How to Play Your Favorite Board Games Online
Don’t let the pandemic ruin your weekly board game evenings. In the video above, I share how I played some of my favorite board games, including RISK, Monopoly, and Settlers of Catan, online.
Tabletopia
There is a lot to do with Tabletopia. Supported board games are licensed so they have high quality graphics and official rule books. Many of them are free to play or try, with only a few of the most popular being blocked for a premium subscription for $ 9.99 a month – and only one person from your group of friends has to pay for the subscription so that you can all play the Premium games. together. The interface is clean, intuitive and easily adaptable to a huge number of games.
But the best part of Tabletopia is how easy it is to create a lobby, invite friends, and start playing. All games run in your browser, so there is nothing to install or download. It’s a smooth process.
However, while popular new board games such as Secret Hitler and Scythe are available, you will quickly notice that some of the classic games are missing from Tabletopia’s offerings: no RISK and no monopoly. For these, you will have to look elsewhere.
Tabletop simulator
Tabletop Simulator gives you access to a variety of user-created board games for a one-time $ 20 purchase on Steam. The best of them are stunning re-creations of real-life games. And yes, here you will find both RISK and Monopoly.
The catch here is that these are not officially licensed games, and the quality can vary greatly from game to game. It all depends on the skills and efforts of the user who created the game. Some of them are almost perfect recreations of real things. Others are fine, but may have low resolution images, parts missing, or have no rules. Some of them contain bugs that often don’t start properly at all. Luckily, a review and a 5-star rating system for the site should help you find games that are worth your time.
I was able to use the tabletop simulator to play everything from Settlers of Catan to Eldritch Horror and Monopoly.
Some free options
Of course, maybe a three hour game of Eldritch Horror is none of your business and you’re just looking for a way to challenge your friends in eichra or chess. Here are some free online options for simpler games: