Stranger Thingsis highly interested in nerd culture, and tabletop gaming plays a major role in the show. Though the gaming in the actual show largely consists of tabletop RPGs, these 80s kids definitely seem like they’re the type of people who are going togrow up to play a lot of euro-style games. Stranger Things is a story about surviving supernatural mysteries, and there are a ton of games that revolve around the same kind of thing, or just tie into the paranormal vibe of the series really well.
We’re here today to look over some of the best board games for fans of the show. Some are tied into it. Others just match its vibe.
Stranger Things Upside Down
Official Stranger Things board game
This cooperative board game allows two to four players to reenact the wonderful adventures that make this show so special over the course of about an hour. It’s a very direct and successful adaptation.
This cooperative board game allows you to take control of a variety of Stranger Things characters and reenact the show’s adventures. It even goes so far as to have two sides, one for each season that had been released at the time. You play through these adventures using the various abilities of your character, working together to deal with the show’s paranormal threats.
It’s a largely faithful adaptation, and the few changes it makes are improvements. For instance, several minor characters, who never got into the thick of the action in the show, are available for play here, which will give your playthroughs extra variety and can lead to some interesting emergent narratives.
Uno Flip: Stranger Things
It’s an exciting time
Based on one of the more interesting and exciting iterations of Uno, this title takes that classic card game and adds the intrigue of the upside down.
Uno is a classic card game, andthere are numerous variations on it. One of the more interesting ones is Uno Flip, which uses double-sided cards to allow the game to, well, flip between a normal mode and a wilder, crueler flipped mode.
Those familiar with Stranger Things already know what the connection is. That harsher mode sure does sound a lot like the monster-infested parallel dimension of the Upside Down, and that’s precisely the analogy this game runs on, with its harsher mode drawn and colored to match that dreadful dimension. Once things get flipped around, the deck is suddenly filled with cards that make you draw five or skip multiple turns. Not quite as bad as being used as an egg sac by an eldritch monstrosity, but still pretty brutal.
Pop It! - Stranger Things Edition
Viscerally enjoyable
One of many variations on a great toy from Buffalo Games, this handheld device allows you to play a simple but surprisingly interesting strategy game while you pop its rubbery bubbles.
Popping bubble wrap is one of the most satisfying things in the world. There’s just something so tactile and satisfying about popping those little plastic bubbles. The original Pop It was a toy designed to capitalize on this feeling, and it’s been gamified in numerous ways. In fact,this isn’t even the only Stranger Things version.
However, where the other one is kind of just a grid, this one uses the Demogorgon’s iconic flower head to create a unique game board. The game here is legitimately strategic, too. It’s simple, but you really have to think ahead in this game if you want to come out on top.
Paranormal Detectives
Receive spooky messages from a spooky ghost
This intriguing supernatural mystery game charges players with finding the truth behind the death of a ghost using a variety of fun limited communication mechanics. It’s a really cool experience.
Stranger Things is all about mystery, and if you’re looking fora game that will have you solving a mystery, look no further than Paranormal Detectives. This complex limited communication game has each non-ghost player draw a handful of cards, each of which allows the ghost to answer one of their questions via a different limited communication mechanic. The detectives use these cards as they compete to solve the mystery.
Meanwhile, the ghost is operating on their own win condition, trying to make suresomeonesolves the mystery before time runs out. This separate win condition incentivizes the ghost to try to give helpful answers to everyone, because it doesn’t matter to them which detective figures the mystery out.
Betrayal At House On The Hill: 3rd Edition
Almost totally different every time you play
Experienced gamers are likely familiar with this interesting gothic horror game which tasks players with exploring a spooky mansion and dealing with one of dozens of interesting paranormal scenarios that can happen in it.
One of the best Tabletop games in the modern era,Betrayal at House on the Hillis a gothic horror game with impossible versatility. Every single playthrough of this game is different. This game casts players as hapless fools, not unlike the stars of Stranger Things. This group of people has agreed to explore a spooky mansion.
It begins as a purely cooperative game. However, about halfway through the game, one of the players will turn traitor, sort of like Will in the show, and that’s actually the best thing about this game. There’s a lot they can do. What kind of monstrous scenario the traitor puts the others through is a surprise every time. These scenarios are so fleshed-out they could each be their own game, and there are dozens of them here, so you almost always get one you’ve never seen before.
Arkham Horror Third Edition
Your own Lovecraftian adventure
This challenging but rewarding game squishes almost everything that’s neat and rewarding about a TTRPG into a single-session (in theory) cooperative experience where a variety of characters work together to defeat an eldritch threat.
Stranger Things has approximately three major sources of inspiration. The first is 1980s Hollywood. The second is the works of Stephen King. The third, which is not fully separable from the second, is the works of H.P. Lovecraft. In an era of gothic melodrama, he crafted stories of the alien and existentially upsetting, which had a major impact on D&D as well.
This game puts you right in the middle of one of those stories, casting you as an investigator working to understand and subdue, as much as such things can be subdued, a threat to the world.
Elder Sign
Work together to stop an Eldrich threat
Another game about playing as a premade character working to solve an eldritch problem, this cooperative game is simpler and uses more dice, but still give you the same paranormal investigative experience.
There aretoo many good Lovecraftian gamesfor us to include just one. Indeed, narrowing it down to two was painful enough. This game is similar to Arkham Horror in its basic premise. Each player takes the role of a different character, and the lot of you work together to solve an eldritch mystery and stop a Cthulhu level threat.
However, this game’s mechanics are pretty different. It has fewer cards and more dice, and it’s a bit shorter and simpler. If you’re intimidated by Arkham Horror, this is a slightly tamer, but still not tame, alternative.
FAQ
What board game do they play in Stranger Things?
The show contains several scenes of the main four children, and, later on, other characters, playing Dungeons and Dragons, the most popular Tabletop RPG on earth both then and now, and one of only a few that even existed at that point. Given the period alone, it’d be safe to assume they’re playing the first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, and, indeed, we get shots of some of the rulebooks they use that correspond with this.
