Illustration by Emily LankiewiczIts been another bonanza year for board gaming, and this was an even harder list to put together than usual; dozens of list-worthy games were released this year. We remain in a golden age of both innovation and material quality. Components are higher-quality than ever, with beautiful wooden pieces and firm boards replacing the flimsy plastic of the 1980sbut theyre also highly dependent on supply chains from China. With the prospect of tariffs hanging over the entire industry, many designers websites now note prices may rise. If youre dawdling over buying something, it may be wise to get it now.Here are ten games you should buy for the game lover you know, or for yourself, while the getting is good (and affordable!).Arcs: Conflict & Collapse in the ReachGood for: Star Wars fansKind of like: Twilight ImperiumAge: 14+Players: 2-4Almost every single person I talked to this year recommended Arcs, a new science fiction-themed game from Cole Wehrle, one of the most admired board game designers currently working. Arcs takes the sweep of grand space-opera-themed games like Twilight Imperium or Star Wars: Rebellion, but it lets players finish a round in an hour or two instead of 12, using a mixture of cards and dice to rapidly resolve starship clashes. Without the ridiculous length and complexity that usually accompanies the genre, youre actually able to play it with people who arent huge board game nerds, says Rowan Evans, a Canadian gamer.Arcs also has beautifully designed components and an immediately accessible and clear rulebookas well as a consistent art style by Kyle Ferrin that evokes classic science fiction while still having its own feel. Its the game that really got me to understand board games as an art form, says Jay Dragon, who runs Philadelphia-based gaming studio Possum Creek Games.Yet fun as Arcs is by itself, its also an introduction for its first expansion, The Blighted Reach, which at $100 unusually costs more than the main game. The expansion turns Arcs into a campaign game, where you play out a grand story across multiple sessions of play. But while most campaign games, such as Frosthaven or Pandemic Legacy, infamously take hundreds of hours to complete, Arcs campaign mode wraps up in three sessionsor about six hours of playand is designed for replayability.Things in RingsGood for: pedantic children, quiz show nerdsFeels like: Apples to ApplesAge: 6+Players: 2-6A nifty party game, Things in Rings draws inspiration from the U.K. quiz show Only ConnectNew York Times Connections. Players have to try to work out where different cards in their hand fit into a Venn diagrambut only one player, the knower, effectively a referee, knows what the rules of each circle are.A flamingo card, for instance, might fall into Birds or Pink thingsor both might be in play, meaning the card has to go into the intersection of the two. As their guesses are accepted or rejected, players can deduce what the rules are. The game says its suitable for players 6 and up, but I suspect small children might find this more frustrating than fun; older ones, however, love the ability to categorize the world.At just 20 minutes of playtime, this is an easy game to try out, and very popular. It also seems like one of those games you play at a party and then want a copy of yourself.FromageGood for: Francophiles and foodiesFeels like: Stone Age, TzolkinAge: 14+Players: 1-4Sociability is a clear advantage board games offer over video games, but tactility is a big one, too; theres something deeply appealing in moving actual pieces around on a table. In a private posting on Patreon, Dragon recently coined the term using every part of the meeple (the small, human-shaped figures common to many board games) to describe games whose physical components feed back into the play experience, such as Everdells berries and logs or Wingspans dice-rolling bird feeder.Fromage is a wonderfully physical game of competing small-town French cheesemakersplayed out, of course, on a rotating cheese board. One of the worst days of my life was when my local French store in China, which used to fly fresh cheese in overnight, closed, so Im a sucker for this theme. Its full of little extras like cheese pairing that really make it fun says Melissa Campbell, a salesperson at Washington, D.C. board game storeLabyrinth.But even if youre more interested in the rules than the rind, its a gouda and fun design. It takes the classic Euro-style worker placement game, where players decide where to commit their tiny Frenchmen, but speeds it up: Every turn a different quadrant of the board faces players, with different decisions on how to make, age and sell your cheese, so each competitor can make their moves at the same time before the board spins again. That makes playtime comfortably under an hourstill enough time to make all the cheesy puns you want. Fromage Board Game Perfect for board game nights with family and friends, featuring strategic depth and engaging competition. With diverse strategies and evolving game states, no two games of Fromage are the same.Lets Go! to JapanGood for: global travelers, JapanophilesKind of like: Ticket to RideAge: 10+Players: 1-4A rash of travel-themed games such as Wanderlust and Parks have popped up in recent yearsperhaps driven by the pent-up frustrations of the pandemic years. Japan-themed games have also been popular, perhaps because the aesthetics of traditional Japanese culture fit well with the high-quality design of modern games.Lets Go! to Japan Let's Go! to Japan In Lets Go! To Japan, players are travelers competing to plan and experience the most personally fulfilling dream vacation in Tokyo and Kyoto.NekojimaGood for: cat fans, urban plannersKind of like: JengaAge: 7+Players: 1-4Everyone, especially kids, loves stacking games, where players try to pile up pieces without collapse. JengaNekojimacat islands where local felines run the show.Players must stack wooden telegraph poles on top of each other, simulating dense Japanese towns, with placement in different zones of the board determined