Tabletop 101
Online Board Games – Where and How?

by Rossy, Quartermaster @ The Guild Hall
March 29 2020
1. Tabletopia
I found Tabletopia to be the closest experience to actually playing a real board game. The interface looks modern and very well made, both on the pages with the categories of games, a specific game’s page, or in the actual play area.
What I like a lot and what shows they put a lot of thought into the website, is the fact that on the page of each game they have a lot of useful information: relevant tags about the game, a short description, rulebooks in different languages, video reviews, how to play videos, screenshots from inside the game so you know what to expect, comments, links to the game on BoardGameGeek etc.



The games they offer range from classics to new releases, and they even have some Kickstarter exclusives there, which is great for testing out games before they are released. Most of the games are free to play, but some are only for premium users, or some player counts are only for premium users (for example you can play Scythe in 2 for free, but if you want to play it in 3, 4 or 5 you have to have a premium account)
- Modern looking interface
- Closest experience to playing real-life board games
- A lot of freedom in the actions you can do
- You can play with friends even if they don’t have an account – you just have to give them the link to the room
- You have to learn how to use the game and objects
- Easier to play with people you know then with people you don’t, especially if you don’t use the turn base mechanic
- It takes a bit of time to get comfortable with playing the game, especially for people who haven’t played board games before
- It takes a bit of time to get comfortable with playing the game, especially for people who haven’t played board games before
- It doesn’t have some of the most popular games that people know
- You have to know the rules or keep looking at them because the game lets you do anything, even if it’s wrong
- You have to keep count of who’s turn it is and the score
2. BoardgameArena
BoardgameArena’s interface is not quite as modern looking as Tabletopia, but it’s relatively easy to use most of the time.
On each game’s page, they also offer a couple of useful pieces of information, such as a pdf of the rules, a how to play video, an animation of the game being played (which lets you know what to expect when entering the game), a description of the game and a leaderboard of people that have played that game.


They offer a pretty wide variety of games, and most of them are the popular ones that most have heard of. They have classics, beginner, and advanced games, so you can definitely find something to play there.
- Great for beginners because the platform provides a lot of information during the game and it doesn’t let you break the rules by accident
- It keeps track of all the information you need like current score, different modifiers each player has, whose turn it is, how many rounds you have left etc.
- It has a lot of well-known games
- The platform is not as visually pleasing
- A lot of limitations when playing the game – resembles a video game
- If you want to play with friends, everyone must have an account and you have to be friends with them on the platform
Here is our Online Board Games Livestream if you want to see how these platforms are used (and how we played Tortuga 1667 and Saboteur).
And here are some opinions from the other Guild Hall Team members, about these 2 platforms:
“Tabletopia is a great way to connect with your friends and have fun playing board games. It could take you a couple of minutes to get your head around how it works, but once you figure it out it’s an awesome experience.” – Noemi
“Yesterday I had my first try at playing board games online. To me, there can only be one clear winner. With a clean, crisp, and 3D display, Tabletopia is an absolute joy to use. It feels just like playing in real life. BoardgameArena, which I also got to use, is slightly less impressive visually but works just as well. If I had to pick, I would use Tabletopia, but luckily both are free platforms for all your online board game needs!” – Serban
“Tabletopia is a visually pleasing platform, it’s easy to use and very good for party games, but I don’t recommend it to players that don’t know the rules of the game they want to play. BoardgameArena I recommend for people that want to get into board games and don’t know where to start. If you play games here, you don’t need to know the rules, since the platform doesn’t let you make mistakes, so you can only play the correct way.” – Vlad
Don’t forget that if you’re interested in playing some online board games these days, you can join our Discord server and just write a message on the #looking-for-group channel to find players, or join any of our online events. You can also talk to them on the voice chats for a better experience.