While we live in a world of short attention spans and ever-changing online games to cater to today’s generation, there is one thing that just never gets boring. That is board games! I guarantee that each of you has played at least one of these incredible top-selling board games, some of which have sold millions of copies and been played by billions of people worldwide. Check out this list of the top 10 board games of all time.

Note: because Christmas is just around the corner and inexpensive board games make good stocking fillers, I include links* to buy these on Amazon.

See Also: The 10 Most Offensive Board Games Ever Published

10Ticket to Ride

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Ticket to Ride has won dozens of awards and sold over 6 million copies since its creation. It is the most popular modern board game as it takes players on a train ride across the country while they collect cards of various types of trains which allow them to own railway routes between different locations. The game is simple to learn but requires great strategy and tactics to win. The longer the train routes each player claims means the more points they accumulate.

There is also a selection of “destination tickets,” which allow players to earn bonus points. To put it basically, each turn, you draw more cards, claim a route, or get a destination ticket. Don’t tell the kids, but it’s also educational. Everyone can brush up—or learn—their geography. There are also versions where you can build your routes throughout Europe, Scandinavia, and Africa. It’s a high-quality, modern game that everyone in the family can enjoy! Better get tracking!^[1]

9The Game of Life

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TheGame of Life is a board game from Milton Bradley that originated in the 1860s under the name, The Checkered Game of Life. The game simulates the steps one takes throughout their life—from college to retirement—with options for marriage, children, and homeownership along the way. There have been many versions of the game with various rule changes, with the game becoming less harsh in recent years. The modern version of the game was introduced in the 1960s and included squares for revenge against another player. These spaces were changed to “Sue for Damages” in the 1970s, and today, there are reward squares added—for recycling or helping the homeless.

The game is easy to play, with a game board, spinner (instead of dice), cards, tokens, cars, pegs, and money. After deciding on either the College path or Career path, you are on your way. Spin to advance and follow the instructions on that tile. You will have paydays, options to buy insurance or a house, have children (or not), and the one who retires with the most money wins. Have a good life!^[2]

8Clue

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Clue (Cluedo in some places) is the number one classic detective game that requires solving a crime. There is one murder with six suspects. The game aims to determine who the murderer is, what weapon they used, and in what room the crime was committed. To do this, you must make your way around a mansion into all the different rooms. Each player has been dealt an equal number of cards that have each suspect, weapon, and room on them. Once you reach a room, you are to ask the player to your left if they have a particular character, weapon, or room card, and they must show you if they have one of the three cards you have asked for.

In the case that they have none, the question goes to the next person to the left. Through the process of elimination, you can cross off each suspect, weapon, and room and eventually make an attempt at solving the homicide. If you are wrong, you are out of the game and play continues with the remaining players. This is definitely a game you want to keep your poker face on for.^[3]

7Battleship

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Battleship is a classic Hasbro game that requires some luck and some strategy. It is a naval-themed game requiring a player to sink all of their opponents’ battleships before they get to yours. The game is played on a 10″ by 10″ grid and starts with players positioning a number of different shaped and sized ships on said grid. Your goal is to strategically place your battleships to make it harder for your opponent to discover their position. From there, the excitement begins when you and your opponent take turns guessing locations on the grid where you think each ship might be located. If you have scored a hit, your opponent yells out, and you get another turn.

Once a ship has been sunk, the catchphrase, as advertised by Hasbro, is “you sunk my battleship!” The game carries on until one player has sunk all of their opponent’s battleships. The game is simple but fun, and there are endless ways to position your ships. Now there are countless versions of online BattleShip games which can be played all over the world. Happy firing!^[4]

6 Scrabble

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Scrabble was a game invented by Alfred Mosher Butts during the 1930s, the time of America’s Great Depression. Little did Butts know that his game would be a life-changer for many and would bring smiles to families who had little left to smile about. He analysed popular games such as chess, checkers, and bingo for years and concluded that word games didn’t reach the same popularity as other games because there was no score. Thus, Scrabble was born. The game is simple but requires a lot of thinking. Players start with 7 tiles, each with a letter and its corresponding point value typed on the front. After each turn, players take more tiles to replenish their “hand.” Each turn, the player forms a word using the tiles in their hand, and the points are calculated based on what squares the word is placed on. The words, however, must be attached to one or more letters of the words that have already been played. This adds an element of difficulty to the game.

Once a player has played all their tiles, and there are no more remaining in the pool (or once there are no more words possible to be made), players calculate the sum of their scores. Players with tiles remaining deduct the sum of the points from their hand from their total score. Your winner has the greatest number of points. Legend has it that the point system for each letter, as generated by Butts, was formulated from the letter’s likelihood to appear on the front page of The New York Times!^[5]

5 The Settlers of Catan

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The Settlers of Catan puts players back in history to a time of voyages and discovery. Your ships have landed on the coast of uncharted territory, and its name will be Catan. Therefore, as players, you are the Settlers of Catan. Although it isn’t the most popular game in the world, it is certainly up there among the best! It is, of course, another game based on trade and economy. The game aims to take over the island of Catan, although there are no fights or eliminations of other players. Instead, the players use the island’s natural resources to build cities and trade goods with one another. At the end of the game, there will be one person who has earned enough points to be deemed the dominator of Catan.

While the goal is to have the most points by the end of the game, it is impossible to win without trading with your opponents and sometimes giving up valuable resources. This is where the strategy comes in! Pay attention to what you need and what your opponents need and form a strategy to ensure fair trading and ultimately win.^[6]

4 Risk

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Created in 1957 by Frenchman Alber Lamorisse, it was originally titled La Conquete du Monde, which translates to The Conquest of the World. Parker Brothers then brought the game to the U.S. and retitled it to a more appealing sounding “Risk.” However, the aim of the game has always remained the same–to strategically eliminate your competitors and earn control of the board’s entire territory. The game took off in the 1960s and was hugely popular among high school and university students around the globe.

Its rise to fame was attributed to its challenging nature, which kept the minds of young students active and engaged. Although luck does play a little part in the outcome of the game, strategy is the ultimate key to conquering the board. Aside from Monopoly, Risk has been labelled as the best game for practicing and learning skills of negotiation and strategic interaction. Happy strategizing!^[7]

3Monopoly

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Monopoly is one of the most popular games in the world. I’m sure almost all of you have played it at least once or twice or at the very least have heard of it. Since its creation in 1935, more than 250 million versions of the game have been purchased and played by more than 1 billion people. Being one of the most popular board games known to man, it was officially inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. For anyone who hasn’t played, Monopoly is a real-estate-based board game played by up to eight players. The main aim of the game is to be financially stable while simultaneously forcing opponents into bankruptcy.

Each player moves around the board purchasing properties and building hotels which opposing players must pay to land on. As one player builds up their empire, the rest will slowly dwindle until there is only one player remaining with all the money. While chance can help you win or lose faster, it is essentially a game of strategy. The original game was set in London; however, there are hundreds of versions of the game now with many destination and movie themes.^[8]

2 Stratego

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Stratego is a game where two opponents use pieces of opposing colours (typically red and blue). Each piece has a numbered rank on one side, which is played facedown to remain unknown. When a piece is moved to an opponent’s square, the pieces are flipped, revealing the numbers, and the piece with the smaller number is eliminated from the game. In the case that the pieces are of matching digits, both are removed from the game. The ultimate goal is to remove all of your opponent’s pieces or force them to surrender. True to its title, this game appeals to strategy enthusiasts and hearkens back to World War II.

