The 15 Best Board Games for Adults in 2023

To have fun, spend time with the family or challenge each other with friends, board games for adults have proven to be inexhaustible classics. In addition, many new games with various themes and topics appear every year to satisfy the fans. So, if you are looking for interesting ideas for your game libraries, discover the best board games for adults through this guide.

Since the pandemic, board games have enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in interest among young adults. As of 2019, France is one of the major consumers in the world, with nearly 20 million copies sold. Franchises such as Monopoly, Cluedo, Trivial Pursuit and their numerous variants are added to the plethora of new games that appear on store shelves every day.

It must be said that publishers are redoubling their imagination and creativity to offer quality board games for adults. Thinking games, strategy games, cooperative games and even board games, there is something for every mood. Find the boxes with which to spend unique moments with your loved ones in our guide to the 15 best board games for adults.

What are the 15 best board games for adults ?

It was difficult to choose only fifteen from the long list of good board games to play with two people, family or friends. For this guide, the criteria were the time it took to learn the rules, the average length of the games, the variety of the strategic palette and the re-playability of the games. Here are the 15 adult board games that made a strong impression:

  • Juduku
  • Kingdomino
  • DIMOI
  • Dixit
  • Adventurers of the Railroad
  • Code Names
  • 7 Wonders
  • Azul
  • Carcassonne
  • Concept
  • Mr Jack
  • Catan
  • Pandemic
  • Top Ten
  • Jaipur

1-    Juduku Board Game

Reveal the worst thoughts of your friends and family on a spicy evening with this board game for adults. Juduku is a game that mixes edge and fun in a compact format with which to spend unique moments of laughter. Let yourself be carried away with this game of aperitif in a good atmosphere with its more than 400 cards with subjects as varied as fun. Politics, geography, naughty questions and more will help you break the ice with new friends.

Game concept

There is no question of using any knowledge of general culture or anything else with Juduku. Draw a card and answer correctly in less than 8 seconds to the question written on it. The questions are rather simple, but are mostly offbeat to keep the atmosphere fun. Special cards also complete the picture with the traditional action/truth. Don’t get sucked into this game if you’re not ready to reveal any juicy details about yourself.

Game parameters

  • Number of players: 3-8 players
  • Average length of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 14 years old and over.

2-  Kingdomino Board Game

Set up your kingdom, hunt for crowns and win your games in Kingdomino. This Spiel des Jahres winner and Golden Ace 2017 nominee board game takes you on exhilarating adventures. Easy-to-learn rules and a clearly outlined strategy section set the pace for your games in a family-friendly atmosphere. Kingdomino is an innovative tile-based strategy game in many ways that will make you spend unforgettable moments with your loved ones.

Game concept

Dominoes with a highly clever scoring system are the basis of the adult board game Kingdomino. The goal is to compose a kingdom in a 5 by 5 grid. Juxtapose tiles to form areas of the same type. These areas will be valued according to the number of crowns they get. Enter into a fierce battle with the other players to determine who will have the most crowns at the end of the game.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-4 players
  • Average length of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 8 years old and over.

3- DIMOI Board Game

How to get to know each other with a board game for adults while having a fun and friendly time? That’s the problem DIMOI is designed to solve. DIMOI offers you the opportunity to break the ice on relatively off-piste subjects with a game of cards to play with your friends and family during a cocktail party. You will find a variety of topics and themes on the cards that will keep the replayability of the DIMOI game at a high level.

Concept of the Game

144 original and daring questions to discover each other with friends. 4 categories to diversify the range of topics to explore in the lives of players. “Connections”, “Crunch”, “Authentic” and “Off-track” which bring together carefully designed questions. In the form of an original card game, discover and rediscover your loved ones with thought, emotion and laughter.

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Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-10 players
  • Average length of a game: 30-90 minutes
  • Minimum age requirement: 16 years and older.

4- Dixit Board Game

board games

Dixit is a strategic board game that leads you to reanimate your imagination. This game puts aside its strategy aspect to emphasize immersive and fun with very easily assimilated rules. At the right border between the cerebral and the emotional, Dixit lulls you with a poetic note that has made it so successful over the years. Indeed, this board game for adults was awarded the Golden Ace prize in France in 2009 and in 2019 the German Spiel des Jahres.

