Monsters are scary, but the best Halloween board games prove that your bog-standard people are infinitely worse – and Unfathomable does it better than most.

Yes, I know. "People are the real monsters" isn't a new or particularly revelatory angle. But Unfathomable doesn't grab the low-hanging fruit; it makes you work to prove your depravity instead. That's because it blends together classic horror board game fare (battling terrors who'd really like to eat you) with deception mechanics, and this is lightning in a bottle. Fighting monsters? That's fun. Having to do all that while working out which player is a traitor? My god, that's so much better – and the result helps it stand out from the best Halloween board games.

Whisking us back to the 1920s where prohibition was the latest fad and gangsters eloquently settled their differences by way of 'tommy gun,' you play passengers of a cruise ship heading across the ocean. Unfortunately, this will be far from a relaxing vacation; a couple of days after leaving port, storms roll in and the ocean begins to boil with activity. Soon, unspeakable creatures are crawling out of the ocean and onto your ship… directed by something titanic that you can barely see in the darkness.

This is one half of Unfathomable's gameplay: hold off these 'Deep Ones' and stop them from destroying the ship or draining its resources, all while repairing anything they do happen to wreck. That's engaging enough in itself, because you're in a desperate battle against time and tide. More will always rise from the depths to replace any you kill, so you've got to keep the horde at bay long enough for your ship to escape.

That's where the second – and arguably more interesting – part kicks in. While most of you are average Joes, some are secret Deep One hybrids. These traitors activate once they hear the siren call of their masters and begin sabotaging the ship in secret. It's everyone else's job to uncover them, so I hope you've got a good poker face.

The way you do this is very clever. Rather than sneaking off and throwing a literal spanner in the works, you ruin things in a more subtle way. You've got to draw event cards each turn that add a new development, dilemma, or catastrophe to overcome, and every player has to contribute number cards to meet a specific total. While you're supposed to add positive numbers to make sure you get it over the line, traitors will contribute negative number cards to undermine everyone else… and there's no way to tell who's done what, because the pile is shuffled.

The result is a favorite of mine. Even though it can take a long time to finish (games last anywhere between two and four hours), I can't think of many games where I've felt more locked in. The paranoia and tension it produces makes it arguably one of the best board games, and one I adore playing come spooky season.

Looking for more recommendations? Modern-day D&D horror adventure feels like Resident Evil mixed with Control, and it's perfect for Halloween.

• See the latest deals on horror board games at Amazon

You are Dracula, stalking the fog-shrouded streets of Victorian Whitby. Around you patrol your dark spawn, three sisters jumping from roof to roof, balcony to balcony. All of you are searching for prey. Suddenly, the mist coalesces before you into a shape, a coat and hat that your vampire senses immediately perceive as wrong. Where there should be a face and hands there is just nothingness, invisibility. Mentally you direct your spawn to stalk and surround the figure, cutting off its escape routes before you pounce, only to find at the moment of impact that it melts away, leaving nothing but fistfulls of smoke between your talons. From somewhere nearby, you hear mocking laughter.

This is Unmatched: Cobble and Fog, an extraordinarily evocative title for what is, essentially a straight up one-on-one skirmish game. There are a lot of games in the Unmatched series, which pits figures from across pop culture and myth in epic fights, all using the same straightforward core rule. In most of them you get the high-octane action and tricky tactics that you might expect. And you get that here, too, it’s just that you get an additional and effective overlay of gothic horror that brings it in line with the best Halloween board games, elevating it among the other franchise entries.

Some of this game's success is down to the production, from the dark, ink-washed figures, to the double-sided board of creepy locales and secret passages, to the striking pen-and-ink art on the cards. But mostly it’s down to the way each character plays, thanks to their unique deck and special powers.

Our opening encounter is a good example. The Dracula player not only has the Count to maneuver but also three "sisters" tokens that are fragile in fights but can block routes and trap enemies on the point-to-point board. His deck has a number of hard-hitting combat moves that reward surrounding enemies with the sisters but also hypnosis powers that can give you some insight into your opponent’s deck. The Invisible Man, meanwhile, controls three fog tokens that not only offer a defensive boost but allow him to teleport between any of them whenever he moves, making him tough to pin down. His deck is less obviously powerful, but relies on using the fog to make surprise moves and misdirections to trick your foes into making mistakes, allowing you to pounce when they’re out of cards.

Hopefully, you can see how these powers and effects embellish the play with trickery and mind-games that make encounters like our opening paragraph not only possible but common. It’s a similar story with the set’s other two characters. Jekyll & Hyde flips between human and monster forms and is, perhaps, the least interesting option here but still fun to play, while Sherlock Holmes "investigates" his opponent’s cards and gets ranged support from Dr Watson and his trusty sidearm.

All this atmosphere comes on top of the tactical core, proven as rock-solid across the other Unmatched titles in a way only the best board games are. On your turn you can move and draw, play a card for an effect, or play a card to attack. It’s an easy-to-learn framework that nevertheless binds players in an immediate conundrum: you can either draw cards or play them, so if you go on the offence you will, eventually, run out of cards. This not only leaves you hugely vulnerable to counter-attack but risks you losing by running your deck down, forcing you to weigh and plan every play carefully.

Between the tactical thrills, cat and mouse maneuver and atmospheric horror overlay, Unmatched: Cobble & Fog isn’t just a fantastic skirmish game: it’s a creepy feast for lovers of the gothic and the macabre, too.

If you want more eerie tabletop gameplay, this modern-day D&D horror adventure feels like Resident Evil mixed with Control.

• See the latest offers on horror board games at Amazon

A Diablo board game is on the way, but don't assume it'll be a classic dungeon crawler; the developers are calling it a "dungeon battler" where you'll fight to the bitter depths for glory and loot against unrelenting foes.

So far, it sounds grim enough to gel with Diablo's gritty atmosphere. After selecting a dungeon in the darkest corner of Sanctuary, you'll fill it with a horde of monsters and bosses represented by gnarly miniatures before grinding your way through them using one of four iconic classes (the Barbarian, Paladin, Sorceress, or Rogue). These all feature distinct playstyles, extensive customization, and unique skill-trees, so when combined with what Glass Cannon Unplugged describes as a "highly modular structure," the Diablo board game – officially titled 'Diablo: Unbound' – should be pretty replayable.

Although its crowdfunding campaign isn't due to go live on Gamefound until early 2027, the Diablo board game will be playable much earlier than that. To be precise, you can go hands-on with Diablo: Unbound at this year's SPIEL Essen (one of the world's biggest shows for the best board games) between October 22-25.

"You get the high-stakes showdowns of a boss battler—and hordes of monsters that never let up," says Glass Cannon Unplugged CEO Jakub Wiśniewski. "But you don’t crawl through dungeons. You battle your way down. That’s why we call it a dungeon battler."

Diablo: Unbound isn't a mindless hack-and-slash, though. Each boss has its own unique attacks, for example, not to mention a lair and multiple combat stages. When combined with the game's many ways to earn loot (be it via chests, side quests, defeating Elite enemies, or gaining a kill streak by battling mobs), there's a push-your-luck element where you're always tempted to do just a little more.

You won't be down the proverbial mines all the time, either. A 'Town Phase' takes place before each encounter, letting you improve skills or respecialize character builds.

While the game features three acts with three dungeon levels each (and every dungeon takes up to 90 minutes), the fun isn't over when you've passed the finish line. There's also an endgame 'Torment' mode that lets you take on bosses in their ultimate form, so at least you don't have to down tools like in some RPG board games.

We'll hopefully be able to find out more (and go hands-on) with the Diablo board game soon, but until then, you should be able to get your fill via the Gamefound pre-launch page or if you're lucky enough to be at Essen this year.

Want something atmospheric for spooky season? Here are the nine best Halloween board games available right now.

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As a deathly chill descends outside and everyone gears up for spooky season, it's time to wrench the best Halloween board games loose from their crypts. But because this genre is overflowing with options like an obligatory bubbling cauldron, where do you start?

The GamesRadar+ experts and I have a few ideas. We've been reviewing and playing the best board games for decades between us, and that means plenty of creepy designs have crossed our table over the years. While all set an eerie tone, a few stand out as all-time classics. If you want the best Halloween board games to get your horror on, these should do the trick.

Personally, my go-to is always Betrayal at House on the Hill. I've been playing this series for well over 10 years, and I don't think I've seen a horror board game that strikes a better balance of accessibility with eerie scares. There are spookier alternatives or deeper options, but few are as easy to get into. Meanwhile, longtime contributor Matt Thrower's favorite right now is Unmatched: Cobble & Fog. This pits some of horror's greatest icons against each other in a duel to the death.

Quick list

Best Halloween board games

Have you ever wondered how long you'd last in a horror movie? This long-running series lets you find out. Inspired by fan-favorites and shlocky B-movies alike, it mashes up the best genre cliches into 50 unique scenarios. As the name would suggest, these aren't always you against the supernatural; sometimes, one of your team turns traitor. What follows is a compelling cocktail of tension and desperate last-stands.

Despite all those moving parts, Betrayal at House on the Hill is very accessible. After choosing your character and the reason everyone's visiting this haunted mansion, you begin exploring the house. Because rooms are randomly drawn from a huge pile of board tiles, the layout will always be different. These rooms also have unique powers or make you draw event/item cards, so you never know what will happen once you step across the threshold.

Draw enough cards and a scenario (based on the items you've unlocked and the reason your party came here) will trigger, pitting you against the house or each other. The result is a slowly building ramp of tension that explodes into a frantic race to the finish. While those missions aren't always as well-balanced as they could be, they're never less than a joy to play. As mentioned in our full Betrayal at House on the Hill review, that's what keeps you coming back time and time again; a need to see what happens next.

Love classic monsters and gothic horror, or want a game everyone can sink their fangs into? Horrified is your poison. Combining some of the hobby's most compelling mechanics into one team-based horror board game with old favorites like Dracula, it's deceptively simple yet masterfully done.

Dropping you head-first into a nameless but extremely atmospheric village that wouldn't look out of place in a Hammer horror film, your aim is to defeat roving monsters who would really like to devour the townsfolk… and you. The problem is, each monster requires a different tactic or mini-game to beat – and while you're working toward those objectives, they're trying to chow down on villagers. It's a tough balancing act; you'll often be forced to choose between innocents or getting the items you need to finish your quest. It's a delicious conundrum which we've enjoyed grappling with since it first launched in 2019.

While there are numerous versions (including a D&D-themed spin-off and this year's Ravenloft instalment), I still think the original is best. You can't beat a mashup featuring old favorites like Frankenstein's Monster, after all.

A cruise should be relaxing, right? Not in this case. Playing on our fear of what lurks under the waves, this is a holiday from hell. Set in the 1920s, you play as passengers making a long voyage across the ocean… but then unspeakable monsters start pouring from the ocean, directed by something enormous glimpsed through the dark. That's when traitors on board start wreaking havoc.

You see, this isn't just a co-op battle against creatures of the deep; there are turncoats amongst you, treacherous 'hybrids' that will do everything they can to sabotage your ship. Because you don't know who's who, you'll need to sniff out these traitors while trying to keep your vessel afloat. Oh, and don't forget about those monsters clambering aboard.

Although it's a long game, Unfathomable is one of my favorites due to that blend of adventure and high stakes deception (which helped it earn four-and-a-half-stars in my Unfathomable review).

Many horror games go for minimalism in terms of components, but not Zombicide, which is chock full of ghoul-icious plastic miniatures of both player pieces and different kinds of zombies. And you’re going to need them all, since the game demands you divide up at least six characters between the players who then need to work together to achieve a variety of scenario objectives while an ever-growing army of shambling undead stumble around the board, attracted by noise and blood.

The core gameplay loop in this new edition is pretty simple but weirdly addictive thanks in part to the sheer variety of things that can happen. In addition to picking scenarios, or possibly a campaign, a wide number of different enemies can spawn, each presenting unique challenges. Every character has a choice of upgrade paths and, best of all, the item decks you’ll dig through hold the ever-present possibility of awesome new weaponry to splatter all those undead with. This means that every turn presents new tactical challenges to solve and risks to take while the tension - and the number of foes - mount inexorably. We were certainly fans in our Zombicide 2nd Edition review.

Loosely inspired by 2023 video game Dredge, Deep Regrets challenges players to spend a week out fishing on a very strange sea indeed. Your initial trawls in shallow depths, governed by a push-your-luck dice roll, are likely to net you a variety of familiar species but there’s also a chance you’ll land something considerably more disturbing. And the deeper you fish, the greater that chance becomes, as does the degree of awfulness in what you bring to the surface. Returning to shore allows you to sell your catch to buy improvements for future expeditions or you can mount your favourite specimens for points.

