In a world where technology is becoming increasingly dominant, it’s easy to forget the joy and excitement of playing some best board games of 2022 with friends and family.
Board games have been around for centuries and have evolved to become more interactive, engaging, and fun.
Now in 2023, it’s the perfect time to look at some of the best board games that took the world by storm in 2022.
From classic games like Monopoly and Scrabble to new favorites like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, board games offer a great way to bond with loved ones, improve cognitive skills, and have a good time.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best board games of 2022 that you should consider adding to your collection.
Whether you’re a seasoned board game enthusiast or a newcomer to the world of tabletop gaming, there’s something for everyone on this list.
We’ve scoured the internet and compiled a comprehensive list of the best board games of 2022. So sit back, relax, and get ready to discover the best board games of 2022.
1. Dune: Imperium
Based on the classic science fiction novel, this strategy game is set in a world of political intrigue, betrayal, and alliances.
Players take on the role of leaders of noble houses in the Dune universe, and they compete for influence and control over valuable resources.
The game combines deck-building and worker placement mechanics, as players build their decks of cards to take action on the board and gain power and resources.
Also, each player must carefully manage their resources and make strategic decisions to outmaneuver their opponents and emerge victorious.
Dune: Imperium has received high praise from both fans of the Dune series and board game enthusiasts for its engaging gameplay, theming, and attention to detail.
2. Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile
Players build and rule a kingdom over several generations in this epic political intrigue and conquest game.
The game features a unique legacy system that allows players to leave their mark on the game world and influence the course of the game in future rounds.
Each player starts with a basic set of abilities and resources and must make strategic decisions about expanding their kingdom, forming alliances, and defeating enemies.
The game also features a shifting narrative as different factions rise and fall in power, constantly shifting the balance of power.
Furthermore, Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile has been praised for its innovative mechanics, deep strategic gameplay, and immersive storytelling. Oath is one of the best board games of 2022.
3. Kite
Players must use cards from their hands to flip one or two timers at a time to stop any of the six colored sand timers from running out.
Each timer has a different duration to empty. Cards either display one-timer of a single color or two of them and if you play any of them, you must flip the timers displayed, even if doing so nearly empties one.
You play cards until you have used up all of the cards in the deck and your hands, in which case your team wins, or until the timer runs out, at which point you count the cards that are still in the deck and your hands and use that total as your score.
However, it only takes ten to fifteen minutes and can accommodate two to six players.
The timers are set so that you are constantly in danger of failing, which increases the tension and, for me, at least, the enjoyment.
4. Lost Ruins of Arnak
This adventure game is set on a mysterious island, where players explore ancient ruins, discover artifacts, and battle dangerous monsters.
The game combines deck-building and worker placement mechanics, as players use their decks of cards to take actions on the board and gather resources.
Players must also manage their limited resources carefully, balancing the need to explore and fight with the need to gain enough food and resources to survive.
Also, the game features beautiful artwork and immersive theming, and they praise it for its engaging gameplay and challenging difficulty. Lost ruins are one of the best board games of 2022.
5. Splendor Duel
The original Splendor, one of the best board games of 2022, has received criticism for being a two-player game with little player interaction and little movement of the cards on the table.
Splendor Duel addresses both issues, enhancing the game’s token- and card selection and adding minor interactions without significantly altering the core mechanics.
The game’s core mechanics are still in place: each turn, you can either collect up to three tokens or use tokens to purchase a card from the display.
In Splendor Duel, you can take up to three tokens in any line from a shared board with a spiral track.
You only replenish the track with used tokens once someone spends a parchment token to do so, which becomes a part of your strategy.
Once finished, cards you purchase might also have extra abilities, like immediately taking a second turn or stealing a token from your rival.
6. Sleeping Gods
In this cooperative adventure game, players take on the role of a crew of explorers who have been shipwrecked in a mysterious world.
The game features a massive, open-world map that players can explore at leisure, discovering new locations, completing quests, and battling monsters.
The game also features a unique narrative system, where players read passages from a book that tells the story of their adventure, and the choices they make affect the course of the story.
