Board games were once just a tabletop activity, but now you can play online board games with friends from anywhere. Board games online are quickly becoming a popular way to spend time with friends and family who may not share your geographical location, and it’s not just online chess anymore. The best part is that each of these sites offers multiple games to keep everyone entertained.
Good to know: curious about the Metaverse? These are the best games you can play right now in the virtual space.
- 1. Best Overall: Board Game Arena
- 2. Best for Cards Against Humanity Fans: Bad Cards
- 3. Best for Tabletop RPG: Roll20
- 4. Best for No Registration: BuddyBoardGames
- 5. Best for Tournaments: Triqqy
- 6. Largest Selection of Games: Tabletopia
- 7. Best for Generic Games: Mattle
- 8. Best for Card Games: PlayingCards.io
- 9. Best Completely Free: Yucata
- 10. Best for Word Games: Pogo
- Single-Game Sites
1. Best Overall: Board Game Arena
Price: Free with premium options
Board Game Arena is a fairly simple-looking site that packs a lot under its surface. Through the efforts of a team of volunteers, the site has ported over many popular (and not so popular) board games – with the permission of the publishers, of course. With over 700 games, there’s always something to play.
Many of the games, especially the less popular ones, are free to play, though some publishers opt to make their game “premium,” meaning you’ll have to subscribe to a Board Game Arena account to play. But, as a Premium member, you can create tables and invite free users to play premium games.
You can easily play games from any browser, even on mobile devices and gaming systems. Board Game Arena gives you the option to create private tables just for you and your friends to play online board games or join public tables with other users.
Pros
- Massive list of board games
- Tutorials available for many games
Cons
- Many popular titles, such as Catan and Ticket to Ride, are premium only
- Voice chat only available with premium
2. Best for Cards Against Humanity Fans: Bad Cards
Price: Free with premium options
If you love playing Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, you need to know about Bad Cards. While the site doesn’t include any official versions, it does feature five games inspired by these favorite party games. What’s great is that you get to customize just how “bad” the cards get.
Choose between Bad Cards, Bad Texts, Bad Gifs, Bad Questions, and Bad Kids (the family-friendly version), and enjoy thousands of different cards, four game modes, content rating settings, and up to 50 players per game.
It’s completely free to play, but subscribing gives you access to additional card packs and eliminates pesky ads. You can also invite your friends or play against AI players if your friends aren’t available right now.
Pros
- Easy to set up and start playing in minutes
- New games and modes are currently being developed
Cons
- Free version is ad-supported
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3. Best for Tabletop RPG: Roll20
Price: Free with premium options
Roll20 is a tool that lets you create and recreate your tabletop role-playing adventures online. If your fellow D&D adventurers don’t live close by, Roll20 is a great way to carry on exciting campaigns online.
Sure, you could just do D&D, or hundreds of other games, over Zoom. But Roll20 has everything you need, from digital character sheets to digital boards, even the ability to create atmospheric soundtracks to immerse your team in the game. The site is frequently updated and features things like dynamic lighting and mouse-based map navigation.
Getting set up initially takes some time, but after that, it’s easy to invite everyone and start playing. Free accounts only have basic features and 100MB of storage, and the website is ad-supported. Premium players get 3GB to 8GB of storage (depending on the plan), more interactive elements, and can even share their premium features with people playing for free in their group.
Pros
- Supports over 1,200 systems
- Lets you play with friends or join existing groups online
- Allows you to fully customize every game
Cons
- Rule sharing is limited to one game system and five players in the free version
4. Best for No Registration: BuddyBoardGames
Price: Free
If you want to play online board games with friends without creating yet another login, try BuddyBoardGames. It’s completely free with no registration required. While there are only 14 games, there is enough for a group of friends to hang out and play for a while – especially with classics like Uno, Battleship, and Farkle.
Depending on the game, play solo or with up to 12 people at once. Unlike some other board game sites, there aren’t any public games to join here.
Currently, you won’t find any chat features, but that can be easily substituted by using your favorite video or calling apps. Sure, the selection is sparse, but it’s ad-free and good for playing simple and quick games with friends. It’d also make a great kid-friendly option.
Pros
- Easy to set up games
- Detailed rule sets for every game
Cons
- Limited to simpler, classic games
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5. Best for Tournaments: Triqqy
Price: Free
Triqqy is a little difficult to figure out at first, but once you do, it’s a great platform to play board games online with friends. The selection consists of a few dozen games, including a mix of simple classics like checkers, or more advanced strategy games like Conquer (based on Risk).
Every game has detailed instructions and tips to go through before you start playing. When you first enter a game, you can jump into an existing session or tournament, or invite friends to play with you. There aren’t private rooms, but you can choose just to play alongside friends or random users online.
