Playing gambling board games is a favourite pass-time activity worldwide. Regardless if you’re playing with your family or friends, the best casino board games bring people closer and guarantee hours of fun. Playing casino board games increases brain function, improve strategy skills, reduce stress and teaches you how to set goals and follow them.
Tips & Tricks for Gambling Board Games
Board games are a combination of luck, strategy, and skill – just like any other type of game. Therefore, there are some universal tips and tricks that could help you win. For starters, listen to the rules and learn how to use them to your advantage. You could also go briefly through the rules one more time before the game starts.
Once the game has started, try to figure out what you will do before your turn; this way, things move faster. Another great in-play advice is to use everything possible as a resource, not just the clearly allocated ones. Be creative! But most important of all – make sure to have fun! After all, that is what board games are for.
While there are plenty of similarities between board games and casino table games, there are a few differences. As you well know, players must wager real money when playing any of the best gambling games at a casino. But this is not the case when it comes to casino board games UK. However, those may require skills often linked with gambling, like betting, bluffing, and calculating odds.
Top 10 Best Casino Board Games UK for 2021
Casino the Board Game – Rating: 8.2/10
We begin our top 10 board games casino list with an all-time classic – Casino the Board Game. In a nutshell, this is Monopoly with a gambling twist. Here, you travel around the board and play different table games to win the most prizes. In all fairness, this sounds much more fun than buying real estate and bankrupting friendships.
📛 Name: | The Casino Board Game |
🎲 Theme: | Casino |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 8 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 90 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | N/A |
📚 Publisher: | John N. Hansen Co., Inc. |
The Casino Board Game has 40 spaces on the board where players can land. At the beginning of your turn, you must roll the dice and move ahead, then test your luck and hopefully win prizes. The main goal of the game is for players to learn how to play quickly the most popular casino games. Those include blackjack, craps, roulette, Seven Stud, slots, baccarat, Hold’em, Omaha, video poker, Pai Gow Poker, Red Dog, and, of course, Cash Wheel.
Lords of Vegas – Rating: 7.6/10
Next in our board games casino ranking is Lords of Vegas. As the name suggests, the action occurs in Sin City, right on The Strip. Players start at the bottom and hope to rule the infamous gambling destination by combining strategy and a hint of luck. This game was nominated for Best Board Game at the Origins Awards and Game of the Year at Tico in 2011.
📛 Name: | Lords of Vegas |
🎲 Theme: | Las Vegas |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 4 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 60 – 90 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 12+ |
📚 Publisher: | Mayfair Games, Z-Man Games, Inc., Zvezda |
There are eight different areas, each with several empty lots on the Lords of Vegas board. You must turn over a new card representing a new lot that you can get by paying and placing a die with the matching value during your turn. In the beginning, all you have is a few parking lots and a dream. Throughout the game, you can earn points by investing in profitable development and putting the right people in charge.
Vegas Showdown – Rating: 7.4/10
Here, we have yet another Sin City-themed title. Vegas Showdown’s primary purpose is to build the best casino on The Strip by bidding for better amenities against the other players. This board game won Game of the Year at the 2007 Games Magazine awards. Before that, it was nominated for Best Family Board Game at the 2006 Golden Geek awards.
📛 Name: | Vegas Showdown |
🎲 Theme: | Las Vegas |
👪 Number of Players: | 3 – 5 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 75 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 12+ |
📚 Publisher: | Avalon Hill Games, Inc., Wizards of the Coast |
Throughout the game, tiles will appear on the board, each representing different amenities such as slot machines, lounges, and restaurants, to name a few. Players can buy those at the auctions. It is important to keep up with the competition to win the game in the end. Update your hotel regularly to increase your income, population, and fame.
Skull – Rating: 7.2/10
The next game in our best gambling board games ranking has nothing to do with traditional casino games. Skull is a brilliant bluffing game with gorgeous illustrations and South American elements. Released in 2011, it was nominated for multiple board games awards, namely the 2012 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game, the 2011 Spiel des Jahres, the 2011 Japan Boardgame Prize Voters’ Selection, the 2011 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game. In 2011, Skull won As d’Or’s Game of the Year.
📛 Name: | Skull |
🎲 Theme: | South America |
👪 Number of Players: | 3 – 6 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 15 – 45 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 10+ |
📚 Publisher: | Lui-même, Asmodee, Asmodee Italia, DiceTree Games, Galápagos Jogos, Gém Klub Kft., Granna |
At the beginning of each turn, all players place a face-down card until someone is brave enough to test their luck. Then, the person must say how many cards he can turn without hitting a skull. Opponents can also outbid him or fold if unsure. Next, the highest bidder must turn in the number of cards. If there are no skulls, the player wins, but if there is one, he loses. The first one to win two challenges wins the game.
Las Vegas – Rating: 7.1/10
Halfway through our top 10 casino board games UK list, we have Las Vegas by developer Stefan Brück. Here, players throw dice with the hope of winning cash, just like at any gambling den on the Strip. This multi-award winning game is also known as Vegas and Vegas Dice Game.
📛 Name: | Las Vegas |
🎲 Theme: | Las Vegas |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 5 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 30 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 8+ |
📚 Publisher: | Alea, Ravensburger, Broadway Toys LTD, Oya, VAKKO |
There are six cardboard casino mats, one for each side of a standard die. At the beginning of each turn, a min of $50K is allocated to each of the six casinos. However, sometimes the amount may be much more, making the casino more appealing. Then, players roll dice and place them on the corresponding mats. The player with the most dice on a mat wins the highest amount. At the end of the fourth turn, the player with the most cash wins the game.
