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The best adult board games prove that we've moved way beyond dusty old classics like Monopoly. No matter whether you're hunting down a horror challenge to play with your friends or an epic strategy experience that'll truly test your mettle, you'll find plenty of mature and intelligent options out there.
Or here, I should say. To save you time as well as money, our experts (who have years of experience testing, reviewing, and writing about the best adult board games) have rounded up the most essential recommendations below. If you ask us, they're some of the best board games overall and deserve to be in your collection ASAP.
You'll also find recommendations to suit a wide range of interests, skill-levels, and budgets on this page (and if you don't know where to start, just check out our 'how to choose' section). That includes everything from complex but engrossing strategies like Brass: Birmingham to RPG odysseys such as Gloomhaven. As noted in 'how we test,' these have all been chosen thanks to hands-on experience. If we don't love it, it doesn't get on the list!
Benjamin has been covering board games at GamesRadar+ since 2018, and he's written professionally for well over a decade. He's always had a deep love for tabletop gaming and won't ever go to a party without a game in tow.
Quick list
It's hard to talk about good board games for adults without Brass: Birmingham coming up, so do yourself a favor and track this one down.
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Powered by unique combat and stuffed with branching storylines that are influenced by your decisions, this is the sort of game you can lose yourself in for months.
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Think you could survive Alien? This devious game challenges you to stay alive on an infested spaceship amidst shifting loyalties where fellow players could turn traitor.
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Despite being an adaptation, this spin on the second Dune movie steps out from its inspiration's shadow for an incredibly smart, engaging worker-placement experience.
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Want a game where you work with rather than against each other? It doesn't get much better than this eerie race against time where friends could be foes.
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If your friends have a dirty sense of humor, they'll have a blast with Scrawl. This game may as well be Telephone but with drawings, and the result is hilarious.
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Best adult board game overall
"Many of the heaviest strategy games feel like multi-player solitaire, but in Brass: Birmingham you’ll be directly reliant on other players... even when you don’t want to be!"
Looking for the ultimate adult board game that'll stretch your strategic skills to the limit? You'll struggle to find anything better than Brass: Birmingham. This is undoubtedly one of the best-rated titles in the industry, and once you've given it a try, it isn't hard to see why. It sports a wickedly clever push and pull between players in which you're all competing but need one another to get ahead.
While that does mean it's a lot to take in (this is a heavy-weight game and no mistake), armchair tacticians or those who want something deeper won't be able to get enough.
This might be one of the highest-rated board games around. It tops the chart at BoardGameGeek with a magnificent 8.6 rating (giving it one of the highest scores on the community-led site), and 84% of its 1,600+ user reviews at Amazon are five stars with praise for its deep, tactical gameplay.
Despite all that, your goal here is simple: earn the most points. You do this by trading everything from pottery to coal. Because the game takes place during the industrial revolution, you'll have to manage factories and fast-changing transport links to achieve your mission. This is one grungy-looking game as a result, and that soot-covered aesthetic sets Brass apart whilst grounding players in Victorian Britain.
You'll need all the cunning of that age to get ahead. The reason Brass: Birmingham stands out so much is down to a delicious paradox. Everyone's competing against one another for the highest score, but you need your rivals to earn those points. Namely, you can't get access to everything you need yourself... but you can use another player's resources to do so. While this advances your plan, it also helps your opponent score. It's one hell of a juggling act, so deciding when you're gonna pull the trigger is crucial.
I'll admit that this takes some getting used to, and it's not an easy knot to unravel. But if you've got the patience, you'll discover a gem unlike anything else in board gaming.
Buy it if:
✅ You want a deep but social strategy game:
Alongside incredibly smart design that should really test your mettle, everything is uniquely interconnected in this game so that all players paradoxically rely on each other.
✅ You’re like history, but not warfare: Unlike so many other historical games, this version of Brass is deeply entrenched in the historical Victorian era, but manages to avoid violence.
Don't buy if:
❌ You want a relaxing, chilled-out game: You'll really need to think to get on top in this version of Brass. Trying to puzzle out how to outmaneuver your rivals can be stressful too.
❌ You can’t commit the time needed to learn: This is the sort of game you have to revisit to get the most out of. In other words, it's probably not going to suit anyone who isn't keen to commit to just one game for the long haul.
