10 min read
Five years ago, if you told me I’d be spending more Friday nights playing board games than video games, I would have laughed. I’ve been a gamer since the SNES era. I’ve put thousands of hours into RPGs, shooters, and strategy games. Board games were something I associated with rainy-day Monopoly sessions and family arguments over Scrabble tiles.
Then a friend brought “Wingspan” to a dinner party. Two hours later, I was researching board game stores in my area. A month after that, I had a shelf dedicated to tabletop games. Now I have two shelves. The progression from curious newcomer to dedicated hobbyist happened fast, and I’m far from alone.
The modern board game industry is booming. According to market research, the global tabletop games market was valued at over $13 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at 9-12% annually through 2030. That’s not just growth; that’s acceleration. Something fundamental has shifted in how people think about analog gaming, and it’s happening at the same time the video game industry is dealing with its own set of problems.
The Numbers Tell a Surprising Story
The video game industry is still vastly larger than tabletop, pulling in roughly $180 billion globally compared to board games’ $13 billion. But the growth trajectories are telling. The video game market’s growth has slowed considerably in the post-pandemic period, with revenues actually declining slightly in 2023 before recovering modestly in 2024. According to the Entertainment Software Association’s annual report, console and PC game sales have plateaued in mature markets.
Meanwhile, board games have been on a consistent upward trend for over a decade. BoardGameGeek, the primary database and community for tabletop gaming, has over 3 million registered users and catalogs more than 140,000 games. The site’s traffic has doubled since 2019. New game releases have increased from roughly 3,000 per year in 2015 to over 6,000 in 2024.
Kickstarter tells an even more dramatic story. Tabletop games consistently rank as one of the platform’s top categories. In 2023, board game projects raised over $300 million on Kickstarter alone, with several individual campaigns breaking $10 million. “Frosthaven,” the sequel to the wildly popular “Gloomhaven,” raised nearly $13 million from almost 84,000 backers. These aren’t niche numbers.
Modern Board Games Are Nothing Like What You Remember
If your mental image of board games is still Monopoly, Risk, and Clue, you’re about thirty years behind the curve. The modern board game renaissance (often traced to the mid-1990s German game design movement, with “Settlers of Catan” as the watershed moment) has produced games that are more strategic, more creative, more beautiful, and more fun than anything from the mass-market era.
The design philosophy has fundamentally changed. Classic board games relied heavily on dice rolls and random chance. You could play Monopoly perfectly and still lose because of bad dice. Modern games minimize randomness and emphasize meaningful decisions. When you win a game of “Terraforming Mars” or “Spirit Island,” it’s because you made better strategic choices than your opponents, not because the dice were kind.
The variety is staggering. There are cooperative games where all players work together against the game itself (“Pandemic,” “Gloomhaven”). There are engine-building games where you construct increasingly powerful systems (“Wingspan,” “Terraforming Mars”). There are social deduction games (“Blood on the Clocktower,” “The Resistance”). There are legacy games that permanently change between sessions, with stickers placed on the board and cards destroyed (“Pandemic Legacy,” “Charterstone”). There are solo games designed specifically for one player. The medium has expanded in every direction simultaneously.
Why People Are Choosing Cardboard Over Controllers
The board game renaissance isn’t happening in a vacuum. Several converging factors are driving people toward tabletop gaming, and many of them are direct reactions to trends in the video game industry.
Screen Fatigue Is Real
After the pandemic accelerated the amount of time people spend in front of screens (for work, entertainment, socializing, everything), a lot of people are actively seeking screen-free activities. Research into screen time and its effects on mental health suggests this instinct is well-founded. Board games offer genuine engagement without another display. There’s something physically satisfying about handling cards, placing tokens, and rolling actual dice that a screen can’t replicate. I notice it in myself: after eight hours of working remotely on a computer, the last thing I want is to sit down in front of another screen, even for entertainment.
The Social Element Is Fundamentally Different
Online multiplayer gaming is social in the sense that you’re interacting with other people. But it’s a mediated, disembodied kind of social. Board games put you in a room with other humans. You can read their expressions. You negotiate face to face. You share food and drinks. The social experience of a good board game night is closer to having friends over for dinner than it is to an online gaming session.
