Top 20 Games Of 2022 “https://www.board-game.co.uk/top-20-games-of-2022/Board Games” Zatu Games UK

2022 has been an absolutely brilliant year for the board game hobby. There have been so many amazing games of 2022 released via retail and crowd funding projects, gaming is becoming more mainstream with mentions in both film and tv, and board game cafes are now the place to hang out with your friends rather than the pub.

This year also saw the proper return of gaming conventions with an amazing newcomer Zatu Con ’22 in London. This was easily one of my favourite board gaming moments of 2022 and you can see why in my review. I can’t wait for Zatu Con ’23 and I urge you to book your tickets as soon as they become available.

Another personal highlight was being accepted as a blogger for Zatu. I feel very honoured to be writing with an amazing team and everyone who works for Zatu are the loveliest people you will ever meet.

My Board Game collection has certainly bulged over the last 12 months and I had to source new storage solutions. I cannot claim to have played everything that this year has offered but I have certainly played a wide variety of games and the following 20 are my personal highlights. Some quick provisos; some of these games were released earlier than 2022 in some territories, or they were crowdfunded a few years ago and finally found a retail release this year. It might also be that some games were released very late last year or with a limited print run so they only become readily available this year. Lastly I, like many gamers, have a shelf of shame and some amazing 2022 games have yet to be played for which I am sorry.

Provisos aside, I hope you enjoy this list of my favourite games of 2022.

Libertalia Winds Of Galecrest

Stonemaier Games knocked it out of the park with this release. It brought back a game that has long been out of print and included new rules, more cards and some of the best components you will ever get from a ‘non-deluxe’ release. This is a really cutthroat take that pirate game which is great fun across all of the player counts (one to six).

Every round you are trying to outwit your opponents to claim the best ’booty’ by using your hand of pirates. All players start the game with the same pirates but as you progress through the rounds everyone’s hand of cards become different. This leads to players pushing their luck and succeeding whilst others hold back and find they have left it too late to play that amazing pirate and sometimes the other way around.

Please don’t be put off by the take that element of the game as it perfectly suits the pirate life theme and even if you have a bad turn or round you can always make it up later on.

A perfect game from the long list of games of 2022 for those get togethers with your gamer friends.