Board Game Arena is a catalog of online board games. The platform was created by Grégory Isabelli and Emmanuel Colin to allow developers to translate, develop, and moderate physical board games for online use. Players will find a large selection of tabletop games that are free-to-play. They can either be played in real-time or in turn-based mode. Real-time games allow you to participate in live games. Turn-based play, on the other hand, allows you to play at your own pace. All BGA Players receive a Karma score, which lets other people know their reputation on the platform—such as Friendly, Fair Player, and Does Not Quit. 

Play real tabletop games online

You can start a new game in Board Game Arena by going to the "Play Now" section. Here, you can select between real-time or turn-based mode to see the list of games you can play. All games can either automatically provide opponents or allow other players to join the server. Servers are referred to as "tables" in BGA. This means you will have to wait for other users to select the same game and table to start the match. All new players will have a green circle next to their name, signifying that they’re active.

Tables are created using the Manual Lobby feature. This enables you to create one table per game and increases your chances of interacting with other gamers. For example, you can create a table in three separate puzzle games simultaneously. The game will start depending on the type of game you’re playing. Turn-based games have a maximum number of players that can join while real-time games do not. As the creator or administrator of the table, you are responsible for starting the match regardless of the type of game.

Join the BGA community

Board Game Arena is a great way to start playing classic board games online. This helps you play the game as often as you like since there are players from all over the world looking to find players for the game, as well. This is also a way to discover new tabletop games, as the BGA catalog is constantly updated by other board game enthusiasts.