Now that Easter is over and you’re finally getting over your chocolate induced coma, its time to start thinking about adding some more board games to your ever expanding collection.
I have already previously discussed about some fantastic budget friendly games in my under £10 and £20 blogs, but if you’ve got a bit more pocket money to spend or you’re thinking of treating yourself after payday, there are even more great games you can get at prices that still won’t have you doomscrolling your banking apps.
Whether you’re in the mood for some two player head to head action, or a great party game to invite a group of friends over for, board games continue to deliver, and this blog proves you don’t need to spend big to play an amazing game. So these are 5 great board games under £30. (As of 24.04.25).
1. Sky Team
I have made no secret about my love of Sky Team, and when it comes in easily at under £30 it really is a must own game.
In this two player co-op, you and your partner play as a pilot and co-pilot, navigating different challenges to land a plane at a host of different airports, each of which come with their own specific requirements and difficulties.
In order to land the plane safely, you need to ensure all victory conditions are met. You’re coming in at the right speed, your axis is level, you’re flaps and gears are ready, and you don’t crash into any other planes along the way!
You navigate these challenges through dice rolls and placements, with the tension inducing caveat that you and your fellow pilot cannot speak during play. What this leads to is this brilliant, wordless level of communication that you build with your fellow player.
Just through clever use of your dice placements, you can somehow communicate with each other to navigate the perils put in front of you. The different scenarios and challenges lead you to keep coming back for one more game, as each round of Sky Team only lasts about 15 minutes. And it seamlessly incorporates its theme into the gameplay. Its brilliantly tense, thought provoking and just endlessly fun. I have never had a boring game of it.
Its such a joyous co-op experience, that it probably has the most plays out of any game I own. I recommend it to board game hobbyists and casual gamers alike, and even if you quickly complete all the different scenarios as you’re such experienced pilots, you can very cheaply get the wonderful add on Sky Team: Turbulence Expansion, which I have also reviewed!
2. The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth
If you prefer your two player games competitive rather than cooperative, and especially if you’re a lover of Lord of the Rings, then I certainly have a game recommendation for you.
In this head to head battle, The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth has you as either the Fellowship defending the free races and trying to destroy the one ring, or as Sauron himself, pursuing Frodo and Sam and looking to take control of Middle Earth.
Taking the formula of the widely successful 7 Wonders Duel and adding on a brilliant Lord of the Rings theme, Duel for Middle Earth only released very recently has quickly become one of favourite head to head games.
Playing over three rounds, or chapters, The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth is a card drafting game with a variety of ways to outsmart your opponent, and achieve one of three different win conditions for your side.
You can achieve your teams quest for the ring, be it destroying it in the fires of Mount Doom for the fellowship, or reclaiming it for Sauron by capturing them in Mordor, by gaining the support of six different races, or by conquering Middle Earth by having a fortress or unit in all 7 regions on a wonderful little game map.
Through the tactical decisions you make by which cards you draft, you could choose to focus on just one of these win conditions, or try and spread yourself quite thin by chipping away at all three to ensure your opponent can’t run away with it. At first glance it can feel fairly simple but in every game I have played things have worked out totally differently.
I have had crushing defeats and dominant victories, but most often, especially with experienced players, me and my opponent have had these intense back and forth battles where its really not clear until the last couple of turns whose going to win it.
And as someone who adores the Lord of the Rings films and novels, it really is the perfect game for me, as it does a tremendous job incorporating this theme into the game. Its why I am much more drawn to this than 7 Wonders, as when a game can take a theme or piece of IP and expertly craft it into the game mechanics, it can just make the experience of playing it that more immersive.
One does not simply usually find games like this for under £30, so take a trip to Mordor and get yourself a copy of Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth.
3. Wavelength
If you’re well prepared/mad, you might have already started thinking about Christmas 2025, and the next game on my 5 Great Board Games under £30 list is probably the most perfect Christmas party game, Wavelength.
Competing in two teams, one person has to give a clue on a specific scale, which changes turn to turn. So the scale might be Tastes Delicious one end, Tastes Disgusting the other. Using a brilliant turning dial, your team members close their eyes and you see where the dial has ended up on that scale. So if it’s completely on the side of Tastes Delicious you might say chocolate, but totally on the Tastes Disgusting side you might say Olives… Because olives are rancid!
