Disney dominates the media world, so there’s naturally a wide range of Disney board games to choose from. Whoever your favourite characters are from the House of Mouse, they’ve probably turned up on a tabletop somewhere. But where does a Disney fan start looking for the best board game experiences?
The answer is right here. The Disney IP is home to some of the best board games and trading card games around (some original games and some adapted), and you’ll find all our top Disney board game picks below.
Here are the best Disney board games:
Disney Monopoly
Love it or hate it, Monopoly is one of the most widely played board games on the planet. It’s been re-themed to appeal to all sorts of fanbases, so it’s no surprise you can buy a Disney Monopoly edition. In fact, there are a huge number of Disney Monopoly games on the market.
Disney fans who like it darker can pick up the Disney Villains Monopoly. Specific films like The Little Mermaid, and Toy Story all have their own editions, and collectors should keep an eye out for a second-hand copy of the slightly pricier 2001 Disney Monopoly.
One of our favourites is the Disney Parks: Theme Park Edition of Monopoly. The board is designed to look like the real-world Disneyland, and there’s even a pop-up version of Cinderella’s castle in the middle. Pretty much every version of Monopoly plays the same, but this one has the design flare to make it feel more special.
Disney Villainous board game
We hope you love animated baddies because Disney Villainous puts you in control of six different Disney villains. Moving them around the board and playing cards from your hand, you’ll be racing to complete a unique objective before any of your rival players can achieve theirs first.
Don’t worry if your favourite nemesis isn’t included in the core game; there are oodles of Disney Villainous expansions to pick up. You can also pick up Star Wars Villainous or Marvel Villainous board games. Darth Vader and Thanos are Disney properties now, and Villainous takes full advantage of that.
Disney Codenames
One of our top board games for adults, Codenames turns espionage into a word-association game. Two teams are formed, each with one ‘spymaster’ who must give single-word clues to help their allies choose the correct words on a grid of cards. The team that guesses all their words correctly first wins – as long as they don’t accidentally choose the game-ending assassin card.
Disney Codenames is largely the same game, but it’s been tweaked to be more family-friendly. Each of the words is Disney-related, of course, but you can also play with picture cards instead of text. The somewhat-harsh assassin card can also be removed so everyone gets a fair shot at victory.
Disney The Haunted Mansion board game
Disney’s The Haunted Mansion board game has a bit of a mouthful for a title – officially it’s called Disney: The Haunted Mansion – Call of the Spirits Game. Mercifully, the rules are a lot more streamlined.
The aim of the game is to collect ghost cards. Collecting sets of ghosts helps you score more points, and you naturally want to end up with the highest score. You must explore the Endless Hallway of The Haunted Mansion, grabbing ghost cards while avoiding Haunt cards.
More on the spooky side, The Haunted Mansion board game has a bright visual design that means it’d look good on a shelf next to games like Mysterium and Horrified. Despite the haunting theme, this is a solid choice for fans of family board games.
Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game
Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game is a bit of a cross between Hanabi and Quacks of Quedlinburg. Players must take on the Sanderson Sisters, the devious witch trio from the Hocus Pocus movies. To thwart their plans, you must stun the sisters three times before the time runs out.
To do this, you’ll work together playing ingredient cards into a big cauldron. You can give each other clues about the cards in your hand by asking questions – either about the colour or type of ingredient, but not both. Manage to play the right combination of ingredients, and you can stop a witch in her tracks.
The Hocus Pocus card game only takes 30 minutes to complete, and it’s mostly luck-based. It probably won’t win over fans of heavy strategy board games, but it works when you need a bit of board game magic in a pinch.
Disney Lorcana
Alright, Disney Lorcana isn’t actually a board game. It’s a trading card game in the same vein as Magic: The Gathering, but it’s already generated so much hype we couldn’t leave it out.
This is a card game that turns Disney’s biggest characters into collectable cards. We don’t know the Disney Lorcana release date yet (though our guide can keep you up to date when we do). However, we’ve already seen some of the cards to come in set one – including Stitch, Cruella De Vil, and Captain Hook.
Source: Wargamer
