The following are common themes for tabletop games, derived from BoardGameGeek‘s categories. Pages shows the number of pages of games with this theme (out of date now, but intended as a relative indicator of popularity).
| Pages | Theme | Game Examples | ||
| 50+ | Economic | Terra Mystica | Caverna | Through the Ages |
| 50+ | Educational | 1775: Rebellion | Freedom: The Underground Railroad | Evolution |
| 50+ | Fantasy | Terra Mystica | Caverna | Mage Knight |
| 50+ | Fighting | Mage Knight | Star Wars: Imperial Assault | Eclipse |
| 50+ | Movie / TV / Radio | Star Wars: Imperial Assault | Battlestar Galactica | Legendary Encounters |
| 50+ | Science Fiction | Twilight Imperium | Star Wars: Imperial Assault | Android: Netrunner |
| 50+ | Trivia | Wits & Wagers | Fauna | Timeline |
| 50+ | Wargame | Twilight Struggle | Twilight Imperium | Star Wars: Imperial Assault |
| 43 | Sports | Blood Bowl | PitchCar | Formula D |
| 42 | Animals | Caverna | Agricola | Dominant Species |
| 41 | World War II | Combat Commander: Europe | Memoir ‘44 | Advanced Squad Leader |
| 39 | Racing | RoboRally | PitchCar | Formula D |
| 36 | Humor | Dixit Quest | Dungeon Petz | Galaxy Trucker |
| 28 | Adventure | Mage Knight Board Game | Star Wars: Imperial Assault | War of the Ring |
| 28 | Word Game | Codenames | Paperback | Beyond Balderdash |
| 24 | Medieval | Dominion | The Castles of Burgundy | Caylus |
| 23 | Deduction | Codenames | Battlestar Galactica | The Resistance |
| 19 | Horror | Dead of Winter | Eldritch Horror | Legendary Encounters |
| 18 | Ancient | 7 Wonders: Duel | Tzolk’n | Tigris & Euphrates |
| 18 | Exploration | Mage Knight | Robinson Crusoe | Descent |
| 18 | Nautical | Dominion: Seaside | Le Havre | Keyflower |
| 17 | Novel-based | War of the Ring | Robinson Crusoe | Eldritch Horror |
| 15 | Political | Twilight Struggle | Twilight Imperium | Battlestar Galactica |
| 14 | Travel | Ticket to Ride | The Voyages of Marco Polo | Orleans |
| 13 | Math | Sleeping Queens | Utopia Engine | Zeus on the Loose |
| 13 | Transportation | Brass | Ticket to Ride | Galaxy Trucker |
| 12 | Aviation/Flight | Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures | The Manhattan Project | Airlines Europe |
| 12 | Modern Warfare | Twilight Struggle | Labyrinth: The War on Terror | Fire in the Lake |
| 11 | Comic Book | Legendary | Sentinels of the Multiverse | Marvel Dice Masters |
| 10 | City Building | Puerto Rico | Lords of Waterdeep | Le Havre |
| 10 | Trains | Ticket to Ride | Russian Railroads | Railways of the World |
| 9 | Murder / Mystery | Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective | Letters from Whitechapel | Mysterium |
| 9 | Napoleonic | Commands & Colors: Napoleonics | Napoleon’s Triumph | Manoeuvre |
| 9 | Pirates | Merchants & Marauders | Libertalia | Friday |
| 9 | Religious | Ora et Labora | Orleans | Here I Stand |
| 9 | Space Exploration | Twilight Imperium | Eclipse | Race for the Galaxy |
| 8 | American West | Lewis & Clark | Carson City | Shadows of Brimstone |
| 8 | Book | Warmachine | Infinity | Warhammer |
| 8 | Civilization | Terra Mystica | Twilight Imperium | Through the Ages |
| 8 | Mythology | Tzolk’in | Blood Rage | Five Tribes |
| 8 | Zombies | Dead of Winter | Earth Reborn | Zombicide |
| 7 | American Civil War | Freedom: The Underground Railroad | Battle Cry | For the People |
| 7 | Environmental | Pandemic Legacy | Dominant Species | Takenoko |
| 7 | Industry/Manufacturing | Power Grid | Brass | Le Havre |
| 7 | World War I | Paths of Glory | The Grizzled | Wings of War |
| 6 | Farming | Caverna | Puerto Rico | Agricola |
| 6 | Maze | Ricochet Robots | Dungeon Twister | Burgle Bros. |
| 6 | Music | Opera | Rock the Beat | Schrille Stille |
| 6 | Spies / Secret Agents | Codenames | Battlestar Galactica | Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective |
| 6 | Video Game | Railways of the World | Age of Empires III | Sid Meier’s Civilization |
| 5 | Renaissance | Keyflower | El Grande | Goa |
| 4 | Mafia | Ca$h ‘n Gun$ | Nothing Personal | Junta |
| 4 | Prehistoric | Dominant Species | Stone Age | Evolution |
| 3 | Age of Reason | A Few Acres of Snow | Maria | Saint Petersburg |
| 3 | American Revolutionary War | 1775: Rebellion | Washington’s War | We the People |
| 3 | Civil War (in general) | Sekigahara | Pax Porfiriana | Julius Caesar |
| 3 | Medical | Pandemic | Infection | Zombie State |
| 2 | American Indian Wars | A Few Acres of Snow | 1775: Rebellion | Washington’s War |
| 2 | Arabian | Five Tribes | Tales of the Arabian Nights | Yspahan |
| 2 | Pike and Shot | Virgin Queen | Hamburgum | Unhappy King Charles |
| 2 | Post-Napoleonic | Castles of Mad King Ludwig | Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective | Letters from Whitechapel |
| 2 | Vietnam War | Fire in the Lake | Fields of Fire | Phantom Leader |
| 1 | Korean War | Fields of Fire | The Korean War | Korea: The Forgotten War |