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Looking for the best 3-player board games that won’t have anyone feeling like a third wheel?
Then look no further, in this article I have put together what I believe are the top 3-player board games.
Theses are games that hit the sweet spot of three player gaming – meaning they are best played with just 3 players.
I have tried to pick games that will appeal to all types of gamers, from the newbie to the hobbyist as well as game themes, types and mechanics.
I am sure there will be a game in the list that will appeal to you! So, let’s get stuck in.
Top 10 Best 3-Player Board Games
1. Clank!
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 30mins – 60mins
In Clank! Players take on the role of adventurers that delve into a dungeon to try and steal as much loot as possible from a dragon and get out in time before it kills you. It has a great theme, and uses a push your luck mechanic that will you on the edge of your seat the whole game.
Clank! is a deck building game which is a type of game where you have a deck of cards and each turn, you use those cards to buy more cards to go into your deck to make it better.
As the game goes on your deck gets stronger and stronger. While this is happening, players also use their cards to move through the dungeon and kill monsters.
Players need to be very careful when using cards and plan and strategize not only how to use them to get as far down into the dungeon as possible (where the best loot is), but also how to escape – What’s the point in collecting all the shiny loot just to die a fiery death!
Clank! has a fun layer of desperation I’ve not found with other deck building games and I love the feeling that it’s your own decisions coming back to haunt you if you find yourself stuck in the dungeon with no movement cards in your deck allowing you to escape.
Clank! is a game of risk-taking. You win by stealing the most loot which means you’ll be rewarded for staying in the dungeon as long as possible grabbing everything the other players have left behind, but the longer you stay in the more chance you’ll be attacked by the dragon.
Bottom Line
Clank! Is a brilliant competitive dungeon crawling deck building game that is perfect for 3-players.
The game incorporates a push your luck mechanic that means there is a sense of desperation during the whole game which makes for a lot of fun.
The game is casual and light hearted and there is a lot of player interaction – especially egging on the last person left in the dungeon!
Pros:
- Push your luck mechanic
- Light hearted and great theme
- Excellent artwork and components
- Great balance between strategy and luck
Cons:
- Can be very competitive
- Players are eliminated from the game
2. Dominion 2nd Edition
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 30mins
Dominion is the game that started the whole deck building genre of board games and when it first came out in 2008 it created quite the buzz.
Today, the game is still immensely popular and for good reason. It is a solid game with great mechanics and is super fun to play.
The idea behind the game is that each player takes on the role of a monarch who wants to grow their kingdom into the biggest and most wealthy in the land.
Players all start the game with the same 10 cards – they then use these cards to buy additional cards and build out their empire (hence deck building game).
As a player’s deck expands, so do the options available to them. It’s the decisions players make about which cards to purchase and how to use them that is the heart of Dominion.
The decision players need to make every single turn of what kind of card to buy is hard enough, but choosing between the cards in the kingdom pile can be agonizing.
Players have to think ahead and strategize as each time they run out of cards in their deck, they must shuffle the discard pile and restart the deck with whatever new cards they’ve bought.
Because of this, players need to be thinking ahead. What might not be good now may be the perfect card as the game progresses
Dominion is a game that is a ton of fun to play. The rules are incredibly simple and it is quick to play, but don’t let that fool you – the game is very deep.
There are also a whole bunch of expansions which add to the game – making Dominion a great game that has a ton of replay value.
Bottom Line
Dominion is one of the ‘great’ board games that any serious gamer should have in their collection.
It is an easy game to learn and is great for new board gamers, but has a depth to it with its strategic thinking and planning that will appeal to hobbyist gamers also.
There is a myriad of expansions available that expand the base game and players can tailor the game to the experience they are after.
Overall, Dominion truly is a masterpiece of a deck building game.
Pros:
- Easy to learn rules
- Lots of expansions
- Really deep game experience
- Quick to play and lots of fun
Cons:
- Theme is not that strong – more abstract than anything
3. Pandemic
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 45mins
Pandemic is a cooperative board game that has players take on the role of researchers who need to work together to combat disease outbreaks that have broken out all over the world and threaten humanities existence.
Players need to work together to travel the world, building research stations in different cities and choose which disease to fight, whether to cure the disease or try to eradicate it from the game entirely.
Every round there is a chance that an epidemic card will be drawn, intensifying and spreading the viruses further and making things a whole lot harder for your team.
The game has a variable difficulty setting so you can choose how hard the game plays based on everyone’s experience with the game – which is super important because Pandemic is not an easy game to win!
The key draw to pandemic is that it is a cooperative game. There is a TON of player interaction – which to me is the best part of playing board games.
Players each take on the role of a specialist operative each with a different special ability. The key to winning the game is to work together and utilize each team members strengths to eradicate the diseases and save humanity.
