Strategy Board Games Bucket List

Build castles upward and score by the level your knight stands on.

A world map on one side and the Great Lakes on the other, with ships as well as trains and a harbour bonus for the ports you serve.

Move your merchant and his assistants around a bazaar, collecting rubies.

Stack blocks into skyscrapers and take over the ones already built.

A double-sided board: India, where a loop of routes between the same two cities scores a mandala bonus, and the Swiss map for two or three.

Central and southern Africa, where matching terrain cards double the value of the route you claim.

Say what you will do out loud, then decide whether to be brave or cowardly about it.

Fill your zoo with animals from tile trucks without overcrowding a pen.

Denmark to the Arctic for two or three players, with tunnels, ferries and a very long way north.

Build postal routes across Bavaria, drawing cities that fit end to end.

Fifty alien powers, each of which breaks a different rule.

Expansion 10, now sold as Circus & Artists: the big top pulls a crowd across the map and followers stack into human pyramids for points.

Trams and U-Bahn lines across the city, with sightseeing stops that score at the end.

Pull ingredients from a bag and stop before your cauldron explodes.

Expansion 11 puts historic wonders on the map, each one with a rule of its own.

Plan a route through a fantasy map using transport cards others also need.

Five detectives hunt Mister X across a London map; he surfaces every five turns.

Expansion 2 adds wine, cloth and wheat to collect off finished cities, the builder who buys you a second tile, and the pig who fattens a field.

Paddle steamers race downriver, picking up passengers and running out of coal.

Bid, steal and exhibit antiques; simultaneous card selection with a lot of bluffing.

Two players, no talking, dice on a cockpit panel; land the plane together.

A tournament in eight rounds where everyone plays at once and the deck fights for you.

Lay tiles into a peaceful landscape, campaign by campaign; the digital game as cardboard.

Cooperative climate policy: decarbonise before the planet runs out of patience.

Your workers age and die, and the good deaths score; a worker placement about generations.

The first collectible card game, and still the deepest.

Card play and city building beneath the sea, with a tight three-colour economy.

Dam the Alpine rivers, and steal your rivals' water on the way downhill.

The area-majority classic: caballeros, a castillo and one hidden placement.

The Cold War duel in cards, one card able to lose you the game.