The more horrors you witness, the more regret cards you’ll earn, which range from staining your best trousers to murdering friends for money. Between these and the fishing, you can build a delightful horror-comedy narrative while, mechanically, regrets drive you mad, getting you more value from mutant fish. Accumulate too many, however, and you'll lose your best trophy.

Adorned with fantastically evocative art by the designer, this is a game that, ironically, you’re most unlikely to regret spending time with.

If you're looking for a deeper, more strategic experience, it doesn't get better than the Nemesis series. While the masterful first instalment is harder to get hold of these days, the newer Nemesis: Retaliation is widely available – and as mentioned in our full review, "this might be one of the best horror board games ever made."

Basically, it's Aliens with the serial number scrubbed off; you play as a team of elite marines that drop into hell, facing down a horde of xenomorphs who are ready for an all-they-can-eat buffet. While your primary goal will vary (like killing the bug queen or destroying this facility), everyone has a secret, personal objective to work on as well. These often pit you against your teammates, so you're never sure whether you can trust the soldier who's meant to be watching your back.

Because the board is randomly laid out as you go, there's a real sense of stepping into the unknown as well. When combined with how brutal the aliens are (you'll be lucky to survive your stay), the tension is palpable.

H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos has proved an incredibly fertile inspiration for board games, but Arkham Horror: The Card Game is perhaps the most popular and acclaimed of them all. It’s a cooperative deck construction game; each player takes charge of an investigator delving into the horrid secrets of the mythos, with a unique deck of cards representing their skills and abilities in-game. As you progress, you add and remove cards from this deck, allowing your characters to grow in power and giving you the chance to tailor their playstyle as you see fit.

Initially you’ll throw these characters into the mystery scenario included in the box, a mix of modular map cards and choose-your-own-adventure style text paragraphs that, between them, create an intriguing, dynamic and surprisingly tough adventure. Things can spiral in a variety of different paths that lead to further scenarios, giving you reason to replay this core set. Eventually, you may want to buy expansions to continue the story but usefully, this new "chapter two" box resets the narrative, making this an ideal time to dive into the expanding story.

While most creepy board games pit relatively ordinary folk against otherworldly horrors, this one casts everyone as literary haunts and haunt-hunters from down the ages. Take your pick from Jekyll and Hyde, The Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes and, of course, Dracula and see how they face off against each other. The Unmatched series is all about battles between titanic figures from myth and pop culture, and the four characters included here can be mixed and matched with other entries in the franchise, should you so desire.

For such an ambitious scope, the rules are very simple. You get two actions per turn from a choice of three: draw a card and move on the point to point board, play a card for its effects, or play a card to attack. The smart design comes in the unique deck each character draws from, giving them their flavour and special powers. Holmes, for example, peeks at and manipulates his opponent’s cards while Jekyll and Hyde chooses a form with different abilities each turn. All four play very evocatively and very differently, ensuring you get tons of replay value trying different match-ups from the same box.

Another game based on Lovecraft’s works, the original Mansions of Madness saw one player running the game’s nightmare monsters against the rest of the players, creating an immediate balance issue since the creatures of the mythos are, by definition, too powerful for humans to handle. The second edition outsourced all that work to an app, leaving the players working together to solve the mystery of each scenario, and the game eminently more solo-friendly.

While app-driven games can be controversial, as you’re left to the mercy of updates, it does an incredibly good job of not only running the game but helping build a creepy atmosphere with vivid descriptions and sound effects. The added dynamism means you can have varied conversations with non-player characters and allows it to present puzzles that would be impossible in a physical game. It also seeds the scenario with random changes each time, making the game replayable even once you’ve revealed its core secrets. At the same time you get the delightful physicality of a board game, with miniature representations of the various horrors you can encounter, and the social aspects of working together, which you’ll be extremely glad of when the terror begins to build.

Want a more roleplay-heavy horror game? This modern-day D&D horror adventure feels like Resident Evil mixed with Control, and it's perfect for Halloween.

Are you dreading family get-togethers this year because your folks insist on breaking out dusty old board games like Monopoly? Can't face another dinner table meltdown because a sibling got screwed out of Bond Street? It's a special kind of torture, but it's not one you need to suffer.

There's a whole world of amazing alternatives out there, especially in 2026. As you can probably tell from the explosion of tabletop content on social media or the glut of board game cafes worldwide, it's got a lot more to give. While the sheer amount of options may seem intimidating (particularly when we move toward strategy games), there are some truly excellent beginner board games out there that are perfect for playing with family who've never moved far beyond Clue.

I spend a lot of my time reporting on and reviewing the best board games, so have used that experience to recommend some essential purchases here. These are often called 'gateway' games because they're accessible yet deeper than dusty old classics like Monopoly, and more than a few are on offer right now for Amazon's Big Deal Days. If you want something for Thanksgiving or Christmas get-togethers that aren't going to erode your will to live, add these to your collection; they're true must-haves.

Want something a bit more spooky? Set up the perfect Halloween party with these discounted horror board games. As for more recommendations, don't miss the best family board games.

• Check out today's board game discounts at Amazon

If you're hoping to set up a horror board game night, Amazon just did you a solid and slashed the price on some Halloween must-haves.

I'm a huge fan of spooky season so am always on the prowl for creepy new games I can add to my collection, and I was impressed to see that a few of my favorites (including some horror board games I've been desperate to try) have been slashed in price with a brutal efficiency that'd make Halloween icon Michael Myers nod with silent approval. An entry from our list of the best board games is included in that roundup, so these discounts aren't shlocky B-movies either.

To give you a head-start on your Halloween celebrations, I've rounded up the best offers on horror board games that I genuinely think are worth your time. As an example, the cute but spooky Twisted Cryptids is now available for less than $15... and because it's an incredibly replayable race to scare off as many humans as possible, it won't be a one-hit-wonder. In much the same way, the incredibly gothic Horrified: Ravenloft (which is full to the rafters with classic monsters like vampires and creepy killer dolls) provides best-in-class team gameplay at a new record low price.

Speaking of spooky things, a terrifying campaign version of our favorite horror board game got fully funded in just 54 seconds. In addition, an iconic piece of Joker art is being made into a Lego Batman set, but fans are worried it'll haunt kids' nightmares. The new Dice Throne Nexus hero may also give you a fright, because she's able to hijack your board and abilities.

• See all horror board game discounts at Amazon

A new installment of the beloved Nemesis horror board game series met its crowdfunding goal in less than a minute.

Nemesis Legacy turns the series' alien-infested cat-and-mouse mechanics into a long, bloody campaign where each of your decisions have major consequences. It seems as though fans are very into this idea, because the Gamefound pledge page is well over 6,700% funded… and counting. (The last time I checked, pledges were sitting at €3,354,410 / $3,755,916.)

Although it still trades on the same core idea as its predecessors (survive against alien hordes as they try to hunt you down), this version of Nemesis differs by introducing a 35+ hour story with branching missions that shape what comes next with permanent changes. If you're new to the idea of 'legacy' games in general, this is a defining feature of the genre; you often alter your board or components with stickers as you go to reflect the campaign's highs and lows, meaning the experience is very personal to you.

However, this isn't a one-and-done experience. Unlike many legacy games, this one is "fully replayable" thanks to a recharge pack that lets you clear the board and start the campaign again. In addition, you can use standalone missions via 'Infinity Mode' instead if you'd rather have a one-shot experience.

The original Nemesis is amongst our all-time favorites, and it's arguably one of the best board games ever made if you're a horror fan. The basic premise is pure Alien; you're trapped in a facility with creatures unknown that would really like to rip you limb from limb. To make matters worse, not every player is working toward the same goal of getting out alive. Some have their own selfish objective, so you're never sure if you can wholly trust your teammates. The resulting tension is exquisite.

Legacy ups the ante by stringing all these scenarios together into one coherent storyline with multiple outcomes while adding what seems like permanent upgrades for your characters (assuming they survive, of course).

Based on both the crowdfunding page and the original teaser for Nemesis Legacy, it looks as though our mission is to wipe out the alien threat for good with some kind of bomb delivered deep into their territory, but it seems like a desperate gambit. The trailer emphasizes its many fallen soldiers, so I assume the player character body count is gonna be high. Beware; there will be casualties.

No matter what, Nemesis Legacy is in good hands thanks to being designed by Rob Daviau. If that name doesn't mean anything to you, just know he invented the idea of legacy games in the first place and has met with widespread acclaim for projects like the hyper-popular Pandemic Legacy. Basically, he knows what he's doing with this genre - he almost literally wrote the book on it. If anyone can make a legacy version of Nemesis sing, it's Daviau.

The crowdfunding campaign for the game will last for 21 days, and it includes a variety of stretch goals like more miniatures and a new race of alien intruders. Considering how fast the community is pledging to Legacy, I have a suspicion they'll unlock them before long.

This isn't the only tabletop project to obliterate targets recently: meet the Lord of the Rings RPG that smashed its crowdfunding goal by 32 times in less than a day.

• See all of today's board game discounts at Amazon

Sweater season is officially here, and I don't know about you, but I can't think of anything better than snuggling up under a blanket with a hot mug of something and a board game this Fall. It seems as though Amazon agrees, because its Prime Day board game deals have slashed the price on some all-timers.

I spend a lot of time reporting on the best board games whenever I'm not playing them, and so many of my go-to recommendations are included in today's Prime Day sale. That ranges from "gateway" board games (so named because they're a great first step into the hobby) like Harmonies to strategy epics such as Everdell, and some are a mere hair's breadth away from record low prices.

Because so many top-tier board games are rocking a bargain for the event, I've rounded my favorites up below. Short on time and need the quick version? If you want something easy-going for your family to play (perhaps over Thanksgiving or Christmas), I'd recommend Ticket to Ride because it's so accessible but has enough of a strategic undercurrent to keep things interesting. Meanwhile, strategy fans should grab Spirit Island while it's going cheap. I'd argue that it's one of the best team games ever made, and it doesn't often dip down so low in cost.

For more recommendations, be sure not to miss the best family board games or the best card games.

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I remember stumbling across the original Everdell a number of years back while meandering through the board game area at PAX East. With its striking box art, featuring a badger alongside other woodland critters all in an idyllic forest, I was sold before I even knew what sort of game it was, and it would quickly go on to become one of mine and my wife’s favorite board games. Now, Emerland, the latest standalone title in the series, has been released, and this new jungle-themed romp does far more than apply a new coat of paint on Everdell. The clever tweaks and new mechanics make the old Everdell formula feel fresh all over again, so it'll go over well even if you're a long-in-the-tooth veteran of the best board games.

It's a jungle out there

At its core, Emerland is still an Everdell game with its general gameplay and fundamental mechanics remaining largely untouched. On their turns, players will be placing out their workers to gather the resources needed to build Constructions and recruit various Critters into their burgeoning city, which serves as your main point-scoring engine. Each round, portrayed as a single season, you will send your workers to the various locations or even onto other players' city cards in order to collect the resources required to build or bring new cards into your town or gain additional benefits to help earn you points for the endgame. New to Emerland are special realm cards that can also increase the number of buildings or townsfolk you can add to your town, in essence replacing the event cards from previous iterations of Everdell.

Alongside the players’ wooden animal meeples – this time picking from capybaras, tree frogs, chameleons, and monkeys – you also get a little group of smaller bug helper meeples in your player color, including beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies, and ants. Aside from just looking adorable, these helpers will either double the goods you get from a spot when deployed alongside one of your main pieces, or allow you to go somewhere another player is already visiting. By placing down a bug per player at the space, your little buddy will act as a negotiator, allowing you to gain the benefit from the space! As someone who has only really played base game Everdell and adores it, this blew my mind, and I quickly fell in love with my buzzing buddies. Just like your normal pieces, you do earn more as you progress through the seasons, and playing at an especially powerful spot with a lot of players already there will quickly eat up your bugs for the turn.

I've always found Everdell to do a great job balancing how "mean" it is while also being a pretty chill and low-hostility game. Sure, it was always a little frustrating to have another player take a spot you had been planning to take that turn, but that situation rarely happened because that player was specifically out to spite me or someone else. The addition of these cute little helpers just adds a new layer of flexibility and allows you, if you really need a spot, that you can still go there. Albeit for a greater cost. It manages to increase the options players have, without it ever feeling like it "breaks" the systems that Everdell fans have come to love.

The next jungle-inspired addition found in Emerland is the mysterious ruins, a separate track of sorts that you can spend one of your actions on to explore. By exploring and working your way through the ruins, you can find artifacts that will net you a range of points at the end of the game.

A signature centerpiece

In addition to the realms and helpers, Emerland features a host of other tweaks that slightly change up the formula that may intrigue Everdell aficionados. Hand limits are down from eight cards to only six, and a (starting) city limit of 12 instead of 15. As someone who had only previously played the original game, these reductions at the beginning felt restrictive, but other elements balanced out the experience. There are no longer common or unique critters or constructions and similar cards in the store, or plateau, stack on each other, making each spot a different choice to pick from.

