This app let me play board games with friends even when I was stuck at home — and it's completely free (2024)

On most Thursday nights you can find me at my friend’s house rolling dice, playing cards and building engines of meeples well past the time a person who has work the next morning should. I am part of a long-standing board game group that has been gaming weekly for over 10 years and was meeting a few years before I joined it.

We’ve seen marriages, divorce, a few babies and several moves, but have managed to stay in the same area and still get together after all this time. It is, at this point, a necessary part of my schedule.

This past April, my family grew with a new baby girl. I love this little potato, but it’s meant that my weekly dose of gaming is taking an open-ended sabbatical.

Fortunately, I have found a way to get a little dice action in, especially when the newborn is keeping me awake at 3 a.m. for a feeding or a prolonged rocking. And I can still play with my friends.

Let me introduce you to a gem of the internet, Board Game Arena.

Here’s How to Use It Yourself

Board Game Arena is a website where players can join tables hosting digital versions of many popular board games like CATAN, Splendor, 6 Nimmt, Space Base and more. An app version also exists that is mainly just the website in a small form.

Board Game Arena hosts “tables” where players can join games. Clicking the ‘Play Now’ tab, users can select from over 800 games to join or create tables. For each game you can set preferences or BGA will pick some standard ones for you when creating a table.

There are two tiers to BGA, a free one and the premium tier. A free tier user can play games and join tables. They can even host tables for certain games like Lost Ruins of Arnak, Yahtzee, or Race for the Galaxy. However, a number of games, especially those that have recently been released or are very popular in the community require a premium subscription. BGA negotiates licenses with publishers and they decide if their game is locked behind premium or not.

All that really means is that a premium user is required to start a game of Settlers of Catan or Ark Nova. If you know someone or come across a table looking for players, as long as the host is premium, free users can join.

Board Game Arena: pros and cons

Players can play in real-time or make the game turn-based which gives you time to make a move. Most games are set for at least 1 or 2 moves per day.

Many games on BGA come with a tutorial. These can be found on the game’s specific page. I highly recommend watching or playing through tutorials on BGA, even for games you’re well-acquainted with in real life. BGA can get finicky and it’s best to know which buttons to click and where they are on the screen as you’re playing.

BGA does have a mobile app where I’ve done most of my playing but you’ll have to decide for yourself which games make the leap from desktop to mobile. The uber-popular Heat: Pedal to the Metal works great on mobile, even if you have to zoom in from time to time.

Terraforming Mars, on the other hand, has so much information that gets put lower on the screen and requires a lot of scrolling back and forth. All you can really see is your hand of cards and other people’s scores. Stick to the desktop on that one. It’s also easier to hover cards for zoom-ins on a desktop versus holding down on the item and hoping it pops in properly on mobile.

Thankfully, if you're ever lost about how a game works or confused about rules, there is a robust community and FAQs for most things on the site. And if you’re ever up for a game of Space Base, you know where to find me.

Need a new tablet that can play the latest games? Check out our guide to the best tablets in 2024.

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