The best board games we played in 2024

The world of board gaming enjoyed a bit of a respite in 2024. Supply chain issues and shipping costs stabilized for the most part, giving developers and publishers an increased feeling of certainty… up to a point. Meanwhile, both direct-to-retail and crowdfunded projects remained strong, with plenty of new and interesting games making their way to the marketplace. That sense of relative peace helped clear space for eager players to do what they do best — build community around the table.

To celebrate the year in tabletop, Polygon asked dozens of writers, designers, YouTubers, actors, and personalities from around the world of board gaming to tell us which games stood out to them this year — even if they weren’t released in 2024. Here are the best games we played this year.

My mother has always been obsessed with Sherlock Holmes. One shelf in our house was dedicated to every original story, plus shelf after shelf of Sherlock books written by other authors. And in the midst of these well-worn paperbacks was a board game, 221B Baker Street. Usually family game nights were dedicated to our own variation on the game Dictionary, where instead of trying to make plausible definitions, we just tried to crack each other up with silly ones. But occasionally, we would haul out 221B Baker Street and set everything up. The game was magical for me as a kid. Everything about it looked antique, and I loved how the storyline was different every time we played.

My mom’s love of fiction taught me what a written world could give people, but this game was part of what taught me that a written world is not just something to passively read but also mine to create and change. I haven’t played this game since I was a teen and have no idea if it would hold up, but on a recent trip to San Luis Obispo, I was pleasantly surprised to see that familiar box sitting on the shelf of a toy store, still for sale. I snapped a picture and sent it to my mom and sister, so they could have that unexpected moment of memory too.

My son randomly picked Ark Nova off the shelf at our local game store. It’s a complex strategy game where players compete to build the best zoo. The only trouble is, we don’t usually play complex strategy games. I was daunted by the multi-hour playtime and 20-page main manual (yes, there’s more than one manual) and kept putting off actually playing with him.

This is me eating crow.

Yes, it took over our dining table, and yes, we had to eat breakfast at the kitchen counter because our first game ran over to the next day. But we got the hang of it pretty quickly, and now I’m looking at getting a proper gaming table so sessions don’t compete with meals, and watching YouTube strategy videos so I can finally beat a 12-year-old.

This autumn I was introduced to Captain Flip and it quickly became a game I play on Board Game Arena daily! It’s incredibly easy to learn and teach with easy-to-read tiles and clear, simple objectives. Captain Flip shines as a pre-game night filler, asynchronous turn-based play, or family fun. Variable boards keep the gameplay fresh, and Jonathan Aucomte’s art really enhances the theme. Shiver me timbers — who can resist a great pirate game?!

Words fail me. I crush the sprawling constellation of thoughts and feelings in my brain and heart into them over and over again. I make music because it contains both a directness and ambiguity language lacks. It says everything while saying precisely nothing at all.

City of Six Moons also speaks wordlessly. Yet, as we spend time together, we slowly discover one another. I guess at how to decipher its alien glyphs. I move pieces around, playing at playing the game. Sometimes, in a bolt of inspiration, something clicks. More often, I stare at it, trying to glean its meaning.

I go through its motions, aiming not to win, but to understand. In return, it gives the joy of discovery, of doing for doing’s sake, a joy easily overlooked in pursuit of victory. Like music, it’s direct, ambiguous, and powerfully wordless.

One of the games that really captivated me this year is Confusing Lands. As a game designer, I’m always intrigued by games that provide strategic depth and replayability in a small package. With just 18 cards, Confusing Lands presents players with tough and meaningful decisions on every turn. It is elegant and streamlined, while still delivering a fun narrative as each player crafts their own confusing land. Each game I play I get better and better, but I still feel called to get it back on the table to see if I can create the perfect Confusing Land.

One of my favorite games of 2024 is Creature Caravan from Ryan Laukat at Red Raven Games. I love the tableau-building, dice-placement puzzle as you traverse across a map simultaneously with up to six players — it’s one that I’ve played multiple times since receiving my Kickstarter copy.

[Ed. note: The standard edition of Creature Caravan seats up to four players, while the deluxe version sold via the game’s original crowdfunding campaign accommodates up to six. An expansion, titled Wanderers, must be purchased alongside the standard game. Check back with the publisher, Red Raven Games, for more information.]

