Your gaming group consists of four players and after the previous posts you want to know which are the best strategy board games for four players?
So I went through the top 50 strategy board games on boardgamegeek and made a list of the best games for four players. There are good news, the list of games that play best with four players is by far the longest, namely 24.
To game designers and publishers
Make games that play best with another player number than four and you might have good chances to stand out. There are very few strategy games among the top 50 strategy board games on boardgamegeek that play best with two, five and six players.
For this list I added the weight from boardgamegeek that indicates how complex a game is. The higher the value, the more complex the game. I also added a column for the ratio of weight*100 divided by the average playing time to show which games are fairly complex for their playing time. The heavier the game the more strategic it tends to be and often heavier game also offer more replayablity. However, there is good and bad complexity in game design. A game of chess can be played in minutes and can still be very deep. The reason is that the rules are very easy, it can be taught in three minutes. So I assume the higher the mentioned ratio the better because it is an indicator of “good” complexity, namely of games that pack a lot of deepness into a short playing time.
Best strategy board games for four players sorted by BGG rank
| Game | BGG Rank | Playing Time | Weight | Weight/Playing time | |
| 1 | Pandemic Legacy | 2 | 60 | 2,80 | 4,67 |
| 2 | Terra Mystica | 3 | 60-150 | 3,90 | 3,71 |
| 3 | Caverna: The Cave Farmers | 4 | 30-210 | 3,80 | 3,17 |
| 4 | Puerto Rico | 6 | 90-150 | 3,30 | 2,75 |
| 5 | Agricola | 7 | 30 − 150 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| 6 | Brass | 11 | 120 − 180 | 3,90 | 2,60 |
| 7 | Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar | 14 | 90 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| 8 | Keyflower | 15 | 90 − 120 | 3,30 | 3,14 |
| 9 | 7 Wonders | 17 | 30 | 2,30 | 7,67 |
| 10 | Dominant Species | 18 | 120 − 240 | 4,00 | 2,22 |
| 11 | Trajan | 24 | 90 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| 12 | Lords of Waterdeep | 25 | 60-120 | 2,50 | 2,78 |
| 13 | Russian Railroads | 26 | 90-120 | 3,40 | 3,24 |
| 14 | Tigris & Euphrates | 28 | 90 | 3,50 | 3,89 |
| 15 | Concordia | 29 | 100 | 3,20 | 3,20 |
| 16 | Castles of Mad King Ludwig | 33 | 90 | 2,70 | 3,00 |
| 17 | The Voyages of Marco Polo | 36 | 40-100 | 3,20 | 4,57 |
| 18 | Alchemists | 37 | 120 | 3,70 | 3,08 |
| 19 | Steam | 39 | 90 | 3,50 | 3,89 |
| 20 | Goa | 40 | 90 | 3,40 | 3,78 |
| 21 | Age of Steam | 43 | 120 | 3,90 | 3,25 |
| 22 | Stone Age | 44 | 60-90 | 2,50 | 3,33 |
| 23 | Chaos in the Old World | 48 | 60-120 | 3,10 | 3,44 |
| 24 | Pandemic | 49 | 45 | 2,40 | 5,33 |
It is amazing to see how fast Pandemic Legacy climbed the BGG ranking. It was released in 2015 and already tops this list!
The next list will be even more interesting.
Best strategy board games for four players sorted by weight
| Game | BGG Rank | Playing Time | Weight | Weight/Playing time |
| 7 Wonders | 17 | 30 | 2,30 | 7,67 |
| Pandemic | 49 | 45 | 2,40 | 5,33 |
| Lords of Waterdeep | 25 | 60-120 | 2,50 | 2,78 |
| Stone Age | 44 | 60-90 | 2,50 | 3,33 |
| Castles of Mad King Ludwig | 33 | 90 | 2,70 | 3,00 |
| Pandemic Legacy | 2 | 60 | 2,80 | 4,67 |
| Chaos in the Old World | 48 | 60-120 | 3,10 | 3,44 |
| Concordia | 29 | 100 | 3,20 | 3,20 |
| The Voyages of Marco Polo | 36 | 40-100 | 3,20 | 4,57 |
| Puerto Rico | 6 | 90-150 | 3,30 | 2,75 |
| Keyflower | 15 | 90 − 120 | 3,30 | 3,14 |
| Russian Railroads | 26 | 90-120 | 3,40 | 3,24 |
| Goa | 40 | 90 | 3,40 | 3,78 |
| Tigris & Euphrates | 28 | 90 | 3,50 | 3,89 |
| Steam | 39 | 90 | 3,50 | 3,89 |
| Agricola | 7 | 30 − 150 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar | 14 | 90 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| Trajan | 24 | 90 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| Alchemists | 37 | 120 | 3,70 | 3,08 |
| Caverna: The Cave Farmers | 4 | 30-210 | 3,80 | 3,17 |
| Terra Mystica | 3 | 60-150 | 3,90 | 3,71 |
| Brass | 11 | 120 − 180 | 3,90 | 2,60 |
| Age of Steam | 43 | 120 | 3,90 | 3,25 |
| Dominant Species | 18 | 120 − 240 | 4,00 | 2,22 |
If you have little time but still crave for burning some neurons , 7 Wonders is a very good choice. It is so fast because players select actions simultaneously. It even plays fast with seven players. The fact that you can play 7 Wonders so fast and with up to seven players offers very good value for the money because it probably will hit the table very often.
