If you're new to playing games online, your other two main options are Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator. And I've made videos about them too! If you're wondering what the differences are, the short answer is: Board Game Arena - Easiest, beginner friendly, limited game selection Tabletopia - 3D, works in browser, free, bit fiddly, okay selection Tabletop Simulator - 3D, pay once for software, bit fiddly, amazing selection but mostly unofficial mods My Top 10 Tabletop Simulator Games - th-cam.com/video/JasuCclZ1v0/w-d-xo.html My Top 10 Tabletopia Games - th-cam.com/video/dc1ZAul3C_w/w-d-xo.html
I vastly prefer Board Game Arena to the other two. Rule enforcement, and the need to not fiddle with pieces is huge AND it's easier to get friends and family to play with you.
@@thenameipicked I'd also add that you get the option to play turn based if you so desire on BGA, and that it's easy to watch games being played by other people if you want to learn them. There is probably a debate to be had about which site has the better lobby function - BGA's is simple, but restricting games to a particular group isn't that intuitive which matters to people only looking to play games with friends. I've not tried the lobby function on the other two because I found them both way too fiddly when trying to play - the only reason I have TTS is that I want to use it to prototype games, but I find that the game design tools are built more for people with experience of various design packages, it's not that easy to just bash together a quick and dirty game to test
+1 for 6 Nimmt, which is our BGA go-to game when it's getting later. It's just hilarious, and the fact that The Computer will mercilessly and precisely distribute the chosen, sorted cards in 1 second steps make it even better. Nothing like playing with 9 players and watching on in horror as you card is at 8th place and how the rows stack up and you'll surely'll have to take that -15pt row! :-D
Great video! I’d 100% recommend Terra Mystica as well - not really one for newbies, but if you’ve played the board game in real life before, it’s really nice to play on BGA.
Really impressed with this list! I’ve been in BGA for some time and I haven’t come across some of these yet! Thanks for posting, will be hitting the subscribe button (mostly for the jokes, lol)
I'd be curious if this list has changed at all, or how a list of favourite premium titles would look - they're doing an event where they are releasing a game a day for the whole of July and August. Most of them have been simpler, family weight games so far, but it's still an impressive attempt to broaden the selection
For me Castles of Burgundy is the absolute killer on BGA. It's well taught, it's free (although the only problem with playing premium games without membership is that you have to wait longer - and maybe consider turning pushes on, but the amount of time you have to wait depends more on the popularity of the game, I think) and it's just better than the physical version in any aspect. Everything is automated, you don't have to remember all the properties of the tiles (or revise the guide all the time) because all of them are there, you see all your possible moves and can build your strategy without an unnecessary headache. You're just enjoying the game and wondering how it works so perfectly. And you don't have to keep the ugly box (let's be honest, alea's not very good at graphic design) on your shelf😅 Ideal for two (more players provoke downtime, even despite time limits within the platform). I don't think I'll even try a real copy ever... It's just so good on BGA. But there is a lot of other excellent stuff, both free and premium, heavy euros and small card games, duels and (online) party bangers. I love this platform so much❤
Would be interested to know what would be your Top 10 Games if it also included Premium Titles? I expect like many of us here watching your great videos we may be Premium BGA Members or would be interested in becoming one but wondering whether it is worth it?
That was a rollercoaster of emotions... You released a video on my birthday...but it's about BGA which I'm not super fond of...But Jon recommending games beats Jon not recommending games any day!...Oh but i already own 7 of them... but also screw Will and his terrible clue-giving!...but I don't actually know who Will is... Hey Jon, are there any games you PREFER the digital implementation of? I prefer physical games 95% of the time, but there are some experiences, like Onirim which have so much shuffling, that I think I prefer the digital implementation. What are your thoughts?
Happy Birthday Leron! It's always a pleasure to read your comments. Good question! Generally speaking no, I prefer games in real life. But I do really like the Onirim app, and I love the Codenames website, which I don't prefer but is as good and means I get to play it more.