Board game Concept

A player or a narrator will choose a card among those of his hand in the secret and then say a word or an expression for clue that describes it. Then, the others must each choose a picture card that most closely matches what has been said. The goal is to get your hands on the card of the original player or the narrator in the flock of proposals. All this in a special atmosphere with a marked poetic side.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 3-8 players
  • Average length of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age requirement: 8 years and older.

 

5- The Rail adventurers

Explore Europe or the USA in colorful cars in the classic train game, Railroaders. Now recognized as a reference of the genre, the game won the Spiel des Jahres award in Germany and the As d’Or award in France in 2004. It is available in several versions, some of which are lighter on American cities. However, the basic version is still the most fun.

Board game Concept

Players must place cars to connect destinations on their objective cards and travel on the map of Europe or the United States (depending on the version). On each turn, each player in the game has the option of placing cars against colored cards, picking cards or drawing new objectives to aim for. The possible routes on the map are the same for everyone, it is necessary to use strategy to avoid collisions with other players.

The Board games parameters

  • Number of players: 2-5 players
  • Average length of a game: 30-60 minutes
  • Minimum age requirement: 8 years and older.

6- Code Names

Compete in epic duels with friends and family to see which team can find their word group the fastest. Use your imagination, knowledge, and interpretation skills to be the best at Code Names. Easy to learn, the board game has taken advantage of its formula to offer an interesting and addictive concept.

Board game Concept

Two teams, one blue and one red, 25 words on the table among four hundred others and clues. The basis of the board game Code Names is quite easy to understand. Indeed, you have here a collaborative game in which the two teams compete to the one who will find his set of words to become faster than the other. A master spy per team allows to link the words with the help of a card with the combination of words to be detected to guide his partners in the game.

Game parameters

  • Number of players: 4-8 players or more.
  • Average length of a game: 15 minutes
  • Minimum age requirement: 12 years and older.

7- 7 Wonders Board Game

Bring an ancient city to life with two or more in the strategy board game for adults, 7 Wonders. This game was awarded the Kennerspiel des Jahres, the prize for expert games in Germany and the As d’Or Expert in France in 2011. Indeed, 7 Wonders breaks with the traditional length of civilization board games to to offer a compact format that has succeeded and continues to appeal to enthusiasts. In addition, this strategy game brings freshness and inventiveness to spend an excellent time in good company.

Board game Concept

Building a civilization in an ancient context via the mechanics of drafting is the main objective of the 7 Wonders adult board game. You will try to create an environment conducive to development by launching the construction of new buildings. You are entitled to a combination of cards with which actions come to help achieve your goals. Develop an economy from scratch with limited resources to build the ancient wonder the game is named after. Build while protecting from the attacks of your neighbors.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-7 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 10 years and over.

8- Azul Board Game

board games

Azul urges you to let yourself be immersed in the board game for adults with an abstract character in an atmosphere of Portuguese earthenware. Halfway between yet another tile-sharing game and an original strategy game, Azul is an almost artistic journey to 16th century Portugal . Such a pronounced strategic component necessarily involves reflection that marries perfectly with its sought-after aesthetic. This notably earned him the As d’Or and Spiel des Jahres awards in 2018. You can play this game online boradgamearena

Board game Concept

Tiles with various patterns to choose from to fill your grid and complete your earthenware before any other player are found on a display. Non-select tiles return to the center of the game to offer new options and new combinations to other players. Also use random pickaxes to reach your goal before your opponents to win the game.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-4 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30-45 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 8 years and over.
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9- Carcassonne Board Game

Immerse yourself in medieval times by building a city on a tiled background. Try to be on your guard, because the more your territories are valued, the more the enemies prowl. You too, set out to conquer valuable land and expand your city in Carcassonne. Negotiations, exchanges as well as alliances of circumstances punctuate the game at a frantic pace. Play it with family or friends, the rules are easy to understand. Carcassonne has to its credit the prestigious Spiel des Jahres prize in 2001.

Board game Concept

Tiles to draw at each turn to make a hand. Then it is a matter of the player laying down the tiles from his hand to complete the landscape forming on the table. The tiles represent cities, roads, fields as well as abbeys. Players build their cities on the same space, but colored pawns help with scoring. Aim for attractive areas by negotiating or trading with other players.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-5 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30-45 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 7 years and over.