- Read more: Brass Birmingham review
Best RPG board game for adults
"Gloomhaven is a huge game, both literally and physically. All the same, I feel bound to repeat that I think it's a game you can never finish and still love. You don't have to finish every adventure to get the most out of it, either."
Powered by unique combat, a setting that's reminiscent of The Witcher, and more loot than you'll know what to do with, Gloomhaven is the RPG of your dreams. Branching storylines produce a quest you can lose yourself in for months on end, so get comfortable; you're in for an unforgettable adventure.
Yes, it's both literally and metaphorically massive... but that's precisely why Gloomhaven is so appealing. It's an entire world you can lose yourself in, rendered with cardboard and plastic.
Even though Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is more accessible (I'd recommend that instead if you want to test the waters), the OG still outdoes it in almost every respect. That's especially true now that Gloomhaven's second edition has arrived, sanding off rough edges and improving balance across the board.
OK, so it's a classic dungeon-crawler on paper – you'll explore ruins and steal every piece of treasure that isn't nailed down. However, it's so much more in reality. There's a reason why Gloomhaven became such a sensation when it launched in 2017. This is tabletop gaming at its nerdiest; alongside a map you'll permanently alter with stickers earned by journeying across the land, it includes hidden mechanics that are unlocked over time. An engrossing combat system also puts you in total control of battle (there's no blaming luck of the dice here), while morally gray choices keep you on your toes. Decisions can and will have consequences, so tread carefully.
If you're anything like me, this alone will be enough to get you hyped. Indeed, there's a childlike sense of wonder powering Gloomhaven. Stuffed from top to bottom with magic usually reserved for the best tabletop RPGs, it leads to watercooler stories that'll more than justify your excitement.
That level of complexity will put off some. Gloomhaven is one hell of a commitment, too. Yet if you persevere, you'll discover one of the most enjoyable (and unquestionably best) adult board games.
Buy it if:
✅ You want a deep adventure game: Thanks to a wealth of scenarios, a branching storyline, and combat that relies on skill rather than dice rolls, this is the ultimate fantasy board game.
✅ You hate randomness in games: The creator of Gloomhaven despised how RPG board games often leave things down to random dice rolls, so made a combat system that relies on skill alone.
Don't buy if:
❌ You want something simple: Gloomhaven's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. It's incredibly dense, so isn't something you can break out on a whim.
❌ You don't have much space: I'm not joking when I say that Gloomhaven is massive. It comes in a huge box and requires a lot of table room, so you'll struggle if space is at a premium.
- Read more: Gloomhaven review
Best horror board game for adults
"Nemesis is Alien in all but name, and who knew that one of the best sci-fi horror movies of all time would translate into one of the best games ever made? It’s a hefty box packed with gorgeous miniatures, offering a ton of replayability. More importantly, it perfectly evokes the tension, drama, betrayals, and horror that make Alien a classic. For my money, the best adult board game ever made."
OK, let's not beat around the bush; this is off-brand Alien. But holy crap, it's good.
Don't be put off by how clear a copy it is. Nemesis manages to distill what made the 1979 movie terrifying with ease while adding an escape shuttle's worth of gripping, semi-cooperative mechanics that grab you by the throat like a ticked-off xenomorph. And I mean semi-cooperative – some of you will be working against the group due to secret objectives. In short? It's Betrayal at House on the Hill on steroids.
Because this is a survival horror story unfolding on your tabletop, expect tension aplenty. You play as the crew of a starship who've just woken up from cryosleep to discover that something has snuck aboard. And unfortunately for everyone involved, that 'something' would love nothing more than making your internal organs external. This is a monster from the H.R. Geiger playbook; it's a biomechanical horror that lives to destroy. You could even say that its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility…
You aren't just playing hide and seek with a xenomorph, though. You'll also be juggling repairs on the ship (which is randomly generated each time you play) and trying to complete your personal objectives at the same time. These won't always be to the benefit of your team, though, and that's where things get spicy. You might have to destroy the alien nest, for example, or sneak an egg off the ship with no witnesses. Teamwork is the only way to survive, but in a devious twist, you can't trust anyone.
You can't just brute force your way through Nemesis either. The alien 'Intruders' are as deadly as you'd expect, and the majority of your moves in-game use Action cards. This may lead to giving up cards you need later, so working out what to use and when is a tightrope walk. Especially because matches only last 15 turns...
