Something I didn’t expect to say as an adult is that sometimes, believe it or not, work can be fun and games. In worker placement tabletop games, they literally can be. In this form of gameplay, you take your team through different tasks of adventures as you build toward end goals. There are many different worlds you can choose to embark on, or themes to try, depending on the game you choose. This list has some of my latest favorites, including both newer and older worker placement games.
TLDR: The Best Board Worker Placement Games to Play Now
If you don’t need no stinkin’ blurbs, you can see all the games in this article in the handy side-scrolling catalog above. If you do want to read about the games, however, just keep on reading.
Viticulture
Viticulture, designed by Jamey Stegmaier of Scythe accolade, is a delightful trip to the region of Tuscany, where families of players take their mama’s and papa’s inheritance to help them create successful wineries. The game is about building a vineyard, harvesting grapes, bottling nectar, and selling vino. To do so you’ll have to use your workers wisely during the available time in the season. Players play across multiple years, building their wineries and ageing wine to fulfil orders. Gather your friends and raise a glass to Viticulture, which is playable competitively in its original iteration or as a cooperative board game in the Viticulture World edition (see at Amazon).
Yokohama
Yokohama is a board game about doing business in the titular real-life port city near Tokoyo in Japan. In it, players have a team of workers to help them build their business. Enlist a staff to help you strategically gain resources, build technologies, and complete orders to build your trading empire toward optimal success. The game is moderately complicated, but turns go by rather smoothly once you get the hang of it. It can be played with two to four players but Board Game Geek says it’s best with three.
Unconscious Mind
Unconscious Mind is a heavy Euro game about psychology and grief. It is also hands down one of the most gorgeous games I own. Gameplay is complex, providing options for layered strategies in movement and timing to best execute moves. The Nightmares expansion also further adds potential complexities to help make the game more challenging or, with some pieces like the fireworks and the gramophone lighter for folks who may want a softer experience. A heads up, however: this game takes a while to get going. You’ll need time for setup, time to teach it to your fellow player, and time for the gameplay itself. It’s far more time than the box says, so be prepared for a longer haul time of gaming when you sit down with this.
Wayfarers of The South Tigris
Wayfarers is a complex but satisfying combination of dice and worker placement game that surprised me with how fun it was it was. The worker placement is connected to dice rolls, giving a bit of a chance to combine actions with workers and decisions, which, when they click, can be rewarding. The game has a lot of decision space to determine your moves. It can seem intimidating at first glance, especially if you’re not versed in heavier Euro games. I was first intimidated by this game, and then pleasantly surprised when I finally sat down to play a three-player game of it. While resources are tight, with multiple decisions being key, it provides a lot of replayability. Don’t pass on this game – you’ll miss out on a lot of fun if you do.
Darwin’s Journey
If you’ve always wanted to be a scientific explorer like Darwin, you’ll enjoy playing Darwin’s Journey. In it, you race fellow explorers and the legendary Darwin himself across three islands by boat and by land to discover nature and science to put in a museum. This game is easy to navigate and highly repeatable. It’s lovely on the table but also accessible online. It’s worth getting a physical copy of it, though, as it seems to be a big hit with a variety of both seasoned and more casual players.
Fromage
If you’re hungry for a new game that’s perfect to share with friends or dates (including solo ones), this is a good one, as it literally has food in the title. Fromage is a relaxed simultaneous board game about making and selling award-winning cheeses across France. You build structures, tend to livestock, and fill orders in this quick-to-play board game. Their Italian spin on the game Formaggio has my Italian taste buds craving Parmigiano even more, too.
The Gallerist
True to its title, The Gallerist is a board game about running an art gallery. In it, you discover artists, display their art, and work toward getting the right snobs – erm, artistic connoisseurs, with exquisite tastes – to be patrons in your gallery. A heads up before you grab a bottle of vino and your cheeseboard to open your shop: this is not a beginner-friendly board game. It’s one of the most challenging games on this list, ranking at a 4.24 out of 5 complexity on Board Game Geek, so consider yourself warned. I guess you could say that it’s a bit like reality in that the art world can be difficult to get into.
Septima
Some games have art that wows you. As a colorful goth, I found the art in this one extraordinary. Septima is an accessible and user-friendly game that’s focused on a theme I enjoy intensely: witches. The game works by building covens, collecting herbs, brewing potions, and, of course, surviving witch hunters and witch trials. I loved it despite the trials and pains of losing allied witches to an angry mob. I highly recommend finding your own coven and playing it yourself. You can also play this one solo if you’d like. Bonus round: there’s also an expansion that includes shapeshifting with animals, adding even more gorgeously designed artwork.
Rock Hard: 1977
Rock Hard 1977 is a worker placement game about unleashing your inner rockstar. The game, made by legendary Rock N Roll bassist Jackie Fox of The Runaways, features stunning components that let players rock their way to stardom. The player board is shaped like an amp, paired with your favorite head icon. It was one of Gen Con’s fan favorites. User warning, however: this game has several heavy themes and is not advisable for folks who are not prepared to encounter some very sad content that, while it does happen in the rock star life, is not always groovy to come across if you’re unprepared for it.
Age of Comics: The Golden Years
Chances are that if you are here on IGN, you are like me and love comics. Age of Comics: The Golden Years gives you a chance to build a catalogue of comics during the Golden Age. Hire artists, writers, and inkers to help design your book. Race other players on their own publishing journeys to create ideas and publish comics to sell and reach fandom. While the art is full of pulpy goodness, you don’t have to be a comic book fan to enjoy the game. Heck, you don’t even have to have your own original ideas to produce books in the game, either. They sometimes say that you have to fake it until you can make it. In Age of Comics, you can do both if you want to. This one is playable for up to four players but is best with three. Like Septima and some others on the list, you can play it solo if you desire to pull it off the shelf alone. It’s also one of the easiest games on this list to learn.
Jennifer Stavros is a contributing freelancer for IGN, covering everything from comics, games, technology, and nerd culture. She has over 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, including testing and writing for Wired, Inverse, and more. Follow her on Twitter or watch her on Twitch under the handle @scandalous.
