Find the most fun games to play without breaking the bank: here are the top 15 best board games to play for $20.
With a steady increase in popularity over the course of the past few years, more and more people are getting into board and tabletop games. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn't have at least one in their household, and with so many games on the market, it's understandable that you would want your own games to play with friends and family.
Whether you are new to the scene or a veteran though, one thing is sure: board games can get pretty pricey, and cheaper options sometimes are lackluster. But don't worry, we've got you covered! Here is our list of the Top 15 best board games that are under $20 that are fun.
15. The Chameleon
Big Potato Games shows you how to play The Chameleon
The Chameleon is a social deduction game where you gather your friends in a circle and grab a card from a deck that has a series of numbers and letters that match a set of dice that come with the game. With the dice and a decoder card, a secret word is revealed on a card with words that are themed such as comedies, sports, or famous people. Almost everyone will know the secret word and will start thinking of a clue that is related to the word, except for one person…
Only one player in your midst will have a card that says that he is the Chameleon, and he has no clue what the word is. He must try to blend in as much as possible and come up with his clue and hope it works.
After a countdown, everyone in the group will quickly say their clue (one right after the other) related to the secret word. But be careful! Make it too obvious and the Chameleon will know the secret word, but make it too vague and everyone is gonna think you’re the Chameleon even if you’re not.
Everyone knows the word, except the Chameleon! He must lie his way through the round to win.
You are allowed to use a word that was already said by another player if you can’t think of one, which is a good strategy for the Chameleon, but use that option wisely to avoid being suspicious.
After a brief discussion, everyone will point to whomever they think is the Chameleon. If they’re wrong, the Chameleon wins the round. If right, then the Chameleon has one chance to guess the secret word and win. If he is wrong, then he is caught and the round is over.
Buy this game if:
- You enjoy games that are easy to learn. Two minutes into the game and you'll already be a master.
- You like games where you have to bluff sometimes to win. Wanna find out who is a terrible liar in your group? Then play this game.
14. Poetry for Neanderthals
How to Play Poetry for Neanderthals
Have you ever wondered how a caveman would describe a simple object or idea such as a remote control? Have you ever had the strong urge to hit someone with a big stick just for being bad at a game? If you said yes to either of these questions, then Poetry for Neanderthals is the perfect game for you!
You split up into teams of two, and you draw a card with a word or idea. Then you describe the said word just like a neanderthal would, and that’s with only one-syllable words. For example, using the aforementioned remote control, you could describe it as (I use this black stick, I point this to square box, push dots and make a change to screen). Sounds simple right?
Speak good, or get hit with big air-filled stick!
For every correct answer your team makes, you earn points. On the other team is someone looming over you with a big inflatable club, ready to strike down on you for using wrong words, for using gestures, or if you even look like you’re cheating a little bit. Biff, bam, boom! Every strike gives you negative points and a possible migraine.
The team that has the most points after everyone has had one turn as neanderthal wins!
Buy this game if you:
- Like games that encourage you to act like a fool.
- Enjoy hitting your friends and family with inflatable objects.
13. Exploding Kittens: Original Edition
How to play Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens is one of those that you have to play for yourself to get an idea of how crazy it truly is. You have a wide variety of cats to play with. You have Hairy Potato cats, cattermelons, rainbow-ralphing cats, a Tacocat (it’s a palindrome!), and more! There’s just one cat that you need to avoid and, you guessed it, it’s the exploding kind.
The object of the game is to be the last one alive by not having an exploding kitten in your hand. If you do, you better have a defuse card so that you can put that cat right back into the draw pile, otherwise, it's game over!
Pull one of these cards out of the deck and it's over for you!
There are multiple cards to help you avoid exploding while sabotaging the other players. You have skip cards, attack cards, and even cards that allow you to peek inside the deck. Play all of these wisely and you’ll rise victoriously from the ashes of your fallen foes and be declared the winner.