In 1987, baby Charlie walked over to a garage sale behind his house and came back with three unique and powerful totems that would literally change his life. The first was a still-functioning manual typewriter, which I used to write my first story – about spaceships and stowaway aliens. There was a 1965 Boy Scout handbook, which I used to teach myself how to get properly lost in the woods. And there was a battered copy of the original Crossbows and Catapults, which I used to make a mess on the kitchen floor.

This year Restoration Games gave me specifically, and no one else, a very memorable Christmas present by reintroducing the classic dexterity-based game with a new edition called Crossbows & Catapults: Fortress War, and I can’t be more grateful. Sharing this loud, creative, magical game with my kids has been an absolute dream. If you’re looking for an experience that could put a crack in the armor of even the grumpiest grognard in your life, look no further.

My board gaming group and family are always on the lookout for great cooperative board games. This year, we were introduced to Daybreak, a game centered on overcoming global warming. At first, I was a bit hesitant about the theme, but I was immediately intrigued by the mechanics. The game offers a compelling combination of building a personal engine for your country and working together to achieve shared global goals. I also found the unique challenges faced by different countries fascinating, which made me eager to play as various nations. We ended up playing it twice on the first night and have returned to it multiple times since — a rarity for our group, as we’re usually exploring new games.

One aspect of Daybreak that I particularly appreciate is its success avoiding the common “alpha player” problem found in many cooperative games, where one person dictates everyone else’s moves. Instead, the engine you build for your country (or countries) is uniquely your own, and the game’s complexity makes it nearly impossible for any single player to keep track of everything. This design encourages true collaboration and meaningful cooperation.

I highly recommend Daybreak to all board gamers, especially groups and families who enjoy cooperative gameplay. It’s a standout addition to any collection!

This may be surprising coming from someone who doesn’t drink, but my favorite board game in 2024 was Distilled from indie publisher Paverson Games.

At first Distilled appears to be a typical “Euro” — buy ingredients, recipes, and upgrades, then use them to make liquor you can sell for immediate points and money, or can sometimes age, forgoing income now in favor of more points later.

But what makes the game shine is a delicious push-your-luck element based on the real-life process of distillation, during which the bad-tasting “heads” and “tails” of the liquor must be discarded. Did I include enough fruit sugar to end up with brandy or did I only make vodka? Oh well, at least I had a skull-shaped bottle to sell it in. My game group loved the edge-of-your-seat excitement.

Side bonus: The production values are out of this world and the game comes with an amazingly great organizer.

Paul Dennen’s Dune: Imperium was already one of my favorite board games, but stand-alone sequel Dune: Imperium - Uprising manages to improve on practically every aspect of the original. It’s best with four players who can make strategic uses of the game’s conflicts to control areas of Arrakis with their armies and sandworms — and the game absolutely nails the flavor of the series. You need to think carefully about how to deploy your agents and spies, figuring out the best moves each turn while also avoiding thinking too far ahead and missing the importance of fighting tooth and nail for the present objective. I’m eager to see how next year’s expansion will change things up even though I still don’t feel like I’ve mastered all of the game’s strategies.

It’s a deck builder that makes other deck builders avert their eyes — think Star Realms’ tatted-up, chain-smoking older sibling. Simple to learn, but with a point system that can conjure the greatest of comebacks. Whether you’re attacking with a Limp Wand, avoiding becoming a Dingler, or marveling over the excessively NSFW art style, this game has something for… well, not “everyone,” but at least lovely weirdos like me.

I’m a big fan of mystery stories, and a really big fan of immersive games that really transport you to another world. I’d heard about Final Girl when it came out back in 2021, but only picked it up this year. And wow, was I missing out!!

Similar to the game’s theming, its gameplay was also absolutely brutal; it was many, many plays before I was finally able to defeat the killer (though with a twist-worthy ending worthy of an ’80s slasher film). This may be a solo board game, but its narrative and mechanics worked together to keep me totally on edge for nearly the entire game. What a blast.

A bunch of us were introduced to Flip 7 at Spiel Essen in Germany this year, and I was hooked instantly. I’ve taken to describing it as “party blackjack” to my friends, and as a short, enjoyable game to pull out while traveling or pressed for time, it quickly entered my standard rotation. Egging other players into drawing cards shouldn’t be this much fun, but it was uproariously hilarious every round.

