The best animal games 🦓 2024

The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition revitalizes Stefan Feld's classic strategy game for 1-4 players, where participants embody aristocrats managing their princedoms. This special edition, a collaboration between Ravensburger and Awaken Realms, elevates the game with a full art redesign, premium materials, and enhanced components, offering a luxurious playing experience as players build their settlements, castles, and engage in trade.

Cascadia is a tile-laying and token-drafting board game that features the rich habitats and diverse wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. It combines strategic tile placement with wildlife conservation themes.

In the bustling city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, you find yourself in a fierce competition as one of the two most powerful traders. However, being a prominent trader isn't enough; the ultimate goal is to earn two coveted "seals of excellence" to secure an invitation to the Maharaja's prestigious court. To outshine your direct competitor, you'll need to demonstrate superior trading skills by buying, exchanging, and selling goods at advantageous prices, all while carefully managing your valuable camel herds.

Sea Salt & Paper is a set collection card game that combines strategic decision-making with the excitement of timing your moves just right. Similar to Rummy in gameplay, it involves collecting sets of cards to score points, while also navigating the timing of when to end the round for optimal advantage.

Rhino Hero: Super Battle is a captivating 3D stacking game that sees the return of Rhino Hero, this time joined by fellow super-heroes Giraffe Boy, Big E., and Batguin. Players engage in an exciting challenge of building a wobbly skyscraper while navigating fierce battles among these charismatic characters. The game adds an extra layer of fun with the presence of mischievous spider monkeys that players must contend with during their skyscraper construction and superhero battles.

Wingspan is a captivating, competitive board game from Stonemaier Games, masterfully designed by Elizabeth Hargrave. It's a medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building game that stands out with its unique theme and stunning artwork, featuring over 170 bird illustrations by artists Beth Sobel, Natalia Rojas, and Ana Maria Martinez.

Draftosaurus is a charming and quick drafting game where players aim to build the most attractive dinosaur park. The game stands out for its use of dino meeples and unique placement restrictions, making it an engaging experience for all ages.

Outfoxed! invites you into a whimsical detective chase after Mrs. Plumpert's missing prized pot pie. It's a cooperative game where players work together to gather clues, eliminate suspects, and catch the cunning fox before it escapes. The game introduces a unique evidence scanner mechanism that adds a fun twist to deducing the thief among a lineup of potential foxes.

Rhino Hero is a dexterity-based card game that combines elements of building and strategy. Players take turns constructing a skyscraper with walls and roof cards, while moving a heroic rhino figurine up the building.

6 nimmt!, also known as Take 5, Category 5 and other names, is a card game focused on scoring as few points as possible. It combines elements of strategy, prediction, and a bit of luck.

Coconuts is a lively dexterity game inspired by the "Monkey King" character from Chinese mythology. In this engaging and playful game, players take turns launching coconuts towards cups positioned in the center of the play area. Successfully landing a coconut in a cup allows you to stack it on your board. Even more strategically, if you land a coconut in an opponent's cup, you can claim it and move it to your board. The game also features "Monkey King Magic" cards, which add a twist by allowing players to disrupt their opponents' shots in various ways. The first player to build a pyramid of six cups on their board is the winner.

Air, Land, & Sea is a strategic two-player game where you take on the role of a Supreme Commander, deploying military forces across three theaters of war: Air, Land, and Sea. The game is a delicate balance of power and cunning, requiring players to outmaneuver their opponent to control the majority of the theaters or compel them to withdraw.

The Castles of Burgundy is a strategy board game set in the Burgundy region of High Medieval France, where players assume the roles of aristocrats controlling small princedoms. The game combines tile placement and dice rolling mechanics to offer a rich and strategic experience.

Engage in the colorful and strategic gameplay of Coloretto, where simplicity meets tactical decision-making. The game revolves around drawing cards to play into rows or claiming entire rows to expand your collection. As the rounds progress, players aim to create extensive sets, but there's a catch – exceeding three colors incurs penalties, adding a layer of strategic depth.

Cockroach Poker Royal (Kakerlakenpoker Royal) elevates the art of bluffing to a royally entertaining level. This game, a twist on the original Kakerlakenpoker, swaps the traditional poker deck for one festooned with critters like cockroaches, rats, and stink bugs, emphasizing bluffing over traditional poker hands.

Survive: Escape from Atlantis! is a thrilling and competitive board game where players aim to evacuate their pieces from a sinking island. The game is known for its intense gameplay and strategic decisions.

Bärenpark is a charming and strategic board game that invites players to delve into the world of bear parks. Your task is to construct a visually appealing and efficiently designed bear park.

PARKS is a visually stunning board game that celebrates the beauty and splendor of U.S. National Parks. With artwork from Fifty-Nine Parks, this game offers players a unique blend of strategy and adventure as they embark on a journey through nature.

Spicy is a vibrant bluffing card game that captures the fiery competition among three big cats who, tired of their constant battling for supremacy, decide to engage in a spicy hot eating contest. This setup serves as a backdrop for a game filled with deceit, strategy, and quick thinking, designed for 2-6 players. The game's core mechanic revolves around players announcing their card plays without revealing them, allowing for a high degree of bluffing as cards are played face down.

ICECOOL is an energetic and playful flicking game set in a penguin school, where players assume the roles of rascally penguins trying to snatch fish and the vigilant Hall Monitor trying to maintain order.

Cockroach Poker is a lighthearted and engaging card game focused on bluffing and reverse set collection. It features various critters like cockroaches, rats, and stink bugs, and the aim is to trick others into collecting these undesirable creatures.

Animal Upon Animal (original title: Tier auf Tier) is a delightful and family-friendly stacking game that challenges players to carefully balance wooden animal figures to create an ever-growing pyramid. The game is designed for all ages, showcasing both fun and skill in a simple yet engaging format.