This is a fun game with some interesting art choices for the cards. They are simple yet macabre. And if you love the original edition so much, there are multiple expansion packs you can buy separately to keep the madness going.
Buy this game if:
- You love games with nonsensical and humorous cards and rules.
- You have no problem backstabbing your friends to win.
12. Codenames
How to play Codenames with The Rules Girl
Put on your fanciest suit and whip out the drinks that require shaking, not stirring, because it’s time to play Codenames. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is one of two: Play his team of comrades and find the agents (red or blue, depending on which team you are on) and avoid the assassin or play the Spymaster and guide your team. 
Find all of your secret agents before your opponents find theirs!
The role of the Spymasters is to give one-word clues that will help his team pick out words from a choice of 25 that are laid out in front of them. The Spymasters know which words belong to which team from a grid card that only they can see. Chances are that these words that they want their team to pick have absolutely no direct correlation with each other, but it’s up to the Spymaster to determine what words to say, or not say, to help them pick the right cards.
But watch out! Saying the wrong thing can lead your team to pick the other team's cards, find civilians, or worse…find the assassin card, which results in an immediate loss.
The replayability of Codenames is tremendous! There are 400 words included in the game, and since you can only play 25 words each game, you can replay it over and over again and it will never feel like you're playing the same way each time.
Buy this game if:
- You have lots of friends over for game night-this game virtually has no player limit!
- You want a game that anyone can play with little time for explaining the rules.
11. Bang!
How to play Bang!
It’s High Noon, pardner, so you better keep your head low, ‘cuz the Sheriff and some outlaws are gunning each other down! In the game of Bang!, you take on the roles of these characters during their showdown.
You play as either the sheriff, the deputy, a renegade, or outlaws. These role cards are given to you at random, and everyone must keep their identity a secret except for the Sheriff. Each has its own unique goal to achieve in order to win the game.
The sheriff needs to eliminate all of the baddies to win, while the deputy protects the sheriff and tries to help eliminate everyone else without revealing his role. The renegade wants to be the next sheriff so he wants to be the last man standing, and the outlaws want to get rid of the sheriff but have no problems with wiping out the other outlaws in the process.
Get ready to draw and let bullets fly as you shoot to be the last one standing!
During the game, each player picks a character that has bullets that act as their life points and have special abilities that are unique to them that can help them stay alive as the shootout progresses. Once all of that character’s bullets are gone though, it’s adios to that player.
Throughout the game, you will draw cards to fire your weapon, regain health/bullets, avoid getting shot, and even find better weapons to give you an edge.
This game can get pretty extensive, but once you get the hang of how everything is played, you’ll have a hoot and a holler as you try to take each other out and ride into the sunset as the winner.
Buy this game if:
- You enjoy Spaghetti-Western films and tropes and want to experience them in tabletop gameplay.
- You want games with options for expansion packs.
10. Dragonwood: A Game of Dice & Daring
Annex Games teaches you how to play Dragonwood: A Game of Dice & Daring
Greetings, weary adventurers! I see that you are looking to enter the enchanted forest of Dragonwood. I hope that you enjoy its beauty and majesty, but I must warn you: there are many nefarious creatures that you must fight, including dragons! If you are prepared enough and have a touch of luck on your side, then maybe you will emerge from the forest victorious. Good luck!
In Dragonwood, you must play cards and roll dice to defeat creatures and gain victory points to ultimately win. To gain victory points, you win battles against creatures such as the grumpy troll, crazy bats, gooey globs, and gigantic pythons. To win these fights, you must play cards to either strike, stomp, or scream at them (Some of the monsters have sensitive egos, I imagine). You can also use these tactics to capture magical items that will give you an edge in later fights.
Defeat enemies and gather items to prepare for your encounter with the dragons!
Ultimately, you’re preparing to locate and fight the two dragons in this game. They are both worth a lot of victory points, but they're incredibly resilient to all of your attacks, so you need all of the help you can get. The player who has the most victory points after the two dragons are defeated is the winner.
