Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Black Friday
    • Gaming
      • Black Friday PS5 Deals
      • Black Friday Switch Deals
      • Black Friday Xbox Deals
      • Black Friday Retro Deals
    • PC
      • Black Friday Gaming Laptop Deals
      • Black Friday Gaming Monitor Deals
      • Black Friday Graphics Card Deals
      • Black Friday Alienware Deals
    • Tabletop & Merch
      • Black Friday Lego Deals
      • Black Friday Board Game Deals
      • Black Friday Pokémon Card Deals
      • Black Friday Warhammer Deals
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Total Film
    • Retro Gamer
Total Film
  • home
  • Black Friday
    • View Black Friday
      • Black Friday PS5 Deals
      • Black Friday Switch Deals
      • Black Friday Xbox Deals
      • Black Friday Retro Deals
      • Black Friday Gaming Laptop Deals
      • Black Friday Gaming Monitor Deals
      • Black Friday Graphics Card Deals
      • Black Friday Alienware Deals
      • Black Friday Lego Deals
      • Black Friday Board Game Deals
      • Black Friday Pokémon Card Deals
      • Black Friday Warhammer Deals
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Total Film
    • Retro Gamer
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Don't miss these
HeroQuest Wizards of Morcar box against a rustic stone background
Board Games New HeroQuest expansion is all about old-school wizards, and I'm living for the '90s vibe of it all
Mass Effect Legendary Edition screenshot of femme Shep outside the normandy space ship
Adventure Games 25 Best sci-fi games to travel into the future with
The Coriolis: The Great Dark Core Rules stood upright on a wooden surface, against a dark background
Tabletop Gaming I've fallen out of love with Destiny, but this new tabletop RPG captures what I adored about it in the first place
Screenshot of a chess board with one piece getting blown up in an explosion with UI overlaid on the sides, from Passant: A Chess Roguelike.
Roguelike Games Everything in the world must be converted into a roguelike, and not even chess is safe with a new game "that changes all the rules"
A stack of board games on a wooden table beside Life in Reterra and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, all behind a GamesRadar+ logo
Board Games The best board games 2025, with over 25 recommendations tested, reviewed, and rated by experts
Warhammer 40,000 Day of Ascension box outlined in white against a battle scene from Kill Team
Board Games I'm obsessed with the Traitors so can't wait for this new Warhammer 40K hidden role board game
Heart of the Machine
Strategy Games Between "spider/bee stacking" to "independently realize dogs exist," the latest major update from Manor Lords indie publisher's sci-fi strategy RPG includes some of the best patch notes I've ever seen
a person in a leather coat leans against a telephone
RPGs I'm relieved to see the Disco Elysium successor is just as strange and dark – I've had my fill of fantasy RPGs for the year
D&D Player's Handbook laid out on a wooden surface
Tabletop Gaming Will romantasy be the next great crossover for Dungeons & Dragons? Fourth Wing could be the perfect D&D setting, if you ask me
Gloomhaven, Betrayal at House on the Hill, and Life in Reterra boxes on a wooden table, with a GR+ logo sat between them
Board Games The best adult board games 2025, from newcomer Fate of the Fellowship to Gloomhaven
Earth Must Die
Adventure Games Game of Thrones actor leads a lovingly vulgar tribute to "those old point and click adventure games that people gave a sh*t about in the 1990s" with a Steam Next Fest demo custom-built for Monkey Island fanatics
a human in a space helmet with bright blue shards of crystaline protomolecule erupting from their mouth and visor
RPGs Sci-fi action RPG The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is taking inspiration from Mass Effect 2's suicide mission and making sure companions help even when they're left on the ship
An alien spider crawling towards the camera in the movie, The Thing.
Horror Games After 43 years, one of the world's greatest horror movies lives on in so many games – from Among Us to Cronos: The New Dawn
The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time: pictures of Alien, Arrival, Terminator, Brazil and 2001.
Sci-Fi Movies The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time
Battle of Hoth box on a dark background
Board Games Star Wars: Battle of Hoth review - "An excellent introduction to a whole galaxy of gaming"
Trending
  • Pokemon Legends Z-A
  • Golden Joystick Awards 2025
  • New Games for 2025
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Sci-Fi Movies

10 sci-fi game changers

Features
By Dave Golder published 2 April 2015

Why can't sci-fi and fantasy characters play something other than chess for a change?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Your Move

Your Move

Ever noticed that an awful lot of people in sci-fi and fantasy films play chess? Why cant they battle wits over something else for a change? We give them something else to play with

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
Spock plays Connect Four

Spock plays Connect Four

Forget 3D Chess. This the is logical game to play

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
The Doctor & K9 play Mousetrap

The Doctor & K9 play Mousetrap

If they have a rodent problem maybe they should call in the exterminators

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
Eldon Tyrell plays Guess Who?

Eldon Tyrell plays Guess Who?

Maybe this is how the big boss in Blade Runner decides what his replicants will look like.

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
WOPR plays Scrabble

WOPR plays Scrabble

Why play WarGames when you could be trying to make a word out of X, Z, Q, Y, B, V and O?

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
Xavier and Eric play Buckaroo

Xavier and Eric play Buckaroo

Professor X is First Class at this game. Magneto wishes it wasnt all made of plastic.

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
Xavier and Eric play KerPlunk

Xavier and Eric play KerPlunk

Professor X likes the way the straws form multiple X shapes. Magneto wishes it wasnt made of plastic

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
Frank Poole plays Pac-Man

Frank Poole plays Pac-Man

Still popular in 2001 for when you get fed up with HAL beating you at Chess all the time.

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
Andy and Kenneth play Battleships

Andy and Kenneth play Battleships

If you were separated by streets heaving with zombies during the Dawn Of The Dead, a bit a binocular-aided Battleships will help pass the time.

