Best board games for adults 2024: complex, enthralling games for the enthusiasts

The best board games for adults will offer gaming experiences for more mature audiences, breaking the assumption that the medium is only aimed at younger audiences. We've compiled our top picks which cover a variety of genres and can be played by multiple players, so no matter how many guests you're trying to entertain - we've got a game for you. 

While we'll touch upon choices that could easily be considered among the best board games outright, this list includes more complicated titles and scenarios that are not necessarily family-friendly or geared toward a younger audience. That means themes of war, political instability, and other topics which isn't exactly inviting to the youngsters. 

We've also rounded up all the best card games for a more compact experience as well as the best board games for two people if you prefer playing in pairs. With that said, the best digital board games could also be of interest, especially if you're considering playing long-distance, too.

Quick list

The best board games for adults 2024

Best overall board game for adults

Wingspan is a phenomenon when it comes to the best board games for adults. A medium-heavy title by a first-time designer that’s gone on to sell well over a million copies, a number unheard of for a game of this ilk. The secrets of its success are twofold. First, rather than the humdrum or actively violent themes that tend to prosper among hobby gamers, Wingspan casts players in the widely appealing role of environmentalists building bird sanctuaries. Second, while the learning curve is a little steep, the game rapidly reveals itself as being enormously satisfying and addictive.

Your sanctuary consists of three environments from which you collect resources like food or eggs, getting more of each as you fill it with birds. But to fill it with birds, you need the resources. It’s a common design setup, but it’s done brilliantly here and, given the theme, can rightly be seen as a chicken-and-egg problem. The range of birds is colossal and many of them have special powers to activate, helping you to build your collection on the way to bigger and better birds. It’s a dynamic, shifting, competitive puzzle that’s guaranteed to take flight on your tabletop.

Best for adult board game for four players

If you do want something a bit more in the realms of active violence when it comes to picking the best board games for adults, you can keep the wide appeal by having the players represent clans of animals in a fictional woodland realm. That’s the setup for Root, but what really makes it special is the way that each of the game’s four factions plays in a completely different way. 

The Maquis de Cat plays the kind of conquest game you’re used to, gathering resources to build armies. The bird clans of the Eyrie aren’t so dependent on resources but have to program their turns via strict criteria. The oppressed peasantry of the Woodland Alliance gain support as other factions steal their territory and stage guerilla uprisings. Finally, the Vagabond is a lone character who searches for treasure and aids or attacks other factions as they see fit.

The result is a strategically fascinating web of interdependencies and rivalries, where your slowly accumulating successes feel like they’re built on sand. One false move and your whole game can come crashing down. Each faction feels entirely different to play, giving the game huge replay value. And despite the cutesy theme, there’s a deadly serious simulation of real-world power structures under the surface.

Best for adult board game for two players

Speaking of simulations, this re-creation of the Cold War on your table looks pretty daunting with its rulebook of numbered paragraphs. But if you take the time to get to grips with it - or play the tutorial in the excellent digital version - you’ll find a highbrow game of stunning nuance. One player represents the US and the other the USSR, playing cards to advance their influence across a point-to-point map of the world. But the threat of nuclear war is ever present, and should one side trigger it, they automatically lose.

All the cards also represent historical events in the conflict, keyed to one side or the other. If you play an opponent’s card, you can still use it to spread influence, but your opponent gets the event effect. This makes every card play of every hand a complex affair of constant firefighting as you struggle to advance your own goals while attempting to minimise the impact of your enemy’s effects. Your opponent is struggling with the same and every card play comes as a surprise, kicking the strategic puzzle into a new formation. Not only is this a brilliant board game for adults, but you’ll learn a lot of fascinating history, too.

Best party board game for adults

After three pretty demanding games in a row, Wavelength proves that simple games don’t just have to be for kids and that party games don’t just have to be for comedy. One player spins the cool dial gizmo that comes in the box to get a random point on a scale and draws a card that states two polarities, like round-pointy or dark-light, for example. They then have to give a clue to help their teammates work out where on the scale the random point ended up.

While this is simple enough for family play and can be very enjoyable that way, there’s an incredible amount of nuance in a lot of these scales that younger players won’t pick up on. And some of the scales verge into adult territory, with things like democracy vs dictatorship or guilty pleasure vs openly love. The potential for discussion over scales like this tipping into some fascinating social territory alongside the fun of the educated-guessing game is obvious, but even the tamest clues can provoke engaging or hilarious debates. A party board game for adults that’s sure to please almost any crowd, this really should be on your wavelength.

Best licensed board game for adults

Whether you’re a long-term fan of the Dune franchise or someone who’s been sucked into it by the recent movie revival, Dune: Imperium is sure to whet your thirst for spice. It might not be the most thematic representation of Herbert’s creation - that would be a game known simply as Dune - but it’s the most coherent and strategically rewarding. Players take the role of noble houses, vying for position in the sci-fi aristocracy. Their resources and followers are represented by a deck of cards that starts small and simple, but which players build during the game until it becomes a formidable powerhouse.

Cards are played to send your limited number of agents onto board spaces to accrue resources, cards, and troops or to curry favour with non-noble factions like the Spacing Guild. Competition for critical spaces in intense, but the game has a clever innovation to display when you run out of agents. Your remaining cards can then be played for a different effect, making each duel-use and giving you more decision points during your turn. A brilliant board game for adults.

Best comedy board game for adults

Rather than the kid’s game about ducks that you might have been expecting, this is actually a board game for adults that's about con men pedalling fake medicine. A variety of ingredients are available to throw into your dangerous and unstable potion, and you can buy ones you like the look of and put them into your ingredients bag. When it’s time to brew, you draw them out, count their value out along your potion track and apply any special effects. You’re trying to get as far along that track as you can, but beware: your ingredients also include “cherry bombs”, and if you draw too many of those, your brew will be ruined.

While this calculated game of push-your-luck would be fun enough on its own, what really makes it shine are the variable effects of the different ingredients. For instance, in the introductory set, red mushrooms will get you additional spaces based on the number of orange pumpkins you’ve drawn. But if you want to mix it up, they could be placed in reserve for later use or give bonus moves to white cherry bombs instead. This makes every play a different strategic and tactical challenge, as well as an exciting rummage in your mysterious bag of toxic and mystical ingredients.

Best cooperative board game for adults

If you’re tired of the typical themes presented by most board games for adults, Spirit Island could be the antidote. It’s a cooperative game where players represent mystical nature spirits, working together to protect the native population of an island and drive away a force of colonial invaders. There’s a big selection of spirits to choose from, from gods of seas and rivers all the way to the sinister bringer of dreams and nightmares, each with their own unique set of powers to use against the colonisers.

While the settlers explore, ravage, and blight the land, you’re busy trying to scare them through a combination of direct effects on the landscape and more subtle psychological suggestions. It’s a complex game but, once learned, a hugely varied and rewarding one with each spirit bringing a new challenge which, once mastered, can be further challenged by using different scenarios, maps, or blight effects. Victory demands that you figure out ways to get the spirit powers and cards unique to each game and spirit to work together for the best effect, helping to give the game a real sense of cooperation.

FAQs

How we made our best board games for adults list

Much like with our top board games list, we selected these titles because they are both critically and commercial successful while representing a very wide range of play styles, mechanics and themes. Dune: Imperium, for example, utilises the very popular and demanding worker placement and deck building mechanics while also being a great example of bringing a popular licenced franchise to the tabletop. Rather than picking the most accessible games, we’ve chosen ones that may require a little more investment of time and effort to get to the table, but that will really reward you with thrilling experiences in return.