The last of those new mechanics are upgradable cards and a new variety of card, the Artisan cards, that provide benefits when cards are tucked underneath it. Each card that you can build from the center store or draw from the deck to add to your village is now double-sided, featuring an enhanced side with better effects. Strangely enough, the new Artisan cards actually suffer the most from the new upgrade mechanic. You would think that, seeing as they are both introduced here, maybe there would be more synergy together.

The issue stems from the tuck limit that each Artisan card has. When you upgrade one of these new orange cards, the previously tucked cards don't suddenly go away, and you don't get any additional slots either. The fact that neither of those things happens turned me off from ever using these new cards unless they were upgraded, feeling like it would be detrimental to do so otherwise. I wish that upgrading would let you scrap a card previously tucked underneath if you wanted, because at least then there is some incentive to utilize the card's un-upgraded side.

Even with the smaller hand sizes, fewer land plots at the start, and fewer cards to pick from (or more depending on whether you could use the reverse upgraded sides as their own card or not), Emerland is a more complex game. In original Everdell, on your turn you really only had three actions – place a worker, play a card, or prepare for a new season – with the last one only being occasionally used. Emerland, by contrast, gives you six: placing a worker (either with or without one of your helpers), placing a helper by themselves, playing a card, tucking a card under an Artisan card, using your archaeologist to explore the ruins, or preparing for the next season. I love the fact that it gives me more options of things to do after I have placed my last worker, but if you or someone in your game group is susceptible to "analysis paralysis," just be aware this new version will present you with more options. I fall on the side of I’d rather have the options available to me, and more avenues to think up strategies. Plus, my game group is no stranger to using timers to keep games moving along.

While this may sound a bit blasphemous to other Everdell fans, my biggest issue with the base game is the Everdell tree, more specifically, having to build the damn tree every time I want to play. Gorgeous as it is, the slight inconvenience of knowing I have to put it together and disassemble it at the end has steered me away from tabling it at least a few times during game nights. It's fun to bring out every now and then, but by and large, games have enough set up as it is for me to have to take extra time to construct a superfluous doohicky just so it looks nicer on my table.

With that background, imagine my delight and surprise when I discovered that Emerland's centerpiece ruins come in both the series' signature 3D centerpiece and a simple flat version. This simple little board has made Emerland so, so, so much more appealing for me, with all the neat new mechanics, features, and beautiful components really just being delightful extras for me. The fact that this feature is also not unique to Emerland, with some of the other standalone Everdell evolutions (a fact I only discovered after playing this), piqued my interest in those as well.

Should you buy Emerland?

When it comes to the modern era of board games, it's hard to imagine the Everdell series not being viewed as a classic years from now. Emerland's twists and tweaks to the tried-and-true formula were a breath of fresh air and gave me that same sense of excitement in discovering strategies and combos as when I first tried Everdell.

For veterans of Everdell who are looking for something new to spice up their game night, I never found that the additions in Emerland diluted the satisfying engine-building and worker placement formula that has endeared the original to so many players; instead, they did the opposite. There are a few added layers of complexity here compared to the original game, so if you aren’t sure and want to instead dip your toe in the waters before you head deep into Emerland’s jungles, then trying out Everdell first may be a better option.

For my wife and me, I don’t know if I will go back to the original game anytime soon since Emerland manages to give me everything I love about that version and then more on top of it. I can’t wait to see what the Wilson duo works up next for the critters of Everdell!

This review was conducted using a sample provided by the publisher. For more details on our process, check how we test board games or the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

Jamey Stegmaier is both a publisher and game designer. He’s best known for Scythe, which cleverly blends a complex resource optimization puzzle with the pushing and shoving of area control, delightfully packaged in a novel steampunk universe with giant mechs. But that universe also features in another of his games, Expeditions, where players take the part of explorers, controlling individual mechs, delving into darkest Siberia in search of a mysterious meteorite.

Multiple games set in the same shared universe is nothing new. But Stegmaier’s latest offering, Duel of Meloch, is a very novel take worthy of the best board games in terms of ambition: it’s a stand-alone game that allows two players to go head to head, one using the rules from Scythe and the other the rules from Expeditions, with a little judicious tweaking. You don’t need to have either of those titles to play but, if you do, you can use their factions or characters in the duel, and vice-versa.

Triple the rules

This means, as you might have guessed, that playing Duel of Meloch requires you to learn three different sets of rules: one for Scythe, one for Expeditions and one for the Duel itself, which is mercifully simple compared to the other two. Neither of those games are particularly lightweight so, unless you’re already familiar with one or both of them, this is a fairly herculean task. Neither are their rules included, so you’ll have to crib them from the internet if you need them.

Running a game with two entirely different rules sets feels like it shouldn’t work, but the secret sauce is that both titles use similar hex-map boards and have similar victory conditions. In Duel of Meloch, each hex space has double the number of icons, some of which are used in the Expeditions rules and some of which are used in the Scythe rules. The latter, for instance, is an engine-building game, so the hex icons you need to pay attention to are what kind of benefit they provide if your workers take a “produce” action there as you spread your miniature empire across the board. The former, meanwhile, is more about card management and allows you to take actions to play or refresh those cards based on the icons of the hex your mech is currently in.

In both games players race to earn stars by fulfilling certain conditions, and the same is true of Duel of Meloch, which hands victory to the first player to gain four stars. The included “triumph track” has eight possible spaces for stars, with different conditions for both players printed on each. Both games have a coin resource, for example, so there’s a star available for the Scythe player earning 12 and the Expeditions player earning 9. Often the requirements are very different however: another star is available for the Scythe player deploying their fourth mech, and the Expeditions player upgrading their mech three times. Importantly, and unlike the base games, these stars are exclusive. So once one player has taken a slot, it’s blocked to the other player.

This immediately makes the game more directly interactive than either of its parent titles, but that’s not the only point of interaction. The two players can also fight directly in Duel of Meloch, basically using the card-based combat system from Scythe. The Expeditions player can gain these cards from using certain map icons and combat is triggered if their mech moves into a hex containing mechs or workers belonging to the Scythe player which, given the relatively small board, is pretty common. In combat each player secretly selects how much of their power resource they're willing to spend, plus bonuses from optional combat cards, one per unit in the fight. This gives the Scythe player an edge in fights, as the Expeditions player only ever has one unit.

Double the fun

The most astonishing thing about Duel of Meloch is how well these two entirely different systems work together. It’s a bold experiment, and mechanically speaking it’s entirely successful. Both Scythe and Expeditions are very enjoyable games in their own way, and this Duel version preserves that enjoyment near-perfectly.

The Scythe player is still focussed on the complexities of building their engine through optimal movement and resource management. Indeed, arguably, Scythe here is marginally more fun than it is in the original game, particularly for beginners, as the sheer scope of the full board can feel overwhelming. Expeditions is still about the struggle for card management and collecting upgrades that fit your strategy as you try and tame corruption across the board. This portion of the game suffers a little from the smaller board and the lack of face-down hexes that give the original a real feel of exploration, but it’s still plenty fun enough.

However, the degree to which the two games meld into one in Duel of Meloch is almost too perfect. There’s a nagging question as to why, given the smoothness of the translation, you’d choose to play this format over simply playing one of the original games with two. It’s true that both parent games work better with more than two, but that feels like a relatively thin reason to have to internalize both different rules sets, plus modifications, to play a single game. You can, however, use the small maps here to play quickfire two-player games of just Scythe or just Expeditions, if you own that particular original game.

A potentially more compelling reason is the degree of interaction in this head-to-head version. Expeditions isn’t a very interactive game at all. Scythe is more so but it’s deceptive; although it looks and feels like an old-fashioned combat game, growing your engine is a far more important plank of victory than combat. The relatively cramped maps in Duel of Meloch - there are two, on opposite sides of the lovely neoprene mat that serves as a board - do ensure more interaction, but not as much as the game seems to promise. The Expeditions player can stop the Scythe player’s workers from producing in a hex, so it’s tempting to use that blocking power on undefended hexes. But because they’re weaker in combat they need to pick their battles very carefully, making actual fights relatively rare.

It’s a similar story with the triumph track. While, in theory, having each space as mutually exclusive should invite competition, it also makes it dangerous. If one player draws ahead in a race for a particular slot, it’s generally wise to stop competing for it, otherwise you’re potentially wasting precious actions. As a result, the bulk of each faction’s gameplay is still very much focussed on doing the core things from their own parent game rather than engaging with the things that make Duel of Meloch stand out.

Where this box really shines, though, is when you own and are already familiar with both of its source games. Having a new faction for Scythe and a new character for Expeditions is great, and both are designed to feel distinct from the existing options. Plus the miniatures for these new options look great, really adding to the visual pop of the original games. Similarly, having both parents allows you to swap their factions and characters into Duel of Meloch, giving you a ton of variety to mess around with. While you’ll mostly be sticking to the rules and actions of the source box, lining different options up against each other in the included “Tournament of Meloch” campaign version.

Should you buy Duel of Meloch?

There’s a pretty simple path to recommending Duel of Meloch: if you have access to, and enjoy, both Scythe and Expeditions, it’s entirely worthwhile. Having it as an expansion to the base games is reason enough. The option to play a two-player Duel campaign, or use the included components for fast, two-player variants of the originals, is just gravy.

If you’re not, or if you only own one of the games, not only is there not really enough here to engage with but the entry barrier is frustratingly high. You’ll need to learn an entire new game to enjoy Duel of Meloch and the results feel too similar to the original games to stand out. While it’s a fascinating experiment in mechanical blending, you’re better off simply picking up one of those games, or sticking with whichever you already own.

This review was conducted using a sample provided by the publisher. For more details on our process, check how we test board games or the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

Beloved D&D board game Castle Ravenloft has risen like a vampire from its coffin, and a new version is due to terrorize fans again early in 2027.

Resurrected by Renegade Game Studios, the publisher responsible for Heroscape and Unstoppable. Although it brings back that classic co-op gameplay that sees you battling your way through Castle Ravenloft in a bid to defeat vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich, it gives the board game a total visual overhaul to match modern D&D.

Alongside a standard edition with unpainted miniatures for $100, there will also be a premium version of Castle Ravenloft which contains pre-painted models ($200). Both will release in February 2027 and are up for pre-order via Renegade Game Studios now.

According to the press release, this new spin on Castle Ravenloft (which originally came out in 2010 and has been incredibly difficult to find in the years since then) "refreshes the game's artwork, logos, and graphic design to align with the current Dungeons & Dragons ruleset while preserving the gameplay that made the original a modern classic."

If you're new to Castle Ravenloft, it's a classic dungeon-crawler; 1-5 players will plumb the depths of the eponymous fortress battling monsters and finding treasure before eventually facing Strahd himself. Like many of the best board games, it isn't a one-and-done affair either. There are 13 replayable adventures here in total.

This board game adapts the Curse of Strahd campaign's final challenge, an epic dungeon-crawl through the vampire's castle before fighting its master in an all-or-nothing brawl.​ As such, it's a solid alternative for anyone who wants a slice of that magic without needing to commit to a months-long adventure. It's also a nice way of revisiting that world if you've already played Curse of Strahd; it's like a victory lap.

The game will launch this coming February, so I guess you better start gathering your party now – there's a vampire to slay.

Strahd's popularity is carrying over to TV, too; Neflix orders Dungeons and Dragons TV show based on Ravenloft from Children of Men director Alfonso Cuarón.

• See the latest offers on co-op board games at Amazon

In 2011, Iello and Richard Garfield released King of Tokyo, a kaiju-centric game in which players wrestled for control of Tokyo. The heart of the game used a Yahtzee-like mechanic, in which players repeatedly rolled a set of six dice. Different symbols translated to different results, ranging from gaining resources, dealing damage to other monsters, or gaining victory points. While the game has seen several variant versions over the years, it always wore its largest inspiration on its sleeve – the iconic monster franchise Godzilla.

After 15 years, Godzilla is now part of the King of Tokyo franchise. This summer, Iello released a new King of Tokyo: Godzilla game, featuring six monsters from the Godzilla series. The new edition is a loving homage as a result, with dozens of art pieces made by Markus Erdt. Not only does the new game pay proper respect to the monster IP that inspired what is one of the most enduring and arguably best board games, it also wisely retains the core King of Tokyo franchise, making it extremely accessible to players of all skill levels.

Power up

King of Tokyo: Godzilla sticks with a time-tested game formula that has held true for the last 15 years. Each player controls a single monster, each of which comes with a bespoke game board and an evolution deck. The game board tracks a player’s overall health and victory points. In certain conditions (which we’ll get to later), players can draw from their evolution deck and choose an evolution that upgrades their monster in some way. Each monster has their own evolution deck, with abilities that range from one-time uses to persistent buffs.