I prefer playing Through the Ages digitally as opposed to on the table. The game has so much admin and tiny fiddly bits that having a computer manage all of those for you is a compelling reason to never open the box again.
Not a big Catan fan, but the catan app/websites makes the game faster (less down time by rolling and drawing cards) which I enjoy. On the other hand I just tried the Clockworks expansion of Root on Steam at it was terrible! The automation loses the joy of "playing" the bot.
Seasons on BGA is so much better than real life. There’s so much point maneuvering between every single turn and the website manages in what order certain conflicting rules trigger first. I can’t play it in real life, but I love the card drafting aspect of the game and the satisfying card combo-ing!
My post on Things Get Dicey First of all, I grew up an hour outside of Philly (Delaware) and was raised on Rocky and raw meat bags. So when I say, "Rocky would have tossed metal Scythe Mech chucks" I know what I'm talking about. Still..."So how do we play?"...Mmmmm...golden. I want to see you and the Actualol fella do a clash or something. I mean, with your dad jokes and his costumes...feels like Elf meets The Princess Bride...or something. It's not instigating...it's just talking out loud in the comments section ambiguously
Not glove-snowball-wearer but glove-snowball-thrower (i.e. "a sissy wearing gloves for a snowball fight instead of throwing them bare handed like real men!"- see how great German is for abreviations?). Still great pronounciation on the German part!
Nice vid. Nice dis on your mate Will's Concept clue too. :) Don't know about others, but after playing 6 Nimmt on BGA, I don't want to play the physical copy anymore. Who really wants to go back to doing the maths?
@@actualol How dare you maths shame me like that! I'm probably going to need a transitionary period before returning to physical boardgames called, In Your Head Maths 101 - refresher
Any suggestions for better games than this list? I'm searching for more board games to try. I really like the attitude and characters in Actualol's videos.
If you're new to playing games online, your other two main options are Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator. And I've made videos about them too! If you're wondering what the differences are, the short answer is:
Board Game Arena - Easiest, beginner friendly, limited game selection
Tabletopia - 3D, works in browser, free, bit fiddly, okay selection
Tabletop Simulator - 3D, pay once for software, bit fiddly, amazing selection but mostly unofficial mods
My Top 10 Tabletop Simulator Games - th-cam.com/video/JasuCclZ1v0/w-d-xo.html
My Top 10 Tabletopia Games - th-cam.com/video/dc1ZAul3C_w/w-d-xo.html
I vastly prefer Board Game Arena to the other two. Rule enforcement, and the need to not fiddle with pieces is huge AND it's easier to get friends and family to play with you.
@@thenameipicked I'd also add that you get the option to play turn based if you so desire on BGA, and that it's easy to watch games being played by other people if you want to learn them. There is probably a debate to be had about which site has the better lobby function - BGA's is simple, but restricting games to a particular group isn't that intuitive which matters to people only looking to play games with friends. I've not tried the lobby function on the other two because I found them both way too fiddly when trying to play - the only reason I have TTS is that I want to use it to prototype games, but I find that the game design tools are built more for people with experience of various design packages, it's not that easy to just bash together a quick and dirty game to test
Great to see Libertalia getting some love! One of my all-time favourite games, always happy to play.
Yeah, I wish I had a real copy!
BGA is great. There is much available for free but premium is well worth it.
And pretty cheap
+1 for 6 Nimmt, which is our BGA go-to game when it's getting later. It's just hilarious, and the fact that The Computer will mercilessly and precisely distribute the chosen, sorted cards in 1 second steps make it even better. Nothing like playing with 9 players and watching on in horror as you card is at 8th place and how the rows stack up and you'll surely'll have to take that -15pt row! :-D
I love Concept! Didn't realize it was on BGA!
Thanks for another great video, Jon!
Im from Germany and I have never heard the word 'Handschuhschnellballwerfer' before :D Nice video and some good suggestions
Great video! I’d 100% recommend Terra Mystica as well - not really one for newbies, but if you’ve played the board game in real life before, it’s really nice to play on BGA.
If nothing else, this video introduced me to Board Game Arena, which is sure to be a hit for my still-quarantined gaming group. Thanks mate!
I'm a premium BGA, I gotta try some of these! I play many others like Santorini, Race for the Galaxy, 7 Wonders, Targi, etc
Great work Jon! Thank you for always making me laugh and for the joy.
love the passive aggressive undertone
You would though, wouldnt you 🙄
Will.... HOW IS THAT SMOKES LIKE A CHIMNEY?
XD
New to BGA - great vid. Liking and subbing for that silly Ace Ventura reference lmao
Great video. For those who like heavy euros I think Tzolkin and Terra Mystica are wonderful on this website. The two Marco polos work nicely too :)
My top 5 on BGA:
1. Colt Express
2. Saboteur
3. 6 Nimmt
4. For Sale
5. Libertalia
Super handy as always, going to pitch Concept to my non board game friends tonight! (non board game friends? no idea how i ended up with them!) haha
Haha! Concept is perfect for those ones 👌
Really impressed with this list! I’ve been in BGA for some time and I haven’t come across some of these yet! Thanks for posting, will be hitting the subscribe button (mostly for the jokes, lol)
とても聞き取りやすいハッキリした発音でノンネイティブでも理解しやすかったです！
ストーリー性があるもの、絵が綺麗なもの、とても気になりました！参考にさせていただきます🌟
I'd be curious if this list has changed at all, or how a list of favourite premium titles would look - they're doing an event where they are releasing a game a day for the whole of July and August. Most of them have been simpler, family weight games so far, but it's still an impressive attempt to broaden the selection
For me Castles of Burgundy is the absolute killer on BGA. It's well taught, it's free (although the only problem with playing premium games without membership is that you have to wait longer - and maybe consider turning pushes on, but the amount of time you have to wait depends more on the popularity of the game, I think) and it's just better than the physical version in any aspect. Everything is automated, you don't have to remember all the properties of the tiles (or revise the guide all the time) because all of them are there, you see all your possible moves and can build your strategy without an unnecessary headache. You're just enjoying the game and wondering how it works so perfectly. And you don't have to keep the ugly box (let's be honest, alea's not very good at graphic design) on your shelf😅 Ideal for two (more players provoke downtime, even despite time limits within the platform). I don't think I'll even try a real copy ever... It's just so good on BGA.
But there is a lot of other excellent stuff, both free and premium, heavy euros and small card games, duels and (online) party bangers. I love this platform so much❤
Would be interested to know what would be your Top 10 Games if it also included Premium Titles?
I expect like many of us here watching your great videos we may be Premium BGA Members or would be interested in becoming one but wondering whether it is worth it?
I've mostly been focused on the free ones so far. I may cover premium games in the future, but can't promise, sorry!
"Uptown" and "Harbour" are both currently in BETA on BGA.
"Alhambra" has recently come out of it's BETA stage.
Amazing vid, can't wait to get started
Thank you!!! I love your videos
Thank you for watching 🙂
Great video! Thanks.
Perudo & Luxor are now on my radar
Great video 😁🤩👍 the recommendations are awesome. Thank you.
That was a rollercoaster of emotions... You released a video on my birthday...but it's about BGA which I'm not super fond of...But Jon recommending games beats Jon not recommending games any day!...Oh but i already own 7 of them... but also screw Will and his terrible clue-giving!...but I don't actually know who Will is...
Hey Jon, are there any games you PREFER the digital implementation of? I prefer physical games 95% of the time, but there are some experiences, like Onirim which have so much shuffling, that I think I prefer the digital implementation. What are your thoughts?
Happy Birthday Leron! It's always a pleasure to read your comments.
Good question! Generally speaking no, I prefer games in real life. But I do really like the Onirim app, and I love the Codenames website, which I don't prefer but is as good and means I get to play it more.
I prefer playing Through the Ages digitally as opposed to on the table. The game has so much admin and tiny fiddly bits that having a computer manage all of those for you is a compelling reason to never open the box again.
Not a big Catan fan, but the catan app/websites makes the game faster (less down time by rolling and drawing cards) which I enjoy.
On the other hand I just tried the Clockworks expansion of Root on Steam at it was terrible! The automation loses the joy of "playing" the bot.
@@RolZuela I disagree 100%. I love the Clockwork expansion for Root. It allows for cooperative play which is my favorite way to play Root.
Seasons on BGA is so much better than real life. There’s so much point maneuvering between every single turn and the website manages in what order certain conflicting rules trigger first. I can’t play it in real life, but I love the card drafting aspect of the game and the satisfying card combo-ing!
Nice Ace reference!
My post on Things Get Dicey
First of all, I grew up an hour outside of Philly (Delaware) and was raised on Rocky and raw meat bags. So when I say, "Rocky would have tossed metal Scythe Mech chucks" I know what I'm talking about. Still..."So how do we play?"...Mmmmm...golden.
I want to see you and the Actualol fella do a clash or something. I mean, with your dad jokes and his costumes...feels like Elf meets The Princess Bride...or something.
It's not instigating...it's just talking out loud in the comments section ambiguously
Totally got it, sorry, but that was an excellent clue, Will.
Also, let's play a game on BGA! I'll hit you up in the patreon. 😁
Love your videos!
Saboteur is also nice on board game arena
Penny Press!! I like that one, but somehow it didnt manage to get big time. It is a fun little game to play, though.
Yeah, it feels like a game that should have been a lot bigger than it was. It's still in my collection, whereas many far more popular games aren't!
Not glove-snowball-wearer but glove-snowball-thrower (i.e. "a sissy wearing gloves for a snowball fight instead of throwing them bare handed like real men!"- see how great German is for abreviations?). Still great pronounciation on the German part!
Thanks! Glad I got the pronunciation 🥳
Actualol can produce a video I will watch all the way thru even though I have absolutely zero interest in the topic (6 sec UTber here) :)
Glad to hear it 😀
Great video. Which of these games will work well with turn based / asynchronous play?
I'd love a top 10 BGA games (including premium games), since bga is not expensive + can be cancelled from any month u want
Nice vid. Nice dis on your mate Will's Concept clue too. :)
Don't know about others, but after playing 6 Nimmt on BGA, I don't want to play the physical copy anymore. Who really wants to go back to doing the maths?
If 6 Nimmt is your threshold for maths in games, you're screwed 😂
@@actualol How dare you maths shame me like that!
I'm probably going to need a transitionary period before returning to physical boardgames called, In Your Head Maths 101 - refresher
I will buy this game!
Please introduce some io browser games, such as secrethitler.io and tetr.io. Thanks.
Tobago, penny press, celestia,6nimmt,libertalia look the coolest
You don't need premium to play premium games, most of the games I play are premium you can just join a game with at least one premium member
Yep, that's what got me into BGA and later convinced me to go premium, because this approach to inclusiveness is brilliant
This list needs hanabi. It removes the memory element and amps up the deduction to 11.
Looks nice
6 Nimmt Rocks!
What's the game of the song on the intro?
ok, i can agree with this top 10, but still for me, SEASONS is the best game of all board games sites.
I can only hear people saying cult instead of colt, and I am constantly disappointed that I don't get to play a cthulu train game
cthulu train game?! that sound hillarious :D
I mean, you can only binge watch the same Streaming episodes
so many times ... Yeah, it was time to find an alternate source
for entertainment.
subed
Perudo just sounds like Liar's Dice
My thoughts exactly
Liar's Dice is the modern English name for the game that was invented in South America in the 15th Century called Dudo or Perudo.
Everyone has a "Will".
There's much better games on BGA than this list demonstrates.
Any suggestions for better games than this list? I'm searching for more board games to try. I really like the attitude and characters in Actualol's videos.
MUST HAVE PINK CHAIR IN EVERY VIDEO
And now Under Asmodee wing
YEAH WILL >:(
You should see his Codenames clues...
Smokes like a chimney??????
I won't tell Trinidad :)
Do tell Daniel Radcliffe
FFS, Will.
y me y am always here the one who apperently does not care even though he actually does