Thousands of new board games are released every year. Here is a list of some best board games in 2024. These are the games that we play a lot on our gaming nights, whether you’re searching for something with intricate storyline collaboration, advanced strategy, or just something that looks and feels lovely. Please leave a remark if you don’t find one of your favorites so we can add it to our collection. Let’s discuss some best board games in 2024.
Small World
Like a Middle-earth-themed Risk game you could play in the time it takes to rewatch all the Lord of the Rings films. Small World features elves, dwarves, halflings, and other species in an area-control game. It’s a lot like that.
It took about 40 minutes to set up the game for the first time because it comes with several boards and a lot of small pieces. But once Small World starts, it’s easy to get into the idea, and each time you play, it’s a little different because of the different ways you can mix fantasy races and powers.
There are different game boards for Small World, so it can be played by two or five people. There are now a few versions with slightly different art and tone. For example, Small World: Underground is a bit darker, and Small World of Warcraft lets you go to Azeroth instead of the Shire.
Skyrise
In Skyrise, players are fighting to build a city that can float in the sky, which may seem like an impossible task. In the new board game, players take on the role of competing inventors and build different buildings on top of a floating platform in order to gain as much reputation as possible.
There are several ways to gain prestige. Players can build a tower on the floating island by putting bids on the building spots there. Players will have to bid a certain amount on each space on the island, so they need to be smart about which places to buy. Players can make buildings that are short, medium, or tall. The taller buildings give players more status.
Skyrise takes place in two different times. At the start of the second era, players will be able to choose their own unique wonder card, which, when built, will give them different powers based on the card type.
In theory, this could help players reach their secret goal, which would give them more respect. The winner is the player with the most respect at the end of the second age. The imaginative theme and simple gameplay loop of Skyrise make it a game that all types of players can enjoy.
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
The first Gloomhaven and its sequel, Frosthaven, raised over a million dollars on Kickstarter and became board game favourites. The best thing about them was that they combined tough dungeon fighting with a long-running story campaign. If you had a few hundred hours and pounds to spend on them, they were great.
For everyone else, there was Jaws of the Lion, the spinoff that took all the good parts of the original games and got rid of all the bad ones, leaving a great, easy-to-play adventure game that made our list of the best board games.
Each player has a character whose skills and powers are shown by a different deck of cards. Each part of the card has a different effect, and there is a number in the middle. You play them with a partner and get an ability from each half. You pick a number to decide when to move. As you get tired from exploring the dungeon and facing monsters, your deck slowly runs out.
It’s always fun to try to figure out which set of effects will work best with the different traps and horrors that you face in each scenario. It’s also fun to spend loot and improve your deck between tasks.
City of the Living
Once again, the crew behind Nightmare Productions has returned with another Knizia re-implementation in City of the Living (published as Prosperity in its initial edition in 2013). In this updated version, players must rebuild society in a post-apocalyptic world while fending off zombie invasions, whereas in the previous version, players had to balance global prosperity against looming pollution. In any case, I’m eager to learn more about this economic game that Reiner Knizia co-designed.
Captain Flip
Captain Flip, the inaugural release from PlayPunk, a new publisher, has a talented staff leading them. Paolo Mori (Ethnos, Libertalia, Dogs of War, Blitzkrieg) and Remo Conzadori (3 Ring Circus, Rise) designed the game. The company is founded by Antoine Bauza (designer of 7 Wonders, Hanabi, Takenoko, Ghost Stories) and Thomas Provoost (co-founder of Repos Production, known for publishing many of Bauza’s most famous works). With Captain Flip’s background and the idea of making snap judgements based on luck, I’m all for this family-friendly filler.