Roll, deal, laugh, repeat.Rules, picks and games for every table.

Board Game Rules: How to Play Popular Board Games

By Edwina Larkspur · house pen name of the Rulenook editorial team · how we write
Updated

Board game on the table and a rules question in the air? Start here. Each guide covers setup, a turn, scoring and the rules questions players ask most, checked against the publisher's current rulebook. Every guide also opens with a card of quick facts: how many can play, how long it takes, the box age, and how much there is to learn.

Not sure which game to pull out tonight? Find a game for your table by player count, time and who's playing.

Blank hexagon tiles in teal, yellow and red, two plain dice and a row of red train blocks, next to the title Board game rules

Game guides

GamePlayersPlay timeAgeComplexity
Catan3–4 (5–6 with expansion)60–90 min10+Medium
Ticket to Ride2–530–60 min8+Light
Carcassonne2–530–45 min7+Light
Codenames4–815 min10+Light
Rummikub2–41 min per turn7+Light
Backgammon2——Light
Mancala2——Light
Wingspan1–540–70 min10+Medium
Azul2–430–45 min8+Light
Sushi Go2–515 min8+Light
Pandemic2–445 min8+Medium
7 Wonders Duel230 min10+Medium

Player counts, times and ages come from each publisher's box, website or rulebook. Complexity is our own tier from the rulebook, explained on our methodology page.

Catan

Roll dice for brick, wood, wheat, wool and ore, then trade and build toward 10 points. Trading happens out loud on every turn, so the whole table stays in the game. The base box seats 3 or 4, and an expansion seats 5 or 6. Read the Catan guide.

Ticket to Ride

Collect train cards and claim routes across North America to connect the cities on your secret tickets. Each turn is 1 simple choice. That makes it quick to teach to new players, including kids from 8 up who have never played a modern board game before. It plays officially with 2. Read the Ticket to Ride guide.

Carcassonne

Draw 1 land tile, add it to a shared map, and you may claim a road, city, or monastery with a meeple. Finished features score, and the most points wins. The base box seats 2 to 5, ages 7 and up, in 30 to 45 minutes. Read the Carcassonne guide.

Codenames

Two teams race to find their words from one-word clues given by a spymaster. A game is about 15 minutes, for 4 to 8 players, ages 10 and up. Read the Codenames guide.

Rummikub

Lay numbered tiles in groups of one number or runs of one color, then rearrange sets already on the table. The 2019 manual gives each turn 1 minute, and the opening meld has to total at least 30. The set is for 2 to 4 players, ages 7 and up. Read the Rummikub guide.

Backgammon

Race 15 checkers around 24 points. You roll 2 dice and move toward your home board, and the first player to bear off all 15 wins. The standard rules are for 2 players. The USBGF page does not print a playing time or a box age. Read the backgammon rules.

Mancala

Sow stones from one of 6 pockets. The player with more stones in their store at the end wins. Both rule pages seat 2 players, with 4 stones in each of 12 pockets. Neither page prints a playing time or a box age. Read the Mancala rules.

Wingspan

Play birds into 3 habitats, and each bird makes one of your actions stronger. You get 8 turns in round 1 and 5 in round 4, 26 in all. The box seats 1 to 5, ages 10 and up, in 40 to 70 minutes. Read the Wingspan guide.

Azul

Take every tile of 1 color from a factory, fill your pattern lines, then move tiles to your wall for points. The game ends after someone fills a row of 5. It seats 2 to 4, ages 8 and up, in 30 to 45 minutes. Read the Azul guide.

Sushi Go

Keep 1 card, pass the rest, and score sets of sushi over 3 rounds. A game is about 15 minutes for 2 to 5 players, ages 8 and up. Read the Sushi Go guide.

Pandemic

A cooperative game: the whole team wins by curing 4 diseases or loses together after 8 outbreaks. It seats 2 to 4, ages 8 and up, in about 45 minutes. Read the Pandemic guide.

7 Wonders Duel

Exactly 2 players take cards from a shared layout over 3 ages. Win by military, by science, or by points after Age 3, in about 30 minutes. Read the 7 Wonders Duel guide.

Coming this month

New guides arrive every week. Each one gets the same treatment: a named rule source, scores checked before the page goes live, and a facts card with sources.

How to pick from this list

Start with how many people are at the table. Got 2? Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Rummikub, Azul, Pandemic, backgammon, and mancala play officially at 2, and 7 Wonders Duel is built for exactly 2. Playing alone? Wingspan has an official solo mode. Catan doesn't, and Codenames wants 4 or more. Have 5 or 6? Ticket to Ride seats 5, Carcassonne seats 5, and Catan needs its expansion for 5 or 6. Rummikub seats 4, and backgammon and mancala are 2-player games.

Then look at time and age. A school night with an 8-year-old points to a shorter game with a lower box age. A long Saturday afternoon with adults leaves room for trading, building and a longer game.

Card games and mahjong

Board games are only part of it. Our card game and mahjong rules come with worked scoring examples and labels for official rules and common house rules.

How we write these guides

Every guide follows one named rulebook, usually the publisher's current edition, and says which one right at the top of the page, so you always know whose rules you're reading and which box they match.

Setup and turns go step by step in the rulebook's order. Every score in a worked example is recomputed by script before the page goes live. Rules questions are put in our own words and answered from the rulebook. No rankings. No scores. The facts card shows where each number came from.

Sources