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
Number Six plays Cluedo

Number Six plays Cluedo

Imagine if this formed the Village green in The Prisoner rather than a giant chess set? Seems more like one of Number Twos interrogation schemes to us.

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
Death plays Jenga

Death plays Jenga

After chess in The Seventh Seal and Twister, Cluedo and Battleship in Bill and Teds Bogus Journey, he needed to find a new challenge.

Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
PRODUCTS
Blade Runner Star Trek the seventh seal
Dave Golder
Dave Golder
Social Links Navigation
Freelance Writer

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years. 

Read more
Mass Effect Legendary Edition screenshot of femme Shep outside the normandy space ship
25 Best sci-fi games to travel into the future with
 
 
The Coriolis: The Great Dark Core Rules stood upright on a wooden surface, against a dark background
I've fallen out of love with Destiny, but this new tabletop RPG captures what I adored about it in the first place
 
 
Screenshot of a chess board with one piece getting blown up in an explosion with UI overlaid on the sides, from Passant: A Chess Roguelike.
Everything in the world must be converted into a roguelike, and not even chess is safe with a new game "that changes all the rules"
 
 
A stack of board games on a wooden table beside Life in Reterra and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, all behind a GamesRadar+ logo
The best board games 2025, with over 25 recommendations tested, reviewed, and rated by experts
 
 
Warhammer 40,000 Day of Ascension box outlined in white against a battle scene from Kill Team
I'm obsessed with the Traitors so can't wait for this new Warhammer 40K hidden role board game
 
 
Heart of the Machine
Between "spider/bee stacking" to "independently realize dogs exist," the latest major update from Manor Lords indie publisher's sci-fi strategy RPG includes some of the best patch notes I've ever seen
 
 
Latest in Sci-Fi Movies
Dek in Predator: Badlands
Predator: Badlands is great, but I'd kind of hoped some of those wild fan theories were true – and now I'm wishing that the marketing hadn't been so oddly mysterious
 
 
Zach Cregger and Julia Garner behind the scenes in Weapons
Weapons director Zach Cregger's next movie has reportedly been "stalled" due to Netflix not wanting to release it in theaters
 
 
Sigourney Weaver
Star Wars newcomer Sigourney Weaver thinks the franchise is more interesting now: "They're no longer trying to do the Star Wars to end all Star Wars"
 
 
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek in Predator: Badlands
Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg's first idea for a Prey sequel involved a Yautja "kicking Nazi butt" in World War 2
 
 
Amber Midthunder as Naru in Prey
Predator: Badlands almost centered on a team-up between Yautja protagonist Dek and Prey's Naru, but director Dan Trachtenberg wanted "no humans in the movie"
 
 
Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein
All the main differences between Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein and the original novel that you need to know
 
 
Latest in Features
A dragon flies above adventurers in a forested background
I've been playing D&D for years, but I think this starter set is the best it's ever had
 
 
Looking at a radio and a typewriter while holding a walkie-talkie in Radiolight
Radiolight channels Twin Peaks and Alan Wake for a late night walk in the woods, and I'm amazed a solo developer crammed so much atmosphere into this secret horror game
 
 
Name Of The Will demo screenshot of a close-up face of a masked cultist
Survival horror meets Squid Game in this chilling Steam demo that I've not been able to stop thinking about
 
 
Gremlins 2
Gremlins 3 release date, cast, plot speculation, and everything else you need to know about the upcoming sequel
 
 
Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams
I was emotionally disembowled by Train Dreams, an extraordinary movie about the ordinary life of a 20th-century logger
 
 
The On The Radar hub header image for The Outer Worlds 2, showing a moon-head character with a hat blasting a ray gun
On the Radar with The Outer Worlds 2 – going beyond our verdict with a deep dive on one of 2025's greatest RPGs
 
 
  1. A distant flare illuminates the sky in Arc Raiders
    1
    Arc Raiders review: "The most memorable multiplayer experiences I've had all year – this shooter is tense but wonderfully approachable"
  2. 2
    Battlefield Redsec review: "Ticks all the right boxes for a battle royale, but it's not especially unique"
  3. 3
    The Séance of Blake Manor review: "Like horror Clue come to life, this supernatural mystery against the clock is incredibly immersive"
  4. 4
    Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment review: "Zelda is a fantastic lead in this action-packed Tears of the Kingdom prequel, but boring missions hold the magic back"
  5. 5
    Carimara: Beneath the Forlorn Limbs review: "Playing as a goblin thing to crack a gothic fairy tale mystery with magical cards has quickly become one of my favorite gaming short stories"
  1. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in Predator: Badlands
    1
    Predator: Badlands review: "Die-hard fans may be disappointed, but as a blockbuster action-adventure, Badlands kills it"
  2. 2
    Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review "Storytelling just as compelling as the chainsaws, devils, and visually excessive fight scenes"
  3. 3
    Tron: Ares review: "Misses out by swapping the Grid for the real world"
  4. 4
    One Battle After Another review: "One of the best studio movies in years and an instant classic"
  5. 5
    The Conjuring: Last Rites review: "Not bold or memorable enough for the Warrens' final chapter"
  1. Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka, looking scared, in Pluribus.
    1
    Pluribus season 1 review: "Easily one of the year's best dramas"
  2. 2
    The Witcher season 4 review: "The Henry Cavill-less fourth season is the best yet"
  3. 3
    IT: Welcome to Derry review: "A supremely confident step back into the history of Stephen King's cursed town and killer clown"
  4. 4
    Splinter Cell: Deathwatch review: "A pale imitation of the long-dormant stealth franchise"
  5. 5
    Marvel Zombies review: "A fun expansion of the What If episode with delightful MCU Easter eggs and truly gross R-rated kills"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...