Board Games

A quick reference of board games to play with friends, with a short explanation of how each one works and where to play it online.

Catan

Catan is a resource-trading and building game for 3–4 players. The board is made of hexagonal tiles (wood, brick, wool, grain, ore), and each tile has a number token. On your turn you roll two dice: every tile matching the result produces resources for the players with a settlement or city next to it. You spend resources to build roads, settlements, cities, or buy development cards, and you can trade with other players or the bank. Settlements give 1 victory point, cities give 2, and some cards and bonuses (longest road, largest army) give more. The first player to reach 10 victory points wins.

Play online: Colonist.io (free, in the browser). Official site: catan.com.

Dudo / Cacho

Dudo (also known as Cacho or Liar's Dice) is a bluffing dice game for 2 or more players. Each player has a cup with 5 dice and rolls them in secret. In turn, players make a bid about how many dice of a given face there are in total across all cups (for example, "five 4s"). The next player must either raise the bid (more dice or a higher face) or call "Dudo!" to challenge it. Then all cups are revealed: if the bid was true, the challenger loses a die; if it was false, the bidder loses one. The last player with dice left wins. House rules vary, such as whether 1s are wild.

Play online: Play Liar's Dice.

Secret Hitler

Secret Hitler is a social deduction game for 5–10 players. Each player secretly receives a role: Liberal, Fascist, or Hitler (a Fascist who must stay hidden). Every round, the president nominates a chancellor and everyone votes. If approved, the president draws three policy cards, discards one, and passes two to the chancellor, who enacts one. Liberals win by enacting five Liberal policies or by killing Hitler; Fascists win by enacting six Fascist policies or by electing Hitler as chancellor after three Fascist policies are in place. Talking, bluffing, and accusing are the heart of the game.

Play online: Secret Hitler Online. Official site: secrethitler.com.

Codenames (Código Secreto)

Codenames is a word-association team game for 4 or more players. Twenty-five word cards are laid out in a 5x5 grid. Two teams (red and blue) each have a spymaster who knows which words belong to their team. The spymaster gives a one-word clue plus a number ("Ocean, 3"), and teammates guess words that match it. A correct guess lets them keep guessing; a wrong one ends the turn and may help the other team. If a team touches the assassin card, it loses immediately. The first team to find all its agents wins.

Play online: Codenames Online.