What are the best Disney board games? Disney dominates the media world, so there’s naturally a wide range to choose from. Whoever your favourite characters are from the House of Mouse, they’ve probably turned up on a tabletop somewhere. For this guide, we’ve rounded up the top choices, including both custom Disney tabletop games and re-skins of well known classics.
You may be wary of big-brand tie-in games, and you’re right to be – but some of these Disney creations are genuinely fantastic; one or two have even been contenders for our coveted list of the top 15 best board games on the market. For true magical kingdom mega-fans, we think Disney Villainous might be one of the most perfect board games for couples ever made.
The best Disney board games are:
- Disney Monopoly
- Disney Villainous board game
- Disney Codenames
- Disney The Haunted Mansion board game
- Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game
- Disney Lorcana
1. Disney Monopoly
Love it or hate it, Monopoly is one of the most widely played board games on the planet. It’s been re-themed to appeal to all sorts of fanbases, so it’s no surprise you can buy a Disney Monopoly edition. In fact, there are a huge number of Disney Monopoly games on the market.
Disney fans who like it darker can pick up the Disney Villains Monopoly. Specific films like The Little Mermaid, and Toy Story all have their own editions, and collectors should keep an eye out for a second-hand copy of the slightly pricier 2001 Disney Monopoly.
One of our favourites is the Disney Parks: Theme Park Edition of Monopoly. The board is designed to look like the real-world Disneyland, and there’s even a pop-up version of Cinderella’s castle in the middle. Pretty much every version of Monopoly plays the same, but this one has the design flare to make it feel more special.
2. Disney Villainous board game
We hope you love animated baddies because Disney Villainous puts you in control of six different Disney villains. Moving them around the board and playing cards from your hand, you’ll be racing to complete a unique objective before any of your rival players can achieve theirs first.
Don’t worry if your favourite nemesis isn’t included in the core game; there are oodles of Disney Villainous expansions to pick up. You can get Star Wars and Marvel versions now, too, and both are excellent, in different ways. Darth Vader and Thanos are Disney properties now, and you’d better believe Villainous takes full advantage of that.
There are even 3 new Disney Villainous expansions coming out in 2024, so you can pick this one up in the safe knowledge of having a lot of villainy to get up to with it.
3. Disney Codenames
One of our top board games for adults, Codenames is a light, accessible social deduction game that turns espionage into word-association.
Two teams are formed, each with one ‘spymaster’ who must give single-word clues to help their allies choose the correct words on a grid of cards. The team that guesses all their words correctly first wins – as long as they don’t accidentally choose the game-ending assassin card.
Disney Codenames is largely the same game, but it’s been tweaked to be more family-friendly. Each of the words is Disney-related, of course, but you can also play with picture cards instead of text. The somewhat-harsh assassin card can also be removed so everyone gets a fair shot at victory.
4. Disney The Haunted Mansion board game
Disney’s The Haunted Mansion board game has a bit of a mouthful for a title – officially it’s called Disney: The Haunted Mansion – Call of the Spirits Game. Mercifully, the rules are a lot more streamlined.
The aim of the game is to collect ghost cards. Collecting sets of ghosts helps you score more points, and you naturally want to end up with the highest score. You must explore the Endless Hallway of The Haunted Mansion, grabbing ghost cards while avoiding Haunt cards.
More on the spooky side, The Haunted Mansion board game has a bright visual design that means it’d look good on a shelf next to games like Mysterium and Horrified. Despite the haunting theme, this is a solid choice for fans of family board games.
5. Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game
Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game is a bit of a cross between Hanabi and Quacks of Quedlinburg. Players must take on the Sanderson Sisters, the devious witch trio from the Hocus Pocus movies. To thwart their plans, you must stun the sisters three times before the time runs out.
To do this, you’ll work together playing ingredient cards into a big cauldron. You can give each other clues about the cards in your hand by asking questions – either about the colour or type of ingredient, but not both. Manage to play the right combination of ingredients, and you can stop a witch in her tracks.
The Hocus Pocus card game only takes 30 minutes to complete, and it’s mostly luck-based. It probably won’t win over fans of heavy strategy board games, but it works when you need a bit of board game magic in a pinch.
6. Disney Lorcana
Alright, Disney Lorcana isn’t actually a board game. It’s a trading card game in the same vein as Magic: The Gathering, but it’s already generated so much hype we couldn’t leave it out.
Lorcana turns Disney’s biggest characters – from Mickey Mouse, Elsa, and Mulan to Stitch, Cruella De Vil, and Captain Hook – into trading cards to be collected, built into decks, and pitched against each other in strategic card game battles.
Like MTG, Lorcana’s cards belong to a set of color categories that map onto game mechanics and styles of play – but instead of the five MTG colors, Lorcana has six ‘Inks’: Amber, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Steel.
If your tabletop gaming dream is to collect together all your favorite Disney heroes and villains, and band them together to face off with your friends, Lorcana is the game for you – and it’s only just getting started, so now’s quite an exciting time to get involved.
Unsurprisingly, all our favorite Disney tabletop games are pretty light on complicated mechanics or tactical know-how – but if that’s what you fancy, we have a full guide to the best strategy board games with lots of top tier recommendations for you to try.
If your kids have latched onto some of these magical fun-times, and you’re looking to make family game nights into a bit more of an event, having a really special place to play can make a big difference. Our list of the best gaming tables has a bunch of options, at different price points, to level things up a bit!