Our Favourite Board Game Titles From Ravensburger

Today, Ravensburger games boast approximately 850 board game titles including Aliens, Labyrinth, Horrified and Villainous to name a few. Few people realize just how deep the roots of this gaming company are and just how far back it truly goes. To understand, let’s rewind the clock back to 1883!

Otto Robert Maier, a German entrepreneur, established the business in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began producing instruction manuals for artisans and architects, which soon paid off handsomely and he used this new wealth to release his first board game, Journey around the world, in 1884.

His product line expanded in the early part of the 20th century to include picture books, books, children’s activity manuals, Art Instruction manuals, non-fiction texts, and reference works. By around 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was filed with the Imperial Patent Office. From there, Ravensburger began distribution to Western Europe and Russia. Maier passed away in 1925 but his company was just getting started.

Ravensburger began focusing on children’s games and books in the 1960s, and specialized publications for art, architecture, and hobbies soon afterward. Since then, the company has not stopped expanding and has been behind some very solid pop culture board game adaptations as well as original game concepts.

Let’s take a look at some of our favourite picks!

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Labyrinth

Labyrinth has given rise to a slew of Labyrinth games, much like Monopoly. Paw Patrol, Super Mario and Pokemon are just some of the Labyrinth-themed games released (generally for kids). The playing area is made up of a set of tiles that are attached firmly to the game board; the remaining labyrinth pieces that aren’t connected slide in and out of the rows formed by the tiles that are fastened down. Players take turns placing a tile that is always outside the labyrinth, sliding it into a row of the labyrinth. This creates a shifting all tiles while pushing one out the other side of the board. The tile that was just removed becomes the piece for the next player to place in the maze.

The goal is for the player to gather all the riches, which are hidden throughout the labyrinth in a race. Whoever gets all of his belongings first and returns home wins!

Labyrinth is a straightforward-looking game that’s actually rather difficult. It’s a great puzzle-solving experience for kids. The game incorporates many themes with a high level of interactivity, resulting in an exciting mix of competitive and cooperative gameplay. It may also be enjoyed by adults who use more strategy and a more cutthroat approach.

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Villainous

Nothing like watching a bunch of Disney Villains duking it out to see who is the baddest of all! Ravensburger has a history of adapting movies to board game form and this is a great example of how to do it right.

Each player controls one of six Disney characters in Villainous, a game in which each person takes control of a different villain from a different Disney film. Every player has a different villain deck, fate deck, player board, and 3D character.

The active player moves their character to a new position on their player board, takes one or more of the actions visible on that space (usually by playing cards from their hand), then refills their hand to four cards on a turn. Cards are divided into categories such as allies, items, effects, conditions, and (for certain characters) curses. To achieve your personalized victory condition, you’ll need to employ your cards.

One of the options allows you to choose another player, take two cards from that player’s fate deck, then play one on their board, covering two of the four action spaces on one of their locations. The fate deck, which is based on the villain’s film, has heroes, items, and effects from that character’s film, allowing other players to torment that individual.

This is just a fun, family-friendly game that has a little of that cut-throat edge to it. Great for some casual play with a few surprise twists.

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Rivers, Roads and Rails

Ravensburger has been releasing kids content for over a century and has a bunch of award winning kids games out there to check out. Rivers, Roads and Rails is just one example of an easy to learn, engaging game that is fun enough for adults to play as well.

This matching game is a distant relative of Dominoes. Each tile has two sides, with each side containing no more than one road, river, or railway. You can only place a new tile next to an existing one if the edges match. Playing tiles forms a complex network of pathways on the board. The tile designs are both attractive and easy to understand. The game is largely played at both ends of the tiles that have already been placed down because only two of them branch.

There are several variations of the game’s rules included in the box. You may play this game competitively like Dominoes or collaboratively like a free-form jigsaw puzzle. Rivers, Roads and Rails is a great option for kids who like to really engage with a game by laying tiles and choosing which side to put down.

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The Quest For El Dorado

In The Quest for El Dorado, players assume the roles of expedition leaders who have set off on a mission to discover the mythical land of gold in South America’s thick jungle. This is a deck-building game and each player starts the game with a combination of cards. They then create and equip their own team, employing a range of specialists from the scout to the scientist to the aboriginal. All of them have one aim in mind: reaching the golden barrier first and acquiring all of the riches for themselves. Whoever uses the finest methods will be rewarded!

This game follow a fairly popular tiling system which players use to navigate through various types of terrain while working to purchase new cards for their deck. The Quest for El Dorado offers a good blend of strategy, luck and planning.

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Horrified

Rounding out our list is Horrified. Not everyone is a fan of cooperative games but if you are, this game needs to be on your list. A group of players playing Horrified will all accomplish or fail together. The backstory is this: You are a group of heroes and a bunch of very famous monsters are plaguing your village. I have no idea what would prompt all these monsters to live so close together or why a village would form so nearby but alas, here we are. The players win if they defeat all of the monsters they are up against. To beat a monster, you must first complete a mission.

Each monster in the game has a unique challenge required to defeat them. Dracula, for instance, must have all his coffins smashed before vanquishing him. The Mummy must first have his curse broken before being returned to his tomb.

Ok, so we know how to win. More importantly, how do we lose? Well, there are a couple of answers to that:

The Terror Meter: You gotta protect the villagers! The Terror Level increases every time a Hero or Villager is slain. When the terror level reaches maximum terror, shown by the skull, the monsters have consumed the village, and the players lose.

Running outta time: You draw a card from the Monster deck each round. If you need to pull a Monster card from the deck but it’s empty, you’ve taken too long to defeat them and you looooooohoooooooose!

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So there we have it. Ravensburger has been giving us great games for over 100 years and have expanded their reach from board games to video games while dropping awesome content time and time again. Thanks, Ravensburger and keep up the good work!