This also means every single player is important to the game. There is no player elimination or competitiveness – all players either win together or lose together.
The key draw that Pandemic has for me, and the reason it keeps showing up on my table during game nights, is the fact the game is a huge challenge. It’s a hard game to win (especially on the harder difficulty set ups).
It also involves a huge amount of player interaction – I love board games where players are constantly chatting and sharing ideas. To me this is what makes Pandemic such a great game.
Bottom Line
Pandemic is probably one of the most popular cooperative board games around – and for good reason.
It offers a real challenge to gamers and does a great job of creating cooperative play, with everyone playing an important role in the game.
Pandemic is easy to learn and can be played in 45mins. Meaning it is a great gateway game for newbie board gamers.
Pros:
- The first cooperative board game that put this genre on the map
- The game is super intense – suspense will keep every player on the edge of their seat
- Incredibly easy to learn – VERY hard to master
- Requires all players input to be successful
Cons:
- It’s hard to win – the difficulty of pandemic is very high.
- Generic cube pieces represent diseases in the game.
4. Catan
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 30mins
Settlers of Catan was released over 24 years ago and is still today one of the most popular and highest selling board games worldwide.
Catan is a gateway to modern style board games. It is easy to understand and play but offers a challenge in that it moves away from games that rely primarily on luck and instead requires strategy.
The game is incredibly interactive and is a game for everyone – from the casual gamer to the hardcore enthusiast.
The game is set on the island of Catan. Players each take on the role of a settler on this island and build settlements, cities and roads to connect them as they settle on the island.
The game board is made up of hexagonal tiles, which all contain different land type and terrain.
Catan is a game that, at its core, is about resource management and trade.
Each land type on the board produces a specific resource for the player that controls that region. Certain buildings on land areas increase this rate of production.
Players are able to trade resources in the game, which is a great mechanic as it means players are constantly interacting and negotiating during turns as every player will have different resources in abundance with others being scarce.
The goal of the game is to be the first player to reach 10 victory points. Players score points based on the amount of settlements (1 point) and cities (2 points) they have as well as a number of other various achievements in game (e.g. for having the longest road or the biggest army).
This means that there are a few different strategies players can take to achieve victory (there are over 143 ways to win a game of Catan).
Bottom Line
Catan is a game that is immensely popular among gamers due to its gateway appeal, accessibility and ingenious mechanics.
It is balanced and offers a ton of replay value (especially with the multiple expansions available to the base game).
Pros:
- Simple enough for anyone to learn, both children and adults.
- Many expansion sets help to increase the difficulty and keep the fresh.
- Great interaction among players with trade function.
Cons:
- Can only play with 3 – 4 players. Need an expansion set to increase player count.
5. Five Tribes
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 40mins – 80mins
Five Tribes is a beautiful strategy game released in 2014 by Days of Wonder. The game is incredibly easy to learn but hard to master.
The idea of the game is simple. Players need to strategically move meeples (representing the five tribes) and distribute them among the villages, market places, oases and sacred places that make up the land of Naqala. The player at the end of the game with the most influence and wealth will be the winner.
Unlike other ‘worker placement’ games however, the board is randomly generated from double sided tiles and all meeples start already in place on the board and are not placed there by players.
The Five Tribes in the game are:
- Elders (white);
- Assassins (red);
- Builders (blue);
- Merchants (green); and
- Viziers (yellow).
Each of these tribes are represented by different colored meeples and all offer unique special abilities:
- Elders can be used to collect victory points (in the form of gold coins) or used to buy Djinns that give players special abilities;
- Assassins can remove meeples from nearby tiles on the board or knock off some of the opponent’s viziers;
- Builders collect victory points based on the number of meeples collected and also the number of nearby blue tiles;
- Merchants allow players to collect resource cards;
- Viziers score victory points and provide a bonus if you have more than the other players.
In order to win the game, players need to collect the most victory points by the end of the game.
The game is very similar to the ancient game of Mancala and if you are familiar with how it is played, Five Tribes will be easy to pick up.
The rules of the game are really quite simple:
There is a ton of different strategies to do this and the auction mechanic at the start of a round where players are able to determine play order by bidding victory points adds a whole new layer of depth to the game.
Bottom Line
Five Tribes is a truly beautiful strategy game that is well designed and incredibly well balanced.
The game is very easy to learn but once you scratch the surface you will see that it is very deep and that there are hard but meaningful decisions to be made by players every turn, each of which will affect how the rest of the game plays.
Each play through of Five Tribes is unique, and that makes it a game that is great to play over and over again – with the ‘best strategy’ to play the game changing each play through.
Pros:
- Beautiful game with high quality wooden components.