Since it was released, more than 20 million copies have been purchased worldwide, particularly in the US, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. Now, similarly to chess, there are national and world championships organized each year. As well as having new online versions released, there are several Sci-Fi-themed versions of the game. Definitely one to give you a headache!^[9]

1 Chess

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Chess is one of the oldest and most played board games in history. Played by two people on a checkered board of contrasting colours (standardly black and white) and corresponding pieces. The pieces consist of a King and Queen, two bishops, knights (usually depicted as horses) and rooks (from the Persian word for a castle tower), and eight pawns. Each piece moves in a different direction around the board, and the aim of the game is to corner the opponent’s king. The game first appeared in India around the 6th century AD and quickly spread to Asia and Europe. It soon became known as a “royal game” due to its popularity amongst the royal family and is still played exactly the same today as it was back then.

During the 20th century, the game underwent massive growth, leading to nationwide competition and player sponsorships. With recent mass growth in technology, many apps have been created, allowing people to play online, accommodating international games and competitions. I’m sure back when the game was founded, it was never dreamed that it would become the phenomenon it is today.^[10]

+ Competition

COMPETITION ENDED: This competition has now ended. Congratulations to the winners who have been announced in the comments below.

Five random commenters will be chosen to win this awesome classic board game 100 game set, which comprises “An array of over 100 classic games, made with premium quality materials, all inside a stunning gold-foil gift box. Enjoy playing with your family and friends. A weekend trip or a week-day routine, this game set has multiple games to engage and entertain all players. 5 double-sided printed game boards: Snake & Ladders, Checkers, Backgammon, Ludo, Solitaire, Chess, Nine-men Morris, Racing game, Goose game, Chinese checkers, and more. Comes with 5 rolling dice, 30 checkers/backgammon pieces, 32 chess pieces, 15 matches, 60 ludo pawns, and instructions.”

How to enter: Simply comment on the list. You can tell us what your favorite board game is, or perhaps your funniest board game-related story, or you can just compliment the list writer! All comments are eligible, and you can enter multiple times (by commenting more than once). The competition runs until midnight tonight. The winners will be chosen at random, so it doesn’t matter whether you comment at 1 am, 6 am, or 11 pm.

Long before board games such as Monopoly, Yahtzee, Clue, and Candy Land were enjoyed by families on game night, ancient board games were thriving in parts of the world. The ancient Romans, Egyptians, and Chinese were creative in the ways they made boards and pieces from stones, rocks, and wood. Many of these games resemble modern games in the way they look and play. Here are ten ancient board games that inspired the board games of today.

10 Gigantic Versions Of Childhood Games

Long before board games such as Monopoly, Yahtzee, Clue, and Candy Land were enjoyed by families on game night, ancient board games were thriving in parts of the world. The ancient Romans, Egyptians, and Chinese were creative in the ways they made boards and pieces from stones, rocks, and wood. Many of these games resemble modern games in the way they look and play. Here are ten ancient board games that inspired the board games of today.

10 Ludus Latrunculorum

Ludus Latrunculorum, which translates to Game of Mercenaries, is an ancient Roman strategic game. The game is similar to checkers and played on boards with grids of 7×7, 7×8, 8×8, 8×9, 9×9, or 9×10. Two players move their pieces forward and backwards across the board trying to capture their opponents pieces while protecting their own pieces.^[1]

The ancient game of military tactics was first mentioned in the Roman writings of Varro (116-27 BC) in his book titled De Lingua Latina. His writing mainly mentioned the grid of the game board, but the rules were first found in the anonymous Roman poem Laus Pisonis, which was written in the 1st Century. Several Ludus Latrunculorum boards of different sizes and materials have been found in various places and can now be seen in museums.

9 Patolli

One of the oldest known board games in America is Patolli. The game was mostly played by a range of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, and it is even reported that Montezuma enjoyed watching the nobles play the game at court. The game was enjoyed by both commoners and nobles, and it was a game of strategy mixed with some luck.

Patolli was a game that focused on gambling. Players would bring the same number of items to gamble (usually six items), and they would inspect each other’s items before beginning. The object of the game is to move the six game pieces from the starting square to the ending square before the other player. The game is played until one player earns all of the other player’s items. Players were known to gamble away their money, blankets, precious stones, food, homes, and even their family and freedom. The gambling game would be so detrimental to some that the Spanish priests outlawed the game during the Spanish conquest of Mexico.^[2]

8 Senet

Ancient Egypt introduced us to a board game known as senet, which means “Game of Passing.” It is one of the oldest known board games dating back to 3100 BC where fragments of boards were found in burials in Egypt. The tomb of Merknera (3300-2700 BC) features a hieroglyph resembling the senet board, but the first painting of the game appeared at the tomb of Hesy (c. 2686-2613 BC).

The game board is made up of 30 squares that are evenly arranged in three rows of ten. There are two sets of pawns with at least five pawns each. The original game rules are still unknown, but there have been pieces of texts revealing parts of the rules. The rules have most likely changed over time, meaning the rules of modern senet sets don’t reflect those that were used in Ancient Egypt.^[3]

7 The Royal Game of Ur

The Royal Game of Ur was widely popular across the Middle East and dates back to the early third millennium BC. The two-player strategy board game hit a spiritual high and was believed by many to reflect a player’s future and convey messages from the supernatural.

The race game is played using two sets of seven game pieces and a game board made up of two rectangular sets of boxes. You will need strategy and luck to dominate your opponent while trying to move your seven pieces along the course before the other player. The Game of Ur lost most of its popularity during the late antiquity, where many believed the game evolved into an early form of backgammon.^[4]

6 Gyan Chauper

A popular dice game in India is known as gyan chauper, and the earliest versions of the game date back to the 10th century A.D. Back then, the game was played on a painted cloth called patas. The game was entertaining, but it was also played to instruct morality. The central theme of the ancient game was the liberation from bondage of passions. It is more popularly known in today’s society as Snakes and Ladders.^[5]

In gyan chauper players start from the bottom of the game board and roll the dice in order to move forward according to the number that lands on the dice. The game is based entirely upon luck and is a simple race to the top while trying to avoid obstacles in the shape of snakes that hold players back. The board and gameplay have been slightly modified over time in different areas of the world today.

10 Bizarre Video Games That Actually Exist

5 Alquerque

Alquerque is an abstract strategy board game that is believed to have originated in the Middle East. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani first mentioned the game in literature in his 24-volume work Kitab al-Aghani that was released in the 10th century. Unfortunately, the rules were never mentioned in his work. However, rules of the game were found in the 13th century Libro de los juegos by Alfonso X of Castile.

Before the game begins, each player places their 12 pieces on the two closest rows and in the two right spaces on the center row. The object of the game is to eliminate the other player’s pieces by jumping an opponent’s piece that is adjacent and the point beyond the piece is empty. Alquerque is considered to be the parent game of the U.S. version of checkers.^[6]

4 Mehen

The ancient Egypt board game mehen was named in reference to a snake deity in ancient Egyptian religion. Evidence of mehen has been found dating from around 3000 BC until the end of the Old Kingdom around 2300 BC. Physical boards and game pieces have been found that mostly date to the Predynastic and Archaic periods.