As a lifelong Halo fan and tabletop gamer, I was instantly drawn to Halo: Flashpoint. But even without the theme, Mantic has delivered an impressive game that bridges miniatures wargames and tactical board games. It offers the depth and hobby potential of the former with the accessibility of the latter — no assembly required (though I’m painting my models). The streamlined grid-based movement, simple list-building, and dynamic respawn system make it exciting and easy to pick up. With “exploding” combat dice and plenty of strategy, it truly feels like an arena deathmatch with super soldiers. I’m excited to see what’s next in 2025!

2024 has been a quieter year for me in the board game scene. Some longtime friends and I recently concluded a 20-plus-year campaign of Pendragon, finally covering the entirety of King Arthur’s reign. With many weekends dedicated to other TTRPGs — ranging from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Star Wars and White Wolf’s Scion — my board gaming moments were mostly spent with family. Among those experiences, one game stood out this year.

Harmonies, designed by Johan Benvenuto, illustrated by Maëva Da Silva, and published by Libellud, is a delightful, family-friendly game. For a world-builder like me, it offers an evocative and immersive experience. Players create ecosystems that become populated by diverse fauna while navigating the competition, tension, and strain imposed by neighboring biomes. The game masterfully balances its vibrant, colorful, and poetic essence with an abstract, almost puzzle-like aspect — all without sacrificing its strategic depth.

One of my favorite games of the last year is Heat: Pedal to the Metal by Days of Wonder. It uses deck-building mechanics to create a new way of playing a car-racing game. Each turn you get to play a number of cards equal to the gear your car is in. Going too fast causes the car to overheat, which adds heat cards to your hand that clog it up. It’s very clever and feels very thematic.

I also really appreciate Heat’s rules for slipstreaming and adrenaline that allow players that have fallen behind to get back into the race, and the rules that allow players to customize their car at the start of a race so that each car performs differently. All in all it is a wonderful game that I always enjoy playing.

2024 has been such a fascinating year. I would have put down a hefty bet that Arcs: Conflict & Collapse in the Reach would end up as my most beloved game of the year, but I would have lost that money. Maladum: Dungeons of Enveron is simply too enthralling. It’s nearly the perfect dungeon crawler for my tastes, featuring a core system influenced by the extraction shooter genre that is wholly engrossing and unique in the board game medium. The sleek yet rich gameplay builds upon its predecessor, Core Space, but retains its central simplicity that layers atop modules and expansive content.

While the moment-to-moment action of Maladum is tense in its own right, the experience is beautifully tied together with long-term campaign play. All of it retains the creative spirit that harkens back to the origins of the tabletop hobby, offering you tools to modify or adapt play to your whims. It doesn’t hurt that the game looks gorgeous as well.

At first glance, Hey, That’s My Fish! appears to be for young kids, but it’s a surprisingly brilliant design that has been a hit with everyone I’ve introduced it to. What seems like a cute game about penguins quickly becomes a cutthroat battle to capture ice floes full of fish. This area-control game is a great way to get people who are new to tabletop games hooked — it’s simple enough for folks to feel competent on their first playthrough and requires enough strategizing to be fun for each replay. It’s easy to teach, fast to play, and my go-to game to bring to parties.

If you’re looking for a fun wargame you can play with younger kids, this is it. Evoking a TV commercial from a Saturday morning cartoon, Necromolds: Monster Battles hits a sweet spot between ’90s toys and grimdark wargames.

Take on the role of a sorcerer commanding a squad of tiny putty minions! Build your army by hand-pressing Play-Doh monsters using a plastic spellbook! When a monster dies, squish them with a plastic ring! Rules are simple: take turns rolling special dice, moving, attacking, and casting spells. Kickstarted in 2022 (with a reprint and expansion in 2024), there are a fair amount of supplementary options available now.

The charming aesthetic, tactile experience, and snappy gameplay were a hit with my kids, aged 5 and 9.

Originally designed by Richard Garfield, Netunner is the struggle for power in a cyber-noir future. The vivid stories on the cards weaved with the game’s tense mechanics: The constantly surveilled hacker must play in the open, while the secretive corp lays all their plans face down. Desperate dives on protected servers snatch victory from the jaws of daring bluff plays and lethal traps. What’s a cool new program when the corp can launch missiles at you from orbit? And all in a pay-what-you-want format.

[Ed. note: Android: Netrunner was originally published by Fantasy Flight Games, and utilizes intellectual property owned by R. Talsorian Games. The original game is currently out of print, but it is maintained by Null Signal Games, a nonprofit Polygon profiled in 2022. Its Netrunner-compatible starter set, called System Gateway: Remastered Edition, is currently available for purchase.]