You can even talk to other players with the built-in chat or visit the forums to ask questions. While the layout could be better, Triqqy’s tournaments are perfect for highly competitive players looking to make it to the top of the leaderboards.
Pros
- Active community
- Good selection of strategy games
Cons
- Confusing navigation
- No way to create private tables
6. Largest Selection of Games: Tabletopia
Price: Free with premium options
Tabletopia has over 2,400 popular board games, but what really sets the site apart is its design and animation. If you’re looking for something prettier than Board Game Arena but with the same general feel, Tabletopia is where it’s at.
Much like Board Game Arena, many games are free to play, but others require a Premium subscription. However, no users have to deal with ads, which is a major plus. If you love Kickstarter-backed games, you’ll enjoy Tabletopia’s selection of games on the funding platform.
On Tabletopia, you can create public or private games, or join any public game if your friends aren’t online. Free users can play two games simultaneously. If you decide to upgrade to the paid tier, you’ll be able to access premium games and play 6 to 10 games simultaneously.
Pros
- Over 2,400 games, including mainstream and crowdfunded games
- Interactive animation and controls (feels more like a physical board game)
Cons
- Many games are premium only
- At least one person in your group must upgrade to the $99.99/year plan for free users to play premium games
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7. Best for Generic Games: Mattle
Price: Free
The games on Mattle.online were merely inspired by the official versions of several popular board games, and they just happen to have done a pretty good job of capturing the experiences of those games.
Mattle has a nice, simple interface, and all of the games on the site work quite well. Creating a private room can be a little difficult, as there’s no invite system. You’ll have to create a game, then get your friends to click the Join link before some random player does.
Currently, Mattle only has seven games, but you’ll find players online any time of the day. While private tables/rooms would be a great addition, it’s a simple way to play online board games whenever you want.
Pros
- Free versions of popular games
- Allows you to join random games at any time
- Built-in chat
Cons
- Limited game library
8. Best for Card Games: PlayingCards.io
Price: Free
The genius of PlayingCards.io is how simple and intuitive it is. Want to play cards with friends? Just set up a table, send the link to your friends, then let everyone use their mouse to drag cards around the screen and turn them over. Unless the servers are heavily overloaded, it works bug-free and nearly replicates the feeling of a real card table.
There are dozens of pre-made games, like Go Fish and Joking Hazard, where the table is set up for you, but you can drag and drop decks of cards, game pieces, spinners, and other elements to create whatever game you want. They even have classic board games, like chess, checkers, and Reversi.
On this site, you can play as a guest or create an account. Everything’s free, and you get a code when you create a room to invite just who you want. You can also play with other users on public tables.
Pros
- Replicates a card table
- Allows you to play listed games or create your own custom card game
Cons
- Ad-supported
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9. Best Completely Free: Yucata
Price: Free
Yucata is a German site with a fairly good English version and a ton of games (nearly 200). It’s a bit vintage-looking, and setting up games and inviting players isn’t as straightforward as it could be, but if you’re a dedicated board game nerd, you’ll still love it.
The games usually work quite well. Depending on the time of day, it’s a fairly active community, so you can find random players to engage with. It doesn’t feature as many mainstream games, but you’ll find everything from kid games to in-depth strategy games for adults.
Surprisingly, you won’t find any ads here. You can play multiple games at once and easily set up public games or invitation-only games.
Pros
- Completely free with no ads
- Allows you to interact with other Yucata users via chat feature
Cons
- Games aren’t always in real time and can take days or weeks to play
10. Best for Word Games: Pogo
Price: Free with premium options
Pogo is a well-known gaming site for Match 3, casino, and bingo-style games. What you may not have realized is that Pogo also has a small selection of popular board games, with several great word games. These are also official versions and not knock-off varieties.
If you prefer challenging your friends to Scrabble, Boggle, or A Way With Words, you’ll love Pogo. Of course, you could also show off your trivia skills with Trivial Pursuit or practice world domination with Risk. The site allows you to play with other users at any time, or host your own table and invite friends.
Some features are limited to the Premium club. It gets rid of ads, allows more players in certain games, gives access to additional games, and more. But, you can enjoy some of the board games completely free.
Pros
- Appealing interface
- Built-in chat
- Lets you play challenges, solo, with random users, or with friends
Cons
- Only six free board games currently
Single-Game Sites
Rather than having a menu of games available, these sites are dedicated to a single board game, which means they typically have more features and versions available.
- Dominion
- Rento (Monopoly)
- Codenames
- Codenames Green
- Agricola
- Avalon
- Catan Universe
- Spyfall
- Forgotten Waters
FYI: need more online games to play with friends? Check here.
Anytime you and your friends want to play online board games, just pick your favorite platform and start playing. If, on the other hand, you wish to play solo or outside your browser, check out these great games to play on your Chromebook or these awesome Linux games.
Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Crystal Crowder
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