Continue if you are looking for games like Santorini and are curious about what similar games to play next. You are constructing multi-level buildings on the glorious island and the first player to reach a certain level wins. You have only two things to do each turn, move a builder and build up. How you move along the grid and make building choices will decide everything.
To determine this list we broke down Santorini to what it is. Santorini is an abstract strategy game that is very much a showdown. Everything you do is based on what your opponent does and knowing when to be offensive and when to be defensive is key. It has a nice touch of theme and a whimsical aspect in its god variable player powers. If you are looking for something similar, you have come to the right place. We took all this into consideration and came up with this list of the 5 board games like Santorini.
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#05 | Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends
Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends makes the list of games like Santorini because it is an abstract strategy game that follows some of the same grid movement mechanics. Instead of raising up buildings in Greece, you are cleverly deploying minions and creating magical patterns.
Players take turns placing their common pieces on the board, and if they succeed in creating patterns depicted on one of the cards in hand, they may play it. When played, the card summons a particular being triggering an effect (ie giant destroys, knight moves, warlord commands, enchantress converts). Once summoned, beings become board pieces that can now be used in future patterns. For 2 – 4 players, games last 30 – 45 minutes.
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#04 | The Duke
The Duke makes the list of games like Santorini because this is ultimately a showdown between two people playing off of each other. Whoever things the long term timing out will be the ultimate winner. You are either pushing forward or you are protecting the investments you already made.
Each tile side represents a different posture (offensive or defensive) and shows what the piece can do within the turn. At the end of a move, a tile is flipped showing something brand new. Knowing this, you move around, and depending on who you move where, you can strike your opponent in interesting and possibly devastating ways. For 2 players, games run about 30 minutes.
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#03 | Yinsh
Yinsh makes the list of games like Santorini because the way you need to get 3 rings off the board is a similar journey to how you need to reach tower level 3 in Santorini. When to be offensive and when to be defensive based on what your opponent is doing informs the whole strategy in a similar way in both games. This is absolutely themeless and has no player powers but similar movement and mechanics.
Players each start with five rings on the board. Every time a ring is moved, it leaves a marker. Markers are white on one side and black on the other. When markers are jumped over by a ring they must be flipped, constantly changing their color. The players must try to form a row of five markers with their own color face up. If a player succeeds in doing so, they remove a ring. The first player to remove three of his rings wins the game. For 2 players, games last 30 – 60 minutes.
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#02 | Onitama
Onitama makes the list of games like Santorini because it is a perfect information abstract game with a random starting set-up on a very cramped communal board. You have to use the small board to your advantage and this gets incredibly difficult as time marches forward.
Each player has two open cards that each display a possible move for any of his pieces. On a player’s turn, they choose a card, move a piece based on that, then replaces it with a card that the other play just used. Moving onto one of the opponent’s pawns removes that pawn from the game. Taking the opponent’s main pawn, or moving your main pawn into your opponent’s main pawn’s starting space, wins you the game. For 2 players, games run 15 – 20 minutes.
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#01 | Hive
Hive takes the top spot on the list of games like Santorini because if the mix of variable player power pieces and the mono e mono showdown style of the gameplay. Hive is like a combination of Go and Chess and the same can be said about the very similar Santorini.
The object of the game is to totally surround your opponent’s Queen Bee whilst at the same time trying to stop your opponent from doing the same to you. The pieces surrounding the Queen Bee can be made up of a mixture of both your pieces and your opponent’s. The first player to surround their opponent’s Queen Bee Wins. For 2 players, games go for about 20 minutes.