Among the long games by far the best by BGG rank are Terra Mystica and Caverna. Both are really good. I did reviews on both games, check out why I personally prefer Terra Mystica over Caverna: The Cave.
Best strategy board games for four players sorted by weight/playing time ratio
| Game | BGG Rank | Playing Time | Weight | Weight/Playing time |
| 7 Wonders | 17 | 30 | 2,30 | 7,67 |
| Pandemic | 49 | 45 | 2,40 | 5,33 |
| Pandemic Legacy | 2 | 60 | 2,80 | 4,67 |
| The Voyages of Marco Polo | 36 | 40-100 | 3,20 | 4,57 |
| Agricola | 7 | 30 − 150 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar | 14 | 90 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| Trajan | 24 | 90 | 3,60 | 4,00 |
| Tigris & Euphrates | 28 | 90 | 3,50 | 3,89 |
| Steam | 39 | 90 | 3,50 | 3,89 |
| Goa | 40 | 90 | 3,40 | 3,78 |
| Terra Mystica | 3 | 60-150 | 3,90 | 3,71 |
| Chaos in the Old World | 48 | 60-120 | 3,10 | 3,44 |
| Stone Age | 44 | 60-90 | 2,50 | 3,33 |
| Age of Steam | 43 | 120 | 3,90 | 3,25 |
| Russian Railroads | 26 | 90-120 | 3,40 | 3,24 |
| Concordia | 29 | 100 | 3,20 | 3,20 |
| Caverna: The Cave Farmers | 4 | 30-210 | 3,80 | 3,17 |
| Keyflower | 15 | 90 − 120 | 3,30 | 3,14 |
| Alchemists | 37 | 120 | 3,70 | 3,08 |
| Castles of Mad King Ludwig | 33 | 90 | 2,70 | 3,00 |
| Lords of Waterdeep | 25 | 60-120 | 2,50 | 2,78 |
| Puerto Rico | 6 | 90-150 | 3,30 | 2,75 |
| Brass | 11 | 120 − 180 | 3,90 | 2,60 |
| Dominant Species | 18 | 120 − 240 | 4,00 | 2,22 |
7 Wonders again tops the list, followed by Pandemic and Pandemic Legacy. 7 Wonders even tops the family game ranking on boardgamegeek, so it manages to appeal to strategy gamers and families alike! Pandemic Legacy is immensely popular and has a very good weight to playing time ratio. I already love Pandemic (check out my review if you understand German) but now I really crave to get Pandemic Legacy! It is so special because one plays several campaigns and the result of one campaign changes the next campaign and so on. There is so much more at stake than simply winning a campaign and one is very curious what will happen in the next campaign.
Among the games that are a bit heavier The Voyages of Marco Polo has the best weight/playing time ratio (review). It is followed by four games that are even heavier but have a reasonable playing time: Agricola , Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar and Trajan.
At the bottom of the list is Dominant Species. While it is just a tad more complex than Terra Mystica for instance the playing time is much longer.
I hope you find this post interesting and it helps you to decide which strategy board game to play/buy next. I really enjoyed writing this up because it shed light on some games that I am craving to try now!
What do you think why so many games play best with four players? Do you think most games are intentionally designed to be best with four players? Or do you think the cause is rather that most gamers prefer to play in groups of four and games that don’t play well with four players might have a lower chance of being popular in the first place?
In the next posts I will show which strategy games play best with five and six players.