That might be the game's biggest weakness, to be honest – it's hard. Sometimes Lady Luck will turn against you in spite of all your strategizing. Still, the story Nemesis tells should stay with you for a long, long time. That makes it easy to excuse any bumps in the road.
Buy it if:
✅ You want a truly tense horror game: If you enjoy being kept on the edge of your seat with tension thick enough to cut with a knife, Nemesis is the board game for you.
✅ You want something very replayable: This game's mechanics create endless domino effects that result in plenty of "oh shit!" moments.
Don't buy if:
❌ You want an easy-going game: Because it's a deep co-op experience with lots of nuance, Nemesis isn't the vibe if you want an accessible, light-hearted game you can jump straight into.
❌ You don't like randomness: Although it's not dependant on luck, randomness does play a part in Nemesis.
- Read more: Nemesis review
Best adult strategy board game
"Anyone up for a medium complexity game who enjoyed the Dune films is likely to really appreciate Dune: Imperium - Uprising. It has a huge amount of replayability, allowing players to shift their strategies based on which character they’re playing and how much they want to focus on various factions and victory conditions. It also looks great, especially the sandworms, and does an excellent job at capturing the series’ themes of intrigue, alliance building and high-stakes battles."
He who controls the spice, controls the universe… While that's still true in this well-received Dune adaptation, giant sandworms certainly help. A deeply tactical (and very replayable) rush to conquer Arrakis, Uprising is the sort of game that you can truly lose yourself in. With a variety of characters to master, play-styles to learn, and approaches to take, this deeply thoughtful strategy board game is up there with the greats.
As you'd expect from a game that's all about conquering the planet, Uprising revolves around worker-placement. It also deploys deck-building mechanics that give you a dizzying array of options based on when you play your cards and what you use them for.
If you played the original Dune: Imperium from 2020, this will all sound familiar. (Uprising is a standalone follow-up that uses many of the same systems.) Nevertheless, the spy, contract, and sandworm mechanics are all new – the latter of which can change the course of a match. That may as well make Uprising a new edition of Imperium, and I'd say it's the superior option if you have to choose between them.
No matter what, don't assume this is a frivolous tie-in. Uprising may employ the abstract board and iconography of Denis Villeneuve's films (upon which this is based), but I appreciate that it doesn't settle for screenshots on its cards. Everything is painted in a realistic fashion instead, upping the sense of attention to detail.
As for gameplay, it's just as high-quality. A compelling sense of push and pull gives Uprising its edge. To begin with, there's the usual rush to claim spaces – the definition of good worker-placement games. However, the status quo is upended with spies. These rogue agents allow you to occupy a space even if another player has claimed it, and you'll get a reward once you take that spy token back. Choosing your moment is key as a result; you've got to weigh up gaining a benefit in the here and now or making sure you have access to that space in future rounds.
Sandworms are an equally seismic change. As it was on-screen, these beasts can totally change your prospects. Although they're hard to get (you must convince the Fremen to aid your faction), they're stronger than standard troops and double the rewards of a battle. This provides yet another strategic option to wrestle with.
If you can gather six friends, you'll see all this at its best. The six-player narrative mode casts one of you as Paul Muad’Dib, while another fills the shoes of Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Both must lead their allies to victory in a large-scale confrontation that will provide an engrossing challenge for veterans.
- Read more: Dune Imperium - Uprising review
Best co-op board game for adults
"So long as you have the time needed for a full session, you'll discover a phenomenal co-op game with surprising depth in Unfathomable. It combines many of my favorite mechanics, too; bluffing, high-stakes combat, and narrative-based missions."
Do you think you'd know if your friends were lying to you? Unfathomable puts that to the test with cloak-and-dagger gameplay where traitors work against their fellow players in an effort to sabotage their plans. The resulting paranoia is excellently handled, especially because those traitors have help from monsters who'd like nothing better than to turn everyone into chowder.
Even though it's more of a commitment than other adult board games, Unfathomable is worth the investment. It's cut from the same cloth as Pandemic with its white-knuckle problem solving, and a sprinkling of deception elevates things further. Think Mafia mixed with a healthy dose of cosmic horror. (This takes place in the Arkham Horror universe and is based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.)
