Best deals right now
Azul is one of those classic board games that’s all about strategy and is very similar to Five Tribes. It involves picking up tiles and placing them in a mosaic that gives you the most points. It’s not quite that simple, though, since you can end up placing too many tiles and losing points, so you have to strategically place your tiles down.
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I know that I’m supposed to say my hobby is playing board games, but that isn’t true. My real hobby is buying board games that look awesome and trying to play them with my family. That’s what makes Cyber Monday so enticing: There are so many discounts you can swell your game library for far less than normal.
Black Friday isn’t the end of the deals. Cyber Monday continues many of the best holiday deals, and often includes some new sales, too. See the best Cyber Monday deals, and keep up with all the latest deals with our full Cyber Monday live blog coverage.
There are a lot of great card games, strategy games and everything in between, but it all boils down to the fact that there’s a lot of fun to be had if you can find the bargains.
My family and I love board games, so I’m always on the lookout for the best board game deals. I’ll never be a rich man: Every board game deal I see, I end up buying for my gaming table. Now you too can enjoy the feeling of having more board games than you’ll ever need. You’re welcome. Keep scrolling to check out our roundup of the best board game bargains available, and we’ll keep updating the list as we find newer and better deals.
Board game deals
Azul is one of those classic board games that’s all about strategy and is very similar to Five Tribes. It involves picking up tiles and placing them in a mosaic that gives you the most points. It’s not quite that simple, though, since you can end up placing too many tiles and losing points, so you have to strategically place your tiles down.
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The Fox in the Forest is a simple trick-taking game with a few special cards mixed into the traditional format — but unlike almost any other trick-taking game, it’s built for two players.
In many ways, The Fox in the Forest is a fairly traditional, simple game. But it’s well-balanced and the perfect length to pick up and play for 20 or 30 minutes.
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Haunted Mansion is one of my family’s favorite Disneyland rides and movie, and now it’s one of our favorite board games too. The game itself is a card management game where you try and get as many of certain types of cards as possible while trying to avoid being haunted by the traveling ghost.
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Yes, I know that $2 isn’t a huge saving, but it gave me a chance to add this amazing game to the deals list anyway.
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is like Slap Jack that went Super Saiyan. The aim is simple: to lose all of your cards. To do that, you have to be the first person to slap the cards when the word you say matches the card you see. It feels like it should be simple, but your brain plays tricks on you, making it a lot of fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed this hard at a game, and I think you’ll love it too.
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What better way to spend the winter months than to hunker down with a great game? This is a fantastic price on one of the most popular board games out there. If you haven’t played Catan before, you’re in for a treat. And it’s incredibly easy for newbies to pick up, so it’s a great choice for group play or family game night.
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You’ve probably heard about Cards Against Humanity, a party game that’s often too rude for young kids to play. Kids Against Maturity takes the same game premise — the person who makes the judge laugh the most wins the hand — but makes it just a little naughty instead.
This is a great entry to family night and lets your kids feel like they’re getting away with something they shouldn’t be doing, but with your guidance and consent. It’s a lot of fun for everyone. Just be sure to activate the instant coupon on the product page to get the full discount.
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Splendor is known as an engine-generation game that uses gems as its currency. To that end, a large portion of the game is about making sure you’re generating more and more gems so you can afford higher-cost items that give you more points. It’s a fun and straightforward strategy game that can get pretty deep if you want it to.
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Villainous is a game about being the baddie and defeating the heroes or using the heroes to fulfill your own objectives. It’s great, and the Star Wars version is even better and has many different mechanics to spice up your game time. There are even expansions that you can add to the game to make it playable by more people.
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If you’re looking for a light-hearted game you can play with up to five friends, Camel Up has you pitted against a set of camels controlled by dice. As the dice are rolled, the camels will randomly move up and down a track, and you all bet to see who will win, so it requires some strategy. There are five rounds, after which the person with the most points gained through correct guesses wins.
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Windward is a newer and fairly lighthearted strategy game that’s earned a spot on our list of the best strategy games for 2023. Designed for up to five players, you play as the captain of a flying ship navigating the unpredictable winds of the gas planet Celus. Build your crew and compete against other captains as you attempt to outmaneuver each other and be the first to bring gas back to your city.
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Mansions of Madness is our favorite co-op mystery game on the market right now, and is a great pick if want a more complex game that’s designed for older players. This second edition of the game uses a companion app as the “keeper” so that all players (up to five) can work together as they explore the sprawling mansion, solve puzzles and battle eldritch horrors.
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Should you buy board games on Cyber Monday?
Absolutely. Board games will see a lot of savings over the next few weeks, and while some savings might only be $5 or $10, the savings add up when you buy several games at once. A lot of the larger games, like Mansions of Madness, also receive larger discounts because of how expensive they are to begin with.
Where’s the best place for Cyber Monday board game deals?
While Amazon might be the obvious choice for board games, there are still plenty of other places you can find great Black Friday deals. Target tends to have a good selection of board game deals, often giving discounts such as “buy one, get one 50% off,” though we haven’t seen any news of that just yet.
It’s also well worth looking out on manufacturer and publisher websites. Asmodee, one of the largest publishers in North America, is has a Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale, as do other, smaller publishers.
What makes a good Cyber Monday board game deal?
Remember, a product’s list price doesn’t always tell you the real value, especially as retailers have started offering Day 1 deals on products. Often the list price is artificially inflated to make the deal look more attractive, so you’ll want to check around and see what the true value of a product is. You might also want to install CNET’s Shopping plugin to give you a bit of help with all of that.
More Black Friday deals from CNET