The final "piece" of King of Tokyo: Godzilla is the power deck. The power deck consists of generic abilities that any player can purchase if they have enough energy. These range from one-time use abilities to persistent power-ups that stay in play for the rest of the game.

So far, so familiar.

The one new wrinkle in King of Tokyo: Godzilla's gameplay is the use of Event cards. These enter play when placed into the power card marketplace. Every Event comes with an effect that impacts all monsters for the duration that the card remains in play, as well as a discard ability. Players can purchase the Event with energy and discard it, gaining some kind of benefit.

While this is the game's major change, it's not the only addition. Another way that King of Tokyo: Godzilla stands out is its premium wooden components. The dice, and energy markers are all made of wood, and even the cardboard standees are built from sturdier material than other games in the series. While King of Tokyo: Godzilla isn’t billed as a premium edition, it certainly feels like one solely due to the quality of the game components.

Be prepared

King of Tokyo: Godzilla’s gameplay is precisely the same as the base version of King of Tokyo, so your mileage will vary depending on how familiar you already are with that system.

Players take turns rolling a pool of six dice, setting aside the results they want to keep. You can usually re-roll your dice up to two times, and every result returns different effects. A monster footprint deals damage to other players, a heart restores life, energy symbols gain energy that can be used to purchase power cards, and victory point symbols score victory points (but only if a player gets three of the same number). If a player rolls three hearts, they can bypass the healing and opt to gain an evolution instead. It's nice and simple.

Outside of rolling dice, players also battle for control of Tokyo. You score victory points for entering the city and gain more for remaining in control of it at the start of your turn, so it's the prize everyone's got their eye on. This is where the game's strategy rears its head; while in Tokyo, a player’s attacks can target all other monsters, thus dealing waves of damage to each opponent. However, you'll also be the target of every other player’s attacks and can’t heal on your turn either. Because you can leave Tokyo at any time, you've got to weigh up risk versus reward. How long do you stay?

There's an added layer to contend with as well. If a player cedes control of Tokyo, whoever's turn is next will immediately enter the city, so you need to always be prepared for the potential of taking a round of attacks from others. There's more to juggle than you might think.

Gameplay continues until one of two victory conditions are met. Either a player gains 20 victory points or one player is the last monster standing. I’ll note that in all my years playing King of Tokyo, I’ve never seen a game go until 20 victory points. That’s not to say that it can’t happen, but it’s far more likely that the game becomes an all-out monster brawl instead of a strategic race for victory points.

While King of Tokyo: Godzilla isn’t technically a party game, it’s enjoyed best in large groups. The game can be quite chaotic and a lot of the game is outside of a player’s control. Sure, players can take advantage of power cards and evolution cards, but there’s no way to mitigate bad dice rolls, and there’s few ways to block damage. The key to enjoying the game is to just embrace the chaos – you’re not going to win every game of King of Tokyo, but if you don’t take it too seriously, you’ll have a good time.

Should you buy King of Tokyo: Godzilla?

King of Tokyo: Godzilla is essentially a premium version of King of Tokyo. It has better components, better artwork, and actual recognizable monsters instead of generic homages to different sci-fi movies.

However, it’s still King of Tokyo, one of the more popular board games released over the past 20 years. If you have a base version of King of Tokyo, this version features a few new mechanics found in various expansions. If you’re a King of Tokyo fanatic, all this game offers is some new monsters and a single new novel mechanic.

Still, this was an easy buy for me. My family loves King of Tokyo and Godzilla, so this was a day one purchase for me. The artwork is fantastic and gives the game a very unique vibe that, when coupled with the premium components, makes this game feel a bit different from the base version. Even my veteran board game group ooohed and ahhed when I pulled this game out, precisely because it looks and feels so nice. So, if you like Godzilla or want a premium King of Tokyo experience, this game is definitely for you.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Looking for another new spin on an old favorite? Horrified: Ravenloft is a slam-dunk for D&D fans, but innovation is starting to be 'mist'.

This copy of the game was bought by the reviewer. For more details on our process, see this guide on how we test board games or the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons – Ravenloft is a cozy board game, and you can't tell me otherwise.

OK, I hear you. The world it takes place in is a pulsing mass of awful that's as far from 'homey' as you could possibly imagine. But because it takes a beloved franchise back to its gothic roots by crossing over with what is arguably D&D's most popular adventure, it feels… well, nostalgic. That's why I've been more excited to try Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons – Ravenloft than most of its predecessors. It's a homecoming.

The Mists take you

As the name would suggest, Horrified leans hard into horror tropes – but you aren't tackling them alone. This is a co-op game first and foremost, meaning you win or lose together. There have been numerous versions since the series launched in 2019 (ranging from the original which focused on Universal Monsters like Dracula to a Greek Myth-inspired spin-off), but the core mechanics remain the same regardless; complete unique challenges to defeat monsters who roam the board, all while trying to stop them from eating villagers. If a monster successfully attacks you or kills a villager, the 'terror' meter rises. Hit a certain 'terror' level and it's game over.

This leads to some fiendish Catch 22 moments. Sometimes you'll be stuck between a rock and a hard place by choosing whether to save a villager or let them die so that you can secure a vital advantage against your enemy. Time is of the essence, after all, and sometimes the ends justify the means.

Horrified Ravenloft uses the same framework, but brings back the class system introduced in the D&D-themed sequel. This time you're able to use the Warlock, Paladin, Druid, Ranger, or Sorcerer, each with special abilities activated by using a d20 die.

Seeing as it's based on D&D's iconic Curse of Strahd campaign where the party finds itself trapped in a grim world ruled by monsters, it also pits you against four foes from that setting: Baba Lysaga and her walking hut, the demonic Gulthias Tree, a creepy Carionette (which doesn't appear in the adventure but has since been added to Ravenloft), and the vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich. Each one possesses unique powers to ruin your day, and they can only be defeated by completing a special challenge.

These challenges are pulled directly from D&D, so fans will get a real kick out of the process. Randomly-drawn tarot cards determine the location of three items needed to kill Strahd, for example, and you must go to fortune-teller Madam Eva's tent to learn what they are… just like in the tabletop RPG.

Dark Pacts

That reverence for the source material is clear throughout Horrified Ravenloft. Whether it's seeing familiar faces amongst the villagers, exploring major and minor locations on the board, or drawing cards featuring obscure characters from lore, this game has clearly been made by fans.

It makes full use of the setting to introduce some wrinkles, too. While we've seen class abilities before, this version of the game shakes things up with Dark Pacts – the kind you can dabble in throughout Curse of Strahd. These provide a permanent bonus (like being able to take a free move action) but come with significant drawbacks. Visually 'corrupting' your player card is the least of it; my Ranger would damage any other player character sharing my space if I ended my turn there, for example.

Because you can use these Dark Pacts at any time, the tricky bit is knowing when to deploy them.

Similarly, the monsters are nuanced – and different – enough to provide a lot of entertainment. As a case in point, you've got to complete a maze puzzle to defeat Baba Lysaga, clearing her minions from each path so you can slide a gem token to the bottom. Meanwhile, the Gulthias Tree stays in place… but sends out malicious Tree Blights across the board in its stead.

All this combines with the already rock-solid Horrified formula for a compelling twist of the tale. Yes, the same issues still lurk beneath the surface. Luck plays a significant part in where monsters move and how hard they hit, for instance. You can also be screwed over by chance – villagers spawning on top of a monster or the item you need not appearing, say. Nonetheless, all the good bits are still here too. If anything, Ravenloft's additions only enhance them. It's engrossing from moment to moment, keeping you on the edge of your seat.

It's one of those games that's paradoxically harder yet more fun with more people, too. While monsters don't get 'extra' turns (they always act after every player, no matter whether that's two or five), it takes longer for your turn to come around in a multiplayer match so there's a greater chance of trouble. Seeing a monster march inexorably toward you when there's nothing you can do about it is tense to say the least.

Again, some may become frustrated by the fact that you can't plan too far ahead because you never know where the monsters will go. But for me, that's part of the fun. You're battling the unknown and Horrified Ravenloft is always hurling curveballs your way, so you constantly have to think on your feet. That's where the strategy comes in; it's about triaging priorities and being able to pivot.

Should you buy Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons - Ravenloft?

Whether it's worth grabbing Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons – Ravenloft will depend on how familiar you are with the franchise. If you've played many of the previous versions, you're unlikely to be bowled over by these additions (unless you skipped the last D&D Horrified, anyway). This is the same game with a few minor updates, not an overhaul.

If you don't have much experience with Horrified, on the other hand, you'll have a blast. This is a great introduction to the series and returns to its classic horror roots. I still think the original (Universal Monsters) is top dog, but Ravenloft gives it a good run for its money. Even if you have no idea who Strahd is, you'll enjoy this for its gothic feel and twisted baddies.

Love Curse of Strahd, on the other hand? Well, that's enough to circumvent most of the problems I raise above. You'll get a real kick out of battling foes you've spent hours opposing in D&D, and this is a vertical slice of everything that makes the campaign sing. It's nostalgia for Strahd in a box, so you'll often find yourself saying "oh, I remember that!" with much fondness.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more recommendations, why not check out the best 2-player board games or the best tabletop RPGs?

This review was conducted using a sample provided by the publisher. For more on our process, check how we test board games or the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

Two new Discworld board games are inbound, and one of them gives a fan-favorite a Terry Pratchett-inspired makeover.

Revealed by developer Modiphius Entertainment (which is also responsible for the Discworld TTRPG), 'Kill Sam Vimes' and 'Readers Digested' allow players to mess with some of the setting's most beloved characters. While the first sees you attempting to outscore your rivals and murder the eponymous City Watch Commander, the second reimagines award-nominee Blue Moon City by legendary designer Reiner Knizia. Both Discworld board games will be available to pre-order soon.

Originally released in 2006, Blue Moon City sees you rebuilding a destroyed fantasy metropolis and was a nominee for numerous honors when it first launched - including the coveted Spiel des Jahres, which is arguably the industry's most prestigious award. Readers Digest is a licenced reworking of the idea that shifts the action to Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University. Players work as assistant librarians to restore order during chaotic reading week, and they've got to escort students to the exam hall. It's made for two to four players and will take approximately an hour per match.

Meanwhile, Kill Sam Vimes is a competitive strategy game for two to six players where you work as a trainee assassin to outsmart both Vimes' traps and your opponents.

Knizia is something of a legend amongst the tabletop community with plenty of awards to his name (one of his most recent projects was the excellent Hobbit: There and Back Again roll and write game, which you can find for just under $40 at Amazon), so the fact that Readers Digested adapts his work is enough to put it on the radar so far as I'm concerned. If you missed the original Blue Moon City, this is also an opportunity to try a game that is still warmly received amongst the community 20 years after it first hit shelves.

It's unclear when the two Discworld board games will release, but they'll be up for pre-order via Modiphius from August 20, 2026.

Speaking of new ways to enjoy old favorites, this Disney Lorcana digital game sounds like a cross between MTG Arena and Pokemon TCG Pocket.

• See all Discworld offers at Amazon

Cooperative campaign tabletop games are getting leaner and more abstract. Traditionally, campaign games have acted as stand-ins for Dungeons & Dragons, complete with big boxes that contain a multitude of parts and an equally thick rulebook. However, we’ve seen a handful of campaign games skimp on the components recently in favor of really digging into the game system and squeezing out every last variance that it can support.

Take Time, a new title designed by Alexi Piovesan and Julien Prothière, is a very unique cooperative campaign game that makes the most of a simplistic system. Over the course of 40 rounds (divided into 10 chapters), players will attempt to work together to solve a relatively simple puzzle using the same deck of 24 cards. Each round features a unique set of challenges to overcome, with players either succeeding or failing as a group. The result is a campaign game that’s easy to pick up, with rounds that pass by in a few minutes and chapters with unique challenges that will leave players frustrated at times but exultant when they’re finally conquered – normally a preserve of the best board games.

Take Time features & design

Take Time isn't necessarily telling a story; it's abstract, like Azul. Publisher Libellud describes it as a limited-communication game that "invites players to slow down, reflect, communicate, understand one another, and build mutual trust."

Gameplay is split into three phases – a strategy phase where players discuss potential gameplay, a placement phase in which cards are played, and a resolution phase in which players see if they’ve passed that round's requirements. To win, players must play cards (generally facedown) next to segments of a clock, aiming to have the value of each segment arranged in an ascending order. However, you can't discuss which cards you have during play. You'll need to come up with a plan beforehand and attempt to guess what your team is hoping to do next based on their actions.

