The Best Olympic Board Games

There are many board and card games that are sports themed. However, not too many of them are necessarily Olympic sports. This is why we’re going to be briefly discussing some of the best Olympic board and card games available right now.

The Challenges of Asterix

Pros:

✓ Multiple challenges and trials
✓ Can be played by up to 6 players

Cons:

✕ Flicking is a big part of the game

Characteristics:

● Category: Board game
● Age: 4+
● Number of players: 2 to 6
● Average duration: 15 to 30 minutes
● Manufacturer: Topi games

The Challenges of Asterix is a game that will make you relive the magnificent adventures of the Gauls who traveled to Greece to participate in the Olympic Games.

The game can be played by up to 6 players. You’re going to have to win as many events as you can to earn challenge tokens that will allow you to be at the top of the leaderboard.

Each player is represented by a token numbered in Roman numerals. At the start of the game, choose three champion cards according to their skills (strength, endurance, and ability). These champion cards will constitute your hand. There are three types of challenges you will participate in: racing, throwing, and fighting.

According to each challenge, shuffle the Olympic event cards and draw one at random. Flicking plays a major role in this game, so the player with the best flicking skills will often be the winner.

For the races, whether it is a running race or a race with vehicles, each player will have to go around the track and whoever finishes it with the fewest number of flicks wins the event and therefore wins a challenge token. For fighting events, the goal is to be the last player standing by eliminating all your opponents. As for the javelin or discus throwing events, these take place in a space specially designed for the sport, and the player who manages to throw the farthest wins the event according to the bonus points of their champion.

At the end of the events, the player with the most challenge tokens will be crowned as the winner of the Olympic Games.

Swimzania

Pros:

✓ Very simple rules
✓ Quick game variations (5 minutes)
✓ Four game variations

Cons:

✕ The dice make it luck-dependent

Characteristics:

● Category: Board game
● Age: 4+
● Number of players: 2 to 6
● Average duration: 5 to 30 minutes
● Manufacturer: Swimax – Innovative Board Games Co.

Swimzania is a game that is very suitable for amateurs and swimming enthusiasts alike. It’s a board game in which you will have to cross the finish line first to win the golden trophy.

There are four variations to choose from with different difficulty levels. The duration of each variation is different: 5 minutes for the sprint event and up to 30 minutes for the swimathon.

In Swimzania, you will have to navigate the game board in a very fun and at the same time educational way since you will have to answer quizzes and complete challenges with various cards. There are all kinds of questions and challenges as there are a total of 256 cards and are all designed by professionals in the field of this sport. Roll the dice and answer quizzes or complete challenges by testing your knowledge of swimming, your concentration, your physical strength, and more.

This game can be played with family or friends, especially with a young audience since it is an interactive game that tests both knowledge in the field of swimming, but also concentration as well as flexibility.

Flamme Rouge

Pros:

✓ Several tours 
✓ You can arrange the tray as you want  
✓ Double-sided circuit tiles

Cons:

✕ Number of players limited to 4  

Characteristics:

● Category: Board game
● Age: 10+
● Number of players: 2 to 4 players   
● Average duration: 30 to 45 minutes
● Manufacturer: Gigamic

Flamme Rouge is one of the most popular cycling board games. It was originally a Finnish game created by Asger Harding Granerud, but since then has been taken over by Gigamic in 2017.

The objective of the game is to take the lead in the race to arrive first at the finish line. What makes Flamme Rouge exceptional is that you’ll get to control a duo of a sprinter and a roller.

Each player will have at their disposal a personal board containing the cards which will indicate the number of squares that they can advance each turn with their sprinter and roller.

During the first phase of the game, choose one of your racers and each player simultaneously draws 4 cards depending on the chosen racer (sprinter or roller), then each player chooses one card and places it face down next to their personal board, the unused cards will be returned faceup to the bottom of the draw pile to indicate when the deck is to be reshuffled. You will have to repeat the action with your other racer to then be able to enter the movement phase.

Each move is indicated by the cards chosen by the players and whoever leads the race makes the first move. You can change lanes without using movement points, you can also overtake other players, but cannot land on a square that’s occupied by another player.

Before starting the next lap, you will have to go through the end phase, in which players will be able to catch up to the leading racer by applying the slipstreaming effect.

To resolve the slipstreaming effect, you will have to start with the racer in the last position, who will move forward one space, if there’s one square between them and the racers in front of them. This effect can be repeated several times in a round until it is resolved. If the last racer fails to keep up with the rest, they will receive an exhaustion card, which they must add to their draw pile. The game is played for a number of rounds until a player crosses the finish line.

Kahmaté

Pros:

✓ Quite a unique board game
✓ Several types of rugby players
✓ Rather simple game rules

Cons:

✕ Can only be played with two people
✕ Only 6 player tokens per team

Characteristics:

● Category: Board game
● Age: 10+
● Number of players: 2
● Average duration: Around 20 minutes
● Manufacturer: Id&aL editions

The setup and the rules are very simple. The game is played with tokens, one of which represents the ball. There are 6 player tokens per team and 14 endurance cards to attack and defend.

The game is played on a board in the shape of a rugby field made up of 8 squares in width and 11 in length. Throughout the game, your tokens will be moving around the board and attacking the opponent’s territory.

Each player’s team is made up of 6 tokens (representing the rugby players) who occupy a different position and have their own unique skills. For example, one type of player can move two squares and has +2 in attack and +1 defense, another player can move three squares and has +1 in attack, etc. At the start of the game, you can position your players as you wish, but the only constraint is to place them on the two lines near your in-goal.

Put the ball in the center and after choosing the player who goes first, each player can move two of their tokens during each turn. During the match, several actions can be carried out during the attack phase or the defense phase. Passes can only be done diagonally backwards or on the same line, the scrum, which allows you to run into the opposing player’s tokens, and there’s the kick, tackling, etc.

These actions are resolved with the attack and defense points of the tokens according to their bonuses and penalties and with your endurance cards and those of your opponent. The game ends when one of you has scored a try, but you can establish the rules in advance and agree to play limited games or with a certain score or a time limit.

Athletic Games

Pros:

✓ Requires some thinking and strategy
✓ Quick games
✓ Captivating game principle

Cons:

✕ Essentially card-based gameplay

Characteristics:

● Category: Card game
● Age: 7+
● Number of players: 2 to 5 players   
● Average duration: Around 15 minutes
● Manufacturer: Djeco

The goal of Athletic Games is to win as many gold medals as possible to climb your way up to first place and be declared the winner.

The rules of the game are very easy since the game is played with only cards and the setup only requires a few seconds. You will first deal every player 7 cards each, and then create a circle on the table of 5 cards drawn at random from the draw pile. The objective of the game is to place all of your cards correctly on the table, if you manage to do that in a single turn, you win a medal.

You can place the cards in three different ways: either on a card of the same value or on a card of the same category (same color); with a value of a number minus one or plus one; or by creating a hole in the circle of cards on the table by performing the two previous actions and therefore playing a new card from your hand. During your turn, you must play as many cards as possible. If you fail to do so, you will have to draw 3 cards and pass your turn to the next player. One technique you can use is to reverse the order of the cards placed on the table to create more possibilities for yourself.

Comparison Table