The 10 Most Expensive Board Games Ever Made

Pearl Royale Chess Set

One of the biggest hurdles to getting into board gaming is the fact that it can be quite an expensive hobby. Even fairly basic games require a variety of components from many different factories which keep production costs high. Still, while dropping $150 on Gloomhaven is justifiable for seasoned hobby gamers due to the quality and quantity of gameplay it offers, there are other price points that are much harder to justify.

For the most part, these are games that were simply made for the sake of excess and being expensive, shoving ridiculous price tags on them for the rich and stupid. These are the most expensive board games ever made.

Settlers of Catan 3D Collector’s Edition

Price: $1,500

We’re skipping three figures entirely and going straight into four-figure sums for these games. Settlers of Catan 3D is exactly what it sounds like, with carefully crafted 3D models of every tile, road, and settlement in the game. Originally limited to just 5,000 copies it came in a literal treasure chest and after the first run was done secondhand copies sold on eBay for as high as $1,500.

A 2021 reprint of the game has now brought that price down to a still far-too-high $300, but it’s a lot better than what came before.

Kingdom Death: Monster

Price: $2,500

Kingdom Death: Monster is a complicated but rewarding co-op game where you work to build a civilization, train up your armies, and hunt down massive monsters through a series of events and random encounters. It has some intricately designed minis that are a clear sign of an expensive game in the making.

The base version of the game can be bought for roughly $300, but if you want the full Kickstarter edition with all of the expansions and add-ons, you’ll need to pay $2,500 for the privilege.

Small World Designer Edition

Price: $4,600

Small World is an absolute classic in hobby gaming, as you and your friends fight for control over sections of a rather small map, with all sorts of different playable races, abilities, and scenarios as you build your empire.

Like Catan, Small World decided to release a limited run of bespoke handcrafted versions of the game, with everything modeled in full 3D, including boxes for each race and whole sacks full of metal coins for the game’s currency.

After its limited run ended it was common to see secondhand copies sold and ludicrous prices on eBay, peaking at $4,600.

Outrage! Deluxe Edition

Price: $15,000

Leaving four figures in the rearview mirror, we’re climbing into stupid territory now.

Outrage is a relatively old board game compared to modern hobby games, released in 1992. Players would roll dice and move carefully around the Tower of London as they attempted to steal the crown jewels, and clearly, the publishers thought they could steal some cash from rich fools while they were at it.

The Deluxe Edition costs $15,000 coming on a solid mahogany box board and tiny models of the crown jewels made from 18-karat gold – even the cards have gold-leaf edges.

Smart Scrabble

Price: $30,000

As we’ll see as we reach the top end of this list, people love turning classic board games and turning them into gem-studded expensive versions of themselves. While there is a version of Scrabble made almost entirely of crystals, it’s not quite as expensive as this modern electronic board.

Used for tournament play, this board is able to uniquely identify any piece placed on it and read them aloud, keeping track of entire games completely on its own.

Monopoly Atlantic City Edition

Price: $146,000

Often referred to as the “oldest Monopoly set in the world”, the Atlantic City Edition is one of 5,000 hand-made by the original creator of Monopoly before Parker Brothers bought the rights. Using a circle board rather than the familiar square, it still plays like the game we all know today – even the colors for all the properties are wrong.

These are incredibly rare finds today, which is why the last one to sell at auction sold for $146,000.

Sotheby’s Three-Game Set

Price: $960,000

Sotheby’s is one of those places that brand themselves around making expensive stuff. Doesn’t matter what it is they’re selling, it has to be ridiculously lavish and cost far more than it’s actually worth.

Case in point, this game set is made out of amber, ebony, and silver. On one side is a Chess or Checkers board, on the other side is Nine Men’s Morris, and on the inside is Backgammon. That doesn’t at all soften the blow of the fact that this game set sold for $960,000, which when you think about it, is only $320,000 per game – a bargain!

Solid Gold Monopoly

Price: $2 million

And now we leave the realm where money has any meaning and cross into the sets that cost millions of dollars.

The oldest ever Monopoly set might have more value to a collector, but that can’t outweigh the value of literal solid gold. The entire board and several of the cards are made of 18-karat gold, the properties, houses, and hotels all have gemstones built in, and even the solid-gold dice use diamonds for their spots.

It was created as a display piece for the Museum of American Finance – which is an upsetting thing to exist – and while it’s not for sale, it has been valued at roughly $2 million.

Pearl Royale Chess

Price: $4 million

A whole host of stupidly expensive chess sets have been commissioned over the years, but the Pearl Royale set is the most expensive one to actually ever be finished. Each piece is made of 18-karat white gold and is studded from top to bottom with white diamonds. Even one piece would cost you upwards of $20,000, but put them all together in a set and you’ll need to cough up $4 million to own it.

Charles Hollander Backgammon

Price: $5 million

Once upon a time, Backgammon had a reputation as one of the coolest games on Earth. Hollywood parties would feature stars gambling ridiculous sums of money on games, and entire Backgammon tournaments would be organized as an excuse for rich people to get drunk on a tropical island.

It’s no surprise then this eyesore of a set was created to appeal to such people. Studded with over 60,000 white, black, and yellow diamonds, this set is engraved with both silver and gold, with the counters also featuring just under 3,000 white diamonds total.

If you bought this set, you’d be $5 million worse off and a certifiably terrible person.