Players must work together to manage their resources, make strategic decisions, and overcome challenges to complete their quest and escape the world of Sleeping Gods.
Furthermore, lovers of the game praise the game for its innovative mechanics, beautiful artwork, and immersive storytelling. Sleeping Gods is one of the best board games of 2022.
7. Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa is a beautiful board game with an intriguing theme (players are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s patrons and must play five rounds representing epochs of his life, commissioning music from him and traveling with him for money and other resources). At its core, Lacrimosa also has a fantastic little deckbuilding mechanic.
The nine cards in your starting hand determine the four actions you will take during each round. Each time you add a new card to your deck to increase its capacity.
However, you must discard one of the two cards you already played to keep it at nine cards.
You’ll work to increase your income and enlist the aid of musicians to finish the Requiem that Mozart began but never finished before he passed away.
8. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is one of the best board games of 2022. is it a standalone game set in the same world as the immensely popular Gloomhaven?
The game features a campaign mode, where players take on a series of linked scenarios that tell a larger story.
Furthermore, the game also features a unique combat system, where players use a deck of cards to determine their actions and abilities in combat.
Critics praise the game for its deep strategy, immersive theming, and engaging narrative.
9. Get on Board: New York & London
Get on Board is a remake of the Let’s Make a Bus Route! Video game, which was released in Japan in 2018.
Two to five players place route markers on a shared map of one of the game’s two cities—New York for two to three players and London for four to five—while attempting to hit landmarks and deliver passengers to their preferred building types to earn additional points.
In a flip-and-write game, a player flips the next ticket from the deck on each turn, which results in a different shape for each player to place.
Also, you extend your route, mark off any people or structures your bus line passes on that turn, and earn bonuses for completing specific rows or reaching other objectives.
10. Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume Two
Unmatched is a tactical combat game where players take on the roles of famous legends from history and mythology, such as King Arthur, Alice from Wonderland, and Medusa.
The game features unique asymmetrical gameplay, where each character has their own set of abilities and powers.
Furthermore, players must strategically use their character’s abilities to outmaneuver and defeat opponents.
The game also features beautiful artwork and high-quality components and has been praised for its fast-paced gameplay and replayability. Unmatched is one of the best board games of 2022.
11. Paleo
Paleo, one of the best board games of 2022, is a cooperative survival game where players must work together to survive in a harsh prehistoric world.
The game features a unique deck-building mechanic, where players add cards to their decks representing tools, weapons, and food.
The game also features a modular board that changes with each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
Also, players must carefully manage their resources and make strategic decisions to overcome hunger, dangerous predators, and natural disasters.
Also, reviewers praise Paleo for its immersive theming, innovative mechanics, and challenging difficulty.
12. Terra Nova
Players take on various races, each of which can only live on a particular type of terrain tile, and then terraform other tiles to allow them to expand.
They build houses and then enlarge them to larger structures for more points and area control.
This game keeps the basic premise of the original. Also, the game’s duration is roughly cut in half in Terra Nova.
The game progresses much more quickly between turns by eliminating unnecessary components and simplifying some rules.
Furthermore, without the lengthy playing time or depressing atmosphere of Terra Mystica, it has the feel of a traditional Euro. Terra is one of the best board games of 2022.
13. Praga Caput Regni
Praga Caput Regni is a strategy game set in medieval Prague, where players take on the roles of wealthy nobles competing for power and influence.
The game features a unique action selection mechanic, where players must choose which actions to take by placing their worker tokens on a rotating wheel.
The game also features a modular board that changes with each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
Players must carefully manage their resources, form alliances, and build structures to gain influence and control over the city.
Praga Caput Regni has been praised for its deep strategy, engaging gameplay, and immersive theming.
14. Endless Winter: Paleoamericans
Endless Winter: Paleoamericans is a prehistoric North American worker placement and resource management game.
Players take on the roles of tribes struggling to survive in a harsh and unforgiving landscape.
The game features a unique weather system that changes each turn, creating new challenges and opportunities for players.
Players must carefully manage their resources, build structures, and form alliances to overcome starvation, disease, and dangerous predators.