The game board resembles a coiled snake that is divided into several rectangular spaces and game pieces were often made of stones. Game boards have been found with different numbers of segments, but it seems that the number of segments had little importance on the game play. The game pieces are believed to be formed into the shape of a lion or lioness and came in sets of three, four, five, or six along with a few small sphere-shaped pieces. The rules of mehen are entirely unknown today.^[7]

3 Go

More than 2,500 years ago, the Chinese invented the abstract board game Go. The game of strategy is believed to be the oldest board game to be continuously played to the present day. A recent survey showed that more than 46 million people in the world know how to play Go, and over 20 million of them are current players. A majority of the current players live in East Asia.

Two players take turns placing their stones, black and white, on intersections of the board in order to start gameplay. Players must place stones on unoccupied intersections except for those forbidden by suicide and ko. A stone can not be moved once played, but it can be taken off the board if captured. Players may pass on their turn when they feel that nothing more can be accomplished, and the game ends when both players consecutively pass. The game is then scored to find out which player is victorious. Since Go is a competitive game in many parts of the world, many play the game professionally.^[8]

2 Hounds and Jackals

Hounds and Jackals was a popular board game invented around 4,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt. The Bronze Age board game was once found in its entirety in a Theban tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV that dates to the 12th Dynasty. The complete gaming set that was found is preserved today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.^[9]

Hounds and Jackals, also known as 58 Holes, is the modern name given to the game by Howard Carter, who is the man that found the complete set in the Egyptian tomb. The original name of the game is unknown. Players move their ten small sticks with either dog or jackal heads along the board that contains 29 holes on each player’s side of the board. The player that reaches the finish point with all their figures wins the game. The modern game of Cribbage features a similar board and may have derived from Hounds and Jackals.

1 Nine Men’s Morris

Have you ever noticed a game printed on the opposite of a checkerboard? If so, there is a good chance it was a board for nine men’s morris, also known as cowboy checkers. The strategy board game dates back to the Roman Empire, but it peaked in popularity in medieval England. Many game boards have been found carved into seats at English cathedrals in several cities.

The two-player game is one of strategy that can result in a draw with a perfect game from both players. The game board consists of twenty-four points across a grid. Each player starts with nine black or white pieces, and they work to remove their opponent’s pieces until they only have two remaining. Once a player has successfully completed that or blocked their opponent from making a legal move, the game ends. There are also variations of the game known as three men’s morris, six men’s morris, and twelve men’s morris which changes the board and number of pieces played.^[10]

Top 10 Best Board Games Of All Time

About The Author: “I’m just another bearded guy trying to write my way through life.” www.MDavidScott.com

Unbeknownst to most people the Board Game industry has been thriving and booming for the past twenty plus years. Thousands of new games are released every year from hundreds of companies. Many people only know the mass market staples found at big box stores, and while these still have their place there are countless new options at hobby, book, and online stores.

While most of these are family-friendly and non-controversial, there are exceptions. The following are some of the most bizarre, wild, or plain offensive games to have ever been released. Many of these are still available to purchase today, while some are so rare many collectors have never even seen an actual copy.

10 Ancient Board Games That Inspired Modern Games

10 Los Mampfos

This is perhaps the most well-known game on this list, however that does not make it any less bizarre. In 2006 the French publisher Gigamic released Los Mampfos, designed by the award-winning German game designer Rüdiger Dorn and Maya Dorn. In this game three large wooden donkeys are placed on a circular track, using cards the donkeys move around and are “fed” small wooden disks in 5 colors. When scoring happens players try to guess which colors the donkey ate the most of, the tail is then lifted, and the donkey releases the disks. Players then collect the poo of the color they guessed. This game went on to be nominated for several awards including the coveted Spiel des Jahres Kinderspiel, The German Children’s game of the year.^[1]

9 Snifty Snakes

Back in 1975 the Canadian company Action Games and Toys released this wacky dexterity game. The designer is uncredited, but whoever created this no doubt was a fun individual. When playing this game, you may not use your hands, instead you wear a pair of plastic glasses with a long flexible snake attached at your nose. The board is raised and has several holes in it. Each player has three cones which the must push into the holes. As you can imagine the flexible snake makes this exceptionally difficult. The first person to complete this task is the winner. While this is not intended to be a drinking game it seems that it would fit that criteria perfectly. Do not pass up this crazy game if you happen upon one in second-hand store.^[2]

8 Ugg-Tect

This is another less obscure game, released in 2009 from several different publishers, including Fantasy Flight, one of the largest game companies in the world. Designed by well-known Italian designer Walter Obert. This game features 2 inflatable clubs, which are used to “communicate” with your teammate. In this game you are playing as a caveman, and you may only speak in primitive sounds. One player is the architect they examine a simple structure built with colored blocks of different shapes. The rest of your team attempts to build this with your non-verbal instructions. Raise your hands, stomp your feet and yell at your team in gibberish to instruct them how to build this. Using the inflatable club, whack them on the head, once to indicate they did something correct and twice to tell them they are wrong. A loud and boisterous this one is a lot of fun to play.^[3]

7 Crows Overkill

The most recent game on our list is this title from 2014. A Japanese game from designer Roy Nambu. The original title of this game translates as “I would kill all the crows in the world to sleep with you in the morning”. This refers to a song sang in the red-light district of Japan in the 1800’s. In the game players are happily enjoying the company of geisha’s in the red-light district, and they do not wish to leave. Players are eliminated one at a time and the player who manages to stay the longest is the winner. The crows are how one gets found out. If a crow lands at your window and calls out, you are caught and must leave. By playing cards you must kill the crows arriving at your windowsill or move them for your opponents to deal with. This is a ruthless and mean game, all in the name of staying in your lover’s arms just a bit longer.^[4]

6 Falling

This game first appeared in 1998 where it was well known among hobby gamers. Cheapass games was a staple company in the late 90’s and designer James Earnest has always been a prolific name in the industry. The premise of Falling is simple, everyone is falling to their eventual death, the goal of the game is not to live, but to hit the ground last. One person is the dealer and not playing the game for the current round. The dealer passes cards out in real time to all players, controlling the speed of the game. Just like if you were falling, there are no turns in the game. Cards do a variety of things to speed up and slow down the game. It is a frantic game that can be played in a minute or so. It is not as unusual as many of the games on this list, but it still deserves a place for the morbid theme.^[5]

10 Gigantic Versions Of Childhood Games

5 Kittens in a Blender

The title says it all and puts a disturbing picture in your mind. This twisted game was released in 2011 from a small company know as Closet Nerd games. It was designed and published by the Knudson brothers. The premise of this card game is simple, save your curious kittens from suffering a terrible fate in the randomly churning blender. You score points for saving as many kittens as you can, but also lose points for kitten smoothie you create. Lighthearted artwork saves this game from being too dark, and a portion of the sales were donated to a no-kill shelter. So, play it with your crazy friends, but maybe do not introduce this one to Grandma.^[6]

4 Prison Bitch

Yep, you already know where this one is going. The struggle of existence in a male prison. This is, of course meant to be a humorous, satirical game. This was a self-published effort, back in 2003, not many copies were produced or sold, as the game was banned from the Origins game fair that same year. This is again a card game, where you are fighting for superiority and reputation among the other prisoners. Recruit bitches and hire thugs to attack the others and defeat the other players by discrediting them and reducing their rep to zero. A fun romp through the life of a prisoner, no word if the designers had any real-life experience or technical advisors.^[7]