For a campaign game, Take Time is remarkably simple. There are 10 chapters, each of which contains a sleeve filled with four 'clocks' (e.g. four rounds) made of solid quality paper cardstock. Each clock consists of six segments, some of which have particular rules that must be followed during the course of the game. While there is some commonality between types of rules (which usually limit which cards can be played in specific segments), every clock is unique and the rules become increasingly granular and complicated as you progress through the chapters.

Gameplay

The goal of each round in Take Time is the same – players play cards in segments, aiming to have the value of all cards played on a segment either equalling or exceeding the value of the preceding segment. Basically, players are trying to arrange their cards so they resemble the face of a clock. The catch? Players can’t discuss what cards they’re playing on their turn and the cards generally have to be played facedown, much like Sky Team. Each round essentially becomes a guessing game where you’re trying to figure out what cards are in play and trying to figure out the optimal segment to play your cards.

Complicating matters is that each clock has at least one segment with a rule limiting what cards can be played on it, represented by various symbols. Some rules are simple – such as stating that a segment has to have two cards played on it or that a card can only have Solar or Lunar cards on it. Other rules are more complex, such as stating that a segment can’t have cards of a certain number played to it or stating that the highest card in play needs to be played in a certain segment.

The other complication is that players will only use half of the deck during any round, so there’s no guarantee as to what cards will be in play. The random selection of cards particularly comes into play when dealing with segments that have high or low card requirements. While you can assume that a "low" segment will contain low cards, you can never be sure if you’re getting a 1, a 2, or something even higher.

Players will never go into a round of Take Time totally blind though. Each round starts off with a Discussion Phase in which players can discuss general strategy options, such as where to play cards of a general value range. However, while cards are distributed to players before the discussion phase, they can’t actually look at them. So, players can only come up with a general strategy, and nothing specific to their actual hands.

Once a round starts, players have one more proverbial arrow in their quiver. On their turn, players can choose to play their card face-up. These face-up cards provide valuable information to the other players, often dictating how subsequent cards will play out. For instance, if a player plays a 7 on a segment that requires a value of 10, other players know that they need to play a 3 (or cards that add up to 3) to satisfy that requirement. At minimum, players will have three face-up cards to utilize on each round, but players get an additional bonus face-up card each time they fail a round.

In short, it's a fun challenge – but there are some niggles. One important thing to remember about the clocks is what constitutes a segment. While it might be easy to assume that a "segment" is the area between two points, it’s actually a portion of the clock consisting of a point and two line dividers. The line dividers are stylistically incorporated into the artwork of each clock, so it’s not quite intuitive. My gaming group wrongly assumed that a segment was the area in between each point, so we were confused about which segment a rule corresponded to. A good rule of thumb is to remember to play cards on points of the clock.

Should you buy Take Time?

Take Time is a fun cooperative game that mixes campaign elements with a set of simple mechanics that’s easy to learn but hard to master. Since players are never guaranteed to have the “right” cards for a specific clock, a lot of the fun comes from coming up with a strategy and then trying to implement it with an imperfect hand. However, it can be a little frustrating to play Take Time, as you’ll occasionally come up with a solid strategy but have to wait for the right hand to get dealt to implement it.

Although they’re very different games, Take Time reminds me a bit of one of my favorite games of recent years – The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game. Both games opt to dig into their respective game mechanics, exploring every nook and cranny of a rather simple set of rules as opposed to trying to overtune a game with a complex rulebook. Players will have an understanding of Take Time quickly, but mastering the game will come from understanding how to adapt their knowledge of gameplay into a series of increasingly complex scenarios.

Ultimately, Take Time is a fantastic game, which is why it ended up on the recommended list for the Spiel des Jahres. Every clock is a puzzle to conquer, and half of the fun comes from guessing how the other players are making decisions over the course of a quick-paced round. What’s even better – a failed round doesn’t cost a lot of time. Since each round takes just a few minutes to complete, a bad hand or a bad strategy won’t leave players feeling frustrated. At worst, it just takes time to beat Take Time. Well… time and a good strategy.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

The fan-favorite second edition of Arkham Horror is coming back with improved rules, all-new art, and totally different graphic design for the cosmic horror board game.

Revealed as part of developer Fantasy Flight's "Vault Series" that revives classic titles, Arkham Horror Remastered takes the long out-of-print second edition board game and gives it a drastic makeover for an October 2026 launch. While the visuals are different, its gameplay is still the same; the project has simply been "upgraded with new quality of life components."

Crucially, this game seems to resurrect Arkham Horror 2nd Edition's full suite of expansions. While the core experience is beloved, the complete collection has a reputation to match the best board games amongst cosmic horror fans. Unfortunately, we don't have any details on these expansions yet – but the fact even some may be included in the revival should cause a stir, because these are even harder to find in the wild than the core 2nd Edition game.

If you're new to the Arkham Horror franchise, it's based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. That means it's a cosmic horror adventure where you play investigators trying to stop cults or eldritch beings like the Old Ones from taking over. Expect a race against time and horrific, gribbly monsters that challenge your character's sanity as they grapple with concepts the human mind simply isn't equipped to comprehend.

As for Arkham Horror Remastered itself, this new version sticks to the same vibe but drastically updates (and improves, in my opinion) the visuals from that original game. It'll be familiar to longtime fans, but feels more high-budget and atmospheric. It also brings the visuals more in-line with modern Arkham Horror instalments or spinoffs like Unfathomable.

This project should land in October 2026, and we'll get more details soon via its crowdfunding campaign on Gamefound. We'll hopefully learn what other old-school games will be included in the "Vault Series" as well. Personally, I'd vote for a revamp of Star Wars: Imperial Assault. It's increasingly difficult to get hold of but still provides a great RPG experience like Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, complete with an ongoing story and character upgrades as you progress through the campaign.

What would you vote for? And are you excited for Arkham Horror Remastered? Shout about it in the comments below.

It's a good time for fan-favorites coming back; D&D Icons resurrects Greyhawk and Dragonlance. Meanwhile, post-apocalyptic D&D world Dark Sun is also returning in the not-so-distant future.

• See all Arkham Horror games and expansions at Amazon

Gen Con 2026 visitors were treated to their first glimpse of an official Final Fantasy board game that recreates the original three video games, and damn, it's looking beautiful so far.

Developed by KessCo, Origins of Light: A Final Fantasy Board Game draws inspiration from the Pixel Remaster series which ressurects classic FF titles with new 2D visuals. Judging by the Gen Con preview posted on Reddit by xander574, this licensed Final Fantasy board game brings that same aesthetic to tabletop. Based purely on how it looks, mission accomplished; it's gorgeous.

I'll be honest; although I spend a lot of time covering the best board games, this one completely passed me by. Aside from a quick announcement toward the beginning of 2026, there's not much information out there about this Final Fantasy board game beyond what I've seen on reddit and the game's tease via Kickstarter.

We don't have any details about gameplay either. However, looking closely at the Gen Con preview shows off truly bizarre – but very fitting – crystal dice alongside character and boss cards that may as well have been dragged straight from the 16-bit screen. It appears there's also an overworld map and a town board with space for quests, but the resolution is too low for me to see much else.

Basically, it may be worth keeping an eye on this one if you're an FF fan. Just apply some tempered expectations here; while KessCo has a vast library of IP games to its name, their reception can be mixed.

Still, KessCo's Sonic Knock puck-based board game sold out at this year's Gen Con and appears to have generated the right kind of buzz amongst the community. Hopefully its new Final Fantasy game follows suit.

From what I've been able to find, Origin of Light: A Final Fantasy Board Game will launch toward the end of 2026. Meanwhile, the Kickstarter promises to get going soon. In other words, we should hopefully be able to find out more before long.

This is the second cool Final Fantasy reveal I've found over the last couple of days; a fan's made an incredible Lego Final Fantasy set, and now I'm hoping it becomes a real model.

• See the full MTG Final Fantasy range at Amazon

Wingspan Pocket is like one of the apex predators it depicts; it swoops in, claws outstretched, and carries you away before you even know what's hit you. I love the original version, but after getting my hands on this travel-sized follow-up… well, a new board game rules the roost in this house.

Based on the mega-popular Wingspan, this smaller, nimbler variant is designed to be played in just 25 minutes or so. Because it's made up of cards and a few tokens, it also requires much less real estate. (The original board game had some spectacular plumage, but it ate up table space like a gannet.) However, the most crucial difference with Wingspan Pocket is that it's so much easier to play… but is arguably just as fun. I spend a lot of time testing the best board games so would like to think I've got a good idea of what works, and I've got a very good feeling from this. My family enjoys Winspan but can feel overwhelmed by it if we haven't played for a while, so I appreciate that this one streamlines the system into something much more manageable.

You're still collecting birds here, but you don't need an entire menagerie; you just have to get six. Once half a dozen are arranged in a flock on the table, that's it – game over. Players then get another turn until everyone has had an equal number of goes, and you tally up your score. This means you can be done in a fraction of the time.

The way you get birds is the same too, but has been similarly tidied up. Rather than relying on dice rolls to earn resources, each bird card has a random resource symbol printed on the back. These are laid out in a row of four decks you can draw from each turn, and they'll be used to pay for any feathered friends you'd like in your flock. It's so much more deliberate than the original, because even though you're still at the mercy of chance based on what's at the top of each deck, there are always four to choose from at any given time. Plus, there seem to be a lot of 'double' resources available, with certain bird abilities allowing you to swap or ignore specific values. Canny players have options as a result.

The key is when to strike. Actually, that's true of everything about Wingspan Pocket. You have limited space for birds so must balance how many points they'll earn you at the end with their abilities. In addition, those abilities can only be used when the bird card is locked into your flock… so get ready to make some tough, quick-fire decisions on what to use, and when. Should you deploy something that allows you to use a resource in place of anything else, even though the bird itself earns you fewer points when all is said and done? Or are you better off going for a bird with a higher score, but less interesting abilities? I've only just started scratching the surface of this board game, and there's already a lot to consider.

This extends to the fact that your match draws to a close when anyone has added six birds to their flock. It adds a ticking clock to proceedings, because you don't want to be caught out by the endgame without having done everything you want… and by the same token, it adds pressure to keep an eye on what your foes are doing in case they're planning to end the game early to stop you in your tracks.

Even if it all goes awry, this only adds to the "one more match" element of Wingspan Pocket. There's always some new tactic or approach you'll want to try, and that's catnip to me. I can see it being a great travel board game as a direct result, because it'll keep you amused across many evenings of play on vacation.

It reminds me of Catan On the Road, which sunk its hooks into me nice and early too. Both condense their inspiration into something much more bitesize, all without losing what made the originals special.

Just proceed with caution, though; if you're anything like me, Wingspan Pocket may sweep you off your feet too.

For something else to play on the go, don't miss the best card games. As for something you can enjoy with your loved ones, be sure to check out our guide to the best family board games.

• Browse today's best discounts on board games at Amazon

I wasn't expecting a board game to unlock this primal fear of the sea within me, but here we are. Trapped beneath the waves and running out of oxygen with an armful of treasure weighing you down? Er, no, thank you. I'll pass.

Except I won't, as Deep Sea Adventure is a bloody excellent board game.

Developed by Oink Games (those of Scout fame), this aquatic board game is all about nabbing as much loot from the ocean floor as possible before running out of air – you're playing chicken with the sea, basically. It's clearly taken notes from the best travel board games, too; it comes in a tiny box, doesn't take ages to play, and is pretty simple yet very replayable.

The tricky part here is knowing when to call it quits. There are four tiers of treasure with increasingly high points values to choose from, but the most valuable gear sits right at the bottom of the ocean. Because this uses up the most oxygen to carry back, and the round ends once your shared air reaches zero, you've got to weigh up when to keep going or when to rush back to homebase. Plus, these treasure tiles being so far from the sub means you've got more ground to cover on your return journey. Seeing as you only move as many spaces as you can roll on two dice, going that deep is a risk – particularly late in a round.

Sure, luck plays a definite role – if you roll badly, you're in trouble. But that's why it's so important to judge when to stop. That's where the skill is; knowing your limits, as in many of the best board games.

I found this to be a really enchanting challenge. It's not difficult to grasp, but requires a lot of thought to come out on top. For me, that makes it a great choice for taking on vacation. OK, so I might not recommend it for a cruise – my nerves have limits, after all. But as a travel board game, it really cuts the mustard.

I'll just try not to think too hard about the imaginary divers who perished on our playtest sessions…

For more tabletop recommendations, don't miss the best family board games. As for something else on the go, you need this travel-size pirate card game.

No matter whether you're going on a Fall vacation or are due to hit the road and visit family this Holiday season, leave space in your suitcase for the best travel board games. Regardless of the occasion, these portable favorites will brighten up any trip.

