Small World Board Game

The Area Control Game That Is Actually Fun. It’s The area control game that works for people who think they hate area control. Not to be confused with the ride at Disneyland.

What Is Small World?

Small World is the area control game I recommend to people who bounced off Risk or heard the words ‘area control’ and immediately thought ‘not for me’. It strips away the hours-long commitment, the player elimination, and the analysis paralysis that puts people off the genre. What it replaces them with is Flying Wizards, Berserk Halflings, and Merchant Skeletons.

Designed by Philippe Keyaerts and published by Days of Wonder, Small World plays 2 to 5 players in 40 to 80 minutes. You control fantasy races competing for territory on a board explicitly too small for all of them, collecting coins for the territories you hold, and eventually choosing to abandon your race entirely and pick a new one when it runs out of steam.

The combination of fantasy silliness and tight territory management makes it one of the most approachable conflict games available. It is funny, it is competitive, and it ends before anyone feels ground down.

Key Game Information

Players	2 to 5 (best at 3 to 4)
Play time	40 to 80 minutes
Designer	Philippe Keyaerts
Publisher	Days of Wonder
Year	2009
Categories	Strategy Games, Family Games, Area Control Games, American Style Games
Mechanics	Area Control, Drafting, Direct Interaction, Variable Player Powers and Asymmetry
Theme	Fantasy
Complexity	Medium-light
Best for	Groups who want direct conflict and territory control without a six-hour time commitment, or anyone who disliked Risk but wants to try the genre again

How to Play Small World

A row of race tiles is laid out with a special power badge randomly assigned to each one. The combinations are wild: you might see Seafaring Trolls, Flying Sorcerers, or Diplomatic Halflings. Each combination changes how you play.

On your turn you may first put your active race into decline. You flip all but one token per territory face down, leaving a ghost of your former empire on the board. Declined races still score, but cannot conquer new territories.

Once your active race is chosen (either a new race or continuing your existing one), you conquer adjacent territories. To take a territory you need tokens equal to the defence value, which is two by default, plus one for each token already there, one for a mountain, and one for a fortification or some special abilities.

After conquering, you redeploy any tokens you picked up during the turn to territories you already own. At the end of your turn, collect one coin per territory your active race occupies. Declined races also score coins.

When to go into decline

This is the most interesting decision in Small World. Going into decline feels like losing ground because you are giving up an active conquering force. But staying with a race past its peak means fewer territories and fewer coins.

The right moment to decline is usually just before your race would have to defend more than it can attack. Spotting that inflection point, and not waiting one round too long, is what separates experienced Small World players from new ones.

Playing Small World at Different Player Counts

2 players: Works, but it is the weakest version. The board is sized down for two players, but with only one opponent the territorial decisions feel more mechanical and less chaotic. There is less of the jostling and alliance-shifting that makes higher counts feel alive. Fine for a short game, but not the version you will want to return to most.

3 players: A step up. You now have to watch two opponents and the decision about who to target becomes genuinely interesting. The coin race starts to feel competitive. Most players find three a solid count.

4 players: The sweet spot. The board is contested from the first round, going into decline becomes urgent earlier, and the scoring race is tight enough that every territory matters. This is the count Small World is designed for.

5 players: Chaotic in a good way. Everything happens faster, races cycle quicker, and the board is an absolute scrum. Plays longer than the box suggests at five. Good if your group enjoys maximum noise and conflict. Not good if anyone wants to sit back and plan carefully.

Playing Small World Solo

There is no official solo mode for Small World. The game is built entirely around the territorial conflict between players — the tension of watching opponents’ races cycle, timing your own decline against theirs, and reading the board state all require real opponents.

A solo experience would remove the element that makes the game interesting. Small World Underground includes a mini-game for solo play but it is a different product. The base Small World game needs a group.

Components and Production Quality

Days of Wonder are known for production quality and Small World delivers. The race tiles are thick and well illustrated. The special power badges have a pleasing tactile quality. The tokens are wooden and feel substantial on the board.

