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The Best Board Games According to Your Favorite Book Genre
Next to books, board games are another obsession of mine. So much so that for my 36th birthday back in March, my friends and I hosted a themed board game night (see picture above). I decided to utilize the anniversary of my birth to give you another book lover gift idea list similar to this post I did for Valentine's Day. So here are a few board game suggestions according to your favorite book genre.
Favorite Genre: Fantasy
Board Game: Roll Player Adventures
Game Type: Cooperative Storybook
Number of Players: 1 - 4
Play Time: 90 - 150 minutes
Age: 14+
Difficulty: Medium
My Rating: 8/10
My dad, sister, and I have recently been working through this game during our frequent game days. If you are a fan of Dungeons & Dragons then you're going to love this game. You work cooperatively through several story scenarios, completing missions that change depending on your decisions. Unlike a lot of other "legacy" type games, the changeability of the story really helps with re-playability. There are a lot of fun pre-generated characters, or if you have the original Roll Player game, you can import your character from that into this game to play!
Favorite Genre: Science Fiction
Board Game: Galaxy Trucker
Game Type: Tile Placement and Dice Rolling
Number of Players: 2 - 4
Play Time: 20 - 30 minutes
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Medium
My Rating: 7/10
I could have taken the easy way out by suggesting Red Rising or Terraforming Mars, both of which are amazing games with a sci-fi theme, but I wanted to show a bit of love to a lesser-known gem. In Galaxy Trucker, the goal is to build your ship as fast as possible so you can collect resources to sell...and then survive the journey with the ship that you built (it's harder than it sounds). What's also great is that it just had a reprint in 2021!
Favorite Genre: Mystery
Board Game: Chronicles of Crime
Game Type: Cooperative Investigation
Number of Players: 1 - 4
Play Time: 60 - 90 minutes
Age: 14+
Difficulty: Light
My Rating: 7/10
This game is for tech-savvy investigators. It is phone app-assisted, where you choose which scenario to play and then each component of the game such as characters, items, etc. have a special QR code that trigger unique clues for each story. The goal is to figure out the case in the shortest time possible. This game is perfect for the Clue aficionado or escape room enthusiast. There are also a lot of different versions, including 1400, 1900, and 2400, just to name a few.
Favorite Genre: Horror
Board Game: Mansions of Madness
Game Type: Cooperative Investigation and App-Driven
Number of Players: 1 - 5
Play Time: 120 - 180 minutes
Age: 14+
Difficulty: Medium
My Rating: 7/10
If you're a fan of Lovecraft, then this game is for you. Mansions of Madness is one of three games (The other two are Eldritch Horror and Elder Sign, respectively) set in a Lovecraftian universe. The immersive app leads you through haunted mansions and fog-covered streets where you have to collect items, solve puzzles, and fight not just monsters, but the possibility of insanity and death.
Favorite Genre: Historical Fiction
Board Game: Museum
Game Type: Card Game
Number of Players: 2 - 4
Play Time: 30 - 60 minutes
Age: 12+
Difficulty: Medium
My Rating: 7/10
In this game, you play as a 1920s curator that is trying to build the best collection you can. The goal is to explore, acquire and assemble different collections and draw patrons to your museum. It really has that feel of the 1920s excavations and my fellow historians will enjoy collecting items from Rome, Ancient Egypt, and beyond.
Favorite Genre: Romance
Board Game: Obsession
Game Type: Strategy, Thematic
Number of Players: 1 - 4
Play Time: 30 - 90 minutes
Age: 14+
Difficulty: Medium - Difficult
My Rating: 8/10
This was the game that I played for my birthday. It was an epically good time where my friends and I all dressed up for a Victorian tea party. My brother-in-law and his wife's father (non-traditional family structures are complicated) even dressed and acted as our footmen. It was amazing.
The game itself is a strategy game where you are building your estate in an effort to woo one of the coveted Fairchild heirs. Think Pride and Prejudice meets Downton Abbey. Each turn, you use servants of different types to host guests for an event at your estate to earn income, prestige, and victory points.
Favorite Genre: Nonfiction
Board Game: PARKS
Game Type: Family, Travel, Environmental
Number of Players: 1 - 5
Play Time: 30 - 60 minutes
Age: 10+
Difficulty: Light - Medium
My Rating: 7/10
In this game, you play a hiker that is traveling through the seasons to different national parks in order to create memories. Each season is a trail and those trails get longer as the year goes on.
While hiking, you collect memories in the form of different landscapes (mountain, ocean, etc.) that can be used as resources to allow the player to buy park cards. Each park you visit will give you victory points. If you're a fan of National Geographic, then you should definitely give this game a shot.
If you want to try something a little different than reading in your spare time, give board games a try! There are so many amazing games out there that I could make multiple lists for this topic. If you want a game recommendation based on your favorite book, leave me a comment!
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