What Are The Best High-End Board Games in 2025

Strategy board game offering a simplified version of Gloomhaven's gameplay.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of The Lion is a standalone game that takes place before the events of Gloomhaven. The game includes four new characters — Valrath Red Guard (tank, crowd control), Inox Hatchet (ranged damage), Human Voidwarden (support, mind-control), and Quatryl Demolitionist (melee damage, obstacle manipulation) — that can also be used in the original Gloomhaven game. The game also includes 16 monster types (including seven new standard monsters and three new bosses) and a new campaign with 25 scenarios that invite players to investigate a series of disappearances in the city.

Plan B Games Azul Tile Placement Board Game

Azul is a beautifully designed board game that challenges players to decorate a palace with colorful tiles. The game has simple rules that are easy to learn, but it also offers deep tactical decisions and strategic depth. It features high-quality components including beautiful resin tiles. With its fast pace and interactive gameplay, Azul is a game that can be enjoyed by both casual and serious board gamers.

Days of Wonder Ticket to Ride Board Game

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure game where players collect cards of various types of train cars and use them to claim railway routes across North America. The game is beautifully illustrated and comes with a detailed board, and high-quality train car pieces. It offers a unique blend of strategy and luck, and its fast pace keeps players engaged throughout the game.

Rio Grande Games Dominion: 2nd Edition Card Game

Dominion is a deck-building card game that tasks players with building the most powerful kingdom. The game includes 500 cards, allowing for a vast array of strategic possibilities. With a game time of about 30 minutes, Dominion offers fast-paced gameplay that keeps players engaged. The 2nd edition includes an update to some of the game's cards and has improved organization in the box for better storage.

Fantasy Flight Games Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative living card game set in the macabre world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Players are investigators in the quiet New England town of Arkham, and must work together to solve terrifying mysteries. With a wide variety of investigator classes and a multitude of choices to make, the game offers deep customization and replayability.

Social deduction game for 5-10 players about politics and betrayal.

Secret Hitler is a dramatic game of political intrigue and betrayal set in 1930's Germany. Players are secretly divided into two teams - liberals and fascists. Known only to each other, the fascists coordinate to sow distrust and install their cold-blooded leader. The liberals must find and stop the Secret Hitler before it's too late.

Strategy board game about tile laying and pattern building.

Azul invites you, a tile laying artist, to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. Introduced by the Moors, azulejos (originally white and blue ceramic tiles) were fully embraced by the Portuguese, when their King Manuel I, on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, was mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the Moorish decorative tiles. The king, awestruck by the interior beauty of the Alhambra, immediately ordered that his own palace in Portugal be decorated with similar wall tiles.