X is the rarest letter in gaming — but it is not empty.
Every game below is listed with the details that actually decide whether it suits your table: player count, playing time, the age it works from, and who designed it.
Board Games Starting With X at a Glance
| Game | Players | Time | Age | Designer & year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiangqi | 2 | 30-60 min | 6+ | — |
| Xia: Legends of a Drift System | 3-5 | 60-240 min | 12+ | Cody Miller, 2014 |
| X-Wing Miniatures Game | 2 | 30-45 min | 14+ | Jason Little, 2012 |
Xiangqi
2 players · 30-60 min · Age 6+
Chinese chess, played on the intersections of the lines rather than the squares, with a river across the middle and a palace that confines each general to nine points. The cannon, which must jump a piece to capture, has no equivalent in Western chess and drives most of the tactics. By number of players it is among the most-played board games on Earth.
Xia: Legends of a Drift System
3-5 players · 60-240 min · Age 12+ · Cody Miller, 2014
An open-world space sandbox in which players take whatever work they like – mining, cargo, bounty hunting, outright piracy – and win by fame rather than by a single scripted objective. Ships are miniatures with modular upgrades, and the map is built from tiles that differ each game. It is long and swingy, and it is one of very few board games that genuinely feels like a sandbox video game.
X-Wing Miniatures Game
2 players · 30-45 min · Age 14+ · Jason Little, 2012
Star Wars dogfighting with pre-painted miniatures, where both players secretly dial in a manoeuvre and then execute in order of pilot skill. Guessing where your opponent will be, not aiming, is the skill. Squads are built to a points budget, so it plays as a tabletop miniatures game rather than a board game in a box.
