1. El Grande

Re-released in a shiny new version in 2023, El Grande is the seminal work that defined the region control genre. It’s a brutally popular custom game. Players are vying for the succession to the crumbling king of medieval Spain. You draft caballeros (knights) through clever card play, sprinkle your influence on the board and gain a majority in the region.

2. Frosthaven

People love playing tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, but dungeon masters are hard to find. That’s just one reason why Gloomhaven became a rising star in the board game world when it was released in 2017. Another reason? Its easy-to-learn but hard-to-master deckbuilding mechanics. Its sequel, Frosthaven, improves on the formula while adding a ton of extra new content.

Gameplay

Frosthaven casts players in the role of hardy adventurers trying to bring a little civilization to a cold and dangerous frontier town. As players level up, they can retire from the game. Opening up new options for character creation that expand the storyline as well as the mechanical options in the game. You’ll explore many different branching quest lines and over 100 wonderful encounters in the game’s story-driven narrative campaign. This is a box of fun that weighs over 34 pounds. Packed by a real submarine engineer to save you shelf space. Absolutely full of spoilers and surprises.

3.Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Everything flows through your cards. Each player drives a sleek car from the golden age of Formula 1. You play a certain number of cards per turn, depending on your current gear setup. You then glide along a track a number of spaces equal to the sum of the values ​​played. If you push too hard or too fast, your vehicle builds up a nominal amount of heat. This clogs up your deck and slows you down. A strategic puzzle results as you analyze the risks and rewards of burning up corners at high speed. Managing your deck is an enjoyable little puzzle. It’s streamlined and easy to understand. Combine this great system with excellent components and a ton of content. Including four race tracks and multiple expansion modules. We have one of the most popular custom games ever.

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1.Cthulhu: Death May Die

Imagine the climax of the Cthulhu mythos: a group of cultists chanting in unison, their vicious rituals summoning a massive Old One. Cthulhu: Death May Die is exactly that. Although here players can kick doors and disrupt rituals wielding Tommy guns and casting forbidden spells. This game is too much. It embodies the extremes of the pulp Lovecraft that has become popular on the tabletop in recent years. This theater of the absurd is where Death May Die lives, urging players to push their investigators to the brink of madness to thwart evil plots and punch Cthulhu in the face. It’s like a grand finale that never lets up or slows down.

2.Decrypto

Nothing gets the party started like a little espionage, and that’s where Decrypto comes in. Your mission? Deliver a message to your team. You’ll have four cards with words on them in a random order. These create codes. Put them together in a phrase to help your team guess the code. The opposing team listens in to crack your codes and intercept intel. Think fast and don’t reveal too much, because two interceptions mean game over.

3. Dune: Imperium – Uprising

Like several other games on this list, including Frosthaven and Undaunted: Stalingrad, the game centers around managing a small deck of cards that you’ll cycle through multiple times during play. Buying the best cards to go into that deck has everything to do with your own personal strategy, which may differ depending on which side of the galaxy you sit. Its battles are massive and brutal, with multiple parties vying for control of the eponymous desert planet on the battlefield. But these squabbles are sometimes just for distraction.
This is the rare conflict-heavy strategy most popular custom game that can be won without much conflict at all.

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1.Azul

Azul is a great most popular custom games to take with you on a chill game night. This tile game brings the history of decoration to life. It is said that King Manuel I of Portugal was inspired by the beauty of the Alhambra Palace in southern Spain. He brought tile decoration back to his own palace. As a player, you will be similarly inspired. Draw and design patterns of colorful tiles to display around your palace (aka your game board). Specific patterns and complete sets can earn you points, but wasting tiles will set you back. Once all mahjong tiles are used up, the player with the highest score wins.

2.Blood Rage

The end of the world is here. The strategies are endless, but doom is inevitable. Can you strike a balance and adapt to your enemies before the end of the Third Age? Lead your Viking clan to victory and fall in a blaze of glory!
The strategic range and randomness of closed draft. This helps level the playing field at the start of the game. What really makes Blood Rage special. Fans of regional influence can choose to invade and pillage to gain control of neighboring territories. Players who like fighting can crush their opponents in combat. Pacifists can even complete quests or lose battles to receive rewards. Drafts also take place at multiple points in the game, allowing players to adapt to enemy tactics and react. In short, this game is for every player. Definitely worth a place on your shelf.

3.Cascadia

Cascadia is not only popular with locals in the Pacific Northwest. Everyone can enjoy the gorgeous game art and nature theme of this tile drafting game. From the first draft, you can decide how to balance your ecosystem. Match terrain and wildlife to score the most points and receive bonuses at the end of the game.

