For several decades, there have been places where you were able to play games online. And nope, I'm talking about cyber cafes now, though it's actually related. I'm talking about websites like Newgrounds or Armor Games were back in the days of Flash.

You'd say that in terms of board games you'd be secluded to console or PC ports, but you're wrong. Allow me to introduce you a website like the ones mentioned above, but focused on online versions of the board games you can play at home.

Board Game Arena currently has 1164 different board games on its website to play. It's an immense number which is further enhanced by the 185 games which are labelled as being in Beta, something akin to the Early Access of Steam for newly created games still under public testing or simply games not further developed into a full release. Impressive numbers that are also accompanied by quality, both due to the games that list includes as well as the great job done by the programmers to get those games playable.

All you need to do is create an account (or use another account to log in like Google or Discord) and you're free to join any session created for any game. Several of them also have tutorials available to further learn the game and how it works on the site. You can also create your own tables, though there are games labelled as Premium where you can join and create tables but without a premium user the game cannot commence (obviously, premium users are users who pay, monthly fees are at around 5$ for this and many other perks).

There are many other functions like tournaments and the ultracompetitive arena seasons, but the most liked one by far is turn-based gaming. When creating/joining a session, it can either be for immediate live play with up to two minutes per move or you can play turn-based with one move per day. This allows you to both play right there or program matches to play for a long while if you only have a few minutes everyday and want to play several games.

I've barely played live as I prefer the real thing and play with people right besides me, but I have played extensively in turn-based. It's perfect to have several games up at once and also doesn't require more than 10 minutes daily so it's perfect for the lunch break or similar things. All the while playing different matches for different games and opening up new ones whenever I can.

I normally go to play the ones I know and I have tried in real life, so I know the rules (or so I should, some people explains and/or plays their own way) and only need to see how the game functions on the site. Sometimes I test out new things, which I later play in real life if I have the chance or simply enjoy them there because it's nigh impossible to find them where I live for reasons.

I think it's an awesome place, even if like always there's some troublesome people that play dirty, go offline for weeks and other social behaviors you probably can guess. Still, it's a very nice time killer and it's always nice to see what they keep adding regularly and the updates the games receive like expansions and other variants.

If anybody feels like trying it, here you have link for the site. I'm not around much, but if anybody wants to hit me up and play something together turn-based (I'm not a premium user, or at least just yet) I'd be more than willing.