3 Serial Killer: The Board Game

Banned in Canada, now it is getting serious. This obscure game from 1991, is nearly impossible to find. It is packaged in a body bag and contains a plethora of little body tokens. Simply travel around the map of the US and kill everyone you can. The goal of the game? When you finally get caught, try to make sure it is in a state without the death penalty. Perhaps the age of this one and the fact that is a board game makes this more taboo. Either way it is a grim theme to play a game about, however still tame compared to some video games.^[8]

2 Crack Whore

Ah, a nice relaxing solitaire dice game. For everyone who has dreamed of being a prostitute and trying to escape life on the street, thanks to this entry from 2003 you can simulate this. Unfortunately, to escape the life you need to earn money, so to escape the streets you must first work the streets. Set aside your morals and ethics and start saving up. You will have to deal with Pimps of course, they probably will want a cut. Do not do too many drugs and watch out for the serial killers that like to prey on street workers. Oh yeah, those pesky diseases could also hamper your work, hopefully you can stay clean. Something tells me this would be a successful App game.^[9]

1 Public Assistance

We go back to 1980 for our final entry, this is a game of earning money, though not necessarily working for it. In fact, the tagline is “Why bother working for a living” This is game is very politically incorrect mockery of the welfare system. As you roll dice and move around the track you collect your welfare payments and try to avoid the working mans burden. The burden of course being bills and taxes. This was released more as a pollical statement than a game, so there are no real decisions to be made. This game was banned in some places as well, but you should be able to seek out a copy if you want to experience it for yourself, I hear it is quite entertaining at a party.^[10]

Top 10 Best Board Games Of All Time

Ever lamented how your favorite childhood board games seem smaller now that you’re bigger? No? Well then here’s a solution you definitely didn’t ask for: board games blown up to life size!

In order of spectacle, here are 10 classics…

10. Connect Four

Perhaps because it’s so basic, Connect Four attracts a lot of record-setting types—like Josh Graber, who dropped a counter into the board from 31 ½ inches above, or Constantine Markides, who held 76 counters in one hand, or Emily Wilson, who got seven counters spinning at once. In 2009, at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York, the record was set for the largest-ever game board. The centerpiece of a Connect Four tournament, it measured 45 ¼ inches wide by 32 ¼ inches high. The counters themselves each had a diameter of 5 ¼ inches, which is about the size of a teacup saucer.

If that all sounds disappointingly small, maybe the real-life “Connect Four” is for you. Sam Denby’s Jet Lag: The Game, which he made for YouTube, replaces the counters with people and the board with the western seaboard of the United States. A hybrid of Connect Four and The Amazing Race, it involves two teams traveling across states and completing challenges in the capitals to claim them. The first to claim four in a row—on a budget of $5,000—wins. 

9. The Royal Game of Ur

One of the most ancient board games, and certainly the oldest on this list, the Royal Game of Ur dates back to roughly 2600-2400 BC. So it’s one you golden oldies might recall. It was first discovered in the Royal Tombs of the Sumerian city-state Ur—one of the first-ever cities in the world, inhabited for thousands of years. Today it gives us a fascinating glimpse of how our ancestors liked to pass time.

The game board features twenty squares grouped into three separate areas. Each square also has a pattern that may have been pertinent to the game; we’re still not really sure how to play it (although we do have AI on the case). What we do know is that it was designed for two players, each playing with black or white pieces, and involved turn-based racing according to the roll of tetrahedral dice. It appears to have combined both luck and strategy.

Whatever the case, the British Museum commissioned a giant version of the game for an exhibit coinciding with the launch of its website mesopotamia.co.uk. Visitors could interpret the game board, which was big enough for people to stand inside the squares, however, they liked—and it came complete with the authentic patterns and tetrahedral dice.

8. Monopoly

Life-sized Monopoly has always been around; it’s the privilege of oligarchs and kleptocrats. But now there’s a version for plebs. The best-selling board game—devised in 1903 to show the cruel absurdity of monopolizing land (before the game became an ironic runaway commercial success)—is now an expensive (60 pence per minute per person) tourist “experience” in London.

Monopoly Lifesized, in the crowded West End, is played on an officially licensed, 15-by-15-meter, gameshow-style board. It’s not the same as the tabletop game but the basic rules still apply: Players have to get their piece (the giant Scottie Dog, Racing Car, or whatever) around the board, completing tasks to gain wealth at the expense of their friends. In this case, however, activities include puzzles and physical challenges in rooms representing each property. 

First, though, players choose a theme—calling to mind the endless stream of themed editions currently swamping the market. Here, the options are limited: Classic, Luxury, or City. In Classic, it’s a trip down (your great grandparents’) memory lane. Activities include solving crosswords on Fleet Street (the old newspaper capital of the world) or cracking codes in Whitehall (where MI6 used to be). In the Luxury version, players get to sycophantically simulate the lifestyles of those aforementioned oligarchs (by “winning big at the casinos of Coventry Street,” for example, or “bidding for art … on Bond Street”). The City theme, meanwhile, based on modern-day bog standard London, lets players pretend to do all the things they could be doing if they weren’t playing this—like shopping on Regent Street, catching a musical on Tottenham Court Road, or gazing at the night-time skyline.

7. Trivial Pursuit

In August 2014, to commemorate the outbreak of World War One, the city of Liège, Belgium, unveiled a giant Trivial Pursuit board in its central plaza. Covering an impressive 400 square meters, it was themed for the Great War era.

The game was played by members of the public using a giant die to move their counters around the board, collecting giant colored pieces of plastic pie/cake for answering questions correctly. Naturally, these were asked via microphone. There were also assistants dressed in fittingly formal Victorian-style morning suits.

Despite the numerous editions it’s spawned, Trivial Pursuit is actually pretty young for a board game; it came out in 1979. In addition to the event in Liège, though, there have also been TV game show versions, starting with the BBC’s in 1990. 

6. Operation

Here’s one that actually makes sense. In 2023, engineering students from Washington State University created a life-sized version of the board game Operation—the game of human surgery—this time with realistic-looking organs and bones made from silicone.

The project was an education in itself, involving computer-aided design, 3D printing, and safety considerations for the user, but it was also an education to others. Currently housed at the Palouse Discovery Science Center’s EveryBODY exhibit, the life-sized Operation game challenges players to perform “surgery” on a human-sized body, using tongs to extract body parts from cavities without touching the sides and triggering the buzzer. Just like the original.

5. Ouija

In October 2019, the famously witchy town of Salem, Massachusetts unveiled the world’s largest Ouija board—affectionately named Ouijazilla. Created by Rick “Ormortis” Schreck, vice president of the Talking Board Historical Society, it covered 3,168 square feet, dwarfing all previous record holders in the giant Ouija board category—which, believe it or not, is a thing. 

Weighing in at 9,000 pounds, this colossal wooden replica, longer than a brontosaurus, was big enough to park five full-size 18-wheel trucks. The planchette alone, the movable piece used to spell out messages, weighed 400 pounds and was 15 feet long, big enough for Schreck to stand in for a photo—all of which makes Ouijazilla ideal for contacting enormous or far away ghosts. The whole thing took more than a year to complete, with assembly and painting all hand-done by Schreck and his family, aka “the Haus of Schreck.” Although he didn’t keep track, he reckons they used about 20 quarts (19 liters) of black enamel paint; but he has no idea how many gallons of deck stain. 