This matters more than the industry often acknowledges. Loneliness and social isolation have been increasing for years, and people are looking for structured ways to spend time with others. Board games provide exactly that: a shared activity with clear rules that creates conversation, laughter, and memorable moments without requiring everyone to stare at their own screen.
Video Game Monetization Has Gotten Aggressive
Microtransactions, battle passes, loot boxes, always-online requirements, day-one DLC, games-as-a-service models that shut down and take your purchases with them. The video game industry’s monetization practices have alienated a lot of players – much like the subscription fatigue many feel with the ever-growing number of streaming services. When you buy a board game, you own it. Forever. No subscriptions, no server shutdowns, no surprise charges. A $60 board game will provide entertainment for years, and you can lend it to friends, sell it, or pass it down.
Compare that to a $70 video game that asks for another $30 in season passes, charges for cosmetic items, and might become unplayable when the developer decides to shut down the servers. The value proposition of a physical game that works forever is increasingly appealing.
The Accessibility Factor
Board games have a lower barrier to entry than video games in some surprising ways. You don’t need specific hardware. You don’t need a fast internet connection. You don’t need to learn complex control schemes or understand gaming conventions built up over decades. Someone who’s never touched a video game controller can sit down with “Ticket to Ride” and be playing competently within ten minutes. That accessibility is pulling in demographics that the video game industry has struggled to reach: older adults, people who don’t own gaming hardware, and groups who want a shared activity that doesn’t require everyone to own the same technology.
The physical production quality of modern board games also deserves mention. Today’s games feature custom-molded miniatures, embossed cards with linen finishes, dual-layer player boards, metal coins, and artwork from professional illustrators. Unboxing a well-produced board game is a tactile experience that creates excitement before you even read the rules. Publishers have learned that the physical quality of the product is part of the appeal, and they’re investing accordingly.
The Kickstarter Effect
Crowdfunding has completely reshaped the board game industry. Before Kickstarter, getting a board game published meant going through a handful of large publishers (Hasbro, Mattel, Asmodee) who were primarily interested in mass-market appeal. Innovative or niche designs had very few paths to market.
Kickstarter changed everything. Designers can go directly to their audience, fund production, and deliver games without a traditional publisher. This has led to an explosion of creativity. Games that would never have been greenlit by a corporate publisher – because they’re too complex, too niche, too experimental – can find their audience through crowdfunding.
The downside of the Kickstarter boom is real, though. Some campaigns overpromise and underdeliver. Production delays of 12-18 months are common. The “Kickstarter exclusive” model, where backers get content that’s never available at retail, creates a fear-of-missing-out dynamic that pressures people into backing projects they haven’t fully evaluated. And the sheer volume of new releases makes it hard to sort signal from noise.
Gamefound has emerged as a Kickstarter alternative specifically tailored to board games, and some major publishers have started using it instead. The platform offers better tools for board game campaigns, including pledge management and late backing. BackerKit is another player in this space. The fragmentation of crowdfunding platforms means you now need to follow multiple sites to keep up with new releases, which is both a sign of the hobby’s health and a minor headache for consumers.
Board game cafes and bars have also proliferated in major cities. In my city alone, three new board game cafes opened in the last two years. These businesses typically charge an hourly or flat-rate cover fee and let you play from a library of hundreds of games. They’re a fantastic way to try before you buy, and they’ve become important third places for the hobby’s social infrastructure. If you’re curious about board games but don’t want to invest in a collection immediately, a board game cafe is the perfect starting point.
10 Board Games Worth Your Time (By Category)
If you’re board-game-curious and don’t know where to start, here are my recommendations based on what I’ve played extensively. I’ve grouped them by type so you can pick based on what sounds appealing.
Gateway Games (Perfect for Beginners)
Ticket to Ride – Collect train cards, claim routes across a map. Simple enough to teach in five minutes, strategic enough to reward repeated plays. This is the game I use to introduce non-gamers to the hobby, and it has a near-perfect success rate.
Wingspan – Collect birds to build an engine that generates resources. The theme is unusual and the artwork is gorgeous. Every card represents a real bird species with accurate illustrations and facts. It’s competitive but relaxed, and the solo mode is excellent.
Azul – Abstract tile-drafting game with simple rules and satisfying tactile components. Games take 30-45 minutes and the decision space opens up as you learn the strategy.