- Easy to learn, hard to master.
- Plenty of different roads to victory.
- Modular board makes the board unique every play through.
Cons:
- Turns can sometimes drag if people get stuck overthinking.
- Theme is weak – just paint over top of a great abstract strategy board game.
6. Splendor
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 30mins
Splendor is a card drafting and set collection game that is set during the renaissance.
Players each take control of a merchant who is looking to earn glory and prestige during this abundant time by taking advantage of the nobles and their families by building an empire and selling their wares.
At its core, Splendor is an engine building game. The main focus is for players to use gems (currency) in order to purchase development cards (transportation, mines etc) that will make acquiring future cards easier and also provide means with which to earn prestige points and win the game.
Splendor is an incredibly easy game to both teach and learn – taking about 5mins to explain to someone who has never played it before.
One of the cool aspects of Splendor is there is a lot of open information on the table. Players are able to look around and see what chips their opponents are hoarding and make educated guesses as to what cards they are looking to buy.
This creates a strategic environment whereby if you are able to guess correctly, you can deny the opponent their card by reserving it and blocking their play – but you need to be careful as the other players can do the same to you.
An aspect of Splendor that really appeals to me, is that there is a low amount of luck involved. Each player has the exact same options each turn as the other players. The only time luck rears its head is when a player draws a card to replace a development card – if a player has been going heavy on a diamond mind, drawing a card that requires diamonds will put them ahead.
At the end of the day, Splendor is all about crafting your engine as efficiently and cheaply as possible. The mechanics of Splendor are rock solid, however, like Five Tribes – the theme of the game is weak and simply painted over an awesome strategy game.
Bottom Line
Splendor is a brilliant strategy game for 3 players. It’s easy to learn and the mechanics and balance of the game are rock solid.
The game is focused purely on strategy and out thinking your opponents to build the most efficient and cheapest engine.
The theme of the game lacks any depth and is simply window dressing to a solid game that is great to pull off the shelf for a few quick plays during a game night!
Pros:
- Very easy to learn.
- Quick play time.
- Great quality components.
Cons:
- Theme is just window dressing.
7. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
Players: 2 – 4
Duration: 120mins
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (‘Through the Ages’) is a civilization building game where players need to carefully manage resources like food, raw materials, science and military in an effort to become the dominant civilization in the world.
The game is played over 5 ages, during which players take turns drafting cards, creating workers, constructing buildings, declaring war and colonizing territories.
The goal of all the above are to earn culture points – the player with the most culture points at the end of the 5th age wins.
The game is played in a series of rounds, with each round having a number of phases. The game is quite in depth and would take a whole article in itself to explain how to play. If you are interested this video explains it quite well:
Through the Ages is one of the most detailed and though out civilization building games on the market.
There are many paths to victory in the game and each is as viable as the next. You can focus on military power and might, destroying other players and building up from their ruines. You can win through developments in art and religion or if you are more science minded you can use scientific discovery as a path to success.
None of these paths are mutually exclusive and it generally takes a mix of all three to emerge victoriously.
Bottom Line
Through the Ages is an incredibly deep and detailed civilization building game. It takes a while to learn the rules and how to play, but with the investment of time learning the game comes a TON of fun and customizability.
I LOVE this game. The only reason I don’t play it more is because of the time commitment it takes to finish a game.
Pros:
- Amazing theme, mechanics and balanced gameplay.
- Awesome sense of progression. Keeps the game super fun.
- Excellent quality components.
Cons:
- Very deep and involved game. Not for newbies.
- Gameplay is long!
8. Suburbia
Players: 1 – 4
Duration: 90mins
If you were a fan of Sim City growing up or just like the idea of developing and planning your own town. Then Suburbia is the game for you.
In Suburbia, each player is tasked with building a town from humble beginnings to sprawling cityscape as efficiently and quickly as possible.
Each turn players buy tiles from the real estate market and place them somewhere in their city. Which tiles you buy and how you place them matter, as a placed tile will affect other tiles on the board potentially creating powerful combos.
As players cities grow, they will gain both reputation and income that allows them to buy future tiles (and subsequently more people – which are the victory points in game).
Like Sim City though. The bigger your town gets, the more expensive it is to maintain. If you expand too quickly you may find yourself struggling to stay afloat.
Players continue to play the game until all building tiles in the third stack of building tiles are all used. At that stage all bonuses are collected and the player with the largest population wins.
Suburbia is a super fun game, and when I first got my hands on it, I could not get enough of it. The main draw to me is the comedic undertones of the game. Sometimes creating horrific combos like a cliff next to a school next to a slaughterhouse is the best option from a game play perspective but looking at it from a real-life perspective is hilarious (or horrifying)!
