One Night Ultimate Werewolf  is a chat-based mystery, where every player embodies a distinct role within a haunted village . Some are standard villagers, while other roles will give players the power to ask questions or perform certain actions, with the ultimate goal being to hunt down and identify the evil ‘werewolves’ in your party group.

Marvel has a massive presence in the board games scene, via a number of standalone adaptations and reskins of popular games. Splendor: Marvel is a great example. This adaptation takes the classic gameplay of Splendor – a game all about acquiring gems to nab property and build out your wealth – and adds in a superhero twist.

In the Marvel version of Splendor, the goal is to recruit heroes and prevent Thanos from ending the world by nabbing every Infinity Stone for yourself. Players are able to pick and choose their heroes as they please, with characters from different colours and ranks needed to pick up each Infinity Stone and build out the game-ending Infinity Gauntlet. It’s a great adaptation of Splendor‘s breezy mechanics, it’s simple to learn, and it sports gorgeous artwork inspired by the Marvel Comics and films, making it great for any fans of the franchise.

If Marvel isn’t quite your thing, the original Splendor is also a great introduction to drafting games, and features similarly stunning artwork.

My City is a tile-laying game that’s largely based around relaxing, turn-based moves. In each round, players are required to place buildings on their player board, with the goal being to build a city with few ‘exposed’ tiles left over. Tessellation is key here, and requires players to ruminate on the best strategy for creating their cities.

Dungeon Mayhem is a simple card game based on the world and lore of Dungeons & Dragons, and it basically functions as an adventure-in-a-box. Rather than making players learn all the rules and stipulations of classic Dungeons & Dragons gameplay, however, this title simplifies the entire experience into turn-based moves. 

5-Minute Dungeon is a co-op adventure game that takes place over five minute rounds – making every player choice snappy, sharp and frantic. The goal here is to escape each dungeon in the game using rapid-fire teamwork to defeat monsters by using the right card at just the right time. 

Last Message is a unique party board game that combines the skill of Pictionary with frantic crime solving as teams of players work to identify criminals by drawing them on mini-whiteboards. The only catch is their portrait can be erased by the criminal before the detectives can properly identify them. 

Betrayal at House on the Hill is an adventure-exploration game that sees up to six players entering a haunted mansion in search of spooky mysteries. It’s a great game to introduce to beginner players because the theming is incredibly strong, and gameplay works smoothly and logically. 

Small World is a more complex game for adventurous beginners, and may prove to be a minor challenge to learn – but with its gorgeous game board, flashy characters and Risk-like gameplay, it’s not overly difficult to tackle. Forget the number of pieces in this setup, and the complicated-looking character sheets, and dive right in – it’s a lot simpler than it looks.