Board Game Geek API
Overview
BoardGameGeek's XML API 2 lets you access a massive database of over 100,000 board games, RPGs, and video games including ratings, reviews, and user collections. It returns XML responses, so you'll need a parser like xml2js in Node.js or Python's xml.etree. This API is great for building board game lookup tools, collection trackers, or recommendation systems.
Beginner Tip
BGG throttles rapid requests — add a short delay (500ms) between calls and always cache responses locally to avoid being blocked.
Available Data
Example Response
{
"id": 1,
"name": "Board Game Geek",
"data": "Board games, RPG and videogames",
"source": "Board Game Geek"
} Field Reference
item.@id Unique BoardGameGeek item ID used in all API calls. item.name Array of name objects; the primary name has sortindex='1'. item.statistics.ratings.average.@value Community average rating out of 10. item.statistics.ratings.numvoters.@value Total number of community ratings submitted. item.minplayers.@value Minimum number of players recommended for the game. item.playingtime.@value Average playing time in minutes. Implementation Example
const url = "https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BGG_XML_API2";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data); What Can You Build?
Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.
Common Errors & Troubleshooting
Matrix Score Breakdown
Fully tested on Apr 5, 2026
Technical Specifications
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