This is a game that you wouldn’t mind playing with kids because the art style is very whimsy and the gameplay is simple and can make a great starter game if you want them to start playing card games. But it also poses a challenge in winning so adults can enjoy it too.
Buy this game if:
- You enjoy fantasy-themed games.
- You want a game that’s easy for kids to pick up.
- You like minimalistic games that don’t require a lot of space to play.
9. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
Learn how to play Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
Do you think you have decent reflexes? Do you like games where you have to get rid of all your cards? Then you would enjoy Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.
The objective is simple: lose all the cards in your hand to win. How? Each player takes a turn placing a card face up while saying “Taco,” “Cat,” “Goat,” “Cheese,” and “Pizza.” Every card is going to have these words on there as well as other random words such as animal names. If the card that is played matches the word that was just said, you try to NOT be last to slap your hand on the deck. If you are last, you take the cards and add them back to your hand.
While you try to match the word to the card, there are also special cards that, when played, you have to follow specific rules. For example, if you pull a gorilla card, you beat your chest before slapping the pile, you put your hands on your head to make a horn like a Narwhal's, etc.
Try to match the word to the card, but be sure to follow the special cards also!
Another rule is that you can’t always be tense. If you flinch in an attempt to slap your hand down when the card doesn’t match the word spoken, then you have to take all of the cards. That adds a surprising amount of difficulty to anyone that is slap-happy or tries to trick other players into slapping too early.
This is a great game to take on the road or keep with you because it is always ready to play. Just deal the cards out to the other players and start saying those magic words: “Taco,” “Cat,” “Goat,” “Cheese,” and “Pizza.”
Buy this game if:
- You want a simple game that is fun but doesn’t require a lot of effort to play.
- You need a game that’s perfect for light travel or vacation.
8. Herd Mentality
How to play Herd Mentality
Do you think you know what your friends are going to think next? In Herd Mentality, that’s exactly what you are trying to do!
This game asks you a question such as “Name a famous Steve” and everyone writes down an answer. This is where you need to think strategically. You need to think about what you believe everyone else is going to think, not just what you think is the right answer. Will your friends think of Steve Martin? Or perhaps Steve Carrell? You only have a few seconds to choose and write down your guess. When revealed, only answers that match other players will get cows. If no one matches, no one gets cows.
Think you can come up with the same answer as everyone else?
If everyone matches except one person, that one person gets the pink cow, which immediately prohibits them from winning, even if they currently have the most points. The only way to get rid of that cow is to hope that someone else is unfortunate enough to have a unique answer from everyone else in a new round.
The game is over when a player is the first to win eight cows.
This is a great game because you don’t have to answer truthfully, but you should think about what is going to be the majority answer. It’s a different way to play, and a lot of hobbyist gamers are going to like that.
Buy this game if:
- You need a game with easy-to-follow rules.
- You want a fun way to find out what your friends/families think when given an opinion-based question.
7. Pass the Pigs
Learn how to play Pass The Pigs
It’s time to play Pass the Pigs: The game where you throw pigs around instead of dice. Here are the rules to play:
You have two cutesy, little plastic pigs that will act as your dice. When you throw them, pay attention to how they land, because that is how you are going to earn your points. Did they land on their snoots? Are they looking up to the sky on their hind legs? Standing upright on all four legs? You will then review the scorecard to see how many points you won from that throw.
How the pigs land after you roll them will earn you points. Watch out for the Pig Out pose!
If you are feeling lucky, you can continue to roll to earn more points, but be careful! Get the pigs in the position of “Pig Out” and you’ll lose all of your points for that round (Watch the video to find out what “Pig Out” looks like). The first player to 100 points wins!
This is a simple dice-throwing game similar to Yahtzee, but since it has pigs instead of dice, it has a charm that any player can enjoy, young and old. If you are looking for a unique game to play on the road or need an easy game for a game night, give Pass the Pigs a try.
