Games similar to board games or based on a tabletop game sorted by release date
Classic board games like Backgammon, Othello, Checkers were an inspiration to the first wave of developers for their simplicity and appeal. In time, modern board games like Diplomacy, Risk, Monopoly or Scrabble were also adapted in a number of games. And let's not forget the strategy games NOT based on actual tabletop games which gameplay is clearly inspired by board games (like the excellent Archon).
Sort by:
Galaxy
DOS1981 Microcomputer Games Inc.
Battleship
DOS1983 Mirror Images Software
Released in 1983, this is your grandpa’s Battleship—minus the plastic pegs, but with all the tension of blind naval warfare. There are no fancy graphics, no Hollywood explosions, just good old-fashioned "Is it a hit?" ...
Epidemic!
DOS1983protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Archon: the Light and the Dark
DOS1984 Free Fall Associates
Before Battle Chess, there was Archon. Imagine a board game where pawns and knights settle disputes not with rules, but with full-on gladiatorial combat. Archon gives you light versus dark, spellcasters versus golems, and battles ...
Backgammon
DOS1984 IBM
Computer Diplomacy
DOS1984 Avalon Hill
Felony!
DOS1984 BrainBank
8088 Othello
DOS1985
There’s something oddly poetic about 8088 Othello, a 1985 take on the classic board game that feels like it was programmed by someone who had a personal vendetta against flashy graphics. The visuals are almost nonexistent, t...
Autoduel
DOS1985 Origin Systems
What do you get when you mix Mad Max, Car Wars, and a fondness for vehicular homicide? You get Autoduel (1985, DOS), a top-down driving RPG where your car is your castle and your guns are your diplomatic policy. Part racing game, ...
Global Thermo War
DOS1985
Monopoly
DOS1985
Monopoly
DOS1985
Turbo Gomoku
DOS1985
221B Baker Street
DOS1986 Datasoft
You are Sherlock Holmes, and someone has committed a crime, possibly because they couldn’t handle the game’s UI. 221B Baker Street is a detective board game where your mind is your only weapon. And also a notepad, beca...
Backgammon
DOS1986
Fooblitzsky
DOS1986 Infocom
Gulf Strike
DOS1986 Microcomputer Games Inc.
Ogre
DOS1986 Origin Systems
Othello
DOS1986
Dragonriders of Pern
DOS1987 Everlasting
Lords of Conquest
DOS1987 Eon Software
Mah Jongg Solitaire
DOS1987 Arcanum Computing
Mission: Mainframe
DOS1987
Oligopoly
DOS1987 Pc design associates
Oligopoly is an abandoned turn-based strategy game designed by James Kerwin, developed by PC Design Associates and released by XOR Corporation in 1987 for DOS.
Robot Rascals
DOS1987 Ozark Softscape
Star Saga: One - Beyond the Boundary
DOS1987 Masterplay Publishing Corporation
Battle Chess
DOS1988protected Interplay Productions
You’ve never really lived until you’ve watched a rook pick up a pawn and slam dunk it into the floor. Battle Chess (1988) turns the world’s most intellectual board game into a medieval cage match. The pieces don&...
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
DOS1988 Westwood Studios
Released in 1988, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception is part RPG, part strategy, part “did I just die in the tutorial again?” You’re a young MechWarrior on the run, assembling allies and blowing stuff up w...
Classic Concentration
DOS1988 Softie
Dracula in London
DOS1988 SDJ Enterprises