a board game is when it's got lots of special editions, and Spot It!

As well as a classic version, alternatives featuring everything from Harry Potter to Star Wars are available. And because all of them can be completed within 10 minutes or so, they're an essential purchase if you have young children. If your kids love Halloween, Disney's Haunted Mansion adaptation is a must-have that needs to be in your collection.

Offering a good balance between spooky vibes and wholesome fun, this is a strategic ghost hunt that gives you plenty of reason to smile. The game oozes personality, too - it's a visual delight with inventive mechanics to match.

Each action offers new opportunities for point scoring. Should a player choose to take gems, they must either take three different colours or take two gems of the same colour. Those gems can be used to purchase cards that provide permanent gem bonuses to help with buying cards later on, alongside the essential prestige points that win the game.

As players continue to acquire more gems and purchase more cards, more options are made available to them and the opportunity for prestige points lays there for the taking. Capable of supporting up to four players online, the digital board game also offers several difficulty levels of AI to play against.

There are plenty of MTG organised play events held by Wizards of the Coast every year, but getting to those may be another matter entirely for some players. Otherwise, finding people to play MTG with in your local circle might not be the easiest thing either - as the investment required to play on a regular basis might be a bit much for people who just want to approach the game on a casual level.

There is another option to suit budding and advanced players alike: Magic: The Gathering Arena, a digital board game version of the classic trading card game that you can use to play with people from across the world. Available to download for free on PC, Magic Arena recreates the intense gameplay of the physical card game with snazzy animations and an atmospheric environment. The MTG digital board game provides the added benefit of offering free starter packs for new players to use from the very beginning, with the opportunity to unlock more as you keep playing.

Ever dreamed of being a firefighter? Flash Point: Fire Rescue fulfills those ambitions by having its players storm a number of burning buildings in an effort to rescue the victims inside. An exciting and incredibly tense co-op board game , Flash Point has been translated into a digital board game, providing all the thrills of the theme and engaging gameplay of the tabletop original.

In Flash Point: Fire Rescue, players must work together to explore a building in search of the victims trapped inside, all whilst attempting to smother the fires raging within. Each player has access to an amount of action points that they can use to do a number of things per turn - extinguish fires, move further through the building and lead out victims - with the aim to prioritise the most important objectives to save all the victims before the building collapses.

For example, the paramedic can revive people who have passed out and the rescue specialist can destroy walls blocking victims. These different roles, along with the limited amount of action points available each turn, are what drive the excitement of Flash Point as the ever-ticking clock counts down. Why not indulge these desires in a more accessible and much cheaper way by playing Sagrada?

A fantastic beginner board game for arty individuals, Sagrada is all about building the most beautiful stained glass window by combining coloured dice in a grid. Sagrada takes the sweet concept of gently arranging glass and turns it into a brutal contest of backstabbing and general meanness.

Each player has their own grid that they need to fill with different colours of dice, as well as various die results, with restrictions on what kind of dice can be placed where. As the rounds go on and fewer and fewer spaces remain, the tension builds and players must think carefully about what dice they should take.

You can experience all this tension in the digital board game version Sagrada, which includes some lovely animations showing the gradual process of building a stained glass window and some pretty gorgeous lighting effects.

On top of this, the PC app includes options to play both a single-player mode and online with people from around the globe, allowing the whole world to appreciate your craftsmanship. It should come as no surprise then, that there is a digital board game based on Gloomhaven and it happens to be rather good.

Considering how expensive - not to mention enormous - the original Gloomhaven is, the digital board game may well be preferable to many people wanting to play it.

A co-op board game , Gloomhaven sees players assuming the roles of wandering adventures brought together in a dark quest filled to the brim with vicious monsters and none-too-nice folk out for blood. Using their unique skills and abilities, players explore mysterious locations and encounter various enemies on the hunt for precious loot.

Each dungeon offers a variety of different challenges, with players needing to be careful with which cards to play and what decisions to make - or otherwise risk having to retreat from exhaustion. The roleplaying elements of Gloomhaven - which see the world evolve over time, similar to a legacy board game - are perhaps its most unique parts and help to shape the board game into a more epic and memorable experience.

The video game is currently in Early Access, meaning that currently the only way to play is through an adventure mode and not a complete campaign. However, the full version is on its way - and adventure mode is still a very fun way to play Gloomhaven. Charting the rise of an entire people from seemingly humble beginnings to a glorious age of prosperity, card game Through the Ages enables players to pull the strings and decide the fates of millions.

Much like 7 Wonders - also a civilisation-building game, albeit smaller in scope - Through the Ages is all about player choice and deciding which areas of your empire to invest in. Unlike 7 Wonders, Through the Ages expands on this by forcing players to think carefully about all the different aspects of their civilisation - as they can become a weakness if left unchecked.

In Through the Ages, players are not only working towards advancing their scientific knowledge and military power, but also obtaining the resources they need to feed their people. Veteran designer Martin Wallace's newest is a departure from the norm for him: a strategy game focused on miniatures battles rather than an in-depth economic management game. But Wildlands really typified his less-is-more design philosophy. Unlike a lot of miniatures games, Wildlands eschews dice and randomization in favor of deep tactical strategy and reliable effects.

