So, I recently played Castles of Burgundy for the first time. I knew I likely had missed a rule or two because I was rushing to learn it. I thought it would be nice to have a spot to play it again and have somewhere take care of the rules so I could see what I missed. Board Game Arena is the spot that everyone mentioned. It’s an online system, that you can subscribe to, to play board games and one of them is Castles of Burgundy. So I signed up to see if it would be worth it for me.

Board Game Arena Initial Impressions

It is easy to sign up for and to get into a game. Now depending on how you want to play, your experience might be different. Right now I am in five games, probably the max that I’d do at one time, two of Castles of Burgundy, one of Lost Ruins of Arnak, one of Mind Up, and one of Slide.

So, like I said, getting in a game is easy. Sometimes it takes a little bit, lesser played games take longer to get more people to join. Mind Up! games tend, even with slightly fewer people to join them, to take a little while to find players. Castles of Burgundy, because it’s a bigger game, I think it takes less time.

I also play async (asynchronously) in my games. You play either async or real time. The issue that I foresee for myself is that I’ll only ever play async which not all games are as good at. I think I’ll only play async. There is a chance that through some discord groups I’ll play in real time. But because right now i just play async I only play some games.

Ease of Play

This is where it gets a bit tricky to talk about, because I think some some of them are easier to play than others. And I think that some of them play better with tutorials than others. A number have fan made tutorials or tutorials made for them, but they are not the easiest to use. I did the one for Castles of Burgundy, and it taught me a little bit, but it was from having read the rules and play before that I knew how to play.

Others there is no tutorial or I know the game well. For example, Lost Ruins of Arnak, I know the game well so I jumped in. I think there is a minor issue with that one, mainly, how do you do some of the actions. There is a certain aesthetic to games on Board Game Arena that you need to understand to play the game. A lot of them it is obvious, click on a die and you know what to do or a card. But Arnak with it’s more options is less clear on that. So it is a mixed bag.

Playing in Person or on Board Game Arena

Playing on Board Game Arena for me is nothing more than a nice way to pass some time. It is an extra way to be able to play a game, but it certainly doesn’t replace playing a game in person. I think some of the games work better than others because they are more multiplayer solitaire. Other games benefit greatly from a table where you can hangout and talk with others. And I think that I’ll always want to play in person with people.

Final Thoughts

I like that I have access and an account on Board Game Arena. The biggest benefit for me is that it let me learn Castles of Burgundy better. I already know I want to spend that time and do the same with Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova. I own those two games but they have big rule books and are not the type of big rule book that I learn that often, aka, they aren’t dungeon crawler or campaign games.

So Board Game Arena is going to be good for that. Where I won’t be using it is to take place of playing those games in person, still. I want to play Castles of Burgundy is person because I think there are interesting elements to race for with that and there are things that will work better in person. Plus, what I love about board games is the interaction. So even playing async with others, I wish I was just playing a bot so I could knock out a game in solo fashion. But it is fun to get a distraction every once and a while on a game.

Do you play on Board Game Arena?

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here