10 best online board games

you can play in your browser

Get the lowdown without the download.
Matt Jarvis 7 May, 2021

It is a truth universally acknowledged that board games

are better in person. However, getting your gaming group
together on a regular basis - or at all, recently - can
sometimes be a frustrating and complicated affair of
juggling calendars, travelling and carving out enough time
to play something from start to finish. Luckily, there are
now hundreds of great online board games that can be
played over the internet, allowing you and your group to
overcome some of the traditional barriers to enjoying a
regular gaming session no matter how far apart you are.

Best online board games

Codenames
Diplomacy
Drawphone
Catan Universe
Android: Netrunner
Dominion
Keyforge
Secret Hitler
Forgotten Waters
 Board Game Arena/Tabletopia

While board game apps offer a dedicated experience you

can take with you on your phone or PC, many online board
games don’t require you to download anything at all,
providing a slick and polished experience you can load up
in your internet browser and start playing in a matter of
seconds. Many also handle the hard work of remembering
the rules and making it easy for new players to join in and
learn to play. Even better, many of them are available for
free, too!

Whether you’re looking to bring your gaming group’s

favourite online during lockdown, find a new group to play
with or try something you’ve yet to play, these online
board games will let you jump straight in and get playing.

1. Codenames

The hit word-guessing game heads online

Codenames Online is an official version of the party game, and allows you to play with a
number of its expansions and word packs.

Minesweeper meets Taboo, Codenames has become a

fixture of board game collections for hobby newcomers
and veterans alike since it first burst onto the scene in
2015. If you’ve somehow missed the instant modern
classic, it’s a game of picky phrasing: teams take it in
turns to guess words on a grid of cards, guided carefully
to their hidden spies - and away from their opponents’ -
by their clue-giver’s one-word hints. Trying to gesture at
multiple answers with a single clue is key to winning,
trying to find the perfect thing to link up “forest”, “bee”
and “sun” (Nature? Flower? Yellow?) or “Olympus”,
“planet” and “Big Bang” (Jupiter, perhaps? Or is that too
much of a stretch?).
Watch on YouTube

Codenames’ simplicity makes it the perfect choice for a

board game to play online, helped by the release of an
official browser app developed by creator Czech Games
Edition. The free online version includes word packs from
multiple Codenames games - including two-player spin-
off Duet and multiple bonus packs - and various
languages, with a slick interface that makes tracking
previous clues and the number of spies left easy. All you
need is to send your friends the link to your room and
start guessing away.

Player count: 2+

Play Codenames online at Codenames.game

2. Diplomacy

Lie to your friends across the internet to conquer

Europe in a strategy classic

Backstabbr turns the hours-long strategy classic into a tense online game of alliance
and betrayal that can play out over days or months.

Diplomacy is a classic of the grand strategy genre,

emerging in the 1950s as a game of devious plotting and
brutal betrayal. Players attempt to lead their European
nation to victory by conquering the map and forming
uneasy alliances to get ahead. Teaming up is necessary to
force opponents’ units out of regions, but actions are
submitted in secret and all resolved at the same time, with
players promising to help each other out one moment,
only to turn traitor and invade them the next. No wonder
it’s considered a real-life friendship-wrecker.

Lying to your friends for real in person - even in the

context of a board game - can understandably make
some feel uncomfortable. Luckily, free browser-based
Diplomacy clone Backstabbr offers a way to engage with
the game’s tense tactics and social strategy with an
added layer of separation. The gameplay is exactly the
same as on the tabletop, but players’ direct interactions
are confined to ‘press’ communications - presenting the
chance to lean into roleplaying your early 20th-century
leader and address increasingly passive-aggressive
missives to “My dear Czar”, “Fellow Europeans” or
“Unwelcome neighbour”. The stretched timeframe of the
online game also allows the political machinations to feel
less intense, with turns playing out over days and weeks
rather than minutes and hours.

Backstabbr offers a way for more people to experience a

timeless classic with some of its pricklier aspects
softened - just enough to make it fun rather than
infuriating, anyway. The social strategy epic continues to
stand up as a board game like no other, and its online
counterpart might well be the best way to play today.

Player count: 2-7

Play Diplomacy online at Backstabbr.com

3. Drawphone

Draw and guess your way to sidesplitting

miscommunication in this Telestrations-a-like
Drawphone is Telestrations in all but name, as players draw and guess at their friends'
doodles.

Online board game library Rocketcrab brings together a

number of popular party games in mobile-friendly form,
offering a browser-based hub for favourites from social
deduction game Spyfall to third-party spins on group
games Wavelength and Just One.

