History Main / BoardGames

* ''Girl Talk'': A classic game of ''YMMV/TruthOrDare'' that is aimed at girls who play it at sleepovers.

* * ''TabletopGame/BurgleBros'' is a map exploration game where the players are team members trying to pull off a heist without getting caught. Together, they must explore the building (represented by a grid of initially face-down tiles for each floor), find and crack all the safes, and escape to the roof.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Yahtzee}}'' (aka ''Yatzie''): Where players roll five UsefulNotes/{{dice}}, trying to get as many matching numbers as possible. If they succeed in getting all five to match they get a "Yahtzee" and a large point bonus. Bonuses are also awarded for poker hand-esque combinations, such as a pair of twos and three threes making a full house. Another variation of ''Yahtzee'' was also released as it was made only for girls (known as ''Yahtzee Pink Edition'').

* ''Reversi'' (including the commercialized ''Othello''): A vaguely Go-like game where surrounded pieces change color instead of being captured. Reversi can be very difficult to keep track of, since one piece placement can drastically alter the entire board, at least on traditional boards -- computer-based versions take care of this on their own. Reversi variations have appeared in some PartyGame series, including ''PointBlank'', ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'', with the caveat that a player must win a minigame to claim a square.

* Connect Four: A vertical checkers game that requires you to put four checkers in a row. It bears significant similarities to tic-tac-toe, and in turn may have been an inspiration for Tetris.

** TabletopGame/{{Shogi}}: The Japanese variant of chess. Typically used in anime as an excuse for old men to sit on porches of rice-paper houses, above the stone lanterns and TheThingThatGoesDoink, and discuss in slow grunts the vagaries of life. It's also notable for the "drop rule", in which captured pieces can be [[OhCrap put back into action]] [[FaceHeelTurn by the owner's opponent.]]

* ''Jenga'': As mentioned in the page quote, Jenga isn't exactly a board game per se; it's a game where you try to deconstruct a stack of wooden or plastic rods without it falling over. It was created by an African-raised Brit, and the name is Swahili (and trademarked by Hasbro). A similar version of it was released and made just for girls (known as the official name of ''Jenga: Girl Talk Edition'').

* American-Style Games (sometimes called "Ameritrash", though [[InsistentTerminology such a term's use is contentious among the genre's fans]]), which prioritize creating [[RuleOfCool epic narratives and dramatic moments while you play]]. Many AdventureBoardGames and [[NarrativeBoardGame Narrative Board Games]] fall into this category as well, at least regarding the focus on laying the groundwork to tell an immersive story.
* Eurogames, which often revolve around a skill-based challenge of maximizing points (often called "Victory Points", where [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin whoever earns the most wins the game]]) within the limitations and restrictions of the ruleset.

* TabletopGame/{{Mahjong}}: The quintessential East Asian gambling game, where 4 players try to form 14-tile hands by drawing and discarding a tile per turn, in a manner vaguely similar to gin rummy. It could be considered the Eastern analogue to poker, being part luck and part skill and having many variants and HouseRules. Commonly (but not always) played for cash stakes, converting points to money, although more recent trends have seen a shift towards playing for sport and bragging rights, especially with the Japanese Riichi variant. Not to be confused with Shanghai, which is a matching game played (usually on a computer) with an enormous pile of mahjong tiles.

* [[/index]]Twister: Well, yes, there's a board, and yes, it's a game, although the players are the pieces. The aim of the game is to contort the players into shapes that don't collapse into a people pile. Or at least that's the ostensible aim; in practice the point is more to create embarrassing juxtapositions of body parts. It's sometimes used as a punchline for jokes, especially involving teenagers and an OverProtectiveDad (or UltraCoolMom), suggesting that they are not playing so much as using the game as an excuse to feel each other up. 2 different versions were made towards girls (known to the world as ''Twister Girl Talk Edition'' and ''Twister Pink Edition''). [[index]]

* ''TabletopGame/ForbiddenDesert'': A cooperative game about adventurers trying to survive the heat and sand of the desert long enough to find the pieces of a legendary flying machine and escape.
* ''TabletopGame/ForbiddenIsland'': A cooperative game about adventurers trying to recover treasures before escaping a sinking island.
* ''TabletopGame/ForbiddenSky'': A cooperative game about adventurers trying to connect a circuit of cables to launch a secret rocket before they fall off the platform or are killed by lightning.

