The Wii was the console that pulled the whole family back in front of the TV. Grandparents swung remotes next to their grandkids, and that made it a natural home for board games, where the point is a crowd around one table. Nintendo built its own boards for it, with dice blocks and minigames between turns. EA turned Hasbro's family classics into a new collection every year, and Square Enix finally brought over a property game it had kept in Japan for twenty years.
Card games are thinner on the ground. The one that made it is a toy tie-in played on cards, and the oddest pick is a chess game North America never got. Here are the 9 best Wii board and card games.
9. Trivial Pursuit (2009)
Trivial Pursuit on the Wii is the video game of the quiz board game that first came out in 1981. You roll a die to move around a board shaped like a wheel with six spokes, answering trivia questions as you go. Land on a category headquarters space and answer correctly to win a wedge in that colour. Your round playing piece has room for six of them, and a full set puts you in line for the win.
The board game was named to the Games Hall of Fame in 1993 and joined the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2025. Players recommend the Wii version as a family game, and one went as far as saying "It's better than the board game, really." Nobody has to dig a lost wedge out of the sofa, at least.
8. Hasbro Family Game Night 3 (2010)
Family Game Night 3 is the third of EA's Hasbro board game collections, made by EA Bright Light. This one is set on an island resort. You pick Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head as your host and dress them up with clothes you unlock as you play. It holds five Hasbro board games: Mouse Trap, Twister, The Game of Life, Clue and Yahtzee Hands Down. Each comes in its original version plus a remix that changes up the rules, and on the Wii your Miis are the players.
It is the only pick here with five board games on one disc. Players who own it still recommend it, mostly for family nights. Clue alone is worth the disc if your family argues well.
7. Pac-Man Party (2010)
Pac-Man Party came out for Pac-Man's 30th anniversary, and it plays a lot like Mario Party with some Monopoly mixed in. Everyone starts at Mr. Cookie's factory with 1,000 cookies. Land on an empty space and you can build a castle or claim it, and each visit to your own castle pays out more cookies. Land on a rival's castle and the two of you fight over it in an attack and defence minigame. Collect enough cookies and get back to the factory to win.
There are over 50 minigames, and a Classic Games mode adds the original Pac-Man and Galaga. The Wii version also has two boards the 3DS version never got. Players call it a fun pick, and the ones who played it as kids remember it fondly.
6. Bakugan Battle Brawlers (2009)
Bakugan Battle Brawlers is the 2009 game of the anime series, made by Now Production and published by Activision. The Wii got it alongside the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360 and DS. Matches are played on gate cards, and there are four ways to win one. A double stand, where you land two Bakugan on the same card, is one of them. Upgrade a Bakugan enough and you can fill a bar for a special shot based on its attribute.
The story is a string of tournaments. Beat Dan in the Master Cup and he lets you join the Battle Brawlers. This is the only game on the list played with cards, even if the cards are mostly a target for your Bakugan. Players who picked it up say it is more fun than people expect.
5. Wii Chess (2008)
Wii Chess is Nintendo's own chess game, made with Lancarse and released in Europe on January 18, 2008 as a budget title. It never came out in North America or Australasia, which makes it the only game in the Wii series that skipped those continents. It is also the only one you can play with the Classic Controller. The remote's pointer sits this one out, and you move pieces with the D-pad instead.
The engine is based on Loop Express by Fritz Reul, and new players can turn on instructions for how each piece moves. You can also record your games and replay them later. Critics were less kind about the default background music and called it "elevator music". Players bring it up whenever someone lists the Wii series games, and a few wish it had got more credit.
4. Dokapon Kingdom (2007)
Dokapon Kingdom is a board game and an RPG at the same time, from Sting Entertainment. It started on the PS2 in Japan, and Atlus USA published the Wii version in North America on October 14, 2008. Monsters are attacking the kingdom, so the king offers his daughter to whoever finishes with the most money. You spin a spinner and move to any spot that many spaces away. Landing on an empty yellow space or another player usually starts a battle, and battles play out like rock paper scissors.
You pick one of three starting jobs, and levelling up opens eleven more. The publisher's own blurb calls the other players your soon-to-be-ex-friends. Players often recommend it in the same breath as Fortune Street. It is the meaner of the two.
3. Fortune Street (2011)
Fortune Street is the Wii game in the Itadaki Street series, created by Dragon Quest designer Yuji Horii. The first one came out on the Famicom in 1991. The series stayed in Japan until this 2011 game, which Europe got as Boom Street. You play as characters from Dragon Quest and Mario. Like Monopoly, you roll a die and buy the property you land on, then collect when rivals stop there. The twist is the stock market: you can buy shares in a block, and building on your own property raises their value.
Reviews praised the deep gameplay and slighted how long a game takes. A screenshot of Yoshi asking to be tax exempt even went around online. Players describe it as Monopoly with Nintendo and Dragon Quest characters. Clear an evening before you start.
2. Mario Party 9 (2012)
Mario Party 9 was made by NDcube, and it was the first game in the series not developed by Hudson Soft. It changed how the boards work. All four players ride around together in one vehicle and take turns as its captain. Instead of buying stars with coins, you grab Mini Stars as you pass them. Each board ends in a boss battle that everyone plays from the vehicle, and there are 81 minigames in all.
It was the last Mario game released on the Wii. Critics praised the minigames, but the new rules got a mixed reception for linear boards and an emphasis on luck. Players still name it among the Wii games worth owning, often right next to Mario Party 8.
1. Mario Party 8 (2007)
Mario Party 8 was the first Mario Party on the Wii, made by Hudson Soft and released in North America on May 29, 2007. It leans hard on the Wii Remote, so the minigames have you pointing, shaking, waving and twisting instead of pressing buttons. Your Mii can turn up in the crowds and even play in Extra Mode. Every board has its own rules. Koopa's Tycoon Town has you investing coins in hotels, Monopoly style, and only the biggest investor in a hotel gets its Stars.
The British release was recalled the moment it came out. The game still sold more than eight million copies, making it the 12th best-selling Wii game. Players named it more than twice as often as any other game here, and it keeps turning up on their lists of Wii games to own.
Which one to play
There you have it, the whole list of the best Wii board and card games. Most of them are at their best with four people on one couch.
If you are not sure where to start, play Mario Party 8. If you want a property game with more strategy, Fortune Street is the one, as long as you have the evening. For a group that likes to fight, pick Dokapon Kingdom. If your family does not play video games, put on Trivial Pursuit or Family Game Night 3. Chess players with a European Wii can try Wii Chess. And for a hidden pick, try Pac-Man Party.