Buy this game if:
- You want a game that kids can enjoy as well as adults.
- You want a game that is unique compared to other dice-rolling games that you have played before.
6. Happy Little Dinosaurs
Tee Turtle Teaches you how to play Happy Little Dinosaurs
There are a lot of games that have you go through tons of objectives just to get you close to winning. Happy Little Dinosaurs is not one of those games because the objective of this game is to do just one thing: survive to the end. Think you can do that?
To start Happy Little Dinosaurs, you choose a cute little dinosaur that you want to keep alive as long as possible. Along the way, that dinosaur is going to go through many traumatic experiences: Natural, Predatory, and Emotional Disasters. Depending on which dinosaur you picked before the game started, you may have a more natural resistance to one over the other.
If you end up with three disaster cards on your dinosaur, your little friend is extinct and the game is over for you. The only way to avoid building your disaster pile is with point cards. When a disaster is played, then you can play any point cards that you have to avoid it. The player with the lowest points in that round has to take the card for themselves. There are other cards that you can play to save yourself while ruining the other dinosaurs’ day.
Try and keep your dinosaur alive for as long as possible! He'll go through a lot of trauma during the game.
Throughout the game, you are greeted with cutesy yet macabre art on each disaster, so there is enjoyment to be had with each playthrough. You can’t help but feel bad but giggly as your dinosaur is ghosted on a first date and they sustain emotional trauma from it or if they accidentally take a bath in a nearby tar pit.
Buy this game if:
- You want something that kids can play with as well. It’s funny, colorful, and cute.
5. Medium: A Mind-Reading Game
Learn how to play Medium
Medium is a party game that will encourage you to dig deep and find a psychic connection with your teammate (you’ll technically have two teammates, but they won’t be on the same team). Whichever pair has the most points before the crystal ball shatters is the winner.
Gathering in a circle, your teammates that you’ll be connecting with will be the persons to your right and left side. Each of you will be given six cards with words. Starting with the person to your left, you play a card in front of you and they will do the same. Now that you have two words to work with, you both must think of a word that connects the two.
After a countdown, you both say your words together. If they match, you get three points. If they don’t, you try again but with the new words that you both just said. If you succeed in that, you get two points. If you fail to match again, you repeat the steps with the NEW new words and get one point if you succeed to match by that point. If you don’t, then better luck next time. You both draw a new card from the pile and the next team plays their turn.
Can you meld your mind with your teammates and come up with the medium word?
The game continues as long as the Crystal Ball remains intact. It begins to shatter when players pull cracked crystal ball cards from the draw pile. After three are drawn, the game is over and the team that has the most points wins.
This is a fun game to play especially if you are familiar with the group of people that you are with. If you have never met the person before, then it’s a great way to find out more about them from what words they come up with while playing with you and make new friends along the way.
Buy this game if:
- You’re looking for a game that’s unique from other card games that have been played before.
- You want a more intimate view of how another person thinks when given the same words as you.
4. Fluxx
Learn how to play Fluxx
The goal of the game of Fluxx is to achieve the goal of the game. What is the goal of the game? Nobody knows that yet, because the game hasn’t started.
The game of Fluxx starts simple enough: everyone gets three cards and you have one basic rule to draw one card and play one card. From there the game starts. There will be Goal cards, New Rules, Keepers, and Action cards that you can pull from the draw pile.
Goal cards lay out how you win the game of Fluxx, and they will list out conditions that need to be met. Don’t get too comfortable with trying to achieve one goal though because someone may lay out a new goal card and change everything entirely. Keepers cards help you meet the conditions of the goal (most of the time, unless the goal specifically tells you that a certain keeper cannot be played to win).
Play cards and achieve the current goal of the game to win!