The year is 1913 and a band of unlucky passengers (you) are about to find out that their voyage aboard the SS. Atlantica won't be a relaxing one. A few days from port, the weather takes a turn for the worse and 'Deep Ones' – terrible eldritch nightmares – pour from the sea. Most players need to fend off these monsters and repair any damage done to the SS. Atlantica while it travels to safety. Others are secret human-Deep One 'hybrids' who are hellbent on destroying the ship. They do this by sabotaging Crisis challenges each turn. These randomly-drawn events have a target number you've got to hit unless you're a fan of dire consequences, so players anonymously hand over numbered cards that will (hopefully) add up to that total. Hybrids throw in dud cards to derail things, and this means trust is at a premium.
That's where things get interesting. Teamwork is your only hope of protecting passengers and fixing the ship when it inevitably gets damaged, but there's an obvious flaw to the plan – you can't put your faith in anyone. Because you're juggling an ever-growing to-do list on top of all that deception, the tension doesn't let up.
It's also the definition of "life comes at you fast." New problems emerge at the beginning of each round and are compounded by gribbly monsters leaping from the sea to eat passengers. Planning on the fly is essential because of this, not to mention good communication. You just can't be sure if the motivation behind said communication is good…
The tension that follows is delicious. I enjoy team board games where you're trying to sniff out traitors at the best of times, but when you throw in those cosmic horror trimmings, the atmosphere ratchets up a notch.
Buy it if:
✅ You're a fan of deception games: Anyone that likes bluffing or social deduction games (think Mafia) will have a blast here. It's all about flying under the radar or finding traitors.
✅ You like cosmic horror: Unfathomable is set in the Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos (the same universe as Arkham Horror, specifically), so it'll appeal if you enjoy those stories.
Don't buy if:
❌ You want something short: Unfortunately, Unfathomable can take a long time to finish (up to four hours). That means it isn't suitable if you don't have a lot of free time.
❌ You're looking for something straightforward: Because there's a lot to learn, swotting up on the rules will help you get the most out of Unfathomable. It's a great board game for adults, but this means it won't vibe with everyone.
- Read more: Unfathomable review
Best party board game for adults
"So long as you get the right group, Scrawl is the kind of board game your friends will be referencing for years. It's one of my go-to options whenever a party is coming up."
In terms of adult board games that deserve their mature rating, Scrawl takes the cake. An often filthy-minded road trip through the weirder parts of your brain, it's best described as a cross between Telephone and Pictionary. Frequently rude and always funny, this is the kind of game to break out if drinks are involved. Even with its tamer prompts, this one most definitely earns its 'for grown-ups' rating.
In other words? It's NSFW and utterly brilliant. If you want a good laugh at your party, break this bad boy out.
✅ You want something quick and easy: Scrawl isn't hard to understand, nor does it outstay its welcome.
✅ Your friends have a dirty sense of humor: This game has deliberately chosen prompts that, when drawn, will look really… well, bad. That will tickle a certain kind of person.
❌ You want something strategic: There's not a tremendous amount of depth to Scrawl.
❌ You'll be playing with family: If you want to avoid being mortified in front of your folks, I wouldn't advise playing this with them.
Features & design: Like its sense of humor, Scrawl isn't complicated. To begin with, you get a ridiculous prompt card and have to draw what it tells you (e.g. "licking people's shoes" or "photocopying your balls"). Your doodle then gets passed with no explanation to the person beside you, and they've got to write down what they think it is. After that, the player beside them draws whatever it is their neighbour's written, and so on. Can you see where this is going? Anyway, once your sketch has made its way around the circle, you'll vote on which drawing or description you think is the funniest… or most accurate. That person then earns points.
Worried it'll be too raunchy for your group? Don't stress, it isn't wall-to-wall nonsense. The cards have color-coded levels of naughtiness if you'd rather keep things on the tamer side.
Gameplay: Inevitably, none of this will end well. Which is good news for us – the results are almost always hysterical. Your original picture will get bent so far out of shape that it becomes unrecognizable, and this leads to no end of in-jokes. That makes it a superb ice-breaker.
Actually, that's Scrawl in a nutshell: funny and memorable. In fact, the game's closest relative would be Cards Against Humanity due to the fact that it thrives on the same dark humor. However, I'd say it's better on the whole because it doesn't punch down. It doesn't use references that have a sell-by date, either.
Of course, this means that there isn't a tremendous amount of depth under the surface. If you want something you can properly dig into, you'll be left disappointed.
