We know, we know - we've all got the same box, whether it's under the stairs or in the living room, containing the family's collection of classic board games. Whether it means "Titanic" a repeat of Monopoly, "it's actually even a game" of Ludo's perplexity, or the brainwash of the Catan settlers, truly great board games are usually around.
The board game business is absolutely booming, though, and great new games are being released all the time. To shake you out of your comfort zone and get you playing some shiny new options, we've already reviewed some of the very best games released in the last year or so and have listed them here for your consideration.
You never know, this could be the start of a new board game craze.
Our guide to the best new board games to buy today
Wingspan
One of the most famous new games to release in years, the wingspan-inspired look at birds is carefully woven into a complex yet rewarding game. You take on the role of bird spotters trying to discover unique breeds of birds, and detailing their characteristics.
The art is beautiful in the extreme, and the tone is softer than most competitive board games as a result of its subject matter. This is truly a great new addition to the canon of the Great Board Games.
Mansions of Madness (with app)
If you prefer co-op board games, perhaps to keep family tensions to a minimum, there's plenty of fun to be had in the mansions of madness, take on Lovecraft's dreaded myth of P.P. The best part is that with the help of the companion app, you can play with two people against the AI instead of one player taking on the role of the guardian.
Which makes him a lot of fun for a group that wants to work together, while his creepy tone makes for a lot of great moments.
War whispers
The last entry on our list is War Whisper, who is making a splash after his Kickstarter campaign. This is a great game of traditional tabletop war sims and strategy games like the Game of Thrones board game or risk, and the players are cleverly positioned as spies rather than generals.
This means that guessing other players' intentions is just as important as your own plans, and it's also designed to play much faster than other grand strategy games. You can complete the game in an hour, which makes it a very rewarding game to fill the time.
classic
Klask may, in a sense, stretch the definitions of a board game - it's very agile, and has a lot in common with air hockey or foosball. But it's on board, it's nice and compact, and it's also an absolutely superb treat. Players will face various ways to score points against each other, either by getting a small ball they hit another target, causing them to lose control of their magnetic flicker, or by seeing their opponent draw two floating white magnets on said flicker.
It's fast-paced fun, and the rounds are so fast that you'll be sure to get you into leagues and longstanding rivalries in no time. The perfect board game for quick (or long) office breaks, Klask is just the game you should try.
Silver And Gold
If you're looking for something a little more compact and faster to play, Silver and Gold is a new card game that can do the trick nicely. You're each trying to find treasure maps that look more than a little bit like Tetris pieces - it's a game of patterns, but with a pirate twist.
The cards are washable pair with handles to make it infinitely replayable and fast lap times mean you can squeeze in a lot of games in if you are on a travel or vacation.
keyforge
Keyforge is a new(ish) game by Richard Garfield that originally designed Seed Sorcery: The Gathering. Love this game, it's an ever-changing competitive card game, but it's much easier to pick up and play than magic, consciously so.
The big highlight is that instead of collecting and buying new cards to create perfect decks, Keyforge is built around the idea that every deck is unique and stands on its own. Your deck will look like no other, so every game against a new opponent is a learning process with inventive new changes. This is a great idea and a fun game that has a good chance of house monsters over time.