Board games for adults: ten games for an evening without kids' rules

There comes a moment when the games cupboard stops cooperating. Monopoly takes too long and decides too little, everyone knows Rummikub inside out, and the kids' game is done after two rounds. That is when the search for board games for adults begins, and that is exactly what this article is about.

First things first: with some shops, "adult board games" means 18+ party games with crude jokes. That is not what this list is about. By board games for adults we mean something else, namely games with more choices, more depth and an evening that builds towards something.

Below are ten games in three groups. First three to start with, then three for when you notice you want more, and finally four for an evening when you really have time. For each game you can read how much explaining it takes and how long a game lasts, because at this stage those are the two things that really matter. Looking for something shorter and lighter? Then take a look at our fun board games; if the family is at the table, the list of family games is a better place to start.

What makes a board game suitable for adults?

Not the age on the box. That mostly says something about reading and fine motor skills, not about whether the game makes you think.

What does count is how much you get to choose yourself. In a family game a turn is often "roll and do"; in the games below you choose between four or five things that all give you something, and that is exactly what makes it tricky. It also helps if a game has an arc: a beginning where you build up, a middle where things start to flow and an end where you find out whether you headed in the right direction in time.

And luck is allowed, just not as the decider. Dice are fine as long as you decide what to do with the result.

Three board games for adults to start with

You can explain these three in ten to fifteen minutes, and they are over within an hour. They do ask something of you, but nobody has to work through a manual first.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal

1 to 6 players, ages 10+, about 45 minutes.

Car racing with cards, and it works better than it sounds. You shift up and down, play cards to move and get heat cards in your deck as soon as you go too fast. Corners have a speed limit. Take one too fast and you pay in heat, or you spin out.

What makes this game so well suited to an evening with six people is that everyone chooses their cards at the same time. There is no waiting, just the moment when everything is revealed at once and someone turns out to have been a little too eager. Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen designed it in 2022 for Days of Wonder; that year it won the Golden Geek Award for Medium Game of the Year. Here too, there is an in-depth review ready for you.

7 Wonders Duel

exactly 2 players, ages 10+, about 30 minutes.

The cards are laid out in a pyramid and you can only take the ones that are uncovered. So every card you take opens up the next one for your opponent. For half an hour, that turns every turn into a double consideration: what do I want, and what am I willing to leave for the other player?

In 2015, Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala squeezed the big 7 Wonders back into a two-player box and ended up with something sharper than the original. You can also simply win by pushing through militarily or by collecting six science symbols, which means you have to keep a constant eye on the other player.

Three Sisters

1 to 4 players, ages 14+, about 45 minutes.

A vegetable garden full of corn, beans and pumpkins, and you use dice to decide what to plant, water or harvest. Every action crosses something off on your sheet, and those crossed-off boxes set other things in motion.

It is a roll-and-write, but one that feels like a full-blown game: you have a garden that grows, and after three or four turns everything you did earlier starts to reinforce each other. Three quarters of an hour, and you can play it solo too. Three Sisters

Three popular board games for adults for when you want to go further

These three take longer than an hour and call for a group that enjoys settling in for a while.

Lords of Waterdeep

2 to 5 players, ages 12+, just over an hour.

Worker placement the way you would explain it to someone who has never seen it before. You put an agent on a spot in the city, that spot gives you something, and the spot is then taken. You recruit adventurers in four colours and hand them in to complete quests.

Peter Lee and Rodney Thompson set the game in 2012 in Waterdeep, a city from the Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons, but you do not need to know anything about D&D to join in. Everyone plays a masked ruler with a secret preference, and that secret means nobody knows exactly how the scores stand until the end. Also read our review.

Concordia

2 to 5 players, ages 12+, just over an hour.

Your whole game is in your hand. Every card is an action, and once you have played them all, it costs you a full turn to take them back. So you are constantly calculating: squeeze out two more actions, or restart now and let the other player benefit?