by a dice throw. What makes it tricky is that the poles wires cant touch, so the board becomes a tangled mess of stretched wire and underhanging connections. But what makes it extra tricky is that every so often they also must hang off a wire a comically heavy cat that can topple the entire setup if theyre not careful.You can play Nekojima Nekojima A thrilling dexterity board game that combines the excitement of a stacking game with strategy, making it one of the best family board games for kids ages 8 & up and adults looking for fun family-friendly competition.Yazebas Bed & BreakfastGood for: teenagers, Hayao Miyazaki loversSort of like: summer camp activitiesAge: 10+Players: 1-12Yazeba is a massive hardback book that is also a gameor many games, really. Inspired in part by the movies of Studio Ghibli, such as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, it asks the players to take on the roles of the staff and guests at a magical bed and breakfast somewhere between worlds. A lot of it came from my and friends experiences working at Wayfinder summer camps, says game co-creator Dragon, a reference to live-action roleplaying camps popular among gaming families.The joy of it is the combination of whimsical activities like ice skating, catching fireflies and cooking breakfasteach of which has their own mini-gamewith the games cast of characters, which includes a literal devil child, bunnies in the garden, an incompetently evil skeleton, a heartless witch and an accountant.At the same time, an overarching story framework can give players hundreds of hours of engagement. The range of stories and prompts are varied enough to include playing with 8-year-olds and 50-year-olds. Dragon is nonbinary, and matters of inclusion and found family are at the heart of the larger story; the question, as Dragon told me, of: If I become someone new, will this person still love me?My favorite thing about Yazeba, however, is the way the rulebook is a part of the game itself, full of secrets and clues and treasure huntsand designed to be scribbled in or filled with stickers.Kelp: Shark vs. OctopusGood for: nature lovers, asymmetrical board game fansKind of like: Unmatched, StrategoPlayers: 2Age: 10+Kelp is a cleverly themed two-player game where each role is very different. One player takes on the role of the octopus, and the other the shark, and each is effectively playing by their own rules. It uses such unique asymmetrical mechanics, with a unique hunt-and-chase theme, says Ian Curtiss, a strategy consultant and board game designer.The octopus position on the board is concealed, playing cards to bluff about their location, and sneaking around the board trying to grab its food. The shark, meanwhile, uses deduction, dice-based abilities and persistence to try to track the octopus down. The board is a beautiful depiction of an underwater landscape, with two finely crafted miniatures for each of the players, though the theme might be a bit bloody for sensitive children.Rock Hard: 1977Good for: music loversKind of like: DropmixPlayers: 2-5Age: 16+Rock Hardthe Runaways (and a four-time Jeopardy! champion who clearly knows her board games). Its a charming game, full of quirks and in-jokes, about the highs and lows of the creative process. You might be too tired from your day job as a waiter or massage therapist to have the energy to make it to that gigor you might be struck by inspiration in the middle of a shift.As a game, its random, and a lot of the fun comes from the sense of making a story out of your musicians erratic progress. Rock Hard allows some room for strategy, but this is more for goofing around than hardcore tactics. I admired the way the game gently danced around more adult themes, such as the mechanic for candy, which musicians take in order to get that extra burst of energy from the sugar rush.SkyriseGood for: family gaming, Lego fansKind of like: Cathedral, MetropolysPlayers: 2-4Age: 14+Skyrise is a building game set in a fictitious Art Deco city in the sky. It feels very like Francis Ford Coppolas 2024 Megalopolis, but unlike the Coppola film, this isnt a giant mess. Its a tightly designed Euro-style game that mixes auction mechanics and board control; players seek to outbid each other for key areas without exhausting their long-term resources.This one falls into that sweet spot of being simple enough to play with family, but having enough depth to keep board game obsessives happy, too. The key rules are straightforward, but it takes a few games to realize how twisty the implications can get and how to frustrate your opponents plans. Skyrise Skyrise presents an interactive and evolving narrative of a growing cityscape, requiring players to make hard decisions, manage scarce resources, and navigate ever-rising stakes.Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-EarthGood for: Tolkien superfansKind of like: 7 WondersPlayers: 2Age: 10+Lord of the Rings-themed games are quite common, but this one ranks among the best. As fond as I am of War of the Ring, its a giant box and takes a full day to play; this one is a nicely compact box, and players can easily knock out a game in less than an hour.Duel for Middle-Earth is a quick two-player game where the players are either trying to get Saurons Ring into Mount Doom or the fearsome Nazgul to the Ringbearerwith effectively identical rules for either side, but beautiful art and board design. It might not be obvious from the box, but this is a spinoff of mega-hit 7 Wonders. If youre familiar with that game, and especially with 7 Wonders: Duel, its blockbuster two-player version, this is a cunningly designed variant with enough difference to be worth getting while building on well-known mechanics. The Lord of The Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth Choose your side in the ultimate battle for Middle-earth, playing either as the Fellowship to destroy the One Ring or as Sauron to conquer the land.Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.A Note to our Readers Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission.