Board games are a great way to spend time with the family. However, not all of them are suitable for kids as they may deal with adult themes - primarily monsters and murder. You need to leave those board games for a night out without the children, or wait till they’re asleep.
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There are plenty of games with Lovecraftian horrors, gruesome crimes, and worst of all - London, that you and your friends could bust out for when the kids are away. Just verify to put them back in a place where they can’t reach. Here are our favourite board games for adults.
Updated on June 19, 2025 by Vaspaan Dastoor:With Halloween creeping up on us, we thought now would be a great time update this list with a few more board games that will add a fright to your sessions. These new entries will be perfect for when your party meets for a Halloween board game session.
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Let the haunting begin
Betrayal at House on The Hill is an all-time great when it comes to horror based exploration board games. Its unique system of adding rooms at random keeps gameplay fresh even after multiple sessions. It’s also very unpredictable, as you’ll never know who will get the role of the traitor going into the game.
Betrayal at House on The Hill is one of those games you may keep playing, and it will never feel repetitive. The unique board mechanics means that the layout will never be the same, and the fact that the traitor is only revealed in the middle of the game means no one person will keep taking the role. Add to that the different haunting types, and this is one of the most versatile games on the market.
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Playing the real heroes.
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 may strike a nerve for some people, given what we went through a few years ago, but that shouldn’t take away from its excellent strategic gameplay loop. The ruleset is a bit exhaustive, and requires players to think two moves ahead. Based on just that, it is a bit advanced for kids.
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is one of those that will always be near the top of board game ranking lists. The gameplay loop created by Matt Leacock has served as an inspiration to countless indie strategy board games over the years. And, once you’re done with this one, Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 is set in a post apocalyptic world.
Gloomhaven
The BBEG of tile-based RPGs
Gloomhaven’s hexagonal tiles and robust ruleset puts it up there with the best tabletop RPGs. What that also means is that it isn’t an ideal game for amateurs and children. There are a number of ways any one encounter could go, and it takes some experience to know how to best deal with it.
Gloomhaven is a tile-based RPG that should ideally be played only by advanced players. Its complicated ruleset will seem like a lot to beginners, but experts will undoubtedly be able to manipulate them to their advantage. This one’s perfect if your crew loves playing one campaign over multiple sessions.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
To catch a killer
While Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective has a pretty simple ruleset, it deals with morbid themes, as you’d imagine. One of them being Jack the Ripper, one of the most notorious and brutal serial killers in history. It also requires making unanimous decisions, which may not be the easiest thing with kids involved.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective lets you and your friends solve cases the real way - through discussion and chasing up on leads. It provides you with everything you need, you just need to know where to look. And, after you collect all the information, you must reach a unanimous decision about who you think the likely suspect is. Just verify you don’t wrongfully accuse someone.
Nemesis
I’ve seen this movie before
Fans of the Alien movies will really enjoy Nemesis. Not only is the plot similar, but the actual aliens in the game look pretty similar to Xenomorphs too. The aim is to explore and make it off the ship in one of many possible ways. Just don’t make too much noise.
The Alien movies did well because they excelled at creating a tense and terrifying atmosphere. Nemesis manages to do the same thing thanks to its noise mechanic. Any major move requires players to roll for noise, and if they’re unlucky, they may be heard by an alien. There are also multiple avenues for victory, so you can change plans if things start looking dire.
Kingdom Death: Monster
Time to slay your nightmares
If the name didn’t suggest it already, Kingdom Death: Monster is not a board game for kids. Mostly because the beautifully crafted minifigures are nightmarish monstrosities you’d see in a FromSoftware game. Humans are at the bottom of the food chain in this strange land, and you must work together to slay these beasts and set up a civilization.
Kingdom Death: Monster is a Kickstarter board game, but boy, does it look like it was made by a major publisher. It features nightmarishly beautiful figures and well-designed cards. Unfortunately, it’s extremely hard to find and will be ridiculously expensive if you do. But, if you manage to get your hands on it, it will become the centrepiece of your board game collection.
Axis & Allies
Total World War 2
Axis & Allies took the formula popularized by Risk and turned it up to 11. Not only is it set during World War 2, as the name suggests, but players must adopt the philosophy of total war. Production, supplies, and scientific advancements are also a major part of the game, along with attacking aand defending territory.
Orchestrating a war is no joke, especially when it’s the largest, most horrific war in human history. In Axis & Allies players will have to ensure that production and supply lines are functioning, focus on scientific researsh and resource management, and also engage in dice-rolling shootouts to acquire territory. You’ll have to become a military genius for this one.
Arkham Horror: Final Hour
What’s an ancient god to a non-believer?
Stopping a world-ending ritual is tough enough as is, but attempting to do so when Lovecraftian horrors are after you makes it seem nigh impossible. And yet, your party must work together to uncover clues to locate and stop the ritual in time. You may have to fight an ancient god or two along the way.
The beauty of Arkham Horror: Final Hour lies in the fact that it’s different with every session. You’ll have to solve different clues each time to uncover the location of the ritual, and will even have to fight different types of creatures from Lovecraft’s legendarium. When the world is at stake, fighting Cthulhu is just another hurdle in your way.
Elder Sign
Critical horror
If you’re one that believes in fate, then dice games may just be your thing. However, in Elder Sign, you’re going to wish that your fate was in your own hands. There’s nothing scarier that watching the dice roll at a critical juncture, whiler hoping it’s not a failure.
In Elder Sign, you need to roam around a creepy museum in hopes of finding all the signs. Each adventure will be decided by dice-rolls, so you’re able to’t rely entirely on skill. No prizes for guessing what happens if you don’t find all the signs - an ancient evil awakens.
Gates Of Delirium
Hail Cthulhu!
If you can’t beat them, join them. Instead of stopping the ancient evil from awakening, players must compete to rack up the most points before the horror comes through the portal and into our world. One of the neat features of this game is that you can place a card on the Sane or Insane side, dramatically altering the gameplay.
This board game is for those that think it’s good to be bad. Instead of running around and trying to stop something that’s all powerful, why not compete to get the most points in the face of the inevitable? The Insanity mechanic ensures that the game won’t get monotonous after a few rounds.
Unmatched Cobble & Fog
Monster match-up
Unmatched Cobble & Fog is a board game for 2–4 players. In this version of Unmatched, players will take on the roles of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and The Invisible Man.
Who’d win in a fight, Dracula, or Mr. Hyde? Well, Unmatched Cobble & Fog will put that debate to rest, as you run around London trying to outdo each of the other characters. The thought of classic characters going up against each other is intriguing.
FAQ
What is the world’s most famous board game?
Monopoly is undoubtedly the most popular board game in the world. It has been localized in a number of languages and features many versions.
What is the oldest board game?
The Royal Game of Ur is the oldest known board game in the world. It is believed to have originated 4,600 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia.
Which is the toughest board game in the world?
Chess is considered to be the hardest board game as there are so many different ways to play it.