New Rules cards change how many cards you can draw or play during your turn, and Action cards help you take cards from other players, lose cards, redraw cards, etc. Whoever makes it through these ever-changing rules and meets the conditions of the current goal is the winner.
Fluxx is one of those games where you either love it or hate it. Here are some reasons why you should love it. The game may be chaotic at times, but it’s fair. Because the rules/goals constantly change, there is no skill needed to win. That means that anyone that is playing for the first time has just as much of a chance at winning the game as the person who has played it a thousand times before.
Buy this game if:
- You like games that are portable and can be taken anywhere. Because of the small size of the card game, this game can be taken on the road.
- You want a game that gives you as much of a chance to win as the next person. You won’t know how the next game is going to pan out, so you can’t think ahead about how you could win.
3. New Phone, Who Dis?
Learn how to play New Phone, Who Dis? with Triple S Games
Have you ever received a text from a family member, friend, or significant other and you just don’t know how to answer because the text was bizarre and made you uncomfortable? New Phone, Who Dis? is a judge-based game that plays on that scenario of texting and makes it fun to receive those kinds of messages.
Summon your best text game to come up with the perfect answer to the inbox card.
Similar to Cards Against Humanity, every player gets seven cards (In this game, these will be your “reply” cards) and is tasked with answering a text message, which is “Inbox” cards. The judge draws the inbox card and reads it out loud. Everyone else looks at their cards and gives the judge what they think will be the best response. The judge then reads the reply cards out loud and picks the winner.
Like most judge-based games, this one is simple and easy, but always so much fun to play with your friends. And much like Cards Against Humanity, the responses may be shocking to some players, but hilarity is bound to ensue.
Buy this game if:
- You want a game that is a cross between Cards Against Humanity and texting.
- You just want a game to make you laugh throughout.
2. Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?!
Learn to play Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?!
Relative Insanity: See What I Mean?!, brought to you by Jeff Foxworthy (he’s the guy that jokes about rednecks), plays very similarly to What Do You Meme except that it has one other key factor: you play with a six-sided die, which has three special symbols on it.
Everyone gets seven cards that have three phrases on them. Each phrase has a certain symbol next to it that can be found on the die. During each round, a player flips a picture card up and is the judge for that turn. The die is then rolled to reveal a symbol. The phrase that is on your seven cards that are next to that symbol will be the response that you can play. Every player then gives their card of choice to the judge who will read them out loud and determine the best one.
Family Get-Togethers have never been more fun!
What stands this game out from What Do You Meme is the point system that includes a prize for the second best answer and worst one. The best answer gets a miniature trophy doodad (that’s what it’s called in the game), which is worth two points. 2nd place gets a coin/one point, and the worst answer gets a black sheep figurine, which is zero points. The player with the most points after everyone has a turn as the judge wins.
This is a perfect game to play for families that have older children (as some of the jokes or pictures in the game may go over the heads of younger audiences) and is guaranteed to give your group a few good laughs along the way.
Buy this game if:
- You love gameplay similar to What Do You Meme but need something with a twist.
- You want a game that you can play for family reunions or get-together parties.
1. What’s Yours Like?
How to play What's Yours Like?
What’s Yours Like? is a unique and simple game where one person has to guess a secret word. Players pass around a small envelope with the secret word and memorize it. The only one that doesn’t know the word is the one in the hot seat, and the only way to figure out the word is when everyone else describes what the word is to them specifically. If you cannot guess the word right away, you are free to ask for more clues from each player
For example, if you received the following clues: “Mine leaves me very fast,” “I have to work for mine,” or “Mine is non-existent,” what would you guess? A Car? A relationship?? Money? Ding Ding Ding! If you guess correctly in only one try then you earn more points.
Can you come up with clever ways to describe what yours is like? Or are you smart enough to guess the clues?
This is a simple game with simple rules and it's fun for older kids to adults. If you don’t want to play anything competitively, then this party game is the right one for you.
Buy this game if:
- You want a game that can be played by both kids and adults.