And its here where Wavelengths excellence lies. While I might think olives were put on this earth by devil people and those that like them are lying to themselves, your teammates might bloody love them. It sparks these hilarious debates between you and your team, and even better still is when you do happen to be on someone’s aforementioned Wavelength, you feel like your minds have melded into one.
And its easy when the dials swings totally one way or another. What if it ends up down the middle? What’s kind of tasty kind of nasty? Do you try and think of something some people love and others hate like marmite, or do you give a bland clue like water which can’t really be described as delicious or disgusting. Will people even understand the logic that you’re trying to use!
Wavelength is just THE party game everyone needs to own. There is a points system to crown an overall winning team but that is almost arbitrary. Its simply about getting people talking, laughing, debating, and most fun of all, spinning a cool plastic dial around.
I think in the next few years Wavelength will become a staple of households, and you can get it for under £30 today!
4. Mysterium
When doing my research for this, I was genuinely surprised to find that Mysterium was under £30, and at that price this cryptic murder mystery game is a bargain.
In Mysterium one player plays as a ghost, who has been murdered before the game begins, who is able to communicate cryptically to the others players who the killer was, what they were murdered with and where, ala Cluedo.
The other players are psychic mediums, trying to decipher the clues the ghost has given in order to solve the mystery. The ghost however has died, and as such can’t communicate through speech or sound. Instead, they can only play cards with some of the best artwork board games can provide, for the mediums to interpret.
The beautiful artwork is abstract, it doesn’t just show you a knife with the murderer holding it! No, it could have vibrant colours on there, animals, objects, and the mediums work together and discuss what these images could mean and what the ghost is trying to direct people to.
Mysterium is wonderfully thematic. Whenever we play this we make sure to dim the lights, put on some eerie background music and just get into our roles.
I love it despite the fact its proven to me that I am truly awful at thinking outside the box! Whereas most people see the clues, I am sat there scratching my head wondering if the ghost has gone mad. Why can no one see that little rat in the corner of the picture clearly indicates poison was used as the murder weapon!
It creates this brilliant blend between Dixit and Cluedo, and when you work as a team to solve the mystery its fantastic, with whoever playing as the ghost quickly running down what the hell was going through their head at games end.
More of an immersive experience than a game at times, Mysterium is a wonderful board game that has to be played to appreciate. And I need to give a big shout out to Libellud and their designers Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko for creating probably the most aesthetically pleasing game in my collection!
5. Pandemic
Rounding out this list is one that just fits under that £30 scale, and one that needs no introduction, the now classic board game Pandemic.
What is there to be said about this all timer game that hasn’t already been said?
In pandemic between 2-4 players work together to help contain and cure an outbreak of 4 separate diseases. Each of you plays as a different character with differing abilities to help you best cure and hopefully eradicate each disease.
Each turn you can do 4 actions, ranging from simply moving your character along the board, to building research stations in preparation for discovering cures, to help you and the team most efficiently contain this pandemic.
But once your turn has ended, you have the dreaded moment where you draw 2 cards, which could contain a deadly epidemic, which might lead to a mass outbreak of diseases across the globe.
There are multiple ways to lose Pandemic, and only one real way to win, which helps amp up the tension the game manages to masterfully build.
Each game of Pandemic is close, win or lose, and it now holds classic status among board games for its incredible mechanics and all the other games it has managed to inspire.
When you draw an epidemic the sheer panic it creates amongst your team is incredible, as you scramble to come up with new ideas and strategies to get back on top of things.
Matt Leacock himself now holds legendary status for this utter board game masterpiece, and the fact you can still get it for under £30 is incredible. If somehow you don’t already own this game, or if potentially you’re put off as you don’t think the hype can live up to expectation, I would say you need to give Pandemic a go, and you will see why board gaming has become the phenomenon it has in recent years.
And if you love the experience of Pandemic, I implore you to try the legacy version as well, as that might well provide the best experience board gaming can buy!
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About the author:
Paul Websell is a freelance contributor for Zatu who spends his time either playing board and video games or talking about them. While he’s not on social media, you can view his other blogs right here on Zatu!