The double-sided board is one of the best design decisions in the box: one side is used for 2 to 3 players and the other for 4 to 5, scaling the territory count to the player count. Setup takes under ten minutes and the card-based race randomisation means you do not need to fiddle with configuration options.

The Fantasy illustration style is bright and distinct. Each race has its own token art and the special power badges are clearly differentiated. Colour-blind players may want to check the token colours in their edition before buying, as some older printings have less distinct colour separation.

The insert is functional, keeps races sorted by colour, and survives being tipped around in transit. Small World is a game that travels well physically.

Expansions and Other Versions

Cursed! (2009): The first major expansion. Adds 8 new races and 20 new special powers including the Cursed power that forces opponents to take negative effects. A good first expansion that integrates cleanly.

Grand Dames of Small World (2009): Adds three races with female leaders: Amazons, White Ladies, and Gypsies. Small but interesting additions to the race pool.

Be Not Afraid… (2010): Adds 6 new races including Giants and Skags. More variety for experienced players who want to refresh the race combinations.

Small World Underground (2011): A standalone game set beneath the Small World surface. Different terrain types, new races, and a subterranean board. Not an expansion for the base game but a companion product. Includes a solo variant. Worth owning alongside the original if you play Small World regularly.

Small World of Warcraft (2020): A licensed version using Warcraft races and factions. Same core mechanics, different theme and some unique faction abilities. A good gateway for groups who know Warcraft but not Small World.

Sky Islands and River World (2021): A More recent expansion adding aerial and river terrain types to the base game. Both add interesting new strategic angles without increasing complexity significantly.

Digital Versions

Small World is available on Board Game Arena with a solid implementation. The automated race-and-power combination generation and the automated scoring make online play clean. Asynchronous play works well given Small World’s turn-by-turn structure.

There is also a dedicated Small World 2 app on iOS and Android. The app includes the base game and several expansion races, AI opponents at multiple difficulty levels, and online multiplayer. The AI provides a reasonable challenge for solo practice. The interface is clean and handles the race token management well.

Both digital options work. The BGA version is the better choice for playing with friends. The app is better for solo practice and learning the race combinations.

If You Like Small World, Try These

Cyclades: Area control with a Greek mythology theme and a bidding mechanic for divine favour. More complex than Small World and more direct in its conflict. The natural next step for players who want deeper strategic territory management.

Kemet: More confrontational than Small World and significantly more complex. Asymmetric powers, action selection, and a very different pace. Worth trying if you want a heavier conflict experience.

Carcassonne: Much lighter and completely non-confrontational, but the same sense of building presence on a shared map. Good for groups who liked placing tokens but found Small World’s direct conflict too sharp.

Blood Rage: Area control with Viking mythology and miniatures. More complex, longer, and more direct than Small World. A good recommendation for players who loved Small World’s chaos and want it at a higher stakes level.

Risk: Yes, actually. If Small World clicked and you want to understand why it is different from Risk, playing Risk once with experienced players is instructive. Small World is the better game in almost every way, but understanding the comparison is useful context.

Final Thoughts on Small World

Small World taught me that area control can be funny. The race combinations produce absurd situations, the Diplomatic Ghouls loophole is a genuine rules interaction that people still argue about at my table years later, and the whole game ends before anyone has time to get properly upset about losing their empire.

Its limitation is depth. Experienced area control players who want long-term strategic planning and meaningful asymmetry will find Small World slightly thin. The race cycling creates freshness but it also means you rarely feel deeply invested in any single empire.

For mixed groups, families, or anyone who wants conflict without commitment, it is one of the most reliable games on my shelf. It teaches in 15 minutes, plays in under 90, and produces a memorable moment almost every session.

The Diplomatic Ghouls incident has been mentioned at every session since the night it happened. That is what Small World does.

One sentence verdict: Small World is the best area control game for groups who do not normally play area control games.

Buy Small World

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Don’t Just Take my word for it

When i first got back into Tabletop i found Wil Wheatons Tabletop really useful to see games played and better judge what I would like. The first Tabletop episode was for Small World. I found it because i played a lot of Starcraft 2 at the time and Sean (Day-9) Plott was on the episode which helped spiral off into the world of Tabletop games