It’s that time again when the calendar changes from one year to the next. So there’s no better time to look back at some of the great board games released over the year. Of course, living in Australia means many of these hot new games won’t reach me until the middle of next year or later.So, as is tradition, here are board game geek’s 10 best board games of 2020.
10. Dwellings of Eldervale
Dwellings of Eldervale is a great way to kick off a best board games of 2020 list because it’s such a massive design feat. It’s an everything game, by which I mean it has everything: area control, worker placement, tableau building, roaming monsters, combat, and much, much more.
You are a wizard within Eldervale looking to assert your magical dominance. But you’re not alone, and you’ll have to stave off all the other wizards to prove your mettle. You’ll take turns placing your workers on different map locations activating them as you do.
Eventually, when run out of workers, or recall them, you then get to activate your tableau of cards. Creating this interesting decision of when is it best to recall your workers. When do need the map locations vs. when do you need your tableau abilities?
Unfortunately, Dwellings of Eldervale is impossible to get at the moment. Since the release of the Kickstarter with its huge miniatures it has yet to be reprinted (Note: As of 2023, this is no longer the case and a more affordable version of the game has been made available for retail). However, despite the lack of availability, those who have got their hands on the game are raving about it.
9. The Search for Planet X
The Search for Planet X is a game of rival astrologists trying to locate a new planet. You’ll search different sections of the galaxy to find hints and then, when you’re ready, let the scientific community know where Planet X is. However with multiple players all racing to make the discovery, it’s going to be tough to be first!
Deduction board games live and die on the puzzle they present. Thankfully, the puzzle in The Search for Planet X is fantastic. Aided by the phone app used to generate it.
While this might make a few people turn their noses up at the game, it removes one of the problems deduction games have faced in the past. Specifically, Cryptid, where one player forgetting their piece of the solution ruins the whole game entirely.
Otherwise, The Search for Planet X does a wonderful job of drip-feeding you clues and rewarding you for the logic you present. While also giving you some leeway in making calculated guesses. It’s a fantastic deduction game that never makes you feel stupid.
8. Beyond the Sun
Beyond the Sun is a lot more hopeful than other space-faring board games. Even though everyone is competing against one another. Beyond the Sun rewards everyone whenever one player researches a new technology. Something you’ll be doing a lot within the game.
While most games include a technology track that you advance up, Beyond the Sun is almost nothing but one big technology track. With four different levels, and a monster amount of different technologies to research. Because of this, there’s a significant feeling of growth and change within every game.
When you’re not upgrading the collective intelligence of humanity, you’re off to the side of the main board and onto a small map of the galaxy. Here you fight over planets trying to claim their resources and show off your military might.
However, this is a side-adventure when compared to the awesome tech tree sitting between all the players. The way everyone works together to build technological advances makes Beyond the Sun one of the more innovative games on this list and one of the best board games of 2020.
7. Kanban EV
Kanban EV is Eagle Gryphon Games’ reprint of Vital Lacerda’s 2014 title Kanban: Driver’s Edition. Being from Eagle Gryphon Games you know it has all-new art from Ian O’Toole and deluxe components.
The Kanban methodology started in Japan as the Toyota Production System but has since been used across the world, and industries. Particularly in software development that uses Kanban boards to track their work.
However, Kanban EV takes the methodology back to the factory floor where it all began. You’ll use worker placement and resource management to build electronic vehicles. Visiting different departments will let you design, order parts, assemble, and then test the cars. Meanwhile, your supervisor will occasionally check in, making sure you’re well-trained and using your time efficiently.
Ultimately, this looks to be another wonderful Vital Lacerda design, and one I can’t wait to get my hands on and play.
6. Pandemic Legacy: Season 0
Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is the prequel to the widely popular Pandemic Legacy series. This one takes place during the Cold War in 1962. Where a bio-weapon (code name “the Medusa”) is on the loose and it’s up to you and your team to secure it.
Like the other games in the series, Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is a cooperative board game that plays not too dissimilar to the original Pandemic. At least at the beginning of the campaign. However, with each scenario you play, the outcome of it may permanently affect the rest of the campaign.
Being a legacy game, you can expect to unlock new components and rules, add stickers to boards and cards, or even rip up and throw away components entirely.
While you modify your game, you’ll get closer to finding out what “The Medusa” is and who has it. Being a prequel Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is a stand-alone game and you do not need to play Pandemic, or either of the other legacy games to fully appreciate it.