The design he based it on was Hasbro’s iconic 1998 version, which, he says, he could fit 2,300 copies of on Ouijazilla. The original Ouija board came out just over a century before Hasbro’s, apparently to capitalize on the popularity of spiritualism in 19th-century America. But from the very beginning, it was marketed as a board game or toy. One of the earliest ads, in 1891 from a Pittsburgh toy shop, dubbed it “Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board.” Since then, as each generation of users has departed for the spirit world itself, Ouija has become a cult obsession. Schreck calls himself a “Ouija maniac.” He not only collects the boards, he’s also made other versions of his own, in some cases out of embalming tables and church pews.

4. Jenga

In 2019, Caterpillar (CAT), the construction equipment manufacturer, set the Guinness World Record for the largest game of Jenga ever played. They only used half as many blocks as the tabletop version (27 instead of 54), but each of these laminated pine beams (8 feet in length, 2 feet 8 inches in width, and 1 foot 4 inches in height) weighed 600 pounds for a total of 8.1 tons. That’s about the weight of a T-rex or school bus.

The game itself was played by five CAT machines—including a 320E excavator and a 277D multi-terrain loader—and supervised from the ground by a tiny, imperiled-looking foreman. This was Chad Cremeens, CAT’s field operations manager, who came up with the project to show off the vehicles.

Naturally, the stunt was carefully planned to keep everyone safe and the machines looking good (it was after all for PR). Hence they didn’t let the tower fall over; they stopped after 28 hours, having stacked 13 layers to a height of 20 feet.

3. Moustrap

If you’ve ever played Mousetrap, you’ve probably imagined it life-sized. If you haven’t played it, here’s a primer: to complete the game, players gradually construct a cartoonish Rube Goldberg machine, an unwieldy yet effective contraption based on chain reaction—in this case to drop a cage over one or all of your opponent mice. The life-sized version is surprisingly faithful and something of a traveling sideshow, roaming from fair to fair across the US with its creator Mark Perez. 

Perez was obsessed with the game as a child, buying multiple sets to combine the pieces for a Mousetrap to end all Mousetraps. And he memorized the blueprints into adulthood. Where the Life Size Game of Mousetrap differs from the original (aside from the fact that it weighs 25 tons) is in the piece-by-piece construction by players. Given the scale of the thing, there’s no participation there. But it is interactive; spectators can set the thing running. Ostensibly the purpose is to see “real-world” Newtonian physics and applied scientific principles in an era of digital shut-ins. To that end, Perez and his team have shown it off at science centers, museums, and festivals such as the traveling Maker Faire. 

2. Scrabble

In 1998, to celebrate Scrabble’s 50th anniversary, London’s Wembley Stadium was transformed from a venue for football into the setting for the world’s largest Scrabble game. All the top Scrabble players were invited to play, gathering on the field to lay tiles the size of dinner tables. Of course, these being frail, thinking types—and this being Britain—they called in the army for the grunt work, with paratroopers placing the tiles wherever players directed them.

This strange event was an odd combination of intellectual prowess and sheer brute force. Given the size of the field-turned-board, it was also a test of logistics.

1. Chess

Life-size chess is a little overdone, but what about human chess? Every two years, the Italian town of Marostica hosts a human chess game for its biennial festival. For the spectacular occasion, the town’s main square is transformed into a living chessboard surrounded by over 600 participants dressed in medieval costumes—including knights, fire-breathers, and flag-wavers. The tradition began more than 100 years ago in 1923, but its origins date back much earlier. In 1454, so the legend goes, two young knights—Rinaldo D’Angarano and Vieri da Vallonara—were rivals for the hand of Lionora, the daughter of the local lord. To settle the dispute, instead of a duel her father decreed they play chess. The winner would marry Lionora, while the loser would marry her sister, Oldrada. Each of these characters is re-enacted at the festival, watching over the human chess game itself. 

It’s not played in real-time, but that’s part of the appeal; each move is carefully choreographed for the costumed black and white chess pieces as a riveting show for spectators. 

In 1924, however, a human chess game was played for real. “Live Chess,” as it was called, saw two Russian chess masters—Peter Romanovsky and Ilya Rabinovich—play on a huge board painted directly onto the cobbles of Palace Square, Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg). Each square was big enough for about twenty men, but only contained one man (for a pawn), or one on horseback (for a knight), or three men and a cannon (for the rook), and so on. The black human “pieces” were borrowed from the Red Army, while the whites were from the Navy. The players communicated moves via telephone and the game lasted an arduous five hours, watched by an audience of 8,000—making it an inscrutable example of entertainment before the age of TV.

Government lockdowns have rekindled people’s interest in board games like never before. Folks worldwide are returning to their old games, throwing dice and flicking spinners to have a jolly good time.

That’s all well and good for the average tabletop gamer, but there’s a far more interesting aspect to the hobby. People have been pouring so much detail into board games over the years; some of them are nearly impossible to play in a reasonable amount of time.

This list features the board games with the longest legitimate playtimes, and they aren’t for the faint of heart. If you played any of these, share your experiences down in the comments and let everyone know how many hours you spent playing a board game.

Top 10 Best Board Games Of All Time

10 Risk

Of all the games on this list, Risk is probably the one that most people have played. The game is all about world domination, and it is a work of strategic art. Risk has been around since 1959, and it’s one of the best strategy games on the planet. Its success has influenced every strategy game on and off this list.

The average playtime for a standard game of Risk is listed at 120 minutes (2 hours), but most people don’t get to experience that. For most players, an average game of Risk will keep them in their seats playing the game for as much as eight hours if it’s filled out with six people playing the game.

Some playthroughs can take as much as 12 hours, and Risk is well-known for this. There was an episode of Seinfeld, where Kramer and Newman played the same game off and on for days, which many players like to do.

It’s not uncommon for players to set up a board, play for a couple of hours and leave. They return to continue playing the game over days or weeks, depending on their schedules.

9 7 Ages

Don’t be fooled by the title for this one; it’s going to take more than seven hours to get through 7 Ages. The game takes place across 6,000 years of history, with players representing dynasties that decide the fate of humanity. The game is broken down into seven distinct ages spread across the millennia.

On the surface, you might think of 7 Ages as a military strategy game, but that would be inaccurate. Instead, it’s a highly complex strategy game that puts the player in a position of power. They must guide a civilization through its development from start to finish.

That makes it intensely complicated, and as a result, you can expect to play it for at least 480 minutes (8 hours). The game board features the entire planet, broken up into equally-sized spaces spread across the continents.

Players will need to manage everything from their civilization’s economy and military expansion to scientific discovery and more. It’s a game that requires a great deal of attention, but playing through it and winning offers up an achievement that won’t be matched quickly by your friends.

8 Machiavelli

If you’ve ever read any of Machiavelli’s works, you know the man was all about the nuanced power relationships of Renaissance Italy. This game takes his example and converts it into an exceedingly intricate strategy game that four to eight players can play for an exceptionally long time.

Machiavelli goes to painstaking lengths to recreate the historical situation of Renaissance Italy, focusing on the shifting balance of power and struggles that existed at the time. The game features five major powers: the Kingdom of Naples, the Republics of Florence and Venice, the Papacy, and the Duchy of Milan.

There are also three foreign powers (Hapsburg Austria, Valois France, and the Ottoman Turks). All of them vie for control in the Italian peninsula. The game features everything from politics and rebellions to wars and assassinations, and it’s going to take most players at least 480 minutes (8 hours) to play.

