These are the best board games of 2018. You remember that year, Prince Harry married an American actress, it’s Yanny V. Laurel, Beyoncé headlined Coachella, a Yodeling kid become a sensation, Tide Pods are used for things other than laundry, Roseanne is canceled, Black Panther dominates, Toys R Us closes, the first female doctor hit the who and Cardi B threw a shoe at Nicki Minaj. It was a glorious year and that was no different in the board game community. Below please find the best board games of 2018.
SEE BEST BOARD GAMES OF OTHER YEARS:
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010
OR SEE THE: Best Board Games Of The Decade 2010 – 2020
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#20 | Thunderstone Quest
Just making the list of the best board games of 2019 is Thunderstone Quest. Thunderstone is a fantasy deck-building game. Each player starts with a basic deck of cards that they can use to purchase or upgrade to, other, more powerful cards. Thunderstone Quest brings new play modes to the table. The game will tell a specific story with a series of pre-set dungeon tiles, monsters, heroes and support cards.
FOR MORE: Buy Thunderstone Quest on Amazon
#19 | Gùgōng
Another tight one just making the list of the best board games of 2018 is Gùgōng. Players take on the role of powerful Chinese families trying to gain influence and power by exchanging gifts with Officials. The gift cards you offer as a player have to be of a higher value than the one you receive, forcing you to make strategic choices regarding which actions you want to take each turn. You will travel around China, sail down the Grand Canal, purchase precious jade, help construct the Great Wall, secure advantages through decrees, influence the game through intrigue, and ultimately, receive an audience with the emperor.
FOR MORE: Buy Gugong on Amazon
#18 | Western Legends
Western Legends is an open-world sandbox tabletop adventure for 2-6 players set in the American Wild West. This game is fresh and though just making the tail end, a great addition to the list of the best board games of 2018. Players assume the roles of historical figures of the era, earning their legendary status in a variety of ways: gamble, drive cattle, the prospect for gold, rob the bank, fight bandits, pursue stories, become an outlaw, keep the peace.
FOR MORE: Buy Western Legends on Amazon
#17 | Gizmos
In Gizmos, you want to build engines — engines within the game to get things done faster. Using the four types of energy marbles, plucked from the 3D marble dispenser, you purchase and construct new additions to your works. As you build, new attachments can trigger chain reactions, letting you do even more on your turn. Whoever builds the greatest machine and collects the most victory points wins! This game grows in popularity as time goes on and will be one of the timeless games on the list of the best board games of 2018.
FOR MORE: Games Like Gizmos | Buy Gizmos on Amazon
#16 | Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
We normally would not add follow-ups to the list of the best boar games of 2018 but this one was special enough to warrant it. Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra challenges players to carefully select glass panes to complete their windows while being careful not to damage or waste supplies in the process. The window panels are double-sided, providing players with a dynamic player board that affords nearly infinite variability!
FOR MORE: Buy Azul Stained Glass of Sintra on Amazon
#15 | KeyForge: Call of the Archons
Designed by Richard Garfield, this game has probably the most famous game designer of titles included in the best board games of 2018. KeyForge: Call of the Archons is the world’s first Unique Deck Game. Every single Archon Deck that you’ll use to play is truly unique and one-of-a kind, with its own Archon and its own mixture of cards in the deck. If you pick up an Archon Deck, you know that you’re the only person in existence with access to this exact deck and its distinct combination of cards. In fact, in just the first set of KeyForge: Call of the Archons, there are more than 104 quadrillion possible decks!
FOR MORE: Buy Keyforge on Amazon
#14 | Coimbra
Coimbra introduces an innovative new dice mechanism in which the dice players draft each round are used in multiple different ways and have an impact on many aspects of their decision making. While there are many paths to victory, players should always seek to optimize their opportunities with every roll of the dice. Combined with ever-changing synergies of the citizens, expeditions, and monasteries, no two games of Coimbra will ever be the same! A slam dunk for the list of the best board games of 2018.
FOR MORE: Games Like Coimbra | Buy Coimbra on Amazon
#13 | That’s Pretty Clever (aka Ganz Schön Clever)
Choose your dice well in Ganz schön clever (that’s pretty clever) to enter them into the matching colored area, put together tricky chain-scoring opportunities, and rack up the points. The dice you don’t use are as important as what you do because every die that’s smaller than the chosen one can be used by the other players, keeping everyone in the game at all times. This German game and easy addition to the list of the best board games of 2018 is very loved and already spawned a sequel that is equally amazing.
FOR MORE: That’s Pretty Clever Page | Games Like That’s Pretty Clever | Buy That’s Pretty Clever on Amazon
#12 | The Quacks of Quedlinburg
In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, players are charlatans — or quack doctors — each making their own secret brew by adding ingredients one at a time. Take care of what you add, though, for a pinch too much of this or that will spoil the whole mixture! Each player has their own bag of ingredient chips. During each round, they simultaneously draw chips and add them to their pot. The higher the face value of the drawn chip, the further it is placed in the swirling pattern. If you like to press you luck, this entry into the list of the best board games of 2018 is for you.