Furthermore, Endless Winter: Paleoamericans have been praised for their innovative mechanics, beautiful artwork, and immersive theming. Endless Winter is one of the best board games of 2022.
15. Verdant
With the goal of building a tableau of cards that represents your home by alternating room cards and houseplant cards, Verdant borrows some gameplay elements from Cascadia.
You should arrange cards of the same color next to one another, check that your plants are getting the right sunlight, and try to collect room-decorating tokens.
It is a bit of a table hog, but it plays quickly because each player gets one card at the beginning and has 14 turns to build the 3 by 5 tableau.
And the artwork is outstanding, as usual; it was created by Beth Sobel, who also did the artwork for Calico, Cascadia, and a modest little game called Wingspan.
16. Ankh: Gods of Egypt
Ankh: Gods of Egypt, one of the best board games of 2022, is a strategy game set in ancient Egypt, where players play the roles of gods vying for power and influence.
The game features a unique action selection mechanic, where players must choose which actions to take by placing their worker tokens on a rotating wheel.
The game also features a modular board that changes with each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
Players must carefully manage their resources, form alliances, and engage in strategic combat to gain control over the Egyptian pantheon.
Also, Ankh: Gods of Egypt has been praised for its deep strategy, engaging gameplay, and stunning artwork.
17. My Lil Everdell
With Ouch! for the youngest set (ages 4+), Quacks & Co., a children’s adaptation of The Quacks of Quedlinburg, for ages 6+ group, and My Lil Everdell, a children’s adaptation of Everdell for children ages 6+ as long as they can read, this year was a great one for new children’s games.
My Lil Everdell features the same recognizable artwork and fundamental gameplay—players set up their workers on a shared board to gather resources. The resources they then use to purchase cards for their tableau.
This version streamlines the original in several ways, eliminating one resource, lowering resource competition with much friendlier board spaces, and doing away with the tech tree where owning one card could free another.
You can buy a card or acquire resources on your turn. Obtaining one card of each of the five colors, three cards of a single color, five Construction cards, or five Critter cards will earn you simple bonuses.
After the game, you add up the point values of your twelve cards, any bonuses you received, and bonuses on purple cards that award you additional points for other cards you possess that satisfy specific requirements.
Also, early readers can easily understand the text on the cards, and scoring is simple. This game is one of the best board games of 2022.
18. Hallertau
Hallertau is a farming and resource management game set in the Bavarian region of Germany.
The game features a unique card-driven system where players must manage their workers and resources to cultivate their fields, harvest crops, and build homesteads.
The game also features a modular board that changes each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
Hallertau has been praised for its beautiful artwork, immersive theming, and engaging gameplay.
19. Rome & Roll
Rome & Roll, one of the best board games of 2022, is a roll-and-write game set in ancient Rome.
The game features a unique combination of dice-rolling and resource management mechanics, where players must carefully allocate their resources to build their city, complete quests, and gain victory points.
The game also features a modular board that changes each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
Critics love Rome & Roll for its unique gameplay, engaging theming, and accessibility.
20. Cascadia
Cascadia, one of the best board games of 2022, is a tile-laying and pattern-building game set in the United States Pacific Northwest.
Players take on the roles of wildlife conservationists, creating habitats for various animals, such as bears, beavers, and eagles.
The game features a simple yet elegant gameplay system, where players must strategically place tiles to create habitats and score points.
The game also features a unique scoring system, where players must balance their focus between creating diverse habitats and creating habitats for specific animal types.
Fans praise Cascadia for its elegant gameplay, beautiful artwork, and educational value. This beautiful game is one of the best board games of 2022.
21. MicroMacro: Crime City
MicroMacro: Crime City is a unique detective game where players must solve crimes by examining a giant, detailed city map filled with clues and suspects.
The game features a simple yet engaging gameplay system, where players must search the city for clues, interview suspects, and piece together the evidence to solve each case.
The game also features various cases, ranging from petty theft to complex murders, ensuring each game is a unique experience.
Critics praise MicroMacro: Crime City for its innovative gameplay, beautiful artwork, and engaging puzzles. MicroMacro is one of the best board games of 2022.