There are different ways to play the game, so depending on how you decide to play it, you can limit or extend your gameplay. The average extended length of time most players enjoy is around 12 hours.

7 The Republic Of Rome

In one form or another, Roman history lasted for 2,210 years, but only 482 years covered the Republic. Fortunately, The Republic of Rome doesn’t take place throughout that entire run. Still, it does cover a good 250 years of Roman history for players to dive into playing the game.

The game pits players against one another as each takes control of a faction vying for dominance of the Roman Senate. They manage this by controlling powerful families who compete for military commands, state offices, new adherents, and economic concessions.

To win the game, the player must drive their faction to become the most powerful in Rome, but doing so requires them to maintain a balance, which is no easy task. The game requires confrontation and cooperation to succeed, making it particularly challenging to complete.

The average game length for The Republic of Rome is 300 minutes (5 hours), but many sessions have gone on for much longer. For most people, a standard playthrough runs around 10-12 hours. Like many strategy games, more experienced players can play extended gaming sessions.

6 2038: Tycoons Of The Asteroid Belt

While most long-play board games center around recreating battles from long ago, 2038: Tycoons of the Asteroid Belt is all about mining operations… in space! The game is an adaptation of the 18xx series of games, and it’s incredibly complex.

Players explore the asteroid belt to lay claims for various mining resources, which bring in money. The rounds are broken up to make this happen, so expect to trade stocks and move ships from mine to mine. Don’t forget to refuel your ships, or your mining operations will be limited!

Playing through this game (and any 18xx series game) will require an investment in time. You don’t play on a pre-printed map, as it is randomly generated when you set up each playthrough. This randomizes many factors in the game and makes it take an average of 360 minutes (6 hours) to play.

Of course, if you feel so inclined, you can add the Expansion Set, which adds another 240 minutes (4 Hours) of gameplay, and that’s just the average. Most players spend closer to 12 hours playing a single campaign of 2038: Tycoons Of The Asteroid Belt.

5 Paths Of Glory

Most war simulation games that take a lot of time to play center around the second World War, but Paths of Glory covers the Great War, otherwise known as World War I. The game places players into the role of the great rulers and generals who fought the campaigns, and it’s incredibly detailed.

The game comes with 316 die-cut counters, a large map sheet of Europe and the Near East, a 32-page rulebook, and more. Players take control of the monarchs and marshals who fought between 1914 and 1918 across all of Europe. Each side has its advantages and disadvantages, and it’s up to the players to make use of each.

The average gameplay length for Paths of Glory is around 480 minutes (8 hours). Still, it does have a relatively steep learning curve. It will take players quite some time to become comfortable with the game’s nuances, making initial playthroughs into long affairs.

As players become more comfortable with the game, it isn’t rare for a single playthrough to take twice the average length. Some players have spent more than 14 hours playing through a single round, so depending on your play style, it can take days to play through the game.

4 Europe Engulfed: WWII European Theatre Block Game

When it comes to detailed recreations of military combat, Europe Engulfed is one of the most complex. The game took 13 years of design and development to create. Despite featuring a fast-paced playthrough, it’s going to take an average of 720 minutes (12 hours) to play.

The game delves into the military conflict that engulfed Europe and Northern Africa during World War II. It doesn’t focus on a particular campaign — it focuses on all of them. It’s actually only one of two games in a series. Asia Engulfed features a 480-minute playthrough and covers the rest of WWII.

It is possible to limit your playthrough to only one campaign, but you need to play them all for the whole experience. The game’s description on the website puts it clearly enough, “The entire campaign is playable in a single 10-to-14 hour day once players become familiar with its elegant game systems.”

Europe Engulfed comes with dozens of dice and small wooden blocks, which represent units. Playthrough involves strategically moving them about the map while engaging with enemy units. The luck of the die determines the victor in this highly detailed recreation of WWII.

3 Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is one of those games that can be over in a couple of hours, but it can also stretch on for 10+ if things get a little wonky. Of course, the first thing you’ll need to do is set up the board, which takes some time, as it represents WWII in 1942. Once all the players have placed all their infantry, armor, planes, and more on the board, play can begin.

The game’s playtime is listed at around 240 minutes (4 hours), which is a reasonable average for most players. The more you play the game, the faster you can get, but that can also work the other way around. Players often develop specific strategies. When they get good enough, you can sit around playing Axis & Allies for 10 or more hours.

The game is notoriously long for expert players, which is often a point of pride for them. You can find posts on Reddit of people describing games that took days to complete. One post described a 30-round playthrough that took eight hours a day for eight days (64 hours), and that’s just one of many similar posts.

Because it’s been around for more than 40 years, Axis & Allies has been significantly expanded. Some versions involve specific campaigns like Operation OVERLORD and the Pacific Theater. Each of these games has an average of a 4+ hour playthrough, making the franchise one of the longest board game series with the most entries.

2 The Campaign For North Africa—The Desert War 1940-43

When it comes to board games with the most extended average playtimes, the search begins and ends with The Campaign for North Africa. Military strategists don’t spend as much time planning real-world operations as they would sitting around a table playing this game, which can go on for weeks. Yes, weeks.

The game is so intricately detailed, it requires at least eight people just to play it. You can round it out with a couple more to the max of ten, but those folks better be patient because the average playtime is listed as 60,000 minutes. That’s a little more than 41.6 days. If you think that’s bad, it’s the average, and many games go on for much longer.

If you play the game correctly, you can expect to sit through 90,000 minutes of playtime, which equates to 62.5 days. If your gaming group meets once a week for three hours a session, it will take more than 10 years to play the game.

The Campaign for North Africa is so detailed, it is almost unreal. It comes with an incredibly thick rulebook, 1,600 cardboard chits, dozens of charts detailing morale, damage, mechanical failure, and other subjects, along with a 10-foot long map.

1 Monopoly—Longest Game Ever

If you’ve ever sat through an entire game of Monopoly without flipping the table, you know that a standard game can take anywhere from one to three hours. That’s typical for most people, but there have been Monopoly gaming sessions that have lasted much longer. One game stretched on for 70 days, but that’s hardly the norm.

Parker Brothers is well aware that its signature game takes some time to beat. So, the company decided to embrace it with Monopoly—Longest Game Ever in 2019.

The new version features 66 properties, which is three times the amount found in a regular Monopoly game. The rules are vastly different as well, and there is only one die, so no rolling doubles to keep moving. Worst of all, the only way to win is to own all 66 properties.

Declaring bankruptcy isn’t as easy in the Longest Game Ever edition, either. You can tear the bills along a dotted line to use them beyond their initial value, further prolonging the game. The average playtime isn’t listed on the Hasbro site for this game, and it’s unclear if anyone has subjected themselves to the horror it presents. Still, odds are, it can go on for months.

The 10 Most Offensive Board Games Ever Published

For centuries, board games have been a way for people to pass the time, compete, and build memorable moments in their lifetimes. From throwing dice to moving tokens, the simple moves in board games usually wash our memories in nostalgia from just the mention of them. We all have our favorites, games that we’ve played for years. So often, we haven’t looked at the instructions in eons…and that may have been a mistake.

Most board gamers know how to set up their favorite games, get the game going, settle rule disputes, and know the winning conditions. However, many board games are taught to people through verbal telling of the rules, as the rule book tends to get lost in the constant packing and unpacking of the game. That is a shame, as most rule books would tell you how to speed up the game, make it more fun, or let you know that you’ve been downright doing something wrong all these years. So, with that in mind, we’ll explore 10 board game rules you probably didn’t know.