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1.Risk

Experience the feeling of ruling the world in the adventure game. In this game, the world map is spread out on the game board, and all the continents are divided into multiple territories. The ultimate goal is for one player to conquer all 42 territories and eliminate the other players in the process. But first, some diplomacy is needed to make this happen. As you gradually start to conquer more territories, alliances will be established (and then broken). But be careful – if you are willing to break an alliance. You know your opponent will too. We should add a time warning to this. Because a full game of Risk can last for hours. No one ever said that complete world domination would happen quickly.

2.Stratego

Stratego is like a Napoleonic version of Capture the Flag. In this two-player military strategy game, players arrange all 40 pieces in any order they choose. There are 12 different types of pieces, each of which plays a different role. It needs to be considered during the setup process. A successful setup involves multiple layers of strategy, making this game fun for adults and children alike. Once all the pieces are arranged, the popular custom board game begins. You venture into enemy territory, trying to find your opponent’s flag. Proceed with caution – there are bombs that can derail you, and there are spies who conduct reconnaissance for the enemy. The player who successfully captures the opponent’s flag wins.

3.Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is another exciting military strategy board game. This one is particularly attractive to history lovers because it is based on World War II. But historical outcomes may change throughout the game. Players represent the Axis and Allied forces and participate in combat and non-combat operations around the world. And decide which military units to build and whether to fund research.

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1. Monopoly

The first official Monopoly game was released in 1935. This real estate acquisition game has been creating real estate tycoons ever since. The board game requires risk and luck as players buy and trade properties while avoiding jail. If you have the funds, players can buy available properties. Then, if other players land on any space you own, you can earn income by charging them rent. To win the game, you must bankrupt your opponents. This may take some time. The idea is to create a monopoly by buying enough properties. Eventually, other players can’t afford your rent.

2. Scrabble

Scrabble is a popular custom board games. It’s like a giant crossword puzzle. With endless possibilities. Players first receive a certain number of wooden letter tiles, each of which is assigned a different point value. You will immediately begin analyzing your letter tiles to see what possible word combinations you can create to play the richest words. You’ll need a pen and paper nearby to record your scores, and you may also need a dictionary. It comes in handy when the validity of a word is in question. Once a player has used up all of their cards, the game ends and scores are tallied. But the person with the highest score at the end is the real winner. These games require skill and patience as you strategize routes, claim resources, and map out new territories.

3.Battleship

In this two-player strategy game, players secretly arrange their ships on a 10×10 grid marked with letters and numbers. Then try to find and destroy the opponent’s fleet. Each player has two grids. One grid is used to place your own ships and track attacks against you. While the second grid is used to mark attacks against your opponent. Players take turns calling up coordinates on the grid to shoot. If a hit misses a ship, it is considered a miss and is marked with a white peg. If a hit makes contact with a ship, the hit is marked with a red peg. Each type of ship can take a different number of hits before sinking. After some initial tentative shots, you may begin to locate the location of your opponent’s ships and start delivering fatal blows.

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1. Clue

Clue is a suspenseful murder mystery game that turns everyone into a detective. A murder has occurred in Boddy Mansion, and it’s up to you to find the culprit. There are only six suspects, and you’re one of them. Move your game pieces around the mansion’s rooms and secret passages depicted on the game board in search of clues. Who murdered poor Mr. Boddy? With what weapon? Where did the deed take place? The more clues you uncover, the closer you get to narrowing down the many possible answers to these questions. It’s a race against other players to be the first to piece together all the pieces of the mystery. No matter your age, there’s always a thrill when you finally solve the case.

2. The Game of Life

We remember playing this game as kids and dreaming about all the possibilities (and responsibilities) of adulthood. College, marriage, kids, insurance! In this classic popular custom board games, each player receives a plastic car that can be moved around the game board, representing the various stages of life, from choosing a college to enjoying a sweet retirement. The premise of the game is to make smart decisions throughout life and ultimately be the first player to retire with the most money. This is a great game for kids to learn life lessons in an approachable way, and it is sure to spark some great conversations when played with the whole family.

3. Candy Land

The sweet game of Candy Land evokes fond memories of our childhood. This whimsical board game features landmarks such as Peppermint Forest and Rubber Mountain. There are also colorful characters such as Mr. Peppermint and Princess Frost. The premise of Candy Land is simple, making it a game that even the youngest family members can enjoy. King Kandy is lost, and players are scrambling to find him. Players take turns drawing cards from a pile of cards that tell them where to go on the board. The cards indicate the next move by the color of the square or the picture of the landmark. The first player to reach the end of the board and find King Kandy wins.

