Board games
Abstract games and classics, some played for centuries. Little equipment, plenty of depth.
28 games, 28 rules pages.
- Abalone2 pl.Push six of your opponent's marbles off the board, using weight rather than cunning.
- Oware2 pl.Sow your seeds and capture your opponent's. The first to 25 seeds wins.
- Backgammon2 pl.Bear off your fifteen checkers before your opponent. The doubling cube doubles the stake, and one game can be worth three points.
- Battleship2 pl.Place your fleet, call out coordinates, sink the one across the table. The best-known pencil-and-paper duel.
- Bonkers!2-4 pl.A blank track that takes shape as you play: roll the dice, move, then place a Path card by your space or follow the one already there. Each landing on a Score space earns a point, the Lose space costs one. First to 12 points wins.
- Draughts2 pl.Capturing is compulsory, and that's what makes the game. Several boards coexist depending on the country.
- Chinese Checkers2-6 pl.Get all your pegs across the star by chaining jumps. Plays with two, three, four or six.
- Chess2 pl.The benchmark duel. You count the games: 1 point for a win, a half for a draw.
- Go2 pl.Surround territory. Komi offsets the first-move advantage and avoids drawn games.
- Gomoku2 pl.Line up five stones. Noughts and crosses is only the pocket version.
- Hive2 pl.An abstract game without a board: the hexagonal pieces form the playing area themselves, and you must surround the opposing queen.
- Game of the Goose2-6 pl.Land exactly on square 63. The well, the prison and death lie in wait along the way.
- Nine Men's Morris2 pl.Line up three pieces to form a mill and remove an opposing piece. Down to two pieces, you've lost.
- Kahuna2 pl.A duel in an archipelago: each card played builds a bridge from an island, two cards knock down one of the opponent’s. Holding more than half the bridges of an island wins it, and the opponent’s bridges around it disappear. Three island scorings decide the winner.
- Mahjong4 pl.Form a hand of four sets and a pair. Schools differ widely on scoring.
- Memoir '442 pl.Second World War battles replayed as short scenarios: order your units with cards, fight with dice and earn medals.
- Nim2 pl.Take objects from a row on your turn. Whoever takes the last one wins, or loses, depending on the rule.
- Othello2 pl.A minute to learn, a lifetime to master. Count the discs of your colour at the end of the game.
- Ludo2-4 pl.Bring your horses out on a six, take them round the board and up to the centre. The die decides almost everything, and that’s the point.
- Hey, That’s My Fish!2-4 pl.On an ice floe that keeps breaking up, each player slides their penguins in straight lines and takes the tile they just left, fish and all. Holes multiply and penguins get cut off: the best fisher wins.
- Connect Four2 pl.Line up four counters before the other player. You count the rounds won.
- Quarto2 pl.Line up four pieces that share a trait — but your opponent chooses the piece you place.
- Quoridor2-4 pl.Cross the board before the others, placing walls to lengthen their path without ever blocking it.
- Santorini2-4 pl.A three-dimensional abstract: move your builders and raise towers. The first to climb to the third level wins.
- Shogi2 pl.Japanese chess, and its game-changing rule: a captured piece switches sides and can be dropped back anywhere.
- Tock4-6 pl.A race game played with cards and in teams: bring out your pawns, knock out your opponents’ and get everyone home with your partner.
- Toy Battle2 pl.A duel of toys: link your troops to your headquarters, crush the weaker ones and win the regions' medals — or charge straight at the enemy HQ.
- Xiangqi2 pl.Chinese chess: pieces sit on the intersections, a river splits the board, and the two generals may never face each other.