The Best Board Games From 2020

2020 has arguably been the best year over the last two decades to stay home and play board games. But with so many to choose from, it can be difficult to make the decision. Here are some of the 2020’s best board games.

Fans of logic puzzles will likely enjoy The Search For Planet X. With simple rules and instructions, this is one of the few board games that can be played alone. Yet as many as four people can play at once. The game is based on the real-life quest to discover planets that are further away from Neptune. The basic version of the game requires a player to study the 12 sectors to determine which one holds the undiscovered planet. When multiple people are playing, 18 sectors are used instead of 12. To find the undiscovered planet, players must learn the rules of logic as they apply to the game. Players accumulate points by determining the object that each of the sectors holds.

History buffs are flocking to The Shores of Tripoli. The game is set at the turn of the 19th century and pits players against each other in the Battle for the Barbary Coast. One player is tasked with filling the role of a Barbary pirate while their opponent serves as a representative of the U.S. At the beginning of the game, the U.S. player gets a surplus of gold but must contend with a lack of sufficient firepower. It is the pirate’s goal to obtain 12 pieces of gold by raiding all of the game’s cities. Meanwhile, it is the goal of the U.S. player to prevent their opponent from being able to steal the gold. Both players are given their own deck of cards, which they can hold on to for later use or they can spend in order to build up their military units.

To keep kids entertained, the board game of the year is Dragomina. A reimagination of Kingdomino, it is one of the board games families can play together. Players are allowed to take one domino each. Dominoes have a landscape etched on the front and back. By matching them to landscapes on the board, players obtain a dragon egg. The goal of the game is to get more baby dragons than the other players.