I love playing board games and I watch a ton of television. Every once in a while a board game will come up in a TV show that I would love to play. This list contains five amazing board games from many great TV series. I excluded parodies from this list, Monopoly is parodied in dozens of shows and The Simpsons alone has several knock-off versions of Monopoly.

5. Marshgammon, How I Met Your Mother



In the first season episode “Game Night” of How I Met Your Mother, Marshall is appointed the organizer of the group’s game night. Marshall creates his own board game which he describes as a combination of “all the best features of all the best games: Candy Land, I Never, Pictionary…” The rules are confusing and inquiring about them with “what” resulting in you drinking. The only thing that is clear is that “Backgammon sucks” and the only similarity of the two games is the “gammon”.

4. Research Lab, The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is the very popular show about a group of scientists and is choke full of nerd culture references. Many real board games are often on shelves in the background of scenes and several fictional games appear in the show. Research Lab is by far the most original game and as Sheldon says, “Research Lab is more than a game.” This is the only game on the list that much like the characters in the show, I wouldn’t want to play. Yet, it is an impressive prop board game for the show, so it deserved to be included here.



3. Tri-Dimensional Chess, Star Trek



There have been many variations of chess appear in TV including Tadek in Farscape and Three Person Chess in The Big Bang Theory. There are even more if you branch out to fantasy and science fiction novels and movies. Picking only one chess variant for this list was tough, but the best has to be Tri-Dimensional Chess appearing in the original Star Trek series. Many games were created in the Star Trek universe, but Tri-Dimensional Chess went on to have rules developed and become a real game. It also makes a return to television in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.



2. Colonizers of Malaar, 30 Rock



This game, featured in an episode of 30 Rock, is clearly inspired by Settlers of Catan, as indicated by the name and Frank’s monopoly on wheat. However, it is less of a direct parody and more of a combination of Catan, Warhammer, and Dungeons & Dragons. Colonizers of Malaar comes from the “makers of Goblet Quest and Virginity Keep,” a funny jest at board game geeks. The massive size of this board game and all the various strategies Jack employs to win, make it seem like a fun albeit long game.

1. Cones of Dunshire, Parks and Recreation



Cones of Dunshire is without a doubt the greatest fictional board game ever created. In Parks and Recreation, when Ben Wyatt is facing boredom due to his unemployment, he designs a prototype of Cones of Dunshire. The game initially seems like it will be unpopular because it has very complex and elaborate rules, but it takes off. Cones of Dunshire becomes massively popular with Wyatt’s former co-workers and Gryzzl (a Google parody) and a “punishingly intricate” sequel is revealed in the series finale called Cones of Dunshire, The Adventure Continues: Winds of Tremorrah. The game was designed for Parks and Recreation by Mayfair Games and is actually playable. Only a lucky group of fans got to play for charity at Gen Con 2014 though. The game is colorful, beautiful, and described as “the perfect combination of luck and strategy.”



Well, that’s my top 5 fictional board games! Which of these five would you most like to play? What is your favorite fictional board game (not just from TV)?