22. Three Sisters
Roll-and-write video games have had a very successful year as many publishers and developers try to capitalize on the genre’s popularity with fresh releases or sequels to existing ones (such as Twilight Inscription, Joan of Arc, and the forthcoming Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game).
Three Sisters a brand-new game from the creators of another hugely well-liked roll-and-write, Fleet: The Dice Game.
It draws its inspiration from Native American farming practices that combine corn, squash, and beans due to their mutually beneficial relationships.
Bean plants use the corn stalks as natural trellises and fix nitrogen in the soil for the other two plants, while squash acts as ground cover to keep out weed competition.
The game’s goal is to chain longer and bigger bonuses as the game progresses.
Players roll dice to mark off spaces in their garden to represent all three of those plants.
They can also use dice to acquire farming equipment or move along the fruit tracks.
A good roll-and-write should leave you with a large puzzle when you try to figure out the best ways to get free stuff (by checking off more boxes for each roll). Three Sisters is one of the best at this.
23. A War of Whispers: Dark Alliance
A War of Whispers: Dark Alliance is a strategy game where players take on the roles of powerful factions vying for control of a fantasy world.
The game features a unique mechanic where players secretly place agents on a shared game board to gain control of key locations and influence events.
Players must balance their resources to maintain their position and outmaneuver their opponents.
Fans praise A War of Whispers: Dark Alliance for its deep strategy, immersive theming, and replayability. Drak Alliance is one of the best board games of 2022.
24. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is a standalone game set in the Terraforming Mars universe.
The game features a unique card-driven engine-building mechanic, where players must strategically build their engines to explore the planet, mine resources, and terraform the environment.
The game also features a modular board that changes each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
Critics praise Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition for its engaging gameplay, beautiful artwork, and thematic integration.
25. Canvas
Canvas is a tile-laying game where players create works of art by arranging transparent cards to create beautiful images.
The game features a simple yet elegant gameplay system, where players must strategically arrange their cards to score points and complete objectives.
The game also features a unique theme that celebrates the beauty and creativity of art.
Also, Fans praise Canvas for its innovative gameplay, beautiful artwork, and accessibility. This game is one of the best board games of 2022.
26. Cat in the Box
The deck of cards used in Cat in the Box has only numerical values; no suits exist.
This is because a card’s suit cannot be determined until it is observed or played to the table, at which point the player declares the suit, for instance, “this is a green four.”
As a result, the player marks off that location on the shared board, limiting your options as the round goes on.
This also means that there cannot be another green four in the deck in that round.
Gaining tricks, hitting your target for how many tricks you’ll win in a round, and aligning tokens on the board next to one another all result in points.
The round ends, and you are eliminated if you cannot make a legal play, which results in a paradox and the world collapsing into a singularity. It’s quick, quick, and simple to teach. Additionally, killing cats is not required to play.
27. Beyond the Sun
Beyond the Sun, one of the best board games of 2022, is a 4X strategy game set in a distant future where humanity has colonized the stars.
The game features a unique tech tree system, where players must research technologies to advance their civilization and explore the galaxy.
The game also features a modular board that changes each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
They praise Beyond the Sun for its deep strategy, engaging theming, and innovative mechanics.
28. Dominations: Road to Civilization
Dominations: Road to Civilization is a civilization-building game where players take on the roles of ancient empires vying for dominance.
The game features a unique card-driven system, where players must carefully manage their resources and develop their technologies to build their civilizations.
Furthermore, the game also features a modular board that changes each game, adding to the game’s replayability.
People praise Dominations: Road to Civilization for its engaging gameplay, historical theming, and deep strategy.
In conclusion, the world of board gaming continues to evolve and innovate, and 2022 was no exception.
From cooperative to competitive games, from strategy to party games, the year brought diverse options for gamers of all interests and skill levels.
Each game discussed above has unique strengths and mechanics, providing something for everyone to enjoy.
Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or just starting out, there’s never been a better time to dive into the world of board gaming.
So gather some friends, grab some snacks, and get ready to experience the best board games of 2022.
