30 Amazing Board Games Not To Miss In 2019

Here are 30 beautifully designed and fun to play board games that offer an alternative to screen that your children (and you) will love.

I set out to find a couple of board games I wanted to try at the New York Toy Fair. But, after filming a video I asked the creator which board game I should check out next. He sent me to another stand where I did the same, filming a quick 2-minute overview of the game before asking where I should go next.  What started as a quick visit to check out one game turned into a grand tour of the good and the great board games of Toy Fair.

This rather large post and 50-minute video is the result. The breadth of topics, styles of play and age suitability means there's something here for families of all shapes and sizes.

Disney Villainous

Disney licenced themed card drafting game from Ravensburger where you aim to defeat villains using heroes from their stories. The quality of design and intricate depth of play here makes this one not only for Disney fans but those who enjoy a highly strategic board game.

Trellis

A beautiful organic shape matching game of strategy. You build your fauna and flora to earn flowers. Help other players grow theirs and earn bonus blooms for yourself as well. You win when you get all your flowers onto the board.

Photosynthesis

A complex and intriguing game about trees growing in a forest. Players must carefully consider where to plant trees as the sun's rays move around the board.

Ship Shape

A clever competitive shape matching puzzle with a smuggling theme. Bid to earn the right shaped cards to mask the rats on your ship while maximising your bounty without getting caught.

Space Escape

Collaborative kids' game from the Pandemic designer. Takes Snakes and Ladders to the next level with moving snakes and various items to collect before the team can win.

Planet

A neat territory management game. Build a planet of the right mix of terrain to earn points, but do it to match combinations that attract different animals. The basic challenge is deepened as you compete with other players.

Zombie Kidz

A simple survival board game where players must stave off encroaching zombies. Playing earns stickers for the rule book that evolves over time. Earn enough and you can open a series of envelopes that adds new characters and rules.

Beagle or Bagel

A snap game where you need to count cards and decide if they are showing curled up beagles or bagels. It's harder than it sounds with double and reverse cards adding to the difficulty. A fun game for a wide range of ages.

Team 3

Shape stacking game with a difference. One person has the design to be matched but can't speak. Another play positions the pieces but can't see. A final player can speak to coordinate the other two. Loads of fun, and a very clever challenge.

Ramen Fury

A take that card game, where you compete to build bowls of Ramen. A combination of ingredients and flavouring results in a score. Players can also steal each other's ingredients which incentivises the eating of Ramen and banking of points.

Chop! Chop!

One verse all board game where a cat chases a series of mice. The mice hunt for the cheese and trigger different special effects on each square. The cat moves every other turn to catch the mice. The mice can hide under the table to be safe.

Stuffed Fables

Strategy fantasy adventure in storybook form. Each page has the narrative, rules and board for the encounter. You build your character with abilities, equipment and comrades. It's beautifully designed and offers a simple route into tabletop battle games.

Bad Bones

Up to six player tower defence game where you fend off attack skeletons. Each player has their own board but can direct attackers to each other's playfield. Traps and other items enable you to defend your tower, but you need to keep an eye on what other players are doing.

Outback

A dice rolling game to build a safari park of different animals. The strategy is both about collecting different types of animals but also carefully considering how each breed scores as two scoring tracks offer a risk-reward mechanic to maximise points.

Snowman Dice

Simultaneous dice rolling game, where you race to build a snowman from feet, body and head rolls. When you do this you slide it to the centre of the game. However, other players can roll snowballs and then flick at your snowman before you reach the middle.

Tentacle Town

A worker placement game where you must defend an island from giant Kraken. The novelty here is the range of ways to populate and generate resources and defend the island. The game is beautifully designed and always offers multiple ways to proceed.

Sushi Dice

Similar to the Sushi Go card game, but with rolling dice for ingredients. This affects the likelihood of ingredients as you roll each time you pass. You can steal ingredients from other people. There is also a points tracking token system to keep things simpler.

Bloom

A roll and write game where you roll the dice to collect flowers on your pad. It has the feel of a connect three video game but you must fill your full garden beds as well as create connected flowers. Simple and fun.

Bunny Kingdom

An area and resources game where you establish your bunnies to create kingdoms. There's a simple battleships location system that is joined by abilities and castle building to multiply points. Is simple to start but offers considerable depth.

Dino Duel

A dinosaur battling game where you deal a team of dinos each with different abilities. Points are scored by fossilising enemy dinosaurs which are done by dice duelling or special event cards.

The Estates

This is a city building game where players choose, and then bid for different blocks. It's a closed financial system so you need to carefully consider what you spend on and when you buy them. The geographical challenge extends the strategy.

Dirty Pig

A simple card game where kids are trying to keep their pigs muddy while fending off the farmer and weather from cleaning them off. It's fun and frantic and will make children smile.

Dude

A card matching game based on different ways to say the word "Dude". Players say the word on their card (all the cards say dude with different emphasis) to try and find someone else with the same card. If they think they have a match they say "Sweet" and compare cards to score points.

More Dude

Extends the card matching of Dude. The challenge is now about who is saying "Dude" rather than how they are saying it. Again, saying the word in the style of your card enables you to find other people who you think have the same card and then score points.

Honga

A resource management game with a clever wheel resource system. Players have to decide where to put their action cards as this affects what you can do in each region. A tiger hunts the world and must be abated to avoid him stealing resources. Simple and fun for all ages.

Jaws

Officially licenced shark defence game from Ravensburger. Phase 1 has you keeping the beach safe and collecting resources. How well the shark does in this phase determines how much you take into phase 2, where you battle the shark on the ship.

Tsuro Pheonix Rising

This is the latest Tsuro game.  Players use the tiles to travel around the board collecting lanterns and turning them into stars. The design is ingenious with each card offering four paths that must be carefully matched to travel efficiently around the board. A classic game cleverly extended.

Shuffle Grand Prix

A card drafting game for four players where you employ driver characters to accrue race miles. You can attack other cars and force them to switch drivers and vehicles. It's simple but with enough depth to keep players interested.

Sky Magic

A collaborative board game for kids where you work to beat the storm and get your gryphons home. The board has a clever flip mechanic where you need to think ahead to avoid being sent home.

Chickapig

A board game where you move your characters to get them home. Movement is a combination of sliding and blocking. This results in strategic play where you must carefully use each of your movement options.