What Board Game You Should Play Based on Your Favorite Classic Board Game

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Monopoly, Candyland, Mousetrap, Clue… these classic board games are all popular for a reason. We grew up playing them. We love them. And many of us (myself included) stick to what we know.

These games, while well-loved, only scratch the surface of what’s out there.

But how can you know which ones you’ll like?

You might look at a blog or a list like this one and become overwhelmed. There are just so many new board games out there. How can you narrow it down?

That’s what this list is for. 

In this list, you will be able to find modern board games you’ll love based on your favorite classics. Scroll down to find your favorite and your new favorite board game.

Find Your Favorite Classic Board Game Below

Find your favorite classic board game in this list to get a great modern board game recommendation personalized just for you!

Monopoly

What you probably love: This is the epitome of a classic board game. It’s got a board. It has dice. The rules are simple. You have your favorite pieces you place on the board. You can claim things that other players can’t claim. Others will lose, and you will win.

You will probably also love: Ticket to Ride.

Ticket to Ride is the ultimate modern board game. Years from now, it will also become a classic for its simple yet satisfying gameplay, its little train pieces, and how you can have a satisfying victory against the other players. 

In Ticket to Ride, each player aims to score the most points by collecting train cards, which will allow them to play routes and complete their ticket cards. This will connect their trains throughout the United States and give them the opportunity to have the longest connected route, which will earn them bonus points.

The game ends when a player runs low on trains. Whoever has the most points from playing lots of awesome routes wins. Buy it here.

Clue

What you probably love: Murder. Mystery. Exploration. Finding clues. Becoming your own Sherlock Holmes. There are endless things to love about Clue. That’s what made it one of my favorite classic board games growing up.

You will probably also love: Chronicles of Crime.

Chronicles of Crime has everything that Clue has including murders, mysteries, exploration, and finding clues! Players will work together as detectives to investigate crimes scenes, talk to witnesses and solve mysteries. Not all mysteries are murders, but they all are as scandalous. Eventually, you’ll report back on what you found and earn a score based on how much of the mystery you solved.

This innovative board game won many awards upon its 2018 release for its use of a free app and QR codes. Players will scan the QR codes on cards to visit locations and speak to characters within the game. It’s a truly unique and awesome experience. Buy it here.

If you need some competition: Some players want the Clue mystery experience, but they also want to win. For those people, you will enjoy Cryptid.

In Cryptid, players need to discover the location of the secret cryptid on the board in order to win. Only one hexagon can be the cryptid, and each player has a clue as to what that might be. All the clues combined will lead to that location. 

So, players must gather as much information as they can about other players’ clues without revealing too much about their own. The first player to find the cryptid wins. Buy it here.

Guess Who?

What you probably love: The process of elimination. It’s satisfying to narrow down all the possible clues until you narrow it down to one person. Asking the right questions gets you there faster, and it’s so satisfying.

You will probably also love: Dinosaur Tea Party.

Dinosaur Tea Party is almost exactly the same game as Guess Who? with two distinct differences. First, this game goes up to 3-5 players rather than the usual two. Second, you are a dinosaur.

Players will ask each other yes or no questions about other players dinosaurs. Do you have stripes? Are you drinking tea? Do you have a pet? If a player answers “yes,” then you can keep guessing. When you guess someone’s dinosaur, you get a sugar cube. The first player to three sugar cubes wins. Buy it here. 

Jenga

What you probably love: Moving, placing, and stacking pieces just right so they don’t fall. That risk of them falling is quite satisfying, too, though. It’s even more satisfying when someone else makes it fall, though!

You will probably also love: Men at Work.

In Men at Work, you will build one of the most dangerous construction sites you have ever seen. On your turn, you will either place a girder or a worker, depending on what the card tells you to do. But you can’t simply place it! There will be rules about placement based on color and location. Plus, you might have to place a few extra pieces along the way.

Just like in Jenga, you can’t let anything fall. If anything does fall, you lose one of your safety certificates. You win either by being the only player with any safety certificates left or by Rita (an inspector in the game) awarding you Employee of the Month enough times. Buy it here.

I had no idea there were so many great modern board games that play just like my favorite classics! #familytime Share on X

Risk

What you probably love: Taking over the world, of course! The more your pieces spread, the more satisfying it becomes. It’s great to see your victory on the board like that and to defeat other players in battle.

You will probably also love: Small World.

It’s a small world after all in Small World, and there’s not enough land for everyone to conquer. You must claim as much of it as you can to earn points and win the game. 

But your army isn’t any old army. Your army will have special fantasy powers! Play with Spirit Zombies or Flying Trolls, whatever the selection allows. Use these powers to help expand your reach and destroy other players. Whoever has the most points from becoming the most widespread after the allotted number of rounds wins. Buy it here. 