Bottom Line
Suburbia is a super fun urban planning engine building game. The game is super easy to pick up and is fast paced, meaning there is little to no downtime at the 3-player level.
The game has a great economic system that is balance and there is a ton of variability in the box which means every game will play out a little different, and there are many strategies and synergies between the tiles.
Overall, there’s just a lot to love about Suburbia. It’s a game that everyone should try!
Pros:
- Theme is awesome
- Easy to learn and teach
- Minimal downtime at 3-Player level
- Ton of replay value
Cons:
- Bit of bookkeeping to do
- Goals feel OP when achieved
9. Lords of Waterdeep
Players: 2 – 5
Duration: 60mins – 120mins
Lords of Waterdeep is a worker placement game developed by Wizards of the Coast (the current publishers of Dungeons and Dragons).
In the game, each player takes control of one of the powers vying for control of the forgotten realms town of Waterdeep.
In the game, players will send out agents (workers) to do their bidding. Agents are used to accomplish tasks such as constructing buildings, collecting quests, hiring adventurers etc.
The player who wins the game and ultimately takes control of Waterdeep, is the player with the most victory points at the end of the game.
In order to obtain victory points, players must use their agents to complete quests. Quests are scored by spending a number of adventurers (Rogues, Clerics, Wizards and Fighters) and gold.
At the end of the 8th round, each player flips over their secret lord card and earns bonus victory points based on how many specific quests they were able to complete depending on the lord they chose.
While a game made by the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons can be a bit intimidating don’t let that put you off. I really enjoy playing the Lords of Waterdeep and the theme is merely window dressing. The components are high quality, the game plays smoothly and is very accessible.
Bottom Line
Lords of Waterdeep is a great worker placement game that is super fun to play.
The game is newbie friendly and what I would consider a great worker placement gateway game.
Pros:
- Very approachable and perfect gateway game
- Play length is perfect
- Good variety and replay value
- Great artwork
Cons:
- Theme is just window dressing
- Lord cards could use a bit more variety
10. Roll for the Galaxy
Players: 2 – 5
Duration: 45mins
With 111 dice, you can expect a ton of dice rolling in Roll for the Galaxy. In the game, players use dice to build a space empire. The player who manages to create the largest and most prosperous empire wins!
The game is very abstract in nature, so in order to play it you need to really use your imagination. However, theme aside, there are strategic aspects to the game that will keep players constantly thinking and entertained.
In the game, the dice represent a group of inhabitants you control. Players can send them off to settle new worlds, ship goods and develop new technologies. The strategic choices of how you use the dice are important as to win, you need to advance your empire faster than the other players.
The game designers have done a great job of balancing the game between luck and strategy (which I know sounds weird for a game that comes with 111 dice).
The dice in the game are made up of different colors, whereby each color determines the group of actions that particular dice favors. For examples, the red (Military) dice predominantly contain Develop and Settle actions, and no Produce or Ship actions.
Each dice selected to be played each round has a potential for its actions to be triggered. Before the round begins, each player chooses one action they want to ensure gets executed this turn for them and secretly marks it. This provides some certainty to each round.
Once all players have selected their certain actions, the selections are revealed and actions are executed.
If you have actions selected that are triggered by other players, you also get to execute them. The idea is to try and guess what actions other players have chosen as preferred. It allows you to trigger additional actions as long as you have placed a dice on them before.
This is a profoundly fresh take on how to use dice to provide players with choices rather than simply giving the choice of rolling again. Yet the game still retains the excitement of many more traditional dice games because it emphasizes uncertainty.
Much like its predecessor ‘Race For The Galaxy’, Roll for the Galaxy provides an incredibly fast and streamlined experience that packs a ton of decisions into a short time. The kicker is that it’s simply fun to play, a LOT of fun.
Bottom Line
Roll for the Galaxy is a great quickplay strategic dice game. The game is great to play multiple times or as a filler game on game nights.
If you play with the same people, you will notice an almost meta-game develop as all players try to outwit each other and think ahead about which starting tiles and actions they will play.
Pros:
- Great take on a dice game that keeps its excitement and addictive nature
- Simple rules and quick to play
- Choosing actions mitigates luck
- SO MANY DICE
Cons:
- It is a dice rolling game – which means some luck is involved
Final Thoughts
There you have it, a list of what I believe are the best 3 Player board games.
Having a player count of only 3 people is a great number to play many different board games. It allows fast paced action, multiple strategies and also is a lot easier to organize than a larger group.
However, many 3 player board games can turn into a third-wheel scenario where 2 players form a coalition against the third.
The games I have chosen in the list above try to mitigate this dynamic as much as possible and are the perfect games for a gaming trio.
I would love to hear your favorite 3 player board games. Let me know in the comments below!
