# 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?

*By YPB Team · Published July 13, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-18-best-board-games-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Chess** — score 1000/1000
   The timeless two-player game of pure strategy dating back roughly 1,500 years.
2. **Catan** — score 744/1000
   The 1995 resource-trading classic that launched the modern board game boom and is still a gateway favorite.
3. **Monopoly** — score 609/1000
   The iconic 1935 property-trading game that is a household name worldwide.
4. **Ticket to Ride** — score 546/1000
   The accessible 2004 railway route-building game that became a global bestseller.
5. **Scythe** — score 546/1000
   The 2016 engine-building and area-control game set in an alternate-history 1920s Europe.
6. **Carcassonne** — score 473/1000
   The 2000 tile-laying game of building medieval landscapes with meeples.
7. **Clue** — score 473/1000
   The 1949 murder-mystery deduction game set in a mansion, also known as Cluedo.
8. **Codenames** — score 473/1000
   The 2015 word-association party game of spies and one-word clues.
9. **7 Wonders** — score 473/1000
   The 2010 card-drafting civilization game played over three fast-moving ages.
10. **Dominion** — score 387/1000
   The 2008 game that invented the deck-building genre.
11. **Pandemic** — score 284/1000
   The 2008 cooperative game where players team up to stop global disease outbreaks.
12. **Wingspan** — score 284/1000
   The gorgeous 2019 engine-building game about attracting birds to your wildlife preserve.
13. **Azul** — score 284/1000
   The 2017 abstract tile-drafting game of decorating a Portuguese palace with azulejos.
14. **Scrabble** — score 284/1000
   The classic 1948 tile-based crossword game beloved by word lovers.
15. **Risk** — score 284/1000
   The 1957 game of global domination and army-vs-army conquest.
16. **Terraforming Mars** — score 284/1000
   The 2016 heavy strategy game about corporations making the red planet habitable.
17. **Gloomhaven** — score 284/1000
   The sprawling 2017 legacy dungeon-crawler that topped hobbyist rankings for years.
18. **Splendor** — score 158/1000
   The 2014 gem-trading engine builder prized for its elegant simplicity.

Tags: strategy, classics, board games, tabletop