Strategy Games (For the Thinking Gamer)
Terraforming Mars – Build corporations that terraform the red planet over multiple generations. Deep strategy, hundreds of unique cards, and games that feel genuinely different each time. Sessions run 2-3 hours, which is a commitment, but it’s consistently my most-played game.
Brass: Birmingham – An economic strategy game set during the Industrial Revolution. Widely considered one of the best board games ever designed. The double-sided board (canal era and rail era) creates a game that rewards long-term planning and tactical adaptation.
Dune: Imperium – Combines deck-building with worker placement in the Dune universe. You don’t need to know the source material to enjoy it, but fans will appreciate how well the mechanics reflect the themes of political maneuvering and resource control.
Cooperative Games (Play Together, Not Against Each Other)
Spirit Island – You play as elemental spirits defending an island from colonizers. It’s the anti-Catan: instead of settling and expanding, you’re driving invaders away. Complex, thematic, and deeply satisfying when you pull off a coordinated defense.
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion – A streamlined entry point to the Gloomhaven system. It’s a tactical combat game with a built-in tutorial that gradually introduces new mechanics over the first five scenarios. If you like RPGs or tactical video games, this is your gateway drug.
Party and Social Games
Wavelength – A team guessing game about how well you know your friends’ thought processes. One person gives a clue, and their team tries to guess where a target sits on a spectrum (like “Hot – Cold” or “Good Movie – Bad Movie”). Generates incredible debates and laughter.
Blood on the Clocktower – Social deduction for 5-20 players. Think “Mafia” or “Werewolf” but with far more sophisticated design. The storyteller role means eliminated players stay involved, and the game handles larger groups better than any competitor.
The Digital-Analog Hybrid Space
One of the most interesting trends is the growing overlap between digital and tabletop gaming. Apps like “Board Game Arena” let you play hundreds of licensed board games online. Many physical games now include companion apps that handle setup, scoring, or AI opponents. And video game designers are increasingly citing board games as design influences.
The influence flows both ways. Board game designers are borrowing concepts from video games: persistent progression, branching narratives, procedural generation (through randomized setup), and achievement systems. Video game designers, particularly in the indie space, are creating digital experiences that capture the feel of tabletop gaming: “Slay the Spire” is essentially a deck-building board game on a screen, and “Inscryption” blends card game mechanics with horror storytelling in a way that works specifically because of its tabletop aesthetic.
Board Game Arena deserves special mention. The platform hosts over 800 games with official licenses, and it’s free for most of them. If you want to try a game before buying the physical version, or if you want to play with friends who live far away, it’s an incredible resource. I’ve used it to test dozens of games before committing to a purchase.
The Cost Comparison Actually Favors Board Games
Let’s do some quick math. A new AAA video game costs $70. A season pass or expansion might add another $30-50. Online subscriptions (PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch Online) run $60-180 per year. And then there’s the hardware: a current-gen console is $400-500, a gaming PC is $1,000-2,000.
A solid board game costs $30-60. A complex, content-rich game like Gloomhaven runs $90-140 but provides 100+ hours of content. You need no hardware beyond a table. And a well-maintained board game lasts literally forever. I have games from the early 2000s that still play perfectly.
The cost-per-hour of entertainment for board games is remarkably low. A game of Terraforming Mars that I’ve played 50+ times cost me $50. That’s under a dollar per play session. And each session provides 2-3 hours of entertainment. Try getting that kind of value out of most video games or streaming services.
This Isn’t About Choosing Sides
I want to be clear: this isn’t a “board games good, video games bad” argument. I still play video games regularly. I’m currently working through “Baldur’s Gate 3,” and it’s magnificent. Video games can do things board games simply can’t: real-time action, immersive 3D worlds, story experiences that adapt to your choices at scale.
But the tabletop renaissance is real, and it’s driven by genuine qualities that digital entertainment struggles to replicate. The tactile satisfaction of physical components. The face-to-face social interaction. The complete ownership of a product that doesn’t require updates, patches, or internet connections. The creativity of a design space that’s expanding rapidly because the barrier to entry for designers is lower than it’s ever been.
If you haven’t explored modern board games, you’re missing out on one of the most exciting creative spaces in entertainment. Start with something from the gateway list above, find two or three friends willing to try something new, and set aside an evening. I’ll bet you that shelf space starts disappearing faster than you expected.