One of the standout games available to play for free is

Drawphone, a game similar to hit board game
Telestrations - itself based on the delightfully-titled public
domain game Eat Poop You Cat. True to its name,
Drawphone plays like a game of Telephone, but with
drawings: each player draws something, then passes the
‘paper’ to their virtual neighbour, who guesses what the
previous person drew, before the guess becomes the clue
for the next doodler - and so on until everyone has
contributed to the chain of pictures and guesses.
With no real points on offer, the reward is seeing how
close (or far) the final guess came to the original prompt.
Not particularly, as it often turns out - which makes the
compounded misunderstandings and misinterpretations
even funnier.

Player count: 4+

Play Drawphone online at Rocketcrab.com

4. Catan Universe

Settle an island while surfing the web

Catan Universe offers an online board game version of the classic trading title.

Catan is everywhere, from official shoes and notably-less-

official beer cans to the tables of Hollywood stars and (at
some point) even the silver screen. It’s only natural, then,
that the board game classic has a firm presence on the
internet, too.
Catan Universe brings Klaus Teuber’s trading-and-
building hit to PC and phones as an app that replicates the
original Catan, as well as several of its many expansions
from the last 25-plus years and even some unique
variants.

Watch on YouTube

Players can challenge their human friends or AI opponents

to games, with the free version of the online board game
offering a tutorial, up to three-player matches and access
to Catan card game The Duel.

Catan remains a steadfast game for those new to the

hobby for a reason - and its digital version makes enjoying
the classic whether you’re new or have been playing for
decades a cinch.

Player count: 3-4

Play Catan online at Catan Universe

5. Android: Netrunner

An online rebirth for the beloved living card game

Jinteki offers a way to play Android: Netrunner online and test out its various cards and
decks.

Android: Netrunner has had a heck of an afterlife. Despite

the beloved living card game about hackers and the
megacorporation systems they crack into being officially
cancelled in late 2018, it’s managed to live on in physical
form thanks to community-led Project NISEI and in
suitability digital fashion with online version Jinteki.

Jinteki offers up Netrunner’s full catalogue of cards for

players to build digital decks and try out in two-player
matches, as well as in a selection of different formats
available via the browser-based app.
While Jinteki’s online interface and deck construction tool
means that it’s best for Android: Netrunner players who
are already familiar with the card game, it also offers a
chance for those who missed the chance to play the game
in person to find players to take on and learn how to play.

Player count: 2

Play Android: Netrunner online at Jinteki.net.

6. Dominion

Deckbuilding goes digital

Dominion was the first deckbuilder, but it still holds up over a decade later - as this
online version proves.

The original deckbuilder - and still able to hold its own

against many newer entries in the genre it spawned -
Dominion starts players with a small stack of cards and
allows them to build up their deck by acquiring new cards
each turn, which are added to their discard pile and
eventually cycle back around into their hand.

It’s a game of constant momentum, as you build up your

stock of more powerful cards to acquire more points and
more currency in order to acquire more powerful cards…
and so on. Part of the appeal of Dominion - and the many,
many expansions released for Donald X. Vaccarino’s
influential core game since 2008 - is the ability to
combine together a different selection of cards each
game, both in the shared marketplace and in your own
deck, offering huge amounts of customisation and
replayability each time you play.

Dominion’s online counterpart offers the base set for free

- itself featuring enough cards to mix-and-match for
hours of varied gameplay - but also presents the chance
to experiment with more than a dozen of the game’s
expansions for a relatively small monthly subscription fee.
There’s the chance to look through a card database and
mark up cards you’re familiar with, or particularly like or
dislike, and create custom tables with friends or take on
strangers across the internet.

Like Dominion itself, the online board isn’t most flashy of

experiences, but it offers a thoroughly solid digital version
of a game that continues to stand the test of time.
Whether you’re dipping into deckbuilders for the first time
or looking to return to a classic, it’s a great way to play.
Player count: 2-6

Play Dominion online at Domain.games

7. Keyforge

An unofficial way to play the unique deck game online

The Crucible Online allows players to import their physical Keyforge decks registered in
the Master Vault app and use them in the online board game.

While Keyforge may not be as big a name as designer

Richard Garfield’s other competitive card games - Magic:
The Gathering and Netrunner - it’s no less
groundbreaking. Handing every player a set of cards
picked by an algorithm to ensure that no two decks in the
world are alike, the ‘unique deck game’ sees players race
to forge three keys by collecting Æmber and slowing their
opponent down by attacking their monsters and using
special abilities.
Alongside its clever decks - which can’t be customised or
changed, to ensure their one-of-a-kind nature - Keyforge
offers a smart way of allowing players to always do
something on their turn. Each deck is made up of three
houses, or factions. On their turn, each player chooses
one house and can play as many cards as they like from
that faction - rather than having to spend mana or another
limited resource as in other card games. As such,
Keyforge is a game where you can always do something
to try and win, rather than sitting by and waiting for the
right card draw.