While it's a pretty familiar fantasy theme, that familiarity is welcome because Wildlands plays like nothing else. Namely, this game uses faction-specific cards and powers instead of stats. Knowing how and why to play what card is an art in and of itself—launch too many attacks and you'll be vulnerable on defense, defend too much and you'll cede the battle's momentum to your eager opponent. Wildlands is a very intuitive game, is easy to teach, and contains several unique factions within the box, so you'll get a lot of variety right away.

The 4th edition of Twilight Imperium is the product of improving and refining what is easily one of the most epic board games ever produced. A massive space opera of conquest, diplomacy, and trade, Twilight Imperium is nothing short of your favorite 4X PC game made manifest. Three to six players command a plethora of unique races, each with their own backstory and perks in an effort to usurp the throne of the known galaxy. A literal armada of detailed plastic miniatures are commanded around a vivid, hex-based galaxy map and evocative art and fiction give Twilight Imperium a truly unique theme.

A word of caution: the size of the box alone may be enough to send some running for the nearest exit, and the amount of time you need to devote to this game is beyond substantial. If you're playing a 4-player game, it will take all day. If you somehow get the maximum 6 players together, you'll want them to pack their PJs. Drawing from the best tropes of every corner of science fiction, this expensive and expansive board game is an experience like no other.

Don't be fooled; the cutesy woodland facade conceals an interesting and deep asymmetrical strategy game. Each player controls a tribe of beasts and fights others for dominance by controlling strategic clearings. One player, the 'Marquise de Cat', needs to expand their dominion over the forest by moving troops and quashing rebellion.

The Eyrie, an alliance of feudal birds, plans out elaborate machinations to marshal their limited troops and retake the woods. Under their noses snoop the Woodland Alliance, a growing insurgency of mice and hedgehogs ready to overthrow their oppressors. Finally, the vagabondish adventurer raccoon a player who's basically flying solo to accomplish their own objectives skirts around the edges.

It's a pretty hardcore strategy game with a unique theme and great design that always leaves you wanting to play again. Better still, Root encourages you to think outside the box. Each time you play will differ greatly from the ones before it based on the weird new strategies players are sure to dream up.

However, getting the most out of it requires understanding the radically different ways factions play—it's only really worth it if you can get people together to play more than once.

On Mars is a daunting game for a daunting challenge, with players cooperatively building a Mars colony while trying to end the game as the planet's most notable founder.

Gotta get all those Martian streets and cities and regions and avenues named after you if you want to win. Each player is the chief of a private company, so while they contribute to the entire colony by assisting with overall mission goals they also have private agendas.

Building up the colony from an Earth-dependent outpost to a self-sustaining enterprise is the most satisfying experience on a tabletop in The only downside is this is a deeply strategic and complex game not well-suited to skeptical beginners or groups with wild skill disparity. It's for people who like the kind of economic and resource-based strategy that is the hallmark of many modern board games.

Those caveats aside, I've found that even players who lose are proud of what they built—just be wary that the ultra-competitive might find the lack of direct conflict frustrating. Gloomhaven is a sprawling co-op dungeon crawler with an elaborate, non-liner campaign mechanic. Taking on the role of fantasy heroes, players work their way through hordes of automated monsters in a series of choose-your-own-adventure-style scenarios.

Players' decisions during and after each session influence what will happen next, forever locking away some game scenarios and opening up others. As you play you also advance your character, making some neat choices and often permanently altering your statistics and equipment. These kinds of long-term narrative arcs make Gloomhaven perfect for those who have a consistent group to play with, though solo play is entirely possible. It also has a box larger than many small children and doesn't fit on a single shelf in my house.

Basically, it's a fantastic game for RPG fanatics and tactical gamers everywhere. For all its complexity, it has an impressively functional and simple manual that doesn't take hours to parse and rarely needs to be consulted during play.

A fantastic and relatively simple wargame with plenty to offer, Vikings—Invasions of England uses Academy Games' refined card-driven engine to deliver a reliable, consistent, and satisfying head-to-head wargame that still has the ups and downs provided by surprise upsets and dice combat.

It's a simple setup and you don't need to know anything about history to enjoy: one player or a team takes on the role of the divided Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The others control successive waves of invading Vikings. The players that control the most cities at the end of the game win. The neatest thing about this game is that it draws on real historical events to function.

The cards you play to maneuver troops are based on either actual tactics, historical events, or real people. Despite this and as mentioned above , it still has swingy dice combat that lead to the kind of surprising turns and victories gamers tell stories about for years.

What if you could play a hypothetical XCOM horde mode? Its big trick is that Project: ELITE is a real-time game where you rapidly and speedily roll dice in two-minute bursts to blow up aliens on the squad's turn, then play out the aliens' turn. If that sounds repulsive move on, but if you're at all intrigued then it's something you'll surely enjoy.

The combination of tactical combat choices with fast and frenzied real-time gameplay is satisfying in a big way. If you've never played a real-time board game, this is an excellent and explosive way to dive in. The new art, miniatures, and characters make the game more playable and enjoyable, with small rules tweaks providing a lot of fixes. It does well with a range of different types of people, from tactical quarterbacks to people who are just along for the social experience: A wild ride of making gunshot noises while moving minis and yelling at the person who just keeps dropping dice on the floor.

The mechs-and-pastoralia art of Jakub Roszalski really captures the imagination, and Scythe makes the most of it.