Not everyone is willing to dedicate an entire day to the preparation, set up, and play of bigger tabletops along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. Instead, some just want some good board games that can be played after dinner or during parties.
Thankfully, the love for tabletop games hasn't diminished in the internet era. There are countless classics waiting to be played with more and more coming out every year. Rich with great art and stories, some feature competitive rules pitting players against each other, while others are much more relaxing to play with some company.
10 Play Tricks As The Fox In The Forest
The Fox in the Forest is a simply beautiful card game meant for two players, though it does have an expansion where up to four can be squeezed in. The point of the game is to play tricks to finish the game with not too many and not too few points. Too few and the other player will win; too many and the player is considered greedy and will finish with no points at all.
Thus, players each have to decide their own strategy: try to force the other player to earn too many points, or make sure they have more than their opponent. It's a simple matching game with a nice twist, a ton of pretty artwork, and fascinating story-building opportunities to make it a great time.
9 Take To The Skies With Wingspan
Wingspan is both a relaxing and competitive game with detailed art and facts about real birds. The point is to attract all sorts of birds to the players' space, releasing a chain of actions that will allow for more movements that attract different kinds of birds.
The most appealing part about this game is that it can be played alone or in groups of up to five, and it has some beautiful expansions to add even more birds to the card pool.
8 Feed From The Sun In Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is an interesting game where the goal is to grow the tallest trees, complete with gorgeous little pop-up models so little is left to the imagination. Each tree is trying to get the most sunlight and their placements matter. Shadows from larger trees could slow opponents down, but the sun moves, and therefore so do shadows.
Photosynthesis demands a lot more strategy than would be expected from a game about trees, and despite the fact it's supposed to be competitive, it always feels really relaxing.
7 Explore The Gorgeous World Of Everdell
The first thing to note about Everdell's game board is that it is multi-leveled. The board includes a giant tree that houses important cards, and the pieces are all shaped in particular ways. The art is gorgeous and the gameplay is simple to understand, even if it looks a bit intimidating at first.
Everdell is another gorgeous game that can be played alone, which is something many other tabletop games really lack. It also does well in small groups of up to four players, making for a nice game to play with a few friends or family members.
6 Become The Settlers Of Catan
Within The Settlers of Catan, each player represents a group of people trying to settle an island, develop their cities, and establish the most prosperous civilization. Settlements and cities are placed on the vertices of each hexagonal tile, giving access to anywhere from one to three resources at a time. There's a lot of strategizing involved, as well as a whole lot of luck to roll the numbers needed to give the player the edge against their opponents.
The board itself is not perfectly set, guaranteeing a lot of replayability. There are also many expansions and alternate games to add, customize, and try out to suit the preferred playstyles of the group.
5 Collect Tasty Treats In Morels
A card game for two players, Morels is a strategy-based game where each player is trying to collect mushrooms to use for cooking and for selling, with a variety of aspects changing throughout the game. The size of the hand is determined by the other cards that the player has, which is a unique twist to the common card game style of play.
One of the best parts about Morels is that it relies heavily on the story that plays out on the cards themselves, ensuring that the game will never be played the same way more than once.
4 Win A Princess's Hand In Love Letter
A card game for those who love sleuthing, risk, and luck, Love Letter revolves around a whole group of people trying to win the heart of a princess. The problem is that she cannot be reached directly, since she locked herself away; thus, love letters need to be sent to her.
It's a surprisingly cutthroat game where the competition is trying to get rid of their rivals' cards and letters so that only theirs make it to the princess. More powerful cards give an early edge but put up a obvious target, while relying on weak cards for too long might allow everyone else to get too far ahead to be stopped.
3 Team Up To Save The Forbidden Island
Those who love to play games with their friends and family in a way that won't drive rifts through the group should take a look at Forbidden Island. It's a gorgeously illustrated cooperative game where the players unite to prevent the island from sinking and becoming unusable.
Each character has their own abilities, and the game itself has multiple levels of difficulty and proposed layouts to extend its replayability. While it can go up to a group of five, it recommends up to four players within the rules as written.
2 Lead The Ancient World In 7 Wonders
Either choose or be randomly assigned an ancient civilization in 7 Worlds to try and build up a wonder that will transcend the ages. It takes place across three ages, going from left to right to left in the passing and using of cards. The point is for each player to develop their cards; some grant immediate effects while others take some time. It is built for groups of three to seven, though it does include a rule variation for those wanting to play with only one other person.
1 Survive: Escape From Atlantis! Challenges Players To Flee The City Before It Breaks Up
A classic cutthroat game, Survive: Escape from Atlantis! is a game full of hazards placed upon players by the sinking island and competitors trying to take their most valuable pieces. Originally printed as just Survive, it returned as Survive: Escape from Atlantis! in 2010 and includes both parts of the original Survive and the Escape from Atlantis! expansion set.
The dolphins and dive dice pieces were removed in the 30th Anniversary edition in 2013, but there is a mini-expansion that includes them for those who own the base game and want it. However, the fact that the island will never be the same makes the base game have its own level of replayability — with or without the dolphins and the dives.