The Best Board Games with Rats 2026

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.

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.

Rats on the old junkyard have long told the legend of the cheese moon, dreaming of reaching this endless treasure. When the young rats discover a comic about the first moon landing, they hatch a plan to build a rocket and conquer the cheese moon. Players must gather resources, build rocket parts, and train ratonauts while competing against other families to collect the most cheese and points. The game ends when a player launches their fourth rat or achieves their eighth scoring marker, with the winner being the one with the most points.

Rat-a-Tat Cat is a delightful family card game that combines elements of memory, strategy, and a bit of luck, making it an engaging experience for players of all ages. In this game, the goal is to end up with the lowest score by collecting cats (which have low values) and avoiding rats (which have high values). The game challenges players to remember the values of the cards they and their opponents hold, all while maintaining a poker face to conceal their own card values from others. The game is praised for its simplicity and the engaging gameplay that encourages memory and strategy skills.

Fast food for foodies is the highlight of this game, where players must choose the right dishes while navigating changing colors of lids. Beware of spoiled ingredients like rancid cheese or rotten eggs, and the pesky fly that appears unexpectedly. The challenge is to collect the most delicacies.

Notre Dame: 10th Anniversary includes the base game and the "New Persons" expansion, along with a new set featuring nine characters. Players take on the roles of leading families in 14th-century Paris, competing for wealth and prestige around the Notre Dame Cathedral. Each family manages city districts and must balance their actions to maintain public health while striving for the highest prestige. The new character expansions offer diverse actions, enhancing gameplay variety.

Rattus is a medium-strategy board game set in Europe during the devastating years of the Black Death, around 1347. Players represent various regions of Europe, struggling to survive as the plague ravages the continent. The game uniquely blends historical context with strategic gameplay, as players interact with different classes from the Middle Ages to protect their populations.

Players take on the role of Mafiosi bidding for stolen loot, including cars, jewels, and entire nightclubs. In each round, players reveal loot cards to see what is available for auction. Bidding occurs until all checks are used or police cards are revealed, prompting a search. Points are awarded based on accumulated cards, with some cards discarded and others retained for future rounds. The player with the highest score after three rounds wins.

Ratjack is the essence of blackjack with modern twists — a fast dueling card game in the Ratcity Casino where rats, weasels and rodents gather to play. Each deck has twelve cards valued 1 to 12, each with a special ability.

Two spice traders share a warehouse filled with hungry rats that they need to manage. Players must stack boxes and keep their spices organized while covering the rats. The game features strategic placement of pieces and scoring based on grouped spices, while also avoiding exposing their own rats.

Embark on an enchanting adventure in Mice and Mystics, where players, loyal to the king, find themselves transformed into mice in a bid to escape the clutches of the nefarious Vanestra. As cunning field mice in a castle now twenty times larger, the perilous journey involves racing through the expansive fortress, braving Vanestra's minions, rats, cockroaches, spiders, and the formidable housecat, Brodie. Choose from characters like nimble Prince Collin, burly smith Nez Bellows, wise mouse Maginos, or former healer Tilda, each with unique abilities.

Deep beneath the world of extravagant humans lies an unexplored realm, unaware of the surface dwellers' noise. Only the bravest creatures from above will venture into the underground's secrets, boarding legendary canal frigates to challenge fate and amass countless treasures.

Bagan, also known as "Animal Chess," is a traditional Chinese game where players control eight animals, moving them across the board to reach the opponent's den. Stronger animals can devour weaker ones, yet a rat can defeat an elephant by crawling into its ear. The game features a river that only the rat can cross and traps that make all animals vulnerable to attacks, providing a fun strategy experience even for young children.

In 1347, the Black Death ravages Europe, and the ruler of your land has just succumbed to the plague. As the princes, you compete against each other for his throne by traveling the land to gather loyal followers from various medieval classes. Each city offers different buildings with unique advantages, allowing you to recruit supporters while also facing the danger of lurking rats on the streets.

Bitoku is a beautifully themed hand-management and engine-building game where players embody Bitoku spirits, aiming to ascend as the next great spirit of the forest. The game is set in an enchanting forest, filled with yōkai, kodamas, and pilgrims, each playing a crucial role in the spirits' journey towards transcendence.

Players take on the role of one of four rats who have organized an escape from a laboratory. They must lead their family and prove their worthiness to lead the entire colony. Using unique abilities, they will explore the farm to reach the pantry for cheese, create new inventions from human artifacts, and expand their hideout. The game lasts five rounds, and players can earn victory points by building beds, excavating rooms, welcoming guest mice, completing farm tasks, creating inventions, and claiming achievements. The player with the most points at the end wins.

Memory is a classic game of concentration and recall, where players turn over pairs of tiles to find matching images. First solidified in its modern form by Ravensburger in 1959, the game has historical roots extending back to Japan in the 16th century. Known by various names worldwide such as Pairs, Pelmanism, Concentration, and Pexeso in the Czech Republic, the game challenges players to remember the locations of different tiles.

Malicious rats have allied with sinister hunting birds to plunder the humble mouse settlement in Meanderfield. Brave mice riding starlings and jays are now waging war against this evil alliance. Players can engage in standalone scenarios or a full campaign, where their units gain abilities from one battle to the next.