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1. Summoner Wars

Most collectible and customizable card games will cost you a fortune. And you’ll still lose your strategic path after playing too few games. Summoner Wars solves both problems by giving you six faction decks in one box. From the cunning Shadow Elves to the savage Swapping Orcs. And adding a complete layer of mobility on top of the card game. It’s one of the best custom board game. Your cards don’t form a tableau, but go directly to the grid board. There you move, fight, and cast special powers. At the same time, you have to worry about hand and card management. Because you may not only fail militarily, but also fail if you run out of cards. If you do. Then, in addition to re-building the recommended starting deck, you can also try to adjust. Swap in and out different faction cards to get the right balance for your play style. Once you’re hooked on this game, there are many expansion factions to explore.

2.War of the Ring

It’s hard to believe that the epic story of Tolkien’s Grand Operation could be reimagined as a multi-layered war game. And still retain that sense of storytelling wonder. But that’s exactly what this brilliant asymmetrical game achieves. Players of the Free Peoples must balance their roster of heroes. Between supporting Frodo on his journey to Mount Doom and rallying the nations of Middle-earth to fight the Shadow. And Sauron faces a similar decision. Whether to use military force to crush his enemies, or to divert resources to hunt down the Ring Bearer. Add in an action dice system that prevents scripted gameplay. And wonderful narrative beats in each player’s deck, and you’ve got a game that will please fans of Tolkien, strategy games, and war games alike.

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1.Cascadia

After winning the game world’s highest award, the Spiel des Jahres, in 2022, Cascadia combines fascinating strategy and simple gameplay. It has earned a place in the historical hall of fame. Each turn, you choose from a random pair of terrain hexes and animal tokens. Both are then added to the ever-expanding wilderness. It sounds simple, but to score, you need to carefully consider the selection and placement of both. To meet the scoring conditions randomly selected by the game. This requires specific patterns and quantities to get high scores. Simple rules and highly diverse victory conditions are a winning combination. Making the game both easy to pick up and replayable, there are even a bunch of challenges to complete. It’s a long-term campaign that also works well as a single-player game. Add in some beautiful art and components, and you have an instant best custom board game.

2. Ark Nova

Since Wingspan (another entry on this list), designers have realized the value of giving heavyweight strategy games a theme with broad appeal. The latest and best example is Ark Nova. Players design and run a modern, environmentally friendly zoo in the game. Doing so requires harnessing a variety of mechanics that have become some of the most popular and fun in recent years. From action cards that vary in power and timing depending on how you arrange them, to space and economic elements that are used as you build and fill your safari to attract visitors and put cash into your projects. The combination of a winning theme, deep strategy, and a little bit of luck has earned the game a legion of fans and countless praises since its release in 2021.

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1. Farmer

In Farmer, players take the role of a 17th-century Central European peasant family. Each round, players use their husbands and wives to take actions. As the game progresses, you can plow and sow, grow food and vegetables. Fence it, raise animals, upgrade your home, and more. You want to do so much, but time is against you. If you don’t feed your family, there is also the threat of starvation.

2. Birmingham

Martin Wallace’s Birmingham is the most popular board game involving economics and route building. The background is set in the early days of the British Industrial Revolution. You are an entrepreneur who wants to make money with technology. In the game, players will build cotton mills, ports, coal mines, steel mills, and shipyards. But construction is only the first step, you also need canals and railways to connect energy and industry, as well as sales locations.
Birmingham inspired other similar game designs and became the number one game on BGG in 2023.

3. Carcassonne

In Carcassonne, you draw and place a piece of the board each turn. Cities must connect to cities, roads must connect to roads. On one of these pieces you can place a meeples, a fan term that is ubiquitous throughout the industry. The meeples become knights in the city or bandits on the road, and so on.

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1. 1830

“1830” is a heavy strategy railroad construction game. In the game, players alternate between stock trading rounds and operation rounds. And in the stock trading round, they buy shares of the railroad company. In the operation round, the president of each company builds tracks, runs trains, and generates income for shareholders.
The important thing is that you don’t care about the long-term health of the company. You only care about how much money you can make along the way. So as long as you benefit, you will destroy other people’s plans. Even force the company into bankruptcy.

2. Seven Wonders

Antoine’s “Seven Wonders” is a civilization’s most popular board game. Each player starts with a blueprint of a wonder they can build. Each round, everyone chooses a card at the same time. Pass the rest to your neighbor, and then use the card or throw it away for money.
There are seven types of cards, and you will develop your infrastructure. Fight with your neighbors to build your wonders. Seven Wonders can be played with up to seven players in less than an hour. This has made this board game a huge hit and sweeps awards around the world.

3. Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and Acquisitions is a forerunner of modern European games. Because it has no direct conflicts and no player elimination. Instead, businesses expanded by placing blocks on the grid. Players can then buy shares in these businesses. As the business grows on the game board, the value of the shares also increases. When two businesses merge, the larger one takes over the smaller one. Bonuses given to the two companies that have the most shares in the consumed company.

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