10 Great Board Games Based on Books That Perfectly Capture Their Source Material

The best board games based on books extend the story from which they’re drawn with adventures that maintain the look and feel of the original tale. The gameplay of these adaptions makes you feel like you’re stepping into the world of the novel, and the characters often have thematic powers that match their abilities from the author’s works. In this list, we’re highlighting a handful of fantastic tabletop titles that bring your favorite books to life with both smart game design and enjoyable mechanics.

1. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

As Sauron’s shadow lengthens, the world of Middle Earth grows full of both adventure and peril. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and its saga expansions take players through the most iconic moments in the books, from the Fellowship’s journey through Khazad-Dûm to the battle of Helm’s Deep and the siege of Minas Tirith. However, the fun doesn’t stop there. With a team of your favorite heroes and allies, you can explore the wastes of Angmar, sail to the ruins of Númenor, travel to Harad, or keep the darkness of Mirkwood at bay. The deck-building aspects of this tabletop title are richly rewarding, and the cooperative gameplay mechanics make every scenario an interesting puzzle.

2. Game of Thrones: The Card Game

In Game of Thrones: The Card Game, you play as one of seven great houses in Westeros or as the Night’s Watch. Your goal is to collect fifteen power tokens before your opponents do and conquer Westeros. To do this, you’ll need to play a mix of powerful characters, locations, attachments, and events that come straight from George R.R. Martin’s books. You’ll also need to choose your plot cards carefully before the game since they’ll give you the element of surprise. Each house has its own strengths drawn directly from the source material. The Lannisters, for example, are fabulously rich and win intrigue combats with ease. The Starks attack quickly and seek early victories. The Targaryens can burn their opponents to the ground with dragon fire.

3. Arkham Horror

The terrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s original works have been adapted into numerous board games, but there are few with as high quality a gameplay experience as Arkham Horror. The town of Arkham, Massachusetts, has tons of interesting clues to uncover and locations to visit, but it’s also overrun with horrific monsters. Through a mix of investigation and combat, your team will hopefully close all the portals to the beyond before the Ancient One awakens. Should you fail, you’ll have to face off against this demon one last time.

4. Dune Imperium: Uprising

As the leader of one of the Imperium’s Great Houses, your goal in Dune Imperium: Uprising is to tame the planet Arrakis before your opponents and let the spice flow. You’ll start with a unique signet ring ability, and two agents. You’ll then interact with various locations from the books, including everything from Sietch Tabr to the Landsraad council chamber, by sending your agents to them. Increase your standing with factions like the Spicing Guild and the Padishah Emperor, recruit powerful character cards for your deck, and win battles against your opponents to claim victory.

5. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Carlton House & Queen’s Park

Fans of the famous detective residing at 221B Baker Street will love the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series. Every entry makes you feel smarter than the master sleuth himself, and Carlton House & Queen’s Park is no exception. For some of the cases you’ll find in this box, you’ll need only the storybook and a map of the Carlton mansion. For others, you’ll get a sizeable map of Victorian London that you can explore, plus a stack of period-accurate newspapers that are full of clues. These cases can be particularly challenging, but that also makes them immensely satisfying.

6. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

The Wizarding World from the Harry Potter books and films comes to the tabletop in style with Hogwarts Battle, a cooperative, easy-to-understand deck builder. Those who practice the Dark Arts are attempting to control some of the most famous locations from the series, including Diagon Alley, the Forbidden Forest, and the Chamber of Secrets. Players must work together to defeat these villains over the course of seven games. Each game corresponds with one of the years that Harry is in school and increases in difficulty over time.

7. The Witcher: Old World

In The Witcher: Old World, you’ll roam the Continent before the days of Geralt and collect trophies by slaying monsters and defeating rival witchers. The game map is gigantic, and the branching choice story mechanics add plenty of immersion. The deck-building and character upgrade systems that the game offers are also fantastic. The individual player boards and other components are surprisingly high-quality. Plus, the deluxe edition of Old World comes with a ton of satisfying miniatures. For fans of the franchise, this game is an absolute must-have.

8. Golem

Golem is an underrated engine-building board game that’s full of excitement for seasoned tabletop gamers. It’s based on not one but several books, which are, in turn, based on a classic folktale from the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Players take on the role of a rabbi, who, as in the story, created a monstrous being from clay to protect the city. The creature soon became unruly and difficult to control, and this aspect of the story is perfectly portrayed in the game mechanics, which situate your engine on the edge of a knife. If your golem becomes too powerful, it will destroy everything it was meant to protect.

9. Friday

Friday is an enjoyable solitary experience that’s based on the classic novel Robinson Crusoe. To begin a game, you’ll draw two pirate cards, which become the adversaries that you’ll need to defeat in order to win. Before you can take them on, however, you’ll need to face off against the island’s hazards. Defeating a hazard adds a stronger fight card to your deck and strengthens your odds for when the pirates finally come. Aging cards, on the other hand, weaken your character and make it tougher to get Robinson off the island.

10. Unfathomable

Hidden roles and secret agendas take center stage on an old-fashioned steamship surrounded by Lovecraftian Deep Ones in Unfathomable, which borrows many of its mechanics from the classic Battlestar Galactica board game. When it’s your turn, you can move about the ship and perform the action on the location you pick. In the boiler room, you can risk fuel to advance the ship’s travels. In the cargo hold, you can pick up items. If you visit the captain’s quarters, you might be able to send another player to the on-board prison. Human players need to defeat strange monsters and protect the civilian population on board in order to win. If you’re a hybrid, you win when the Deep Ones manage to sink the ship.