30 of the Rarest Board Games

30 rare board games that every collector wants!

Board games may not be the first thing on your mind when you think of collectibles, and yet there is a deep and not-so-hidden world of board game hoarding, collecting, and trading as complex as that found within any other area of interest — perhaps deeper!

There is a huge range of wonderful old games out there, limited edition runs, classics, and hidden gems that are worth their weight in gold to the right collector.

There are many factors that make a board game especially sought-after by collectors, from how many copies of the game were first made, to how many are known to exist, and how unique or artistically superior the artwork and aesthetic happen to be.

As with any other genre of collectibles, the condition of the board games is a major factor in terms of their financial worth, though this is certainly a secondary aspect of what makes a collection valuable for many collectors. After all, certain games might exist in such a small supply that even a poorer-quality copy is going to be highly sought after.

But don’t mistake me: recent games can become collectibles as well, not just those dusty with history.

Any limited edition run, even the alpha builds of now-popular games, can become collectible items. This can also happen with games that have special editions released for some purpose (perhaps an anniversary edition, or an edition released to coincide with some historical event). The genre of game can also have a major impact, with war games being one of the classic categories that draw in collectors.

Plenty of collectors will even go so far as to purchase copies of games that they think might be collectibles in the future, and then store them, waiting to see if their hunch pans out a decade or two down the road.

Board game collecting terminology

Now, I’m not going to go too deep into the world of collectibles, but it’s important to know a couple of common terms before continuing forward.

• OOP: Stands for “Out of Print”. Games that are OOP are generally considered collectible in their own right, since (at least for a time) new editions of the…