Where should you start, though? I've been writing about and reviewing the best board games on GamesRadar+ for almost eight years now, and that means I've got plenty of recommendations. These are the best travel board games our experts and I make a beeline for when we head on vacation, so they'll hopefully add a little sunshine to your trip as well. Bananagrams always finds its way into my suitcase because of how replayable it is, for example, while Hive is an excellent choice if you want to play something compact on plane or train tray tables.

These choices span a range of interests and costs, so there should be something to suit you regardless of your budget!

Quick list

Best travel board game overall

Countless fans (and our own writers, no less) swear by Scout, and honestly? I can't argue with them. It walked away with the industry's most prestigious game of the year award in 2022, and it continues to be highly recommended by the community now.

For starters, it travels exceptionally well due to coming in a small box while only using a few cards and tokens. That means you've got a lot of entertainment crammed into one small space.

Secondly, it's dead easy to learn but has a hidden depth that should keep you coming back. Your aim is to create sets of the same number or sequences of a higher value than the last one laid down, but you can't change the order of the cards in your hand. That means you've got to be clever in the way you gather and play new cards, giving plenty to think about. As our Scout review notes, "its emphasis on speed and uncertainty makes for an addictive 'just one more match' feeling that's hard to beat."

Best travel board game for families

Looking for a game everyone can enjoy, regardless of whether they like board games or not? Try Bananagrams. It's a high-speed crossword that anyone can understand, and it also travels brilliantly. For one thing, it's all stored in a single soft case that's easy to find room for. Next, it can be played anywhere with a flat surface.

The idea here is to use up all the letter tiles in front of you to create your own crossword, with words that all connect to one another. Each time you use up the supply, you shout "peel" and everyone must grab a new tile. Play then continues until every single tile is gone. It can become incredibly speedy once everyone gets the hang of things, and what may have sounded like a dry word game becomes a frantic race to the finish.

Enjoy competitive challenges? This will very much be your jam. It's a test of speed, skill, and flexibility, because rearranging your crossword when progression becomes impossible is key. While that can be overwhelming if you fall behind, there's no better feeling than outsmarting your rivals - particularly if you've gone from the back of the pack to pole position. You'll be dining out on that high for a while if you win.

Best travel board game for friends

There's nothing better than a hidden role game, if you ask me - and this one streamlines the mechanics of my favorites, including Unfathomable (which I said was brilliant but took too long to play in my Unfathomable review).

The aim is to take the gameplay excellence of those fan-favorites and condense them down into a 20-minute experience that's easy to understand and even easier to play. One side are pirates, while a small number take on the role of mutineers (the number of which varies depending on how many players there are). The pirates are trying to build up the value of their treasure chest and meet a specific goal, like 11 points in total. Meanwhile, the mutineers are trying to reduce that chest's value. To do this, everyone places a card from their hand into the chest each turn - and these cards have a value of +1, 0, or -2. If you're a pirate, you'll want to add as many +1s or 0s as possible. If you're a mutineer, it's all about those 0s or -2s. Once a pirate thinks the required goal has been met, the game ends and you check the chest... but you won't know if you've succeeded until you flip the cards over.

Things get interesting because you're encouraged to play fast and loose with the truth as a mutineer. You're meant to discuss what you've put into the chest each round, and mutineers can obviously lie. "Oh," they say after slapping down a -2 in secret, "me? I put in a +1. Definitely, yes sir." A pirate's only defence is to give anyone they're suspicious of three 'walk the plank' cards and banish them from the game, though they can also use ability cards to turn the tide.

Best travel board game for 2 players

It's impossible to discuss the best 2-player board games without Hive being mentioned. This is an utterly stone-cold classic that's been going strong since 2001, and there's a good reason for that. Despite being very accessible and portable enough to be used anywhere (be it a plane tray or a beer garden table), there's enough strategy powering it to keep you coming back.

Basically, Hive is like an easier-to-understand version of chess. Your aim is to surround and trap your opponent's queen, but all your tiles have to be connected to something else - you can't have bugs out on their own. Because they all move in different ways, you have to cleverly outmanoeuvre your foe whilst keeping you queen safe, all as they try to do the exact same thing. It's a shame only two people can play at once, but hey; it's good enough to make up for that shortcoming.

Enjoy competitive games or head-to-head challenges? Make sure this is in your collection.

Best strategy travel board game

The original Wingspan is a modern classic that still tops the charts, but it was far from portable… until now. A travel version of the game came to roost in 2026, meaning you can take that same strategic gameplay with you on the go. Don't think Wingspan Pocket is a 'lesser' version, though; I'd argue that it's just as good as its inspiration.

That's because it sands off some rough edges for a tighter, more accessible experience. The problem with Wingspan is how overwhelming it can be early on; there's a lot to learn, and so much to juggle. By contrast, Pocket streamlines all that while losing none of the brilliance. Your objective is still to earn as many points as possible, for example, but you don't have a massive board with multiple biomes to worry about – you're just laying down a single row of bird cards.

This leaves you free to focus on the good stuff: creating a satisfying domino effect. That's because each bird has a special ability, and clever players will combine them until it's basically a snowball rolling downhill. Working out killer combos is what I enjoyed most when testing the game for our Wingspan Pocket review, and there are countless options available to you.

Just don't take your eye off what your opponents are doing. The game enters its final round as soon as someone places their sixth bird card, so be careful that you aren't left behind.

Best travel board game for kids

Even though it isn't just for kids (everyone can have a great time with this vacation board game), Sushi Go is particularly good when travelling with younger family members. On top of an inviting cartoon style, it's very easy to get the hang of and only lasts 15 minutes or so per session. It also comes in a hard-wearing metal tin, so can be taken pretty much anywhere.

Your aim is to create the most delicious sushi menu around, and you do that by choosing cards from a deck that's being passed between players. Each card scores differently, so you've got to choose wisely; they either provide points straight away or can be combined for a more powerful combo if you collect enough of an item. That gives plenty of options, but it also risks you winding up with nothing if you (literally) don't play your cards right. When multipliers, sets, and 'puddings' that only count at the end of the game are added to the mix, this straightforward game shows that it's got more than enough to chew on.

Honestly, Sushi Go is one of my ride-or-dies in terms of travel games; it goes with me everywhere.

For more recommendations, don't miss the best tabletop RPGs.

Wingspan Pocket has just been revealed as a smaller, travel-friendly version of the family-friendly birding board game – and you'll be able to pick it up in just a few weeks.

Although it uses similar gameplay and comes from the same designer, Wingspan Pocket "distills the Wingspan experience down to a lighter, shorter, card-driven game" according to the official description. It'll be available to buy from publisher Stonemaier Games this July 15, 2026, followed by a wider retail release in late August.

While we adore the original here at GamesRadar+ and gave it four-and-a-half stars in our Wingspan review (putting it in contention with the best board games), there's no denying that it's a chunky critter. It contains a flock of playing pieces and takes up a lot of space on the table, so isn't exactly easy to stuff in a suitcase. Wingspan Pocket is the opposite, however; it's a card-based game that sees players activate just one row of cards per turn rather than an entire board of birds. These all provide benefits as usual, but each card is double-sided with food on one side and a bird (one of 106 from around the world) on the other. That means you've got to weigh up what to play, and when - a level of strategy that should hopefully put it on par with the best travel board games.

I'm a huge fan of this idea. I'd argue that the series stands amongst the best family board games around (Finspan became my summer obsession last year, for instance), but they're not the easiest to get into… or travel with. A more accessible, portable entry-point fills that niche, and it means we can take the experience with us. That means Wingspan doesn't have to stay home this summer if you're going away.

There's certainly an appetite for portable games like this. More of them are emerging from the woodwork with each passing year, and they usually make a point of streamlining things without compromising what made the original so beloved. I played Catan On the Road once and am now recommending it to everyone, for example.

Will you be picking up Wingspan Pocket, or migrating to something else?

If you want something with a little more bite, a Kingdom Come: Deliverance board game with all the gritty RPG elements fans love is on the way from the award-winning developers of Codenames and SETI.

A Kingdom Come: Deliverance board game is coming this Fall from a pair of award-winning developers, and it's every bit as grungy as its inspiration.

This sprawling RPG is set in 15th Century Bohemia and looks every bit as gritty and sim-heavy as the video game it's based on; you'll need to hunt to stave off hunger, for example, while the condition of your clothing (which may get messy if you move through 'muddy' spaces) can have negative effects… like getting you kicked out of town if your get-up is in a state. The Kingdom Come: Deliverance board game also features "rich storylines unfolding in the background" chosen from several possible options, meaning you're unlikely to have the same playthrough twice.

This is all very exciting, but the most eye-catching news is that it's being made by developers behind some of the best board games. Vlaada Chvátil put together modern classic Codenames, while Tomáš Holek is the rising star behind SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – a critical darling that swept the awards scene last year. The fact that they're responsible for Kingdom Come: Deliverance The Board Game is enough in itself to get me invested.

Rather than playing as video game protagonist Henry, you'll see a peasant from rags to riches. Well, in theory; there are plenty of jobs to complete, side-quests to chase, or NPCs to work for, but players must also contend with Encounter cards that can put a twist in the tale. Whoever earns the most points at the end of five in-game days will be declared the winner, so you better hustle.

We don't have an exact release date for the Kingdom Come: Deliverance board game yet, but it's due to launch at some point in Fall 2026. You can pre-order it direct from publisher Czech Games Edition's store, and that seems to be the best way of securing a copy in the short term; while CGE is hopeful it'll go to retail later on, there isn't a timeline for that yet.

In terms of price, the core game weighs in at €149.99 via the publisher's EU store. Meanwhile, the US version costs $199.99. Why is it so much more? Well, Czech Games Edition CEO Petr Murmak notes on a BoardGameGeek post questioning the decision that it's due to a mix of tariffs going into the US (15%), shipping, and an uncertain future.

"Shipping to US also costs us something, so we have slightly less profit on one copy in US than in EU," Murmak points out. "Moreover there is uncertainty about tariffs in the future (they might go up - there were some threats already from US government), or dollar might go down like last year..."

For recommendations of what to play next, why not check out the best tabletop RPGs or the best card games? As for something lighter, Wingspan Pocket shrinks the beloved board game down in size.

What's great about Prime Day board game deals is that they make keeping up with a tabletop gaming obsession slightly more manageable on the wallet. While we've spotlighted some of our favorite board game deals that lean a bit nerdier, I have to admit that the classics like Monopoly still have a place. And, with big discounts, there's never been a better time to revisit the game and one of its newer licenses.

Monopoly has come a long way since the '30s. The iconic, economics-driven board game used to feel like simple reskins when adapting partnered franchises, with varying results. Now, a lot of the licensed Monopoly games introduce special rules and set-ups that fit the franchise, such as Dungeons & Dragons using a D20 dice, or the FIFA World Cup one using the idea of collectible soccer stickers of your favorite footballers.

Monopoly isn't just a single game type, either. Monopoly Junior is more approachable for younger players. Monopoly Deal is a (thankfully) speedier way to play with just cards. Monopoly Go, the mobile game, even has its own board game adaptation. Across them all, I've picked out some of the best Monopoly Prime Day deals that should be of interest, no matter how long you have to play, and which licenses you prefer.

Take a look at my best Prime Day PS5 RPG deals for more bargains!

The Prime Day board game deals are always welcome, as being into tabletop can be one pricey hobby. We've been spending the last few days picking out board game deals, but I've noticed that Unmatched has been standing out. This ever-expandable board game is as much a tabletop system as a game in and of itself, which does mean a ballooning collection can get pricey. But, that just makes it a good time to stock up.

The premise of Unmatched is simple. It's a unified combat system of abilities and manoeuvres that make for iconic face-offs between legends. Almost every set is playable on its own as two to four characters are included, but can also be used alongside one another for epic crossover clashes across your entire Unmatched boards and characters collection. In our Unmatched: Battles of Legends Vol 2 review, we said it's "a striking lesson in how designers can get maximum variety from simple rules".

Unmatched sets range from myths, historical figures, and licensed properties, including The Witcher, Marvel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and many more. Almost like the VS System many years ago, this makes for the tantalizing promise of proper crossover bouts. For a new player, I'd recommend getting a four-character, bigger set for variety, and it's worth keeping in mind the couple of 'Adventures' set introduce new co-op rules. But, otherwise, grab the characters you're interested in! Stick with me, and I'll run you through the best Unmatched board game deals for this Prime Day.

Take a look at my best Prime Day PS5 RPG deals for more bargains!

There's been a real resurgence of interest in board games over the past few years, and it's trendier than ever to roll dice together at game night or in your local board game cafe. However, while the industry is a vibrant and electric place full of incredible ideas that put old favorites like Monopoly to shame, it can be overwhelming if you're new to the hobby - there's almost too much choice. That's why I've gathered up some good starting points here.

