Board games have enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence over the last two years, as we relied on the classics to keep us entertained.

Everything from 80s fave Trivial Pursuit to kids’ picks were pulled out of cupboards, lofts and sheds, providing us hours of entertainment. And the upcoming festive season looks set to pique our interests once again!

With that in mind, and with Christmas just around the corner, we wanted to know which board game captures our imagination in all four corners of the world. And where better to search than Google?

Our experts analysed the number of online searches made for 18 popular modern and classic board games across 15 countries around the world to find out. 

It may not come as a surprise that one of the most-loved games of all time, Monopoly, is the most popular board game across the world. With almost 200,000 average searches since the start of 2020, it takes the top spot in 12 of the 15 countries we looked at.

Catan, which was invented 50 years after Monopoly, was the second most popular in terms of search volume, but still falls far short of the old faithful Monopoly, with just under 100,000 searches.

Rounding off the top three is a newcomer, yet perhaps not a surprise – Pandemic. Search volume in each country we looked at gradually increased as we moved through 2020 and into 2021.

Now we know which are the most popular around the world, it’s time to look at what our favourite games say about us. Yes, according to our gaming experts here at Ryman, which game you pull from the cupboard first reveals a lot about your personality.

Let’s look at the top game, Monopoly. If you love the classic game, you’re a traditionalist – with a twist. You like being around people but are also very happy alone. You love seeing the fruits of your labour grow and are always one step ahead when it comes to life.

The second most popular game in the world, Catan, is a game you can’t just play once. If it’s the one you always gravitate to, you’re an analyst, a leader, and are great in a crisis. You know what you want and how to get it – you’re a real force to be reckoned with.

It may be 13 years old, but Pandemic has become the board game of the 2020s. With a setup similar to Catan, but much less forgiving, if you just can't get enough of Pandemic, you’re organised and tenacious. The ultimate team player, you know you’re stronger together than alone.

If you can’t wait to whip out a boardgame this Christmas, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a selection to appease everyone! Browse our board games and stocking filler games to make sure you stay entertained all day.

We looked at board games from this source in order to collate our games. We then used SEMrush’s Keyword Overview tool, which let us view historical metrics from January 2020 to 6th December 2021, to find the search volumes for the board games in each country. We then totalled up the average monthly searches to give us our overall figures.

To ensure accurate data, we added ‘board game’ to the end of each game. We collated a list of games synonymous with Christmas and fed these into the forecasting tool, which then let us view historical metrics from last year.