* * ''TabletopGame/BurgleBros'' is a map exploration game where the players are members of a team trying to pull off a heist without getting caught. Together, they must explore the building (represented by a grid of initially face-down tiles for each floor), find and crack all the safes, and escape to the roof.

* ''{{TabletopGame/Carcassonne}}'': A EuroGame in which players compete to control and complete cities, roads and fields. Famous for having over 20 [[ExpansionPack Expansions]] which add everything from simple things like extra tiles to entirely new game mechanics and pieces.

* [[/index]]''Doomtroopers: Siege of the Citadel'', which is a greatly simplified board game set in the ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles'' universe. You lead elite Doomtroopers from the various Megacorporations to destroy various alien beasts including the centaur-like Ezaghoul. [[index]]

* ''TabletopGame/FlashPointFireRescue'': A cooperative game about firefighters struggling to save as many people as they can from a burning building.

* ''TabletopGame/ForbiddenDesert'': A cooperative game about adventurers trying to survive the heat and sand of the desert long enough to find the pieces of legendary flying machine and escape.

* ''Gloomhaven''
* ''TabletopGame/HerdYourHorses'': A game that revolves around players attempting to swell the ranks of their herd with horse cards and avoid dangers as they maneuver across the board.

* ''BoardGame/MageKnight'': A boardgame version of the Mage Knight miniature game. Play as a powerful TabletopGame/MageKnight and complete scenario objectives with the help of magic, military units and a few artifacts.

* ''TabletopGame/MiceAndMystics'': Play as heroic mice, fighting vermin, stopping to hear the plot of the story, and ultimately saving the realm.

->'''Strong Sad:''' I shanked your Jengaship? We're playing Connect Four!

** Hnefatafl "King's Table": Scandinavian chess known at least from IV century A.D. -- that is, Vikings played this. Mentioned in the Literature/{{Edda}}s and [[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas sagas]] both as a noteworthy skill and used for ChessMotifs: in Fridthjof's saga the King's man came with a war-related request to Fridthof and Bjorn who played the game, and they answered in game strategy terms, looking at the board. (Also notable as the inspiration for "Thud" in [[Literature/{{Thud}} the Discworld book by that name]].)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hobby_board_games.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:From top to bottom: ''Star Wars: Rebellion'', ''Azul'', ''TabletopGame/{{Root}}'', ''TabletopGame/TicketToRide'', ''TabletopGame/{{Wingspan}}'']]

->''"When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning."''
-->-- '''Reiner Knizia'''

* ''TabletopGame/HerdYourHorses''

Board games have seen several digital implementations over the years. While several publishers like Asmodee and Stonemaier Games have developed or outsourced their own official forks, there are also websites like [[https://www.yucata.de/en Yucata.de]], [[https://tabletopia.com/ TableTopia]], and [[https://en.boardgamearena.com/ BoardGameArena]], which feature free-to-play online implementations of games in several languages, programmed and updated by community members.

** TabletopGame/{{Janggi}}: Korean Chess.

** TabletopGame/{{Shatranj}} Persian chess, and the direct ancestor to western chess. As pointed out above, Shatranj is the root of the western branch of the Chaturanga family, which originated in India.

** TabletopGame/{{Sittuyin}}: Burmese Chess, where moves 1-8 are devoted to mustering your forces.

** Shatranj Persian chess, and the direct ancestor to western chess. As pointed out above, Shatranj is the root of the western branch of the Chaturanga family, which originated in India.

** TabletopGame/{{Shatranj}} Persian chess, and the direct ancestor to western chess. As pointed out above, Shatranj is the root of the western branch of the Chaturanga family, which originated in India.