Watch on YouTube

The Crucible Online offers an unofficial online version of

Keyforge that can be played in your browser against other
people from around the world. The app features the ability
to import decks you have registered on Fantasy Flight
Games’ official Master Vault app to try them out online, as
well as the option for different formats or to spectate
other players’ games and pick up some tactics. While it’s
a fan-made offering, it’s fully-featured, capably bringing
the card game online.

Player count: 2

Play Keyforge online at The Crucible Online

8. Secret Hitler

The social deduction hit sneaks its way online

The liberals must weed the fascists - and their hidden leader - from the government of
1930s Germany before it's too late.

While Secret Hitler’s pseudo-historical framing of pre-

WWII Germany may not be for everyone, there’s no
doubting that the game of liberals and fascists battling
over legislation - while trying to assassinate or accelerate
the rise of the evil dictator - is one of the best social
deduction games in years.

The two factions vote to pass or reject various laws, with

the liberals trying to weed the hidden fascists from their
ranks before they can gain too much power and bring
Hitler to power. With two players elected chancellor and
president each round, the table is set for heated debate
and speculation over who voted for or against fascist
policies. Making it harder are governmental powers that
the fascists will be able to deploy as they gain strength,
with the liberals trying to claim their own dominance by
passing their laws first - or taking Hitler out to halt the
threat.

The browser-based Secret Hitler offers a simple way of

playing the game over the internet. With most of the focus
on discussion, the website provides the game boards that
track each faction’s standing and any available
presidential powers, as well as automating parts of setup
and round gameplay. Whether you’re jumping into a game
with strangers or just looking for a way to play with friends
when you can’t be together, it’s an effective way or
bringing the debate and discussion online.

Player count: 5-10

Play Secret Hitler online at Secrethitler.io

9. Forgotten Waters

Play your copy of the pirate board game across the

waves

Forgotten Waters' remote assistant pairs with its web-based companion app to allow
players to play their physical copy over the internet.

While different in nature to the other online board games

listed above, Forgotten Waters deserves a place on this
list as one of the most impressive solutions to playing
board games over the internet. Whereas the games above
are all standalone versions of their physical counterparts
that don’t require owning the original games, Forgotten
Waters offers a remote play assistant that allows a copy of
the pirate board game to be played with other people
across the internet.

The remote assistant is used in addition to Forgotten

Waters’ mandatory browser-based companion app that
provides randomised Crossroads events, narration and
choices for players to make as they sail the high seas
together on a pirate ship. The remote assistant effectively
proves all players with a way to track their ship’s status -
including available supplies, crew and hull damage - as
well as replacing the flipbook used to represent different
locations found while exploring the world. This presents
players with various actions to take each round, sending
their pirates off to explore, trade and even do battle as
they progress through each scenario.

One player serves as a moderator who adjusts the various

tracks and resources, while the others are able to largely
play as if they were sat in the same room. The only thing
you may want to do is point a webcam at the map board
to show the ship’s current location, and each player will
need a unique player sheet - which can be downloaded
for free - to track their character’s unique story and traits.

Forgotten Waters’ remote assistant is an impressive

addition to an already impressive experience, meaning
that no matter how many oceans lie between you and your
crew, you’ll be able to play together over the internet.

Player count: 4-7

Play Forgotten Waters online using the Remote Assistant

app

10. Board Game Arena/Tabletopia

Hundreds of board games in your browser

Tabletopia (pictured) offers a full 3D environment to play games in, while Board Game
Arena has a simpler but more user-friendly interface.

While we’ve listed many of the best board games available

online already, there are hundreds more. Many of these
can be found on two websites: Board Game Arena and
Tabletopia. While the two websites are similar, they also
have several differences - and offer different selections of
online board games - that make both worth checking out.

Board Game Arena and Tabletopia both offer the ability to

play board games in your browser without the need to
download a separate app as with Tabletop Simulator.
Tabletopia offers an experience more akin to Tabletop
Simulator, presenting a virtual 3D environment in which
players can freely move cards, tokens and other pieces
around - although that means you’ll also have to do the
work of remembering the rules and playing properly
yourself.
Board Game Arena, meanwhile, flattens things down to a
simplified interface. A major benefit is that many of the
board games in its library feature automated rules that
add up points for you, inform you what you can do each
round and stop you from accidentally (or deliberately)
breaking the rules.

Both Tabletopia and Board Game Arena have large

libraries of official games approved by publishers, and
have the option to play some games for free or pay a
relatively small monthly subscription to unlock premium
features. While some games work better than others,
they’re one of the best ways of gaining an instant
collection of online board games to play with your friends
when you can’t be together.

Player count: 1+

Play board games online on Board Game Arena and

Tabletopia.

Matt Jarvis

Editor-in-chief

After starting his career writing about music, films and

video games for various places, Matt spent many years as
a technology, PC and video game journalist before writing
about tabletop games as the editor of Tabletop Gaming
magazine. He joined Dicebreaker as editor-in-chief in
2019, and has been trying to convince the rest of the team
to play Diplomacy since.