On the Edge is a trading card game where players take on the role of a shadowy conspirator struggling to control the fictitious Mediterranean island of Al Amarja (pronounced “AHL-uh-MAR-huh”) in this game of surreal conspiracies based on the Over the Edge role-playing game. The cards represent the resources, characters, and gear you manipulate in your struggle to gain Influence on the island and win the game. Condition, environmental, and “whammy” cards buff your cards and thwart the actions of your opponents. The grid-based playing area adds to the strategy, making where you play cards almost as important as what you play.

Three to five players (each with their own deck) make for the most compelling gameplay. On the Edge recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and is available directly from Atlas Games. For $30, you get five starter decks and a booster box of the Standard Version — more than enough cards to get you and your friends manipulating and assassinating each other on your path to domination.

Though I’ve been a longtime fan of the GMT’s COIN (Counter-Insurgency) series, I would have never expected one of these games to take my pick for my favorite game of the year. That mostly has to do with my bad habits as a player — those games demand and reward focus and repeat play. Usually, I just don’t have time to explore them properly. However, this year’s entry, Red Dust Rebellion, designed by Jarrod Carmichael, has got ahold of my brain and just refuses to let go.

The setup seems like classic COIN fare: There’s a government and there’s a group of upstart insurgents playing the usual popularity contest. But the game sharply departs from the rest of the series in the design of the other factions, a shadowy syndicate of corporations and a bizarre anti-terraforming cult. Really, that’s just the start, though. Red Dust Rebellion features several core system improvements (including dust storms, flashpoints, and a mobile population system) as well as a wonderfully designed and tense starting situation. The result is what might be the best COIN game in years. While I’m not sure if it’s the ideal entry point for the series, I have used it to introduce several new players. I think it represents a real achievement both for Carmichael as a new designer, as well as GMT’s crack team of in-house developers and editors.

Is it a bad thing if the best new board game I tried this year is a video game? For what it’s worth, I hadn’t played Slay the Spire in digital form before getting to experience its roguelike vertical dungeon crawl, team dynamics, and oddball 2D monsters in board game form, so it was all new and addictive to me. The physical game reproduces the video game’s art, characters, and mechanics faithfully, apart from some necessary scaling and mechanical tweaks. (No one wants to track small, incremental damage on a 3,000-hit-point monster in a board game.) But getting to play it in person as a co-op experience makes the game feel a lot more strategic, and opens up engaging new collaborative options. By the time I tried the video game, it felt lonely by comparison.

I am terribly enamored with The Gang, a cooperative version of Texas Hold ’em poker, where the rounds of betting are replaced with the players’ constrained attempts to order their hands from worst to best. It teaches in less than two minutes and plays in less than 10, making “just one more hand” an easy enticement.

It’s no wonder I’m drawn to it: Poker was one of my first true gaming loves. As a kid, I played five-card draw at my grandmother’s kitchen table with decks so beat up from shuffling they’d sometimes develop a permanent crease down the center. With its focus on ranking the concealed hands together rather than beating each other, the cooperative spin in The Gang calls back to those low-stakes summer afternoons. It’s a quick, satisfying puzzle, and its use of familiar poker hands lets me introduce it to players outside the hobby, too.

I’ve always enjoyed Ticket to Ride when I’ve played it, and I’ve played a lot of Ticket to Ride in its various forms and expansions over the years. So when I heard about Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West, I was intrigued as to what the legacy format would bring to the table. After playing through the entire campaign, I have to say it was easily one of my favorite board gaming experiences this year.

The game is constantly rewarding you for filling out objectives, and every time you unlock a new piece of the map, the game not only expands but throws fun and engaging surprises at you. Each region of the United States brings its own flavor and minigame, and I was always excited to see what was next. The legacy game truly feels like a culmination of the best parts of all the versions of Ticket to Ride over the years, plus plenty of brand-new concepts that make you look at the game in a completely different way. If you’re a fan of Ticket to Ride, this is a must-play.

For me it’s pretty simple: I’ve been working on Valheim: The Board Game for most of the year, but my other favorite tabletop game of 2024 is actually something quite different: TIME Stories. Not a new game, but very simple to set up and enjoy with the family when I need to relax — that is, until my youngest son, our history buff, utterly destroys me in the game, of course.