The 18 Best Board Games of All Time

Timeless family staples share the table with modern hobbyist heavyweights, from quick party fillers to sprawling all-night campaigns. Which one earns the top spot?

1. 1
   Chess

   The timeless two-player game of pure strategy dating back roughly 1,500 years.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Catan

   The 1995 resource-trading classic that launched the modern board game boom and is still a gateway favorite.
   744pts
3. 3
   Monopoly

   The iconic 1935 property-trading game that is a household name worldwide.
   609pts
4. 4
   Ticket to Ride

   The accessible 2004 railway route-building game that became a global bestseller.
   546pts
5. 5
   Scythe

   The 2016 engine-building and area-control game set in an alternate-history 1920s Europe.
   546pts
6. 6
   Carcassonne

   The 2000 tile-laying game of building medieval landscapes with meeples.
   473pts
7. 7
   Clue

   The 1949 murder-mystery deduction game set in a mansion, also known as Cluedo.
   473pts
8. 8
   Codenames

   The 2015 word-association party game of spies and one-word clues.
   473pts
9. 9
   7 Wonders

   The 2010 card-drafting civilization game played over three fast-moving ages.
   473pts
10. 10
    Dominion

    The 2008 game that invented the deck-building genre.
    387pts
11. 11
    Pandemic

    The 2008 cooperative game where players team up to stop global disease outbreaks.
    284pts
12. 12
    Wingspan

    The gorgeous 2019 engine-building game about attracting birds to your wildlife preserve.
    284pts
13. 13
    Azul

    The 2017 abstract tile-drafting game of decorating a Portuguese palace with azulejos.
    284pts
14. 14
    Scrabble

    The classic 1948 tile-based crossword game beloved by word lovers.
    284pts
15. 15
    Risk

    The 1957 game of global domination and army-vs-army conquest.
    284pts
16. 16
    Terraforming Mars

    The 2016 heavy strategy game about corporations making the red planet habitable.
    284pts
17. 17
    Gloomhaven

    The sprawling 2017 legacy dungeon-crawler that topped hobbyist rankings for years.
    284pts
18. 18
    Splendor

    The 2014 gem-trading engine builder prized for its elegant simplicity.
    158pts