In Concordia, Mac Gerdts made the cards do double duty: what you buy along the way to take actions also counts towards your score at the end. There is not a single die in it and there is no bad luck; anything that goes wrong, you did yourself. Nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2014, in a year when Istanbul won.

Root

2 to 4 players, ages 10+, just over an hour.

Four factions fight over the same forest, and all four of them play a different game. The cat marquise builds workshops and produces; the birds have to carry out a growing list of orders every turn and collapse as soon as they cannot; the woodland alliance secretly stirs up rebellion; and the vagabond wanders through everything and decides each turn whose friend he is.

Cole Wehrle created Root in 2018, with illustrations by Kyle Ferrin that make the whole thing look like a children's book. It is not. Be honest with your table: the first game takes some getting used to for everyone, because you not only need to understand your own faction but also roughly know what the other three can do. From the second evening on, it is one of the sharpest games you can play. Our review goes into more depth.

Board games for adults for when you really have time

These four are the heaviest on the page: all for ages thirteen and up, all well over an hour, and all with a first game in which you are mainly figuring things out. If you want to go one step further, you will find it in our list of games for experts.

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

1 to 4 players, ages 13+, just over an hour.

You search for extraterrestrial life: launching probes, scanning planets, analysing signals. What you find changes the game for everyone, because discoveries go on a shared board.

Czech Games Edition rarely makes light games, and this one is no exception. Expect a first evening in which you are mostly looking things up, and after that a game you keep coming back to because every game brings a different discovery. SETI

Orloj: The Prague Astronomical Clock

1 to 4 players, ages 14+, just over an hour.

You help build the astronomical clock of Prague: gathering resources, assembling the calendar mechanism, and getting the parts to come together at just the right moment.

What sets this game apart is the theme. There are a hundred games about trading in the Middle Ages and there is one about this clock. Ages 14+ on the box, and here that is no formality. Orloj

The Old King's Crown

1 to 4 players, ages 14+, just over an hour.

Four factions fight over an empty throne, and each faction plays differently. You bluff about which card you played, you claim territory, and you hope the other player misjudges your move.

Of this list, this is the game with the most direct friction. You do not get in each other's way indirectly as in a euro; you play against each other, and you feel it. For a regular group that is up for that, it is exactly the reason to choose it. The Old King's Crown

Moon Colony Bloodbath

1 to 5 players, ages 14+, just over an hour.

You build a moon base and all sorts of things go wrong. Events strike, systems fail, and you have to keep improvising with the cards in your hand.

The title promises more bloodshed than the game delivers; it is mainly a card game about dealing with setbacks. Up to five players, which is generous at this weight. Moon Colony Bloodbath

Which one suits your evening?

Looking for the most fun board games for adults to start with tonight? Then begin with Heat or Three Sisters. Both explained within fifteen minutes, both over within an hour, and both good enough to come back to ten times.

If you usually play as a couple, 7 Wonders Duel is the best first buy on this list. If you often play solo, seven of these ten will work for you, because they all start at one player.

If you have a regular group that is ready to really settle in, Root is the best way to spend your evening, as long as everyone accepts that the first game is a learning game. And if you would rather have a game nobody has ever heard of but that sticks with you after one evening, Orloj is the one for you. You will find all ten in our shop.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best board games for adults to start with? Heat: Pedal to the Metal and Three Sisters. Both explained in fifteen minutes, both over within an hour. After one game you will know whether this heavier segment suits you, without losing an evening to the rules.

Which popular board games for adults are on this list? Lords of Waterdeep, Concordia and Root are the best-known names of the ten. They are in the middle section: heavier than a family game, but still doable in one evening.

What are fun board games for adults when there are two of you? 7 Wonders Duel is the best first buy on this list for that. It was designed specifically for two players, takes half an hour, and every card you take opens up the next one for your opponent.

Is this top 10 of board games for adults also suitable if you have never played anything heavier? Yes, as long as you start with the first three. The list builds up from fifteen minutes of explanation to games you set aside a whole evening for. Do not skip that gradual build-up, or the rest of your table will lose interest.