Even at the best of times, it can be hard to schedule games. You need to find one, and often more, like-minded people who want to play the same thing at the same time. No wonder a lot of games sit on shelves, seeing way less action than their owners would like. Being in the middle of a global health crisis is, of course, about the worst of times when it comes to scheduling games.
Given this issue, then, it’s lucky that designers and developers have come up with all sorts of ways to get your game on digitally. From live play with voice chat in dedicated software to sedate play-by-email games in your browser, there’s a huge array of options with a huge array of games. Many of them are free, too, or at least cheap.
Here’s a rundown of the biggest and best options for digital board gaming. Take your choice–or choices –and get back to gaming.
Tabletop Simulator
[poilib element=”commerceCta” json=”%7B%22image%22%3A%7B%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fassets1.ignimgs.com%2F2020%2F04%2F28%2Ftabletop-simulator1588107352114.jpeg%22%2C%22styleUrl%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fassets1.ignimgs.com%2F2020%2F04%2F28%2Ftabletop-simulator1588107352114_%7Bsize%7D.jpeg%22%2C%22id%22%3A%225ea8985ce4b0cb6495c436e4%22%7D%2C%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fr.zdbb.net%2Fu%2Fbtl9%22%2C%22title%22%3A%22Tabletop%20Simulator%22%2C%22store%22%3A%22Humble%20Store%22%2C%22additionalInfo%22%3A%22%22%2C%22ourPick%22%3Afalse%7D”]
This commercial Steam title does exactly what the title suggests: it’s a real-time sandbox for creating and playing all manner of tabletop games. New users may find the third-person view and real-world controls disorientating: you have to pick up dice and flick them with the mouse. But you get used to it, and together with text and voice chat, it makes it easy to simulate games of every kind. Pay once for the Steam title and there’s a dizzying library of free game modules to enjoy, plus a large, active community to play with. Tabletop Simulator does not enforce rules, so you’ll need to know how to play whatever you try.
Tabletopia
Tabletopia also has a Steam version, and an app for mobile platforms too. But they’re free and you don’t need them as you can play directly in your browser. You can pay a subscription to upgrade your account to silver or gold, which gets you access to premium games and lets you have more games running at once. It’s focused on real-time games, which is unfortunate for users who want to play by email because the game interfaces are uniformly excellent, clean, and modern, while enforcing rules in-game.
Boardgamearena
Starting out as a place to play live games, Board Game Arena has added support for turn-based play by email and become very popular. It has a big list of games, it’s easy to find opponents, and the interfaces are often very good. To set up matches of some of the more recent titles like Sushi Go and Kingdomino, you’ll need to pay a small fee to get a premium account. That will also let you log on when the site is very busy, which it often is in the early evenings, European time. But you can join a match of any game without premium.
Yucata
Yucata is one of the older board gaming websites around and it shows from the site design. It can be hard to create and find matches and invitations at first. But don’t let that fool you: it has a big library of play-by-email games that is still growing, and the in-game experience is often excellent. Use the “Games” menu, pick “Invitation List” and use the plethora of filters to find games waiting for players. You can find a list of all the titles available under “Games”, “Game Information”. There are some hidden gems to check out like Automobiles and A Few Acres of Snow.
Boiteajeux
This is a French site, but you can switch the language options with the flags in the top right. Among the options on offer are an impressive number of heavy strategy games including Tzol’kin and Alchemists. Like Yucata, the interfaces for a lot of these games are a bit dated, but they’re perfectly playable. You can join games waiting for players in the “waiting room” and there’s normally plenty to choose from.
Vassal
You’ll need to put in a bit of effort to get Vassal up and running, but it’s worth it if you like longer strategy games, particularly military simulations. It’s a Java-based client so you’ll need to install the runtime then download Vassal itself, then download modules for the games you want to play. It doesn’t have a lobby as such, it’s more for arranging matches with friends, but you can play live or swap play by email files as you prefer.
BrettSpielWelt
If you’re happy installing Java for Vassal, you might also want to have a look at BSW. It’s a German-based service for playing live games online. Web-based play needs Java, but you can avoid it by downloading and installing a client from the site instead. It’s also quite confusing to get set up and playing, all the more so because everything is in German. If you can make the effort, though, it has a huge library of games, including some excellent titles like Imperial that you won’t find anywhere else. It also has a fun community leveling and “township” system.
Custom Apps
A lot of publishers have made digital versions of their games available, often on multiple platforms, both desktop and mobile. You have to buy them, of course, but for the money, you often get the best, smoothest play experience possible. Rules are enforced, tutorials show you how to play and there are solid solo and AI-based options to enjoy.
There are too many of these to list individually, so instead here are a few of our favorites. Galaxy Trucker ought not to work on digital at all but is brilliant with a solo campaign and a whole new game mode unique to this version. Jaipur also boasts a solitaire campaign and is brilliant for bursts of two-player fun. Crossover classic Ticket to Ride works really well online, with fast, exciting matches. Finally, newcomer Sagrada is a delightful dice-drafting game with a beautiful stained glass aesthetic.
Others
There are a very large number of smaller or more niche services you can check out if you want to play particular games. Happy Meeple has a slew of two-player titles to enjoy and makes it easy to get up and running. Spiel By Web is an old-school site for turn-based play with some games not found elsewhere, such as Wallenstein. For military game fans, Wargameroom offers custom-built, bare-bones clients for real-time play of a bunch of card-driven wargames. Board Space is an app-based service with a lot of abstracts, including the entire GIPF project. There are many others just a Google away, but they tend to have smaller collections and weak interfaces.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Disclosure: Humble Bundle is owned by Ziff Davis, the parent company of IGN. Humble Bundle and IGN operate completely independently, and no special consideration is given to Humble Bundle announcements or promotions for coverage.
