4 Elegantly-Designed Wooden Tabletop Toys for Stylish Gamers
The earliest board game dates back 4,600 years to ancient Mesopotamia, and board gaming has been a popular pastime ever since. While many tabletop games feature bright, colorful game pieces, many newer board games are opting for more muted aesthetics in order to blend in better with thoughtfully-designed living spaces. These games are more like modern art pieces, adding simple, elegant beauty to the shelf, coffee table, desk, or tabletop they occupy. Take a look at these gorgeous games perfect for anyone that likes to play and appreciates beautiful woodworking!
This attractive set of wooden blocks and molded wood base board are used to play a deceptively simple game about building skyscrapers. Though there are only a few basic rules and a relatively small number of game pieces, its short rounds call for a surprising degree of strategic planning. Visually, Gigamic’s Skybridge stuns, featuring a solid brown board and vividly-stained wooden blocks in four natural colors. The whole game weighs in at over four pounds due to its heavy, sturdy construction and measures just under a foot on each side when fully assembled.
This tabletop game’s balancing-act gameplay makes for a visually striking design, adding a carefully-weighted wooden scale to your game room. Rock Me Archimedes challenges players to advance their marbles across a tilting grid, taking care not to disturb the board’s balance enough for one of its ends to touch the tabletop. Assembled from polished light and dark brown wood, its two-tone color scheme makes it easy to fit into an existing aesthetic. Enjoy quick two-player games and try not to get tilted!
Here’s another attractive and interactive conversation starter: a pyramid of light and dark brown wooden spheres on a rich brown base, marked only with its enigmatic name. Pylos has you taking turns to add or reposition pieces to score points and win. With only a limited number of moves that can be made, the game demands players think ahead to secure victory. As a winner of one of Mensa’s Top 5 Best Games awards, this one’s a great fit for those looking for a good brain teaser that’s also easy on the eyes!
The game of mancala originated in ancient Egypt sometime around the 7th century, and is a two-player strategy game requiring players to capture their opponent’s pieces through specific movements around two rows of cup-like indentations. This particular design uses high-precision laser cutting to carve blocks of solid cherry into beautiful game boards, with unique organic textures that show off the wood grain and resemble ancient artifacts. Each set is one of a kind and includes clear dark blue gemstones for use in gameplay - and in case you need to teach someone how to play, the rules are etched on the bottom!