Camel Up – Rating: 7/10
With this next game, we transport to the desert to bet in a camel race. Camel Up made our casino board games list because it is exciting, simple, and fun. This game received 12 nominations at international award shows. Also, Camel Up was the winner at the 2014 Spiel des Jahres and the 2014 Jocul Anului în România.
📛 Name: | Camel Up |
🎲 Theme: | Camel Racing |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 8 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 20 – 30 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 8+ |
📚 Publisher: | Eggertspiele, 999 Games, Albi, Fantasmagoria, Filosofia Éditions, Hobby Japan, Hobby World, and many more |
The game’s main premise is to bet on a winning camel. In the beginning, there are five racing camels on the board. In Camel Up, the spitting mammals can land on top of another and get carried to the finish line. Also, there is an element of chance; the dice are placed in the pyramid shaker, which releases one die at a time, indicating which camel will move on the board. Maybe racing with camels does not look as fun as horse racing, but trust us, it’s quite amusing.
Burgle Bros: The Casino Capers – Rating: 6.9/10
Burgle Bros: The Casino Capers is the second board game of the series, but this time around, the team will try to pull casino heists. Even though it hit the market in 2021, the theme is 1950s Las Vegas Casino which is evident from the box and all game pieces. Given its predecessor’s success, we expect that Burgle Bros: The Casino Capers will receive multiple award nominations in the near future.
📛 Name: | Burgle Bros: The Casino Capers |
🎲 Theme: | Casino Heist |
👪 Number of Players: | 1 – 4 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 45 – 70 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 10+ |
📚 Publisher: | Fowers Games, 2Tomatoes Games |
Dressed as staff, the team wants to take a string of casinos in broad daylight. The Burgle Bros: The Casino Capers is not a gambling board game per se, but we thought that the theme fits perfectly. Plus, players move around by throwing dice, which makes it a game of chance. On top of that, there are many casino-themed elements included, like the new rooms, which trigger thrilling effects.
The Red Dragon Inn – Rating: 6.6/10
At lucky number seven of our top 10 gambling board games, we have placed The Red Dragon Inn. This is not your typical gambling game with casino games references. Instead, we enter the world of magic and dragons, where a party of brave warriors celebrate their victory at the local tavern by playing a game of chance.
📛 Name: | The Red Dragon Inn |
🎲 Theme: | Fantasy |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 4 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 45 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 13+ |
📚 Publisher: | SlugFest Games, Arclight, Buró, Hobby World, Pegasus Spiele, Redbox Editora (Redbox) |
The main goal of the game is to stay sober enough to keep your Gold Coins wins. But you will shortly discover that this is easier said than done. We nearly forgot to mention; The Red Dragon Inn was nominated in two separate categories during the 2008 Golden Geek Awards, as Best Party Board Game and as Best Card Game.
Pandánte – Rating: 6.2/10
With this next game, we travel to the Pandalands, in the Fantasy Strike universe, where all players are Pandas. Pandánte is a gambling game and as such bluffing and even straight-out lying is okay. As a matter of fact, it is actually necessary if you want to win a favour of the Panda Lord. The tricky part is that other players can call you out on your lies and profit from them.
📛 Name: | Pandánte |
🎲 Theme: | Pandas |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 6 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 30 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 13+ |
📚 Publisher: | Sirlin Games |
Pandánte consists of multiple turns called gambit, where players try to build the best hand possible by combining two private cards and five community cards. The concept is very similar to Texas Hold’em Poker, but definitely cuter. What is more, you can play the game with no player elimination, or you can kick opponents out once they are out of money.
Captain’s Wager – Rating: 5.6/10
Last in our best gambling board games ranking is Captain’s Wager. Here, all players act as airship captains looking for a new voyage to bring them treasures. However, often multiple captains show up for the same adventure, making it impossible to split the loot. So, the captains gamble to see who gets what.
📛 Name: | Captain’s Wager |
🎲 Theme: | Pirates |
👪 Number of Players: | 2 – 5 Players |
⌚ Playing Time: | 30 Minutes |
🔞 Age: | 12+ |
📚 Publisher: | Grey Fox Games |
In a nutshell, this is a betting and hand management game with poker elements. In every round, players are dealt four crew cards that must be played to win the encounter. The person with the highest valued card wins. Those who win encounters could take treasures and loot items that give gold and special abilities. At the end of Captain’s Wager, the person with the most gold is named Pirate Admiral and wins the game.
Honourable Mention – Monopoly
We simply could not have a casino board game guide without mentioning one of the most popular board games of all time – Monopoly. Here, we have multiple players racing on a board with multiple development sites and enterprises. The winner is the person who stays in business last. The official goal of the game is to buy the most real estate and turn it into profitable hotels, but we secretly think that it may be to ruin all your friendships.
Nowadays, you can find many variations of this board game, thanks to its huge popularity across the globe. On top of that, even online casinos have found ways to offer players Monopoly-themed games. For example, you can now play Monopoly for real money at many top-rated UK casino sites. Also, there is a wide range of Monopoly slots online that players can choose from at most of the top casino sites.
Popular Questions
We hope that you have enjoyed our top 10 casino board games guide and that you have found the perfect one for you. However, we know that some of you may have additional queries on the matter. That is why we have answered the most popular questions on the topic down below, so check them out.