5. On Mars
What a great year for Vital Lacerda, with not one but two titles in BGG’s best board games of 2020. This time he takes you to Mars. It’s your job to create the first habitable space station on the planet. With being the first on the planet, supplies are limited. So you’re going to have to shuttle to and from a nearby orbiting space station to get all the resources you need.
On Mars is Vital Lacerda at his most complex and his best. Fortunately, I got to play it earlier this year and it might be my favourite of his games to date. Because it’s chockablock full of interesting decisions that are as meaningful as they are deep. And despite there being systems upon systems upon systems, everything is so smooth and integrated that it doesn’t feel anywhere near as complex as it is.
Now although I might be a sucker for sci-fi but On Mars might be Ian O’Toole’s best work. With its iconic red glow, the game becomes the centrepiece of any collection. While the over-top-complexity isn’t for everyone, it’s a fantastic game and a welcome addition to the best board games of 2020.
4. Lost Ruins of Arnak
Lost Ruins of Arnak is why the saying “Never judge a board game by its cover,” exists. All of the art evokes the feeling of rugged adventures of archaeology like Indiana Jones. When in fact, it’s a fantastic resource management game. Suitable for people who want to sink into deep thought rather than those who crave action.
Lost Ruins of Arnak combines aspects of both worker placement and deck-building games. Cards can be used for their powerful actions, but in doing so you lose the ability to use them to send your workers into the jungle.
Thankfully, you can buy new cards with money. But that’s just one of the many different currencies in the game. You’ll also work with spearheads, jewels, and stone tablets. There’s so much you can do within Lost Ruins of Arnak that picking the right actions is always a tough but fun decision.
3. Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy
Take to the stars in Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy, the game that condenses your favourite space opera into a 3-4 hour board game. You’ll explore the galaxy, meet aliens, and kill them. But most of all you’ll be upgrading your ships.
This is the second bite of the cherry for Eclipse. Even though Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy was an incredible success, Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy improves it in almost every way.
Better miniatures make the grand scale of the game that much grander. But for me, it’s the new storage system that steals the show. Removing a lot of the frustration with setting up and packing away the game. Letting you explore the galaxy faster than ever.
But Eclipse is more than just exploring and killing, it’s the drama that makes it worthy of being one of the best board games of 2020. The slow build-up of tension as players accumulate armies and increase their technology throughout the game. Putting you on the edge of your seat as one wrong move could send your table into an intergalactic war.
2. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
Being a band of mercenaries has never been more compelling to the strategy gamer than in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. This slimmed-down version of Gloomhaven acts as a perfect introduction to the larger dungeon crawler.
Not only because it’s about a fifth of the cost of the big box version. But the first five scenarios are a slow introduction to all of the mechanics of the game. Leaving you with another 20 scenarios to explore after you’ve got a hang of the mechanics.
Within the Jaws of the Lion, you attempt to complete different objectives while an evil group of enemies tries to stop you. While that’s cookie-cutter RPG gameplay, the main draw to Gloomhaven is how strategic the game is. There’s not a die in sight, so instead you have to use a hand of cards.
A hand of cards that slowly diminishes throughout the scenario. Forcing you to mix up your play, and work towards the objective before you run out of cards. In a genre filled with random chance, Gloomhaven (and by proxy Jaws of the Lion) delivers a fascinating and fun logic puzzle.
1. Dune: Imperium
Dune: Imperium is one of the best games I’ve ever played. It’s a worker placement deck-building hybrid like Lost Ruins of Arnak, except with a heavy focus on interaction.
Everything revolves around a battle that happens at the end of each round. Before it occurs though, you’ll have a chance to send your envoys to different factions around the sand planet Arrakis. In turn, these factions will provide you with different favours like extra resources, units to send to the battlefield, or secret intrigue cards.
There’s an underlying sense of danger throughout the game. As the rewards for this end-of-round battle are immense and you never know if you have what it takes to win. Meanwhile, if you focus too much on this conflict aspect, other areas you need to influence will suffer. You won’t get the reputation you need from the factions to gain victory points, for instance, or you will be stuck with cards that aren’t all that great.
Figuring out your best move is always a struggle, and because the margins between winning and losing are so small there’s a constant sense of tension. It’s this tension that makes Dune: Imperium such an unbelievably brilliant game, and 2020’s best board game.
Want to see how the rankings evolved?
If you’re tracking how the top tier has shifted over time, explore our full BGG Top 10 Archive. We break down the highest-rated releases, standouts, and heavy hitters year by year.
Otherwise, that’s a wrap for 2020. What were your favourite games of the year?
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