FOR MORE: The Quacks of Quedlinburg Page | Games Like The Quacks of Quedlinburg | Buy The Quacks of Quedlinburg on Amazon
#11 | Everdell
In the dead center of our list of the best board games of 2018 is Everdell. Within the charming valley of Everdell, beneath the boughs of towering trees, among meandering streams and mossy hollows, a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding. From Everfrost to Bellsong, many a year have come and gone, but the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities established. You will be the leader of a group of critters intent on just such a task. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself.
FOR MORE: Games Like Everdell | Buy Everdell on Amazon
#10 | Decrypto
Players compete in two teams in Decrypto, with each trying to correctly interpret the coded messages presented to them by their teammates while cracking the codes they intercept from the opposing team. Each team has their own screen, and in this screen, they tuck four cards in pockets numbered 1-4, letting everyone on the same team see the words on these cards while hiding the words from the opposing team.
FOR MORE: Games Like Decrypto | Buy Decrypto on Amazon
#09 | Endeavor: Age of Sail
In Endeavor: Age of Sail, players strive to earn glory for their empires. Sailing out from Europe and the Mediterranean, players will establish shipping routes and occupy cities the world over. As they do so, players will leverage their growing industry, culture, finance, and Influence, building their engine and extending their reach into the far-flung regions of the world.
FOR MORE: Buy Endeavor Age of Sail on Amazon
#08 | Welcome To
Welcome To… plays like a roll-and-write dice game in which you mark results on a score-sheet…but without dice. Instead, you flip cards from three piles to make three different action sets with both a house number and a corresponding action from which everyone chooses one. Through building neighborhoods and using actions, you race to get the highest point score. Set in 1950s American suburbia, Welcome To has one of the better themes of games on the list of the best board games of 2018.
FOR MORE: Welcome To Page | How To Play Welcome To | Welcome To Review | Games Like Welcome To | Buy Welcome To on Amazon
#07 | Chronicles of Crime
Chronicles of Crime is a cooperative game of crime investigation, mixing an app, a board game and a touch of Virtual Reality. With the same physical components (board, locations, characters and items), players will be able to play plenty of different scenarios and solve as many different crime stories. Using the Scan&Play technology, each component (locations, characters, items, etc.) has a unique QR code, which activates different clues and stories.
FOR MORE: Buy Chronicles of Crime on Amazon
#06 | Architects of the West Kingdom
Architects of the West Kingdom is set at the end of the Carolingian Empire, circa 850 AD. As royal architects, players compete to impress their King and maintain their noble status by constructing various landmarks throughout his newly appointed domain. Players need to collect raw materials, hire apprentices, and keep a watchful eye on their workforce.
FOR MORE: Architects of the West Kingdom Page | Games Like Architects of the West Kingdom | Buy Architects of the West Kingdom on Amazon
#05 | Teotihuacan: City of Gods
In Teotihuacan: City of Gods, each player commands a force of worker dice, which grows in strength with every move. On your turn, you move a worker around a modular board, always choosing one of two areas of the location tile you land on: one offering you an action (and a worker upgrade), the other providing you with a powerful bonus (but without an upgrade).
FOR MORE: Buy Teotihuacan City of Gods on Amazon
#04 | The Mind
The Mind is more than just a game. It’s an experiment, a journey, a team experience in which you can’t exchange information, yet will become one to defeat all the levels of the game. the deck contains cards numbered 1-100, and during the game you try to complete 12, 10, or 8 levels of play with 2, 3, or 4 players. It is an interesting game of puzzles and communication.
FOR MORE: The Mind Page | Games Like The Mind | Buy The Mind
#03 | Rising Sun
Rising Sun is a board game for 3 to 5 players set in legendary feudal Japan. As the Kami descend from the heavens to reshape the land in their image, it is up to each player to lead their clan to victory. Use politics to further your cause, negotiate to seek the most profitable alliances, worship the Kami to gain their favor, recruit monsters out of legend to bolster your forces, and use your resources wisely to be victorious in battle.
FOR MORE: Rising Sun Page | Games Like Rising Sun | Buy Rising Sun on Amazon
#02 | Root
The runner up on the list of the best board games of 2018 goes to a nature-based one. Root is a game of adventure and war in which 2 to 4 players battle for control of a vast wilderness. The game represents the next step in our development of asymmetric design. Like Vast: The Crystal Caverns, each player in Root has unique capabilities and a different victory condition. Now, with the aid of gorgeous, multi-use cards, a truly asymmetric design has never been more accessible.
FOR MORE: Root Page | Games Like Root | Buy Root on Amazon
#01 | Brass: Birmingham
The top spot on the list of the best board games of 2018 goes to Brass: Birmingham. Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game sequel to Martin Wallace’s 2007 masterpiece, Brass. Birmingham tells the story of competing entrepreneurs in the city during the industrial revolution, between the years of 1770-1870. As in its predecessor, you must develop, build, and establish your industries and network, in an effort to exploit low or high market demands.
FOR MORE: Games Like Brass Birmingham | Buy Brass Birmingham on Amazon
SEE BEST BOARD GAMES OF OTHER YEARS:
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010
OR SEE THE: Best Board Games Of The Decade 2010 – 2020