I've been reviewing and writing about the best board games on GamesRadar+ for nearly eight years now, but I've been playing them for a lot longer. That means I've got plenty of suggestions for where newcomers should start... and I've listed my four favorite beginner-friendly board games below. For me, these are the ideal starting point and should ease you into the hobby.

It's worth noting that a few of these are on offer for Prime Day, too; most have been heavily discounted as part of the sale, so now's a great time to dive in. Just remember, the event ends tonight (June 26) so you don't have much time to take advantage of the discounts!

Looking for other tabletop recommendations? Don't miss the best family board games, the best 2-player board games or the best card games.

I've been completely caught off guard by this year's Prime Day board game deals. They're usually somewhere in the vicinity of "fine" and "good," but 2026's offering? It's downright great.

I've been rolling dice for longer than I can remember, and have picked up more than a few lifelong favorites in that time - the sort I think deserve a spot on every shelf. They're the kind of experience that sets up camp in your brain, keeping you coming back for more. And luckily, more than a few are on offer in this week's Prime Day board game deals. The best board games for a whole chunk less, with some at or near record low prices? Uh, yes please.

That's why I've used my decades of experience to pick out absolute must-have titles included in the sale, ranging from modern classics like Catan to award-winning newcomers such as Sky Team. If you buy anything in the 2026 Prime Day board game deals, I'd suggest it be these must-haves.

If you want to see what else is out there, why not drop in on our guide to the best card games or the best tabletop RPGs?

Sometimes, you want a board game with more bite - and family fare just isn't gonna cut it. That's where the best strategy board games come in, and oh boy, but you need to be careful with these. Give them a try and they may sink their claws into you, never to let go.

I'm a huge fan of strategy board games, and while I appreciate something a bit more straightforward here and there, they're my true tabletop love. That's why I've rounded up a few of my favorites here. If you like to think of yourself as an armchair tactician as well or just want something with a bit more depth, these are the options I'd recommend first. We've reviewed each and every one here, and they're amongst the best board games overall.

As it so happens, plenty of them have been hit with discounts in this week's Prime Day board game deals as well. That means now is a pretty good time to pick them up, because most are weighing in significantly below their usual price.

• See today's best deals on board games at Amazon

For more recommendations, don't forget to check out the best card games or the best tabletop RPGs!

If you are a board game fan, then you know it is a blessing to get your family hooked on the hobby. After all, it's easy to organize a play session when you are all (lovingly) stuck together. I'm a big fan of family board games myself, and after hours of hunting Amazon's store page, I've rounded up the best Prime Day deals for any fellow fans looking for a new offering to bring to game night.

Now, it's important to remember that all the games listed below are family-centered. That means I've looked for titles that both adults and kids can enjoy, and that also means that while young children can play most of these, a lot have an 8+ age recommendation to them. They strike the perfect balance between being accessible and simple enough for everyone to understand, yet never boring or too easy. Most also need 2-4 players (though four is ideal in most cases). For more recommendations that span age ranges, you'll have to head to our main Prime Day board games round-up, or you can look over our list of the best board games of 2026.

But if you are ready to make some new cherished memories with your love ones or start some good old-fashioned family feuds, read on to see the best board games that Prime Day currently has on offer.

For more savings, check out our guides on all the Prime Day Lego deals and Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals.

Prime Day board game deals don't always pull their weight, but this year? Phew. The sale is firing out genuine bangers, with huge price cuts on both modern favorites and all-time classics.

I've been writing about and reviewing the best board games on GamesRadar+ for around eight years now, but have been collecting and playing them for decades more. That means I've got a pretty good idea of what's worth checking out in the sale, not to mention what's a decent saving. (This isn't my first time covering Prime Day board game deals, after all.) That's why I've rounded up what I think are the very best offers below, split across a variety of categories so that you can head straight to the stuff that interests you.

Of all today's offers, two really stand out - and they stand at drastically different ends of the spectrum. At one end is Oh My Pigeons, a really daft party game that's currently 29% less than normal at Amazon. It's thoroughly silly fun that has became an instant favorite amongst my family. At the other end of thew scale is Sky Team, a truly brilliant two-player strategy game that has you trying to land a plane together. It's been reduced by 25% at Amazon right now, and I can't remember the last time a board game had me so on the edge of my seat.

Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Let's dive in, shall we?

• Get top-rated board games from just $7.39 at Amazon

Prime Day board game deals under $15

Prime Day board game deals for families

Prime Day strategy board game deals

For more recommendations, why not check out the best card games or the best tabletop RPGs?

I love a good board game, but I don't impress easily. That's why Catan: On the Road caught me so off guard. It only took a single session for me to fall head over heels in love with this 15-minute family game. Did I win? No. But that tells you something about how much fun I had. Now I'm recommending it to anyone who'll listen - and I'd argue that it's a must-have for vacation, not to mention one of the best travel board games overall.

Designed for three to four players, Catan: On the Road is a streamlined version of classic Catan (AKA one of the best board games ever produced, in our humble opinion). Despite being much smaller, it's surprisingly similar to its classic; like the original board game, your aim is to earn the most points. You can do this in a variety of ways from gathering the largest army to constructing vast cities, so you've got plenty of strategies to try.

Rather than using a crap-ton of board tiles and tokens like the original, though, On the Road whittles all that down to a single deck of cards. While you'd think that boils off most of what makes Catan unique along with its nuance, nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, both my family and I were surprised at how much it felt like OG Catan.

Basically, you're still gathering resources each turn (they're randomly-drawn cards, mimicking the probability-based nature of the original Catan) and using them to purchase items or buildings. These, in turn, allow you to get more resources or special bonuses that will help you in your mission. Once you've gathered seven Victory Points overall, it's game over.

Plus, its size and the fact that it plays on a smaller surface makes it ideal for travel or taking with you on vacation. Besides fitting into a pocket, it doesn't require a massive dinner table for setup. That's ideal if you want something that you can chuck into a suitcase for your summer holiday; you can play it wherever you're staying, on the train, or at the airport while waiting for a flight.

Now, I will point out that it's not perfect despite being a ton of fun. I found in my test session that those who managed to buy a City card early (which gives you extra resource cards each turn rather than just one) can quickly build up steam because they're obviously getting more to work with. But at the same time, this doesn't mean those who take a different approach will get left behind. I came in second despite taking an entirely different approach, for instance - I focused on getting the longest roads and the biggest armies instead.

Similarly, there are a host of new 'event' cards that adjust the balance of power each time they're drawn. These range from the classic robber who steals resources to special festivals that provide free resources for those who are struggling. Oh, and don't forget players' ability to trade (with others or the bank) when needed.

All this comes together to make a game with that 'special sauce'; I was very eager to try again once we finished. For me, that makes it a very easy recommendation.

For more suggestions, don't miss the best card games or the best tabletop RPGs. As for portable games, Wingspan Pocket shrinks the beloved board game down in size.

The tiny Gloomhaven spinoff, Buttons & Bugs, is getting its first expansion that introduces a new quest and classes.

Due to launch later this year, the Gloomhaven Buttons & Bugs: Pub Crawlers add-on features new enemies to battle, an all-new adventure with 17 scenario cards, two classes with teeny miniatures, and more. Although we don't have a release date yet, it'll be shipping in September (though fans of the best board games can pre-order it for Gen Con 2026 pick-up via publisher Cephalofair if they want early access). Just bear in mind that you'll need the original Buttons & Bugs – which you can find for $20 at Miniature Market or £15.99 via Wayland Games UK – to play.

In terms of specifics, it looks like our pair of new mercenaries are the Fungal Monk (which looks like a walking pink mop with a bone staff) and Whistlecry, which seems to be a cross between a flying squirrel and a fairy. It's unclear what adventure they'll be going on, but it adds a new Struggle/Ease Difficulty Deck alongside a new enemy dial and cube. Because of the title (not to mention the cover art), I'd hope we're scurrying around a pub causing mischief like boozy Borrowers as well.

If you haven't encountered Buttons & Bugs before, it's a much smaller take on the original Gloomhaven that's designed to work as a travel version of the popular RPG. While you're still getting the deep, tactical card-based combat the franchise is known for, it's playable in under 20 minutes and comes in at a fraction of the size. That makes it even more accessible than the slimmed-down entry-level game, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion.

Buttons & Bugs: Pub Crawlers will launch toward the end of this year and costs $17.99/£17.

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I've had my eye on the Toniebox 2, the upgraded audio entertainment system for kids, for months now ever since a family friend gifted us the previous version of Toniebox. There are any number of reasons to make the jump, but the simple fact is that there are now some interactive characters or materials that simply don't work on the original.

That includes, but is not limited to, the newly revealed Tonieplay Hasbro Collection, which brings some of the best board games like Monopoly, Guess Who?, and The Game of Life to the Toniebox 2. When the opportunity arose to give some of them a shot for myself, bringing together something my family already enjoyed with new board game experiences, it felt a bit like kismet.

If you're completely unfamiliar with Toniebox – let alone Toniebox 2 – you can think of it a bit like child-friendly experiences by way of proprietary amiibo. Both are soft red (though you can get other colors, this is the baseline) cubes with little ears to turn it on and adjust volume for the speakers on its sides that also has a reader on top for the magnetic "tonies" to sit on. They're fairly simple devices that do still require an internet connection, but once you've bought the box itself and the figure, there are no ads or screens or unintended offramps to worry about.

They're designed for kids, and my family has had a grand time letting ours listen to kid-friendly podcasts, Spider-Man stories and songs, and so on. They've also had their fair share of time with the Nintendo Switch and locked-down tablets, so playing games isn't beyond them. The Tonieplay Hasbro Collection felt like it would be a natural extension of what they've already done.

And having now played both the Guess Who? And The Game of Life Tonieplay games, that is, by and large, true. Both are specifically designed for 5+, and we even had a newly minted 5-year-old kid play and win Guess Who? the first time we broke it out. The Toniebox 2 basically does all of the work with relatively little setup required.

To begin, you have to put a punchout on top of the Toniebox 2 that sort of sits over the aforementioned ears to provide a series of options along the edges. You then have to use the proprietary Controller in the middle, which has a button and an arrow, to pick and choose various elements. In Guess Who?, for example, the Toniebox 2 walks players through a series of stories that feature clues about colorful, playful monsters to try and determine which one is the culprit at the end of the day.

It's hard to say whether Guess Who? Or The Game of Life is more complicated in this format. Guess Who? features 30 total monster pieces with required stickers while The Game of Life has a full-on foldable board and pieces. Up to 4 players can take on The Game of Life while only 2 can do Guess Who?, though both are more playful than cutthroat.

The positive aspect here is the closed garden nature of the Toniebox 2 – you can hand these off to kids and they can play all on their own without any concern that some unfiltered internet might seep in around the edges. They also encourage imaginative play, as several different parts of The Game of Life had us acting out silly scenarios. But it's also not a cheap investment; the Toniebox 2 is roughly $150, another $25 (when discounted) for a game, and then $15 for the proprietary Controller. All told, $190 before tax to play Guess Who? is a bit of an ask.

More likely, this is aimed at people that are already within the ecosystem. Have a Toniebox 2 for all your favorite tonies to play on already? Why not extend that to games for a nominal fee? It's certainly more deliberately interactive than simply listening, and from direct experience, I can tell you that there's nothing quite like the look your kid gets when The Game of Life suggests a career they really want and then has them act out different scenarios about it.

Not that my kids picked "writer" when it came up.

The Tonieplay Hasbro Collection is currently available to pre-order on the official Tonies site, and is expected to be available at all major retailers on July 7.

The Toniebox 2 and relevant games and controller were provided by Tonies PR for coverage purposes.

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I will openly admit that I have never been someone who has given much time to playing board games solo. Alongside my collection of the best board games are shelves of video games, saying nothing of my Steam library (I’m a sucker for a good Steam sale), so typically, whenever I get the urge to play a game, I opt for the digital variety, saving me from the setup time and space requirements that tabletop options require. Unstoppable from Renegade Game Studios may just bring enough to the table to get me to put my controller down.

Designed by John D. Clair, Unstoppable is a cyberpunk/sci-fi deck-building title where you and up to one other person work to fight off waves of enemies while trying to take down the looming and ever-present boss before either time or your life runs out.

At the start of your turn, you will draft a new card into your deck and utilize your hand to take out that round's line-up of enemies or prepare as best you can to absorb the damage of anyone you can’t take out. Much like games such as Star Realms, cards can be associated with various factions and building out a deck whose cards synergize with one another and can take advantage of faction bonuses, will help see you through and truly become unstoppable.

The big twist comes in the form of Unstoppable’s card crafting system, where each card is composed of a core side - attacks, allies, resource generators, or other boons to help you out - and a threat side, which are enemies that are trying to kill you. Coming with a bunch of card sleeves, you will be putting both a core card and a threat card in the same sleeve as you play, with additional upgrade cards that can be purchased, slotting in between them. It really is pretty nifty.

