Batman Day is the perfect time to celebrate one of DC Comics’ most iconic heroes, and it’s also a reason to add even more Dark Knight goodness to your collection. If you happen to be a fan of board games, the good news is that there are quite a few options out there to get more Batman-themed games onto your tabletop, as several more options have been released over the past few years and more are on the way. We’ve collected 9 different board games that will be perfect for any fan of the Dark Knight, whether they are focused solely on Batman or involve him alongside the greater DC Universe, and you can check out all of our picks starting on the next slide.
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Now, this isn’t all of the Batman-themed games that are currently on the market or all of the expansions for some of the experiences on the list. For instance, Batman Love Letter didn’t make the list, but not because it wasn’t popular. It’s actually because at the moment it is difficult to find outside of eBay for a decent price, and even then it’s above what it retailed for initially.
Even without that game, there are still so many Batman games that deserve your attention, and you can check out all of our recommendations on the next slide. Let us know what you think in the comments and as always you can talk all things tabletop and DC with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
Batman: Everybody Lies
First up is one of the newest additions to this list, Batman: Everybody Lies. The game is designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and Weronika Spyra with artwork by Maciej Siminski and Hanna Kuik and features gameplay based on the Detective Investigation System, which calls upon players to gather evidence and do their best to step into the world’s greatest detective’s shoes. The game retails for $50 but is now on sale for $33 right here. You can find the official description below.
Batman: Everybody Lies is a story-driven, cooperative deduction game based on the system of award-winning Detective game series. It delivers a deeply thematic experience that challenges 2-4 players to team up with the caped crusader and bring the theatrics and themes of Batman to life.
Players need to gather evidence and connect the facts to unravel the mystery. Every scenario ends with a final report with questions verifying how well the team has investigated the case.
COMPONENTS:
• 4 Lead decks (85 cards total)
• 1 Scene deck (31 cards)
• 1 Personal Goal deck (27 cards)
• 4 sets of Episode Introductions (in 4 envelopes marked # 00, # 01, # 02, # 03)
• 1 Investigation token
• 1 Location token
• 1 Game board
• 8 Location tiles
• 4 Character tiles (with Informants on the reverse sides)
• 3 Access tokens: 1 Authority token , 1 Batman token , 1 Underground token
• 4 Character tokens: 1 Bullock , 1 Catwoman , 1 Spacey , 1 Vale
• 10 Evidence tokens.
Batman: The Animated Series – Rogues Gallery
Batman: The Animated Series is one of the most beloved cartoons ever, and Batman also has some of the best villains in comics, and one game combines both into a dynamite board game. That board game is Batman: The Animated Series – Rogues Gallery, a push-your-luck game that has players utilizing special abilities to try and take down the Dark Knight. It’s fast-paced, easy to learn, and features all the style you love from the cartoon, and you can check out our full review right here if you’re looking for more details on how the game plays. Rogues Gallery is currently selling for $34.25 right here, and you can find the official description below.
“Defeat the Batman to rule the city! Gotham City’s coffers are ripe for the robbing, but one thing stands in the way of the city’s supervillains: the reviled Batman. It’s time someone finally took out that nuisance! Choose your favorite villain, then go on crime sprees, steal powerful upgrades, recruit nefarious accomplices, and race to complete your master plan and be the first to defeat the World’s Greatest Detective!
Batman: The Animated Series – Rogues Gallery is a press-your-luck game for three to five players. Each player takes on the role of a devious Gotham City villain attempting to be the first to take down Batman, but beating him requires a sound strategy and a dash of good luck. Gather your forces, lay your traps, and claim the ultimate bragging rights as the villain who finally defeated the Batman!”
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Few Batman stories are as revered as DC’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and now Cryptozoic has turned that story into an engrossing tabletop experience. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a solo experience that has players taking control of Batman as he comes out of retirement to take on villains from Frank Miller’s classic adventure over the course of four books, each carrying their own mix of allies, abilities, and boss battles. The game retails for $64.99 and can be ordered right here, and you can find the official description below.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – The Game is a solo board game experience in which you don the cape and cowl and journey through Frank Miller’s iconic comic book series. Instead of traditional leveling up, this is a game of attrition. As Batman, you must come out of retirement and do everything you can to beat back a relentless tide of ruthless mutants, cops, and press looking to bring you down. Get ready to face villains like Two-Face, The Joker, and the leader of the Mutant Gang… as well as your powerful former ally, Superman!
