The best worker placement games 2023
Worker placement is a game mechanic for board games. We have selected the best worker placement games for you.
What are worker placement games?
Worker Placement is a game mechanic and also known as "drawing actions". The worker placement mechanism requires players to select individual actions from a set of actions available to all players. In general, players select actions one at a time and in order. There is generally a limit to the number of times a single action may be performed. Once this limit is reached for an action, it usually either becomes more expensive to perform again - or it cannot be performed for the rest of the round. Therefore, not all actions can be performed by all players in a given round, and "blocking" of the action occurs. If the game is structured in rounds, all actions are usually refreshed at the beginning or end of each round, so that they become available again.
Different variants of action-drawing Worker Placements.
Actions are usually selected by placing tiles or tokens on the selected actions. Each player usually has a limited number of tokens with which to participate in the process. Some games achieve the same effect in reverse: the round begins with action spaces filled with tokens that players claim for a fee.
The various professions gave the game its name
From a thematic point of view, the tiles that players use to design actions often represent workers in a particular occupation (but this category of mechanism is not necessarily limited to or by this thematic representation). In other words, players often "thematically place workers" to show which actions were designed by individual players. In Agricola, for example, each player starts with two pieces representing family members that can be placed on action spaces to gather resources or perform other actions such as building fences. When someone places a piece on a particular space, that action is no longer available until the next turn.
Examples of worker placement games
Keydom, released in 1998, is widely recognized as the first game of the worker placement genre. Early design experiments with this mechanism include Way Out West (2000) and Bus (1999). Well-known worker placement examples include Agricola (2007), Caylus (2005), and Stone Age (2008).
For more details on the topic, see the Wikipedia article on Worker Placement.
List of the best Worker Placement games 2023
PARKS
Nominated for 10 awards and won 2.
More details for PARKS- 1 - 5 Players
- 30 - 60 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
👍 Good price!40€ at.de
Dune: Imperium
Nominated for 16 awards and won 5.
⭐️ Nominated for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022
More details for Dune: Imperium- 1 - 4 Players
- 60 - 120 Minutes
- 14+ years old
- Medium difficulty
👍 Good price!40€ at.de
Forgotten Waters
Nominated for 8 awards and won 1.
🔥 Deal: 10% cheaper than the best Geizhals deal, likely for a short time only!
More details for Forgotten Waters- 3 - 7 Players
- 120 - 240 Minutes
- 14+ years old
- Easy to learn
🔥 Great price!43€ at.de
Everdell
Nominated for 15 awards and won 5.
More details for Everdell- 1 - 4 Players
- 40 - 80 Minutes
- 13+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Video reviews for Everdell
Lords of Waterdeep
Nominated for 9 awards and won 3.
More details for Lords of Waterdeep- 2 - 5 Players
- 60 - 120 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Easy to learn
Lost Ruins of Arnak
Nominated for 24 awards and won 8.
⭐️ Nominated for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2021
🔥 Deal: 6% cheaper than the best Geizhals deal, likely for a short time only!
More details for Lost Ruins of Arnak- 1 - 4 Players
- 30 - 120 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Medium difficulty
🔥 Great price!51€ at.de
Targi
- 2 Players
- 60 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Easy to learn
Video reviews for Targi
Viticulture Essential Edition
- 1 - 6 Players
- 45 - 90 Minutes
- 13+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Raiders of the North Sea
Nominated for 7 awards and won 3.
⭐️ Nominated for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2017
More details for Raiders of the North Sea- 2 - 4 Players
- 60 - 80 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Under Falling Skies
Nominated for 7 awards and won 4.
More details for Under Falling Skies- 1 Players
- 20 - 40 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Easy to learn
👍 Good price!30€ at.de
Champions of Midgard
Nominated for 2 awards.
More details for Champions of Midgard- 2 - 4 Players
- 60 - 90 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Flamecraft
- 1 - 5 Players
- 60 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
Stone Age
- 2 - 4 Players
- 60 - 90 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
🔥 Great price!33€ at.de
Video reviews for Stone Age
Fabled Fruit
Nominated for 4 awards.
More details for Fabled Fruit- 2 - 5 Players
- 20 - 30 Minutes
- 8+ years old
- Easy to learn
Video reviews for Fabled Fruit
Stone Age: Anniversary
- 2 - 4 Players
- 60 - 90 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
Architects of the West Kingdom
Nominated for 17 awards and won 5.
More details for Architects of the West Kingdom- 1 - 5 Players
- 60 - 80 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Medium difficulty
👍 Good price!65€ at.de
Video reviews for Architects of the West Kingdom
Tokaido
Nominated for 5 awards.
More details for Tokaido- 2 - 5 Players
- 45 Minutes
- 8+ years old
- Easy to learn
Video reviews for Tokaido
Imhotep
- 2 - 4 Players
- 40 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
Istanbul
- 2 - 5 Players
- 40 - 60 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Video reviews for Istanbul
Mint Works
- 1 - 4 Players
- 10 - 20 Minutes
- 13+ years old
- Easy to learn
Century: A New World
Nominated for 1 award.
More details for Century: A New World- 2 - 4 Players
- 30 - 45 Minutes
- 8+ years old
- Easy to learn
Everdell: Collector's Edition
- 1 - 4 Players
- 40 - 80 Minutes
- 13+ years old
- Medium difficulty
A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game – Night's Watch Starter Set
- 2 Players
- 45 - 60 Minutes
- 14+ years old
- Easy to learn
Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small
Nominated for 6 awards and won 2.
More details for Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small- 2 Players
- 30 Minutes
- 13+ years old
- Easy to learn
Little Town
Nominated for 4 awards.
More details for Little Town- 2 - 4 Players
- 30 - 60 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
Beyond the Sun
Nominated for 6 awards.
More details for Beyond the Sun- 2 - 4 Players
- 60 - 120 Minutes
- 14+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)
Nominated for 2 awards.
More details for Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)- 1 - 7 Players
- 60 - 120 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
Raiders of Scythia
- 1 - 4 Players
- 60 - 80 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Medium difficulty
Kanagawa
Nominated for 5 awards and won 2.
More details for Kanagawa- 2 - 4 Players
- 45 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
Video reviews for Kanagawa
Pan Am
🔥 Deal: 22% cheaper than the best Geizhals deal, likely for a short time only!
More details for Pan Am- 2 - 4 Players
- 60 Minutes
- 12+ years old
- Easy to learn
🔥 Great price!27€ at.de
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