I’m a Board Game Geek, and This Is What I’d Buy During Prime Day

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Prime Day 2025 is here from Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools. 

• Follow our live blog to stay up to date on the best sales we find.

• Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. 

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.

My wife and I share a collection of over 30 board games, but we end up playing a handful of them over and over again—and many of them are on sale right now for Prime Day. If you’re new to board games and want to start a collection that will entertain your friends and family for years to come, there is no better time to buy than right now, as many are 50% off.

The best board games for friends and family

• Splendor ($19.99, 50% off): I think Splendor is the best gateway board game, it’s how I got into the hobby. It’s a really simple, yet highly addicting game, with quite a lot of strategic depth. You are merchant in the Renaissance, trying to buy gem mines, transport, and shops to get the most prestige points. You can even get a noble to visit you for extra points. The player with the most prestige points at the end wins. This is a quick card-collecting and card-developing game. The gem cards you buy can be used to buy more gems in the future, making the deck-building an important part of the gameplay.

• Ticket to Ride ($24.99, 50% off): I haven’t come across a person who doesn’t like Ticket to Ride. You’re met with a map of old-timey Europe or the U.S. You pick a card randomly, and are tasked to build railway from point A to B, without others knowing about it. The player with the highest points at the end wins.

• Azul ($20.99, 34% off): Azul is the prettiest and most interesting game in my collection. And at $20, it’s a no brainer. You are tasked to create the most beautiful mosaic tile design, inspired traditional Portuguese azulejos. There are elements of drawing the tiles from a pool, minus points when patterns don’t work out, and overall, it’s a relaxing and beautiful game.

• Pandemic ($31.49, 30% off): Pandemic is hands down the most fun I’ve had playing a co-op game. You and your friends are playing against a virus that wants to take over the world, and you have to work together to stop it. It is much more interesting that it sounds, trust me. You’ll think you’ve outsmarted the game (as I often have), only to be knocked back down three steps by the stellar game mechanic.

• Codenames ($14.99, 40% off): Codenames is the kind of small game that you should always have around at parties. It’s a brilliant word-association party game, where two teams compete to be the first to identify all their secret agents. Each team chooses a spy master who sits on one side of the table, and has a grid of words, or codenames. The spymaster gives clues to the rest of the team, and the team has to then guess the most correct words possible. The larger the group, the more fun Codenames is.

Pandemic

$31.49

$44.99
Save $13.50

Get Deal

Get Deal

$31.49

$44.99
Save $13.50

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Home Depot have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale begins at midnight on July 8 and will include deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+. 

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale, “Black Friday in July,” runs through Sunday, July 13 and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Home Depot extended its 4th of July sale through at least July 9, competing with some amazing deals of its own. It’s an especially good option if you’re looking for power tools, appliances, or outdoor equipment.