Where to Buy Board Games in Singapore (A Parent’s Honest Guide)

This post exists because of a complaint. Miley’s colleague has been reading the blog — which is lovely — but she pulled Miley aside recently with two gripes. One: I keep recommending games without ever telling anyone where to actually buy them. Two: when she went looking, some of the games were either impossible to find in local shops or cost more than she expected. Fair point.

Both, if I’m being straight, my fault for writing thirty-odd posts about games without once answering the obvious next question: okay, so where do I get it, and what should it cost?

Most “where to buy board games in Singapore” guides are just a list of shop addresses and phone numbers, half of which have moved or closed since the article was written. Not too useful if I were to be bluntly honest. Definitely useless if you’re a parent standing in the living room thinking “the kids need something for the June holidays and I don’t want to overpay.”

So this is the fix. Where I actually buy games for my three kids, which places suit young children versus serious hobbyists, and how not to overpay. To be frank, I am looking to add a couple of affiliate links (Not Up yet) — they cost you nothing extra and will help to keep the blog running — but the recommendations are exactly what I’d tell a colleague in the staffroom or the next parent I chat up with in my kiddo’s classmates’ birthday parties.

The short answer

If you want the quick version and you’re buying for young children: for a specific game at a good price, check Shopee and Lazada first, because that’s where the deals are. For browsing with the kids and getting solid advice, a physical toy or hobby shop is worth the trip. Toys”R”Us is the obvious one — genuinely stocked, easy to reach, and carrying all the mainstream family and basic titles: the Monopolys and their thousand variants, Cluedo, Jenga, Connect 4, Game of Life, Rummikub. Nothing niche, but exactly right for a birthday-gift dash.

TOYTAG is the specialist — though it’s online-and-collection, not a browse-in shop, as I’ll explain. There are also dedicated kids’ toy shops like Toy Station (at Serene Centre) that stock family publishers like Gamewright alongside Ticket to Ride and Catan, though it’s worth calling ahead to check stock before you make the trip. They retail online as well via their own website and could be found on Shopee too.

My personal preference is to be on the prowl and lookout for anything out of print or a bargain second-hand via Carousell – the local secret weapon. It’s where I found our copy of Karak at $30 SGD, still shrink-wrapped, as well as our recent fave – a much preloved Zooloretto with the expansion too at only SGD $10. (Fun game but a game where you probably need to mentally prep your kids not to lose their mind when others take their dream truck away.

Well, the rest of this post is just the detail behind that, and when each one is the right call.

Why so much of this is online (a very Singapore problem)

Here’s something you’ll notice the moment you go looking: Singapore doesn’t really have the cosy neighbourhood board-game shop you see in other countries, the kind you can wander into on a weekend and browse for an hour. And the reason is harsh — exorbitant rents. Retail space in our malls is punishingly expensive, and board games are a tough product to justify it with: big boxes, a lot of shelf space, slow to sell. So the maths rarely works.

Over the years I’ve watched shops shrink, relocate to cheaper corners, or quietly move to an online-plus-collection model such as Toytag. Toystation at Thomson Plaza closed down and their sole surviving shop is in Serene Centre (not your posh mall for sure). Even my well loved local guy who sold games via a website called boardgamelifestyle.com could not survive the harsh reality of Singapore’s market.

It’s not that Singapore doesn’t love games. It’s that a shopfront full of them is one of the harder ways to make rent here.

Which is the real reason this guide leans the way it does. In most of the world I’d tell you to go browse a shop. Here, online is the sensible default for most families — better prices, more range, no rental mark-up baked in — and the physical trip is reserved for the specific times it’s worth it. That’s not a compromise. It’s just how buying games works in a city where every square foot costs a fortune.

Buying online — where the deals are

For most parents, most of the time, online is the sensible first stop. You’re not paying for shopfront rent, the price competition is brutal in your favour, and you’re not dragging three overstimulated children through a mall. The trade-off is you can’t handle the box or ask anyone anything, so it works best when you already know the title you want — which, if you’ve been reading the reviews here, you probably do.

There’s a real case for going in person when you’re buying for younger children, and it’s not nostalgia. You can see the actual box size, judge whether the pieces are a choking risk for a younger sibling, and — the big one — ask a human “my kid is six and hates losing, what works?” A good shop assistant who plays games will save you from an expensive mistake. Just know that the surviving physical scene splits into a few types, and only some suit a family with primary-schoolers.

Toys”R”Us is the obvious first stop for mainstream titles — properly stocked, easy to reach, and carrying all the family and party crowd-pleasers: the Monopolys and their thousand variants, Cluedo, Jenga, Connect 4, Game of Life, Rummikub. Disclaimer: Nothing niche, but exactly right for a birthday-gift dash. You’ll pay retail rather than a Shopee bargain — roughly $25 for a Monopoly Junior, mid-$30s for Cluedo, at the time of writing — but you’re buying it right off the shelf, without having to wait dearly for delivery.

The hobby game stores are a different animal. Places like Games @ PI at Midpoint Orchard (one of the largest in Singapore), Gamersaurus Rex, Battle Bunker, and the various heartland stores are fantastic — but many lean heavily toward Warhammer, Magic: The Gathering, and serious hobbyist fare. Brilliant if your kid is older and getting into the hobby properly; slightly intimidating, and often not the right stock, if you just want a light game for a six-year-old. The staff are usually happy to point you to the family shelf, so don’t be put off — just go in knowing what you’re after. If your child is heading into the deeper end of the hobby, these are exactly where you want to be, and I’d say a visit is part of the fun.

How not to overpay

A few habits that save real money over a year of buying games. Compare the Shopee and Lazada price against the physical-shop price before you commit — the gap on a popular title can be significant, and it swings both ways during sales. Buy two games together to clear the free-shipping threshold rather than paying delivery twice. Watch for the platform mega-sales (the double-digit dates — 6.6, 7.7, and so on) if you can plan a birthday or holiday purchase around them. And check Carousell for anything expensive before buying new; a $60 game bought sealed second-hand for $35 is the same game.

The bigger money-saver, though, is simpler, and it speaks straight to Miley’s colleague’s second complaint about price: buy fewer, better games and actually play them. A well-chosen game that comes out twenty times is a far better use of the money than three cheap ones played once. And you don’t need the $50–$60 boxes to get there — plenty of excellent games sit in the $20–$30 range, and I’ve rounded those up separately.

The expensive box isn’t what makes the memory. The people around the table are. Which is the whole reason I write the reviews the way I do — so the one you buy is one that stays on the table.

So where should you actually buy?

If I had to boil it down for a parent buying for young kids: know the title, buy it on Shopee or Lazada and pocket the difference. Not sure yet and want to browse or ask, visit boardgamegeek for some advice or drop me a message. Buying something pricey or hunting an older title, check Carousell first.

And if your kid’s genuinely falling for the hobby, take them to one of the physical stores, browse through and let them feel like they’ve found the good stuff — because they have.

Wherever you buy it, the game only earns its keep when it’s out of the shrink-wrap and on the table with everyone arguing over the rules. That’s the bit that matters. The shop is just the boring part before the fun.