- Read more: Scrawl review
Criteria | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
Game mechanics | Scrawl is simple but brilliantly executed. It lacks depth, but makes up for that with hilarity. | 3/5 |
Accessibility | Because its rules boil down to 'draw stupid pictures and pass it on,' this isn't a hard game to understand. | 5/5 |
Replayability | You will eventually learn the cards, but until then, it's an open road of fun. | 4/5 |
Setup and pack-down | Scrubbing old drawings off the mini whiteboards can be a pain, and you'll need to keep an eye on your pens' ink levels, but that's as complex as it gets. | 3.5/5 |
Component quality | This is a simple but quirky game with a simple yet quirky art style. | 4/5 |
How to choose the best adult board games
Not sure what you're in the mood for? Don't worry, we've all been there. To help point you in the right direction, here are a few questions I ask myself personally when considering which board games for adults to buy. Oh, and if you see any terms you aren't sure of? Don't miss my guide to the different types of board games.
How we test the best adult board games
- We have written more than 100 tabletop game reviews
- We've interviewed industry experts
- We've been reporting on board games for almost seven years
- We go to board game conventions & events all year round
Our testing process is incredibly important to the GamesRadar+ team, and we'll never recommend a product without forcing it to jump through multiple hoops first. If we don't love it, we won't recommend it.
As explained in our 'how we test board games' guide, we spend as much time as possible with the product in question to make sure we're intimately familiar with its mechanics before commenting. (This isn't a "one and done" deal.) Doing so provides a better sense of the game's longevity, too.
We also make sure that sessions are run with different player-counts to see how the experience differs. This helps us recommend titles that are optimized for specific numbers of people. (Two players, four players, etc.)
In addition, our reviewers rank the best adult board games using a standardized set of criteria: how easy its rules are to understand (accessibility), replayability, setup and pack-down, component quality, and game mechanics. You can see an example of this below:
Category | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
Game mechanics | A summary of how the game's systems hold up. Will you actually enjoy playing? | ?/5 |
Accessibility | We judge whether the game is easy to learn here. | ?/5 |
Replayability | Our experts discuss how much longevity a game has here. | ?/5 |
Setup and pack-down | How long does a game take to set up and put away? Is the process frustrating? We answer those questions in this section. | ?/5 |
Component quality | Will the game's pieces stand up to repeat use? We weigh in. | ?/5 |
This is a similar process laid out in our hardware review policy, and we approach 2-player board games with the same kind of rigorous dedication. It's also the ethos outlined in our wider GamesRadar+ review policy, which gives a broader overview of how the site works.
Best adult board games FAQ
What is the most popular board game for adults now?
If we're talking pure sales, the gong is likely to go to something like Sequence, Catan, or Azul. While it's not a smoking gun, they all feature near the top of Amazon's bestsellers list under 'board games for adults.'
As for favorites amongst the hobby community, forums are a good barometer. They feature the titles tabletop fans are excited about, and even though the list changes each month, there's a load of talk around Fate of the Fellowship and Vantage right now.
What's a good adult board game?
The answer to this question will vary depending on who you ask, not to mention the kind of game you actually want to play. Nonetheless, I have a few suggestions. Betrayal at House on the Hill is ideal if you want an adventure or horror game, while Life in Reterra is great for a more chilled-out strategy experience. Blockbuster has never failed to go down well at get-togethers, on the other hand, while Unfathomable has been a lot of fun for my gaming group in the past.
In terms of what makes a good adult board game, I'd say it comes down to increased complexity or mechanical sophistication. Rather than the roll-and-moves of yesteryear where victory was down to luck, such as Monopoly, they emphasize player choice. There are numerous ways to win, and various strategies to master.
Where can I get cheap board games for adults?
Want to save as much as possible? Us too. That's why the GamesRadar+ team and I keep an eye on board game deals each and every week. These are the retailers we prioritize when tracking down discounts.
US
- Amazon: Best for variety
- Miniature Market: Hobby game deals
- Target: Can get good exclusives
- Walmart: Discounts on classic games
- Best Buy: Offers family games
UK
- Amazon: Best for variety
- Magic Madhouse: Hobby game offers
- Zatu: Deals on hobby games
- Argos: Classic family games
- Very: Family game deals available
- John Lewis: Solid deals on all kinds
Want more recommendations? Be sure to check out the best card games, or the best family board games.