10- Concept

Concept is slightly more original than most boxes in this ranking. Use your imagination which will be accompanied by a little reflection to be the champion. Concept is a game of atmosphere in all respects to help you spend evenings punctuated by laughter and good humor. It easily adapts to different audiences while maintaining its originality.

Concept of the game

A highly required sense of deduction, Concept puts your neurons to the test in good humor and relaxed moments to share with loved ones. This adult board game invites you to explore the limits of your imagination. Use the symbols on the board to guess the words and expressions with atmosphere. Above all, do not use speech, this is the key to the Concept game.

The Board games parameters

  • Number of players: 2-5 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30-45 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 7 years and over.

11- Mr Jack Board Games

Chase the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper through the streets of London with the Mr Jack board game. Crazy race against the clock, search the evidence and traces to flush out the culprit before they escape once and for all. Strategy, deduction and guaranteed laughs with the adult board game Mr Jack.

Concept of the game

Each player in Mr Jack has a different goal than the other players. The Mr Jack player must succeed in evading the investigators by cleverly hiding under the identity of another player. The investigator’s objective is to uncover the real identity and arrest him before dawn. The board game requires successive deductions by gradually placing players in the shadows or in the light.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-8 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 8 years and over.

12- Catan

Expand your colony on the fictional island of Catania to defeat opposing players in the conquest game training Catan. Settle on the island using your resources in order to have the largest colony in the game. Earn victory points gradually to reach the level decided for the game. Its first version dates from 1995 to reach 32 million copies sold in 2020.

Board game Concept

Players establish their settlements on the desert island of Catania by building there using resource cards. Two six-sided dice act as a regulator to determine each turn which hex produces resources. Cards are dealt according to the result of the dice roll. These cards are used to develop the different colonies on the board. Development cards are also present and can be acquired by exchanging those of resources.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 3-4 players
  • Average duration of a game: 60-120 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 8 years and over.

13- Pandemic Board Game

board games

Although it dates back to 2008, the Pandemic or Pandemic game is more relevant today than ever. One of the best adult board games takes you on a cooperative adventure that’s great for family time. Curb a virus that is rampant in the world by finding solutions and remedies to eradicate it permanently. Here, everyone is part of the same to complete this fun mission of moderate complexity. Pandemie offers you rules that are easy to assimilate.

Concept of the board game

 Roles to choose in the greatest chance, four diseases to eradicate before the spread and exceptional cooperative play in Pandemic. You have 48 world cities on one map, two decks of cards (player action cards and infection cards), four times 24 color cubes, six research stations, and a pawn for each player. The Pandemic board game requires clear player collaboration with coordinated card sharing and movement to find the cures needed to end the disease.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2-5 players
  • Average duration of a game: 60-120 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 8 years and over.

14- Top Ten

Top Ten is an atmospheric table game that works wonders with nice little moments between loved ones. Imagination and wacky responses will make you laugh out loud during the games. To do this, Top Ten takes you on far-fetched guesses on offbeat themes.

Concept of the board game

It’s about drawing a number between 1 and 10 to keep secret at each turn. Then, a theme designated and read to the assembly so that all the players can respond to it. Answers should match the chosen number from least useful (1) to most useful (10). Finally, a player has the objective of putting all the answers in order to make his team win. The goal is to reach the highest score despite more or less complex themes with a lot of finesse.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 4-9 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 14 years and over.

15- Jaipur Board Games

Jaipur is one of those simple and quick tactical board games to share in the evening or as an aperitif. Become the king of trading and risk taking by figuring out how to sell in the moment. Although luck plays a relatively important role as a generator of chance, Jaipur still appeals to your sense of strategy.

Concept of the game

Buy or sell goods to earn victory points. The best sellers from the start of the game quickly see their sales valued. But the longer you wait, the more likely you are to sell lots that are rewarded with specific tokens. There is no right formula to win the game, you have to adapt to your opponent’s card draw and strategy.

Game settings

  • Number of players: 2 players
  • Average duration of a game: 30 minutes
  • Minimum age required: 12 years and over.

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