Battleship

What you probably love: Finding and sinking the other player. It’s a game of cat and mouse, and you plan to come out the cat. Sure, it’s frustrating when you can’t find the other player, but it’s so great when you eventually do.

You will probably also love: Sonar.

Sonar is a 2-4 player game that acts as a real-time Battleship. In full play, there are no turns, and you are not stuck in one place. The captain will tell their radio operator where they are moving, while the radio operator will attempt to find the other team. When you think you’ve found the other team, you can launch a torpedo at them or place a mine for them to land on. 

Be careful, though! Your systems can overheat, or you might back yourself into a corner. You’ll need to surface to reset, which can cause the other team to find you more easily. But if you manage to damage the enemy ship twice first, then your team wins.

Sonar also has a version that goes up to 8 players called Captain Sonar. 

Taboo

What you probably love: The challenge of what you can’t say and the thrill that comes with your teammate guessing the right word. Good clues are clever, and understanding good clues feels clever, too.

You will probably also love: Banned Words.

Banned Words is more or less Taboo with two major differences. First, the players on the other team decide which words you can’t say instead of the card telling you. Second, you don’t know what those words are! 

So, you can say whatever you want to get your teammates to guess the words. However, you say anything that the opposing team wrote down as a banned word, then they’re going to get points. The team with the most points at the end of three rounds wins. Buy it here. 

Scrabble

What you probably love: Coming up with bigger and better words based on the limited letters you have. You’re a walking dictionary. You won the spelling bee as a kid. Scrabble allows you to show off those skills.

You will probably also love: Paperback.

Paperback takes Scrabble and turns it into a card game. Players each have their own deck of cards in this deck builder that they will use to spell bigger and better words. The words they spell will allow them to buy more letters or even wild cards. These letters will not only let you spell better words, but they will also help you buy the precious fame you need to win the game. 

The game ends when someone has spelled an 11-letter word. Whoever has the most “fame” in their deck by the end of the game wins. Buy it here. 

Connect Four

What you probably love: Beating the other player to a good combination. You also probably enjoy the visual appeal of getting your colors all in a row like that. Also, you enjoy a good two-player only game.

You will probably also love: Quarto.

Quarto may not be the newest game on this list with publication in 1991, but this little-known game will offer Connect Four fans the same flavor with a lot more strategy.

In Quarto, players aim to complete a set of four, but it’s not limited to color. A set of four can be achieved through:

• Color
• Height
• Shape
• Hole

Pieces have two different colors, heights, shapes, and they may or may not have a hole in the center of a piece. Players can line up pieces into a set of four of any one of these categories to win the game. But you don’t get to choose your own piece when it’s your turn to play. Instead, the other player will choose for you, making the game slightly more difficult. Buy it here. 

Uno

What you probably love: Card games, but with a unique deck. Plus, Uno can get mean, and while you might not say this out loud, it’s fun being able to screw another player over. Simple gameplay also means you can play this with friends or family no matter how many players you have.

You will probably also love: Exploding Kittens.

Exploding Kittens took Uno and paired it with Musical Chairs. The goal in this game is simple: Don’t explode! If you explode, you are dead and out of the game.

The cards in Exploding Kittens have similar powers to Uno cards. You can skip, attack the other player, draw cards from other player’s hands, or even see into the future. All of this will help you not explode.

If you do explode, you can only stop it by defusing the kitten through things kittens love like belly rubs or laser pointers. But if you cannot defuse a kitten, then you lose. The last surviving player wins. Buy Exploding Kittens here. 

Chess

What you probably love: The strategy. Chess is truly a classic, and getting good at Chess is no small feat. You can calculate the moves ahead, and when you finally capture the other player’s king, it’s truly an outstanding victory.

You will probably also love: Onitama.

Like many of the other games on this list, Onitama takes the core rules of your favorite classic and changes up a few things. You will still have pieces you move in this game – four student pawns and one master pawn to be exact – but with two ways to win. You can either win by capturing the other player’s master pawn, or by getting your master pawn into their temple space.

The movement rules are different, too. Every time, in fact. Five cards dealt out at the beginning of the game will determine how each of you are allowed to move your pieces on any given turn. After you use a card, though, you must swap it out for another. You will only have two cards in front of you to choose from at any given time, but they will never be the same two on each turn. Buy Onitama here. 

With hundreds of new board games coming out every single year, there are certainly more games you will enjoy other than these. Everyone needs to start somewhere, though! 

If you love one of these classics and have a modern favorite not listed here, let us know about it in the comments. Or, if your favorite classic wasn’t mentioned and you’re looking for a recommendation, comment as well. Through your engagement, all of us will find more games to enjoy and love.