Going solo

Being a part of Renegade’s “Solo Hero Series” line of games, Unstoppable shines with single-player, but does come with official rules if you want to team up with a friend, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. The two-player rules feel more like a tacked-on afterthought included on the back of the box, as opposed to doing anything particularly exciting. You double the health points on the boss, but everything else plays out the same as if you were playing solo, with the only exception being that you can attack enemies on your partner’s side. That said, if one of you goes down, you both lose. The couple of times I tried it, having a partner almost felt more like a hindrance than an exciting addition.

I’m someone who loves deck-building games, with the likes of Dune: Imperium and Clank frequently coming off my shelf for game nights, and I even have a small-box copy of Star Realms in my car’s glovebox. Compared to those others, Unstoppable forces you into a much more offense-focused style of play. Unlike other deck-builders, where you have a draw phase in which you replenish your hand of cards, the only way to draw more cards is by defeating enemies, on whose reverse side are the cards you have previously drafted or that compose your starting deck. You can’t simply turtle up for resources here; you need to always be working out the best way to dish out the most damage you can in the most cost-efficient way, as each card you play has an associated action point cost. As I played Unstoppable, it almost felt more like a puzzle game than a boss battler, and certainly distinct from other card games like it that I’ve played.

To help you along in tackling your objective and enemies, you will need to upgrade your cards, done by slotting modifiers into the sleeves your cards are in. Cards feature cutouts, with upgrades filling those cutouts, such as allowing you to deal more damage or earn credits that you can spend on even more upgrades. But every upgrade is a double-edged sword, as each will not only benefit you, but also the enemy that appears on the other side of your card. More than once did I find myself cursing my earlier decisions as I got smacked for extra damage or made a particularly nasty enemy sturdier courtesy of an upgrade I bought and applied to it. Unstoppable does tell you what enemy upgrade is present on the other side at the bottom of the good side, so the information isn’t hidden from you, but it still feels like stubbing your toe - you have no one but yourself to blame, but it doesn’t stop you from wanting to shake your fist at the sky.

When it comes to the bosses your end goal targets, you have three options to pick from, including the Harbinger (your most basic foe, where you simply need to dish out damage before time runs out), The Triumvirate (basically a cartel of three gangs whose bases you need to take down before you can take the boss itself down), and Duomo’s Menace (which really changes things up, featuring a branching story deck you need to get through until you reach specific victory cards). While I certainly wouldn’t be against a couple more options, I really do enjoy how varied each of the three victory conditions is, and how they manage to pose vastly different puzzles to solve. It’s unfortunate, however, that the four characters you can choose from don’t rise to the same standards.

Chores

Saying that Unstoppable has characters to pick from feels a bit disingenuous, as outside of their own unique portrait cards, the “characters” themselves are just a set of three unique cards in their starting decks. These are fine as a jumping-off point and help direct you, but I enjoyed doing a sort of draft at the start instead, picking three cards from all 12 unique cards. This little bit of homebrew paired with the adjustable difficulty options is great for mixing things up and keeping the game challenging.

Some games, take The Lord of the Rings - War of the Ring board game, for example, have their theme and aesthetic so intertwined with what the game is that it almost becomes a component of the game’s design itself. Unstoppable falls on the opposite side of that spectrum, where its science fiction visuals never felt like more than set dressing, and you could swap out the guns and corpo cards for swords and brigands and have a high-fantasy version without batting an eye. This is a mechanic-centric game, and thankfully, Unstoppable’s mechanics are solid!

Perhaps the biggest mark against Unstoppable for me is the component management and, more specifically, the teardown process. Considering that a core aspect is slotting cards and upgrades into sleeves, that means at the end, you will then have to unsleeve those cards before you box up the game. I’m no stranger to putting cards into and taking cards out of those handy protective covers, being a TCG player, but it isn’t something I necessarily look forward to. Having that chore looming like a space creature peering over the box at me is more menacing than the boss itself, and has stopped me from sitting down and opening the box more than once.

Should you buy Unstoppable?

While I wouldn’t say that Unstoppable has turned me into a complete solo tabletop believer, making me want to take my consoles and handhelds to an e-waste disposal site, occasionally a solo board game will come around that manages to entice me enough to cause me to set down my controller. Even with the annoying unsleeving process at the end, I’ve found myself reaching for Unstoppable instead of a controller a couple of times now, but I found it to be a particularly good game to bust out during my lunch at work, thanks to its fairly compact box size and a game time of under an hour most times.

With a new addition focusing on the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series coming out soon, I’m excited to dive in and see how well Renegade designs the games to work with one another (if at all), and with the ample space in the box yet to be filled, it’s clear that the plan is for Unstoppable to be an expanding game system and not a one-and-done affair, and that does make me excited. Even with its blemishes (some of which could be solved with a digital version, just saying), I hope that Unstoppable is true to its name and doesn’t stop anytime soon, as it's one of the most unique deck-building games I’ve played in a long time.

This review was conducted using a sample provided by the publisher. For a complete overview of our process, don't miss this guide to how we test board games or the full GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

Even if I'd set aside a week to browse every board game at UK Games Expo 2026, I don't think it'd be enough. Walking into the show is like being faced with a buffet including every delicious meal you can think of; as one of the biggest tabletop shows around, and certainly the biggest in the UK, there's no shortage of cool shit jostling for your attention. That includes secret projects and hits-in-waiting which are primed to set the industry on fire. Trying to make your way around the show is even harder when all you can think about is a game tailor-made to eat up your free time.

I was able to playtest my way through the show while quizzing developers on the board games that visitors were loving, and Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons - Ravenloft was the most popular game at publisher Ravensburger's booth by a long way. Actually, it became so sought-after that more playtest tables had to be set up to cater for demand. Having now seen the D&D crossover in person (and having followed it since we exclusively revealed the project a couple of months back), I understand the hype. Classic horror fans, pay attention. Besides resurrecting mechanics that draw inspiration from the best board games, it's sublime gothic eeriness in a box.

If you're new to the Horrified series, think of it as a cross between Pandemic and Betrayal at House on the Hill. It challenges you to defeat a collection of monsters – ranging from classics like your garden-variety werewolf to legends from Greek myth – before they chow down on innocent civilians. This serves as your countdown timer, and it leads to a masterful balancing act. You've got to juggle each foe's unique takedown quest (they can only be defeated after completing specific objectives) with making sure you protect villagers at the same time. If too many innocents die, it's game over… so some difficult sacrifices may need to be made.

That concept carries over to Ravenloft, but there are some twists in the tale you should beware.

For starters, it builds on the class mechanics that helped last year's Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons stand out. These provide unique powers for each hero that are activated using D&D's iconic d20 die, and Ravenloft provides a host of extra classes not included before – the Warlock, Ranger, Druid, Sorcerer, and Paladin are being brought to bear this time around. Their abilities range from adding a bonus to your dice rolls or ignoring damage to a character, but that's not the interesting bit. No, the thing that caught my attention was the ability to furnish them with 'Dark Gifts' from eldritch patrons. These provide a vital boon such as moving monsters or characters out of danger, but they come at a literal cost that may see you discarding cards… or worse. Plus, this requires flipping over your character card to reveal a 'corrupted' version of the hero. You may save the day, but you aren't coming out of it a paragon of virtue.

This ties into the second change Ravenloft introduces. To be precise, it exchanges high fantasy from the last D&D Horrified for a more gothic approach. That's because it's based on the most popular Dungeons & Dragons campaign of the current edition, Curse of Strahd. This is basically Dracula meets D&D, so expect big Van Helsing energy. Vampires and a Baba Yaga-style walking hut are just some of the enemies you'll face.

Such classic horror vibes mean their mechanics are rooted in the unsettling. The demonic Gulthias Tree has the power to keep summoning hordes of Twig Blights that'll overwhelm your party, for example, and it won't stop until you've torn it right out of the ground like a weed.

I adore the original Horrified thanks to its similarly gothic tone, and it's still my favorite entry in the series. As such, Ravenloft harkening back to that vibe is music to my ears.

In much the same way, its aesthetic is doused in the macabre. Shadow-drenched artwork, baroque stained glass depicting the heroes, and a color palette that says "you can never have enough eerie purple" make it feel like wrapping yourself in a blanket of pure Halloween. Similarly, the board's locations (which are pulled directly from Curse of Strahd) echo the OG Horrified's Transylvanian backdrop. While they don't always tally with what we get in the D&D campaign, it's all about vibes here – and Ravenloft passes that particular check with aplomb. Why not stick skulls on our architecture or construct every house from sagging gray stone that looks as depressed as our villagers, it says.

In other words, it'll go down very well if you love classic horror – and because it arrives in July, it'll be more than ready for spooky season once summer turns to fall.

I just hope we'll be able to get our hands on a copy, considering how popular it was at the UK Games Expo…

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The original Brass was named after northern British slang for money, which was not only a fitting title for a board game that simulated the booming economy of the industrial revolution but, as it turned out, a prophetic one. Brass (later renamed Brass: Lancashire) was popular, but a second iteration on the design that smoothed out its harder edges, named Brass: Birmingham, proved one of the most popular hobby board games of all time – if not one of the best board games overall. Not content with resting on their laurels, publisher Roxley is now working on a third version set in the gilded age of the United States called Brass: Pittsburgh.

You might suspect this is mere cash-in on a popular title, but it’s something fans have been thirsting for since the previous version came out in 2018. "People have been asking for another sequel for years," explains Gavan Brown, who designed Brass: Birmingham based on Martin Wallace’s original. "I have always believed the Brass system has a vast unexplored design space."

A greater challenge

For those familiar with the series, the new board and cards will be instantly recognizable. There’s still a network of cities, with spaces for different types of industry tiles, and players still have a tree of industries they can pay cards, cash and resources to place onto the board. Many of these create resources that other players can utilize, using networks created by their opponents. Spending up all the resources on an industry flips it, creating profit for its owner. It’s this clever circularity, where players are partially dependent on each other, that's made the game so popular: a rare mix of demanding strategy with enough theme and social interaction to keep it varied, engaging and believable.

Once you dive into the details, the new aspects of Brass: Pittsburgh become apparent. Brown cites three key changes identified by playtesters as standing out. "First, we have decentralized markets: you now sell resource cubes to different connected cities instead of to a centralized market," he explains. "Second, one of the new resources, coke, takes time and clever tactics to set up, but rewards the player with 4VP for every cube sold. Third, the oil resource has special pipelines, which allow players to 'prospect' an oil field. Oil travels first by pipeline, which awards the pipeline's owner with various possible rewards."

The result is a game that boasts a much greater strategic challenge, with many more factors and resources to juggle, while still retaining the social interdependencies that characterize the original. Brown has deliberately rejigged aspects of the game to ensure players have to react to the dynamism on the board rather than relying on tried and tested strategies.

"There is no rail on the board that will guarantee you a ton of points," he says. "When you place a rail, you need to forecast what your opponents will want to build in the locations adjacent to it, or have a plan yourself of how to make those rails worth something. There are also no tiles on your player board that are 'auto develop.' Every tile has a use in the game, and you need to figure out a plan for how to maximize their value."

[Rail]roads paved with gold

In both the existing games, there’s a mid-point switch between the canal networks players begin with to transport their goods and resources, and the more efficient railways that come later. This is a thematic abstraction of how the industrial revolution unfolded; the canals are literally removed from the board and players start re-building their networks. In Pittsburgh, players start with railways initially but there’s still a similar mid-point switch with existing networks disappearing and needing to be re-built, unless they strategize around investing in another new option, more expensive 'heavy' trains which stay on the board.

This can feel jarring, but Brown is broadly aiming to make the game feel more thematic, not less. "Historical accuracy is of paramount importance to me, so the research performed during the design of Pittsburgh represented an immense amount of work," he explains. “An example of this is making all resources travel by rail, versus having iron 'teleport.' Also the decentralized market system better represents that different regions of the map may need to pay more for commodities than other areas." He also suggests that the gilded age is a better fit for the game’s social dynamics than the industrial revolution, noting that "the interdependence of the main industries of the time was a perfect fit."

Interestingly, much of the playtesting for this game has taken place on the digital board gaming site BoardGameArena. This is a novel approach that allows the team to get faster and wider feedback from testers, supported by measurable metrics. It means that Brass: Pittsburgh will have a ready-made module for the site when it hits retail, a useful selling point. It’s also created a baseline from which additional creative possibilities can be explored, and Brown reveals they’re in the pipe. "For Pittsburgh I had to come up with the most innovative mechanisms and dynamics I could think of, which led to many more ideas that we will explore in future Brass titles," he says.

It sounds like there could be a lot more brass to come, in every sense, for players and the publisher alike.

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