Related: Top 10 Best Board Games Of All Time

10 Free Parking Is Really Free Parking

Monopoly has been a family-favorite staple in living rooms for over a century. It is the source of countless hours of fun and more than its fair share of anguish. Most people agree this classic board game is one that you must dedicate time to playing in one session. Monopoly clocks in at over three hours for game play. But the extra long time may be your fault.

Ask most people about the Free Parking space, and they’ll tell you it’s a favorite spot to land, usually netting money from taxes collected, jail fees, and other sources of funding. But the Free Parking space is just that, a free space. According to “The Rules of Monopoly,” Free Parking is nothing more than a worry-free space to land on. All that extra money being paid out means extra chances to play when landing on a property, which logs in added time in the game. Leave the money off Free Parking, and you can watch your game time go down to about 60-90 minutes.^[1]

9 You Only Have To Draw One Card in Uno

Draw 2, Draw 4, Skip, and Reverse! Most people enjoy dropping those consequence cards on their fellow players in Uno. But there’s no worse feeling than being close to Uno as the player before you drops a card you can’t match. The possibility of drawing up to a substantial number always looms when you get close to the end, causing some games to go on for hours.

But hold your horses! Thanks to a post from Uno’s Facebook, when a player does not have a matching color or number in hand, they only have to draw one card. They don’t have to draw until they match. Most house rule players have omitted this time-saving rule, but playing with the official rules can significantly cut your game time.^[2]

8 You Can Be Anywhere To Win Clue

You figured it out! You know Professor Plum is the killer. He used the wrench. He did it in the kitchen. Only problem: your game piece is in the Billiard room, and Col. Mustard is blocking the closest door. It will take many rolls of the dice to cross the game board and make it over there so you can confidently share your accusation…or is it?

“The rules of Clue” state that you have to be in the room you are making the suggestion in when collecting clues. However, to make your Final Accusation, you can be in ANY room. So instead of having to roll your way across the board, hop into the closest room, point the finger, and let justice prevail…as long as you’re correct.^[3]

7 You Can Fire Multiple Times in Battleship

B4, Miss. C6. Hit! There’s nothing more fun than trying to use strategy and luck to sink your opponent’s naval fleet in the classic board game Battleship. Turn after turn of nailing down exactly where those ships are hiding and that feeling of satisfaction when you find your opponent’s hard-to-find battleship. But the one shot per turn firing can leave the pace dragging.

Milton Bradley realized this and included the rules from the original 1937 version of the game called Salvo. In the Salvo version, a player fired one time for each remailing ship their opponent had. So, on your turn, a player could fire 5 times. Sink an enemy ship? Now you’re shooting 4 times. This multi-round rule allows for quicker gameplay and more nail-biting fun when you get down to one shot per turn.^[4]

6 In the Game of LIFE, You Can Steal From Retirees

Racing down the highway of life, collecting pegs to extend your family, and striving to retire at Millionaire Estates, one spin of the wheel at a time. The Game of LIFE is treasured for its ease of learning but dreaded for its hours of replay. It can be fun when you get a session of six players, but resources tend to be slim.

There are 25 LIFE tokens in the box, giving you end-game rewards to try to put you over the top. Once all 25 tokens are gone, the LIFE token space usually is only a free space, right? According to “The Rules for The Game of LIFE,” if a player has retired to Millionaire Estates and there are no more LIFE tokens available, their LIFE tokens are now up for grabs. Not a fan of having your LIFE tokens on the chopping block? Retire to the quieter Countryside Acres for the trade-off of not being in the running for the other players awaiting Life Tokens.^[5]

5 You Can Use a Yahtzee Anywhere in Yahtzee

For over 60 years, friends, family, and frenemies have gathered around five dice to try to outscore everyone to become the winner of Yahtzee. Using roll outcomes like poker hands, people roll the dice to score the most points. What makes Yahtzee dangerous is how many times you can use a roll outcome. Let’s say on one turn you end up with 5-5-5-5-1. Do you use that outcome to fill out the 5s category? Or maybe four of a kind? Once you take the points on one category, you’re locked out of using it again…except for one outcome.

When you roll a Yahtzee, you get 50 points and fill in one of the most challenging lines on your scorecard. But what happens if you get another Yahtzee? Well, according to “The rules of Yahtzee,” you get an additional 100 points, but you can place it anywhere, as long as the corresponding numbers category has already been filled. Remember the roll from before? Let’s say you put it in the 5s category. Next turn, you roll all 5s, but you already had a Yahtzee earlier. You can now use that Yahtzee to fill in any other category for the points. You can even use it to fill in the other number categories, although it gives you zero points for that number because none of the numbers match. ^[6]

4 You Can TWERK in Scrabble

It is not advised you bust out your best dance moves while playing this classic crossword builder game, but TWERKING is now a legal Scrabble word.

When most players take on opponents in Scrabble, they use a trusted source for word verification—the dictionary. The thick book of definitions is the final word of truth for verification. Nope, not really! While the dictionary is a fantastic tool, the average person doesn’t update their reference books. As a result, a dictionary can be sitting on a shelf for years before being used, not accounting for changes in our language.

Well, the good people at Scrabble fixed this issue with the official Scrabble players dictionary. This online tool is updated annually, adding hundreds of words at a time as our vocabulary grows. Got a BIT in your hand, and someone played COIN? Add those tiles for a digital currency that can be a pretty high-scoring word. Want to play EW or OK? Go for it! Scrabble’s new edition gives you more ways to win. So now you finally get your chance to TWERK and make it count.^[7]

3 Not Everyone Wins in Jenga

It’s down to the wire. Every piece you touch is wobbly, precariously sitting on a skeleton of a frame, and you have to make a move. You examine and recognize it. A piece of wood that could be your salvation. You tap it. It looks like it will move. You commit. You pull the piece in one smooth motion and breathe a sigh of relief, only to watch tens of wooden blocks come crashing down to the delight of everyone else in the room as they exclaim, “Jenga!”

The block stacking party game has been a favorite among people who want to determine how dexterous and nimble they are. It’s a terrific game for groups, as several people can huddle around the tower and take turns until the tower falls. Many usually celebrate when the tower falls for all the players, but that celebration may want to be tapered down to only one person.

According to the official rules of Jenga, the winner of the game is the last person to successfully pull a Jenga block from the tower and stack it at the top, not the group. So, even though it’s a multiplayer game and multiple people didn’t knock over the tower, there is only one true winner of a Jenga game.^[8]

2 Sometimes It Pays To Botch the Surgery in Operation

The classic board game of surgical removal of a patient who is awake the whole time is a test of reflexes and nerves. Use the tweezers to pull out the part indicated on the card and don’t touch the sides, else you’ll turn the patient’s nose red and lose your chance of making money.

In the game of Operation, you are dealt out a specialty card before the game. This card makes you a Specialist for a certain surgery. For a short while, you may be the world’s foremost expert in Charlie Horse extraction. The benefit of the Specialist card is that when another player fails at a surgery, you are a Specialist. You then get to undertake the surgery and get paid a premium.