The game is played over the course of four epic “Books,” with the results of each carrying over to the next. Each Book features unique rules, allies, abilities, and epic boss battles. You can also play each Book standalone, with setup instructions for easy, normal, and hard modes. There’s even a VS Mode that lets one player take control of Batman’s enemies.
The game is offered in a regular edition and a Deluxe Edition featuring 17 miniature figures designed in the distinct Frank Miller art style of the comic!”
DC Deck-Building Game
It’s no secret that one of my favorite deck-building games is Cryptozoic’s DC Deck-Building Game, which now features a host of new expansions to add to your game. The original set is still a great game unto itself though, and it’s also moderately priced, making it a perfect game for Batman and DC fans overall to pick up and add to the collection. At this point, just about every member of the Bat-Family is part of the game, and the one v one gameplay is hard to beat. The DC Deck-Building Game can be found for $35 and can be ordered here, and you can find the official description below.
“In the DC Deck-building Game, you take on the role of Batman™, Superman™, or one of their brave and heroic allies in the struggle against the forces of Super-Villainy! While you begin armed only with basic combat maneuvers, you will add new, more powerful cards to your deck as you go, with the goal of defeating as many of the DC Comics Super-Villains as you can. In the end, the player who has accumulated the most Victory Points from the cards in his or her deck wins the game!
This game is built on the Cerberus engine and will work with other Cerberus-based games.”
DC Spyfall
Spyfall is an already popular game of social deduction that’s perfect for large groups, and having a DC theme just takes it over the top. DC Spyfall has 3 to 8 people playing as DC’s biggest heroes and tasks them with attempting to figure out which one of them is secretly the Joker. If you happen to be the Joker, you are trying to figure out what the secret location is before the heroes discover you, and things get even more chaotic when Harley Quinn cards enter the picture. DC Spyfall can be found for $23 and can be ordered here, and you can find the official description below.
“In this exciting variation on the social deduction game Spyfall, 3-8 players take on the roles of DC’s greatest Super Heroes as they have a secret meeting at an iconic location, such as the Batcave, Daily Planet, or the Fortress of Solitude. The problem? One of them is secretly the Joker in disguise! In the intense 8-minute rounds, the non-Joker players ask questions and give answers to deduce which one of them is the Clown Prince of Crime without giving away the location, while the Joker player tries to figure out the location before his or her identity is revealed! Players have to exhibit subtlety to deflect suspicion and help their side win.
Where the Joker goes, Harley Quinn usually follows! Each round, one player may have a Location Card with a Harley image, meaning he or she should try to feed the Joker player information, even without knowing that player’s identity! If the Joker player guesses the location, the two collaborators each score points. But if Harley was too obvious, the Super Heroes can turn the tables on them …
The game offers several innovations to keep things fresh for experienced players. Super Power Cards can give a player an ability for a round, such as being able to dodge a question, or simply require a player to modify their behavior; for example, Super Speed forces a player’s answers to be three words or less.
In each of the game’s two Multiverse decks, there are eight different locations rather than just one, so players will be rather confused with some of the questions and answers. Keep in mind that no one at the table knows whether or not they are playing with a Multiverse deck!
Finally, the all-Joker deck gives each player a Joker card, so all of the questions and answers are based on absolutely nothing, since there is no location to reference at all. A crazy twist on an already crazy game!”
Funkoverse: DC Comics 4-Pack
Funko Games’ Funkoverse continues to expand with all sorts of huge franchises and characters, and one of the cornerstones is DC Comics. The Funkoverse: DC Comics 100 4-Packis a standalone game that can be combined with the other Funkoverse sets, and features Batman, Batgirl, Joker, and Harley Quinn, with figures in the adorable Funko Pop style. The 4-Pack is also pretty cheap at just $24.99 (which can be ordered here), and if you want even more characters you can add Catwoman and Robin in a 2-Pack for under $20. You can find the official description below.