There may come a time when you draw an operation you are a specialist in. “The rules of Operation” do not state you only get one chance. They state once a doctor operates and fails, the specialist is brought in. This means that you could purposely fail the operation the first time, only to immediately get a second chance—at a higher rate of pay. In real life, this would lead to a malpractice case, but on a board game, it’s a pretty savvy way to make a quick payday.^[9]

1 The Last Can Be First in Scattergories

Scattergories is a fast-paced word game that tests your thinking skills and creativity. Only 60 seconds to fill in categories with the letter determined from a roll of the die.

Let’s say you’re in the middle of a game. The die has been rolled. The letter is K, and you’re stuck on your first Scattergory: “Fictional Famous People.” Sure, you know many people with last names starting with K, but you’re blanking on a first name. What to do?

Don’t panic. One of the most forgotten tools of Scattergories is using the comma. According to the official rules of Scattergories, you can use the comma to list the last name of a person first. So instead of Captain James T. Kirk getting you no points, Kirk, James would get you a point in the category.^[10]

It’s no secret that board games can be addictive. There’s something about gathering around the table with friends and family, working together to achieve a common goal, or trying to be the last one standing that just makes for a good time.

While most games are fun, some board games have developed cult-like followings, with a fan base that is borderline obsessive. Here are 10 of the most popular board games with fans who fall more in line with devoted priests than players.

Related: 10 Ancient Board Games That Inspired Modern Games

10 Munchkin

This irreverent card game is all about pillaging and looting your way to victory. With easy-to-learn rules, Munchkin has become one of the most popular board games in the world. It really is as simple as 1-2-3. Kick the door down, then fight the monster or loot the room.

It’s a fantastic way to spend time with your friends whether your group plays just for the fun of it or gets a little too competitive. Backstabbing and betrayal can happen at any moment, so you’ll need to keep your wits about you if you want to come out on top.

Munchkin has spawned a number of expansions and spin-offs, including Munchkin Zombies. There’s almost a version for anyone, even one for Harry Potter fans. So gather your friends and start kicking down doors.

9 Clue

Clue has been around for decades. The objective of the game is to solve a murder, and it’s up to you and your fellow players to figure out the who, where, and what. There’s no mystery why this game has so many devoted fans.

People love the macabre, and it can’t get much worse than murder. Internet detectives, true crime fanatics, even nosey neighbors love playing Clue.

Each player starts the game with their own cards, giving them clues about the murder. Then they have to complete their investigation without letting the other players be in the know. The first person to correctly solve the case wins!

If that seems too simple for the amateur sleuth in you, switch it up by trying adding one of these rule variants.

• Players are allowed to lie.
• Players need to come up with alibis based on cards that aren’t in their hands.
• Allow evidence to be lost for two turns.
• Designate two detectives; they try and solve the crime as everyone else tries to convince them they are innocent.

8 Monopoly

You wouldn’t think watching your friends slowly bankrupt you with fake money would be so stressful, but it is. I personally know a couple who broke up because of Monopoly. The game is that intense.

Based on the real-life effects of capitalism, Monopoly has players compete to be the richest by buying and selling property. The game has been around for over a hundred years, and its popularity is still growing.

There are tons of different versions of Monopoly. Purists can play the classic version. Or, if you want to switch it up, you can play themed versions like Super Mario, Cheaters Edition, or Monopoly Deal. Each version comes with slightly different rules, but the strategy is the same: Become the richest person in the room by any means necessary.

7 Zombicide

Aladdin isn’t the only one who can face a galloping horde. In Zombicide, up to six players team up to survive a zombie apocalypse. The rules are simple, but the gameplay is intense. And because no two games are the same, this board game has quickly become a fan favorite.

You could be fighting off zombies in a shopping mall one minute, then the next, you’re holed up in an office building. Each game is a new adventure, and the possibilities are endless. There are also several different versions and expansions of the game so you can fight orcs, zombies, ghosts, or werewolves.

There’s also the satisfaction of watching your friends turn into zombies. The only downside is that there’s always one player who gets bitten, and you have to watch them turn before killing them yourself. It’s brutal, but it makes for a great game night experience.

6 King of Tokyo

In King of Tokyo, players take on the role of giant monsters fighting for control of Tokyo. The game is simple, but there’s a lot of strategy involved. And with different versions and expansions, there’s always something new to try.

The basic objective of the game is to be the first monster to either reach 20 victory points or be the last monster standing. Players can gain victory points by either destroying buildings, defeating other monsters, or landing on specific spaces.

Each turn, players can choose one of three actions: attack, heal, or rampage. Attacking allows you to damage other monsters or destroy buildings, while healing lets you restore your health. Rampaging gives you extra abilities but also makes you a target for other players.

Do you think that you are capable of ruling Tokyo?

5 Dominion

Dominion is a deck-building game where players compete to have the most valuable deck of cards. It has been around for over a decade and has won several awards. Like most of the games on this list, the game is fairly simple to learn, but there’s a lot of strategy involved if you want to master it.

Players start with a basic deck of cards then use those cards to buy new ones. The new cards are used to buy even more cards and so on. The goal is to have the most valuable deck of cards at the end.

But the catch is that each game is different. The available cards are randomized, so you never know what you’re going to get. This makes for a lot of replay value and keeps the game fresh. Dominion is a great way to spend time with friends or family without things becoming too competitive.

4 Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a tile-laying game where players build up a medieval landscape. The game is easy to learn and can be played with two to five players. Because it is so simple, it’s also a great gateway game.

Players start with a hand of tiles then take turns placing them down. Each tile has different features like roads, fields, or cities. Once all the tiles are placed, players take turns scoring points by claiming features with their meeples. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

What makes Carcassonne so great is that it’s a different experience every time you play. You never know which tiles are going to be available and where they’re going to fit in. This leads to some interesting and unique landscapes.

3 Pandemic

Pandemic was popular before the actual Covid pandemic hit the world’s pause button. But it really took off in the first few months of that real-life pandemic. People were throwing pandemic parties faster than they could spread Covid.

In Pandemic, players work together to save the world from four deadly diseases. The game is simple to learn but can be quite challenging. In fact, most games end in failure. But that’s part of the fun. Trying to save the world from a pandemic is a daunting task, and it’s one that’s made even more fun when you’re playing with friends.

Players start in one of four cities then travel to other cities in an effort to find a cure. The goal is to find all four cures before the diseases spread too far. Each player has a unique role that gives them different abilities. For example, the medic can heal diseases while the scientist can develop cures. The game is cooperative, so players have to work together if they want to win.

2 Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is a railroad-building game where players compete to build the best railway network. The game is simple to learn but can be quite challenging. It’s also one of the most popular games out there, with over 20 million copies sold.

Players start by drawing train cards and then placing their game pieces on the board in such a way that they create a continuous path from one city to another. The goal is to score the most points by the end of the game. You can score points by completing routes, connecting cities, or avoiding obstacles. There are also bonus points up for grab if you have the longest continuous route.

Ticket to Ride is a great game for people who love trains or people who like relaxed gameplay leaving plenty of time for talking and snacking.

1 Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan is another board game that has been around for years. And with over 30 million copies sold, it’s one of the most popular games ever made. What makes Settlers so popular is that it’s a gateway game for people who want to get into board games. It’s simple to learn but can be quite challenging. It’s also a great game for people who want to play with friends.

The game is set on the fictional island of Catan, and players must compete to build the best settlement. Players start with nothing, but by the end of the game, they have to build a thriving settlement if they want to win.

The goal of the game is to score the most points by collecting resources, building settlements, and developing roads and cities. The player who scores the most points wins the game.