“Face off in the ultimate pop! Battle – in the universe strategy game – DC #100, you’ll combine your favorite characters and go head-to-head in four exciting game scenarios. Move through memorable locations – Gotham City Streets or the Joker Carnival Chaos – and use your characters’ unique abilities to capture points and achieve victory! What comes in the box: 4 characters, 4 character bases, 4 character cards, 2 basic characters, 2 basic character cards, 2 double-sided scenario cards, 1 Batarang, 1 mallet, 2 item cards, 2 status cards, 2 cool-down tracks, 1 double-sided map, 12 game tokens, 15 game markers, 6 dice, 21 points, 1 first player marker, instruction manual.”
The Batman Who Laughs Rising
The Batman Who Laughs has captivated Batman fans since he was first introduced, and now he is at the center of his own game from The Op titled The Batman Who Laughs Rising. The game is a cooperative experience that has you playing heroes like Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern, or Hawkgirl as you recruit more allies to defeat the villains of the dark multiverse until you reach the Batman Who Laughs, who stands at the center of the board with an army of dark robins at his side. The game can be purchased for $34.99 right here, and you can find the official description below.
“From the Dark Night Metal comic series, the evil hybrid of Batman and Joker – The Batman Who Laughs – is determined to unleash the Dark Knights and Barbatos on Prime.
In The Batman Who Laughs Rising, a passage from the Dark Multiverse has allowed the most dangerous evildoers to infiltrate Gotham City, and these Dark Knights alongside their menacing leader are eager to do their worst to the city.
Players roll dice and work together to save the multiverse, starting with one of four starting heroes – Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, or Batman – and recruiting allies such as Harley Quinn, The Flash, and Cyborg, whose skills can complete objectives or help recover what is lost to darkness. Take out villainous versions of Batman such as The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker, The Murder Machine, and more before facing off with the psychotic Joker-ized antagonist himself, who’s represented by a custom-sculpted, full-color figure who commands a fistful of chained Evil Robins!”
Batman Miniature Game
If you’re someone who wants a host of options and character’s at your fingertips, Knight Models’ popular Batman Miniature Game might just be for you. The game has a number of starter boxes available (including a set based on The Batman), but you can also buy single miniatures of Batman in Dark Knight Returns, Year One, and classic styles as well as two packs of Batman and Robin.
You can then buy miniatures of Batgirl, Nightwing, Black Canary, Batwoman, and more. Then you can add other DC characters and villains to the mix to make your games even more interesting like the Suicide Squad, the League of Assassins, and the crews of villains like Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Joker, and more.
You can find all of the information on the game and everything available to buy right here,and there is currently a Batman Day sale happening until September 19th as well.
DC Deck-Building Game – Dark Nights Metal
The DC Deck-Building Game has released several compelling expansions, but one of my favorites is the Dark Nights: Metal expansion. I’m partial to Dark Nights: Metal in general, so having characters like Barbatos, The Batman Who Laughs, and more brought into the mix is a win, but the game also introduces new mechanics like being able to recruit more than one superhero and real reasons to keep Weakness cards out of your deck, not to mention the new Metal cards that can help boost your deck. You can find our full review right here for more details, and you can order the game for $41 here. You can find the official description below.
“Batman has discovered a Dark Multiverse and unleashed evil versions of himself upon our world! The Justice League must band together to defeat Barbatos, The Batman Who Laughs, and their Dark Knights. One Super Hero won’t be enough to overcome these challenges.
In this latest installment in the smash-hit DC Deck-Building Game series, you’ll need to save Batman and other captured Super Heroes and recruit them to your team to save the Multiverse!
· Introduces ability to Recruit Super Heroes
· Super-Villains that offer instant rewards when defeated instead of being added to your deck
· Weakness cards that cause your Super Hero to be Captured if you play too many of them”
