At first glance, League of Legends (LoL) doesn’t seem like it would have much in common with card tables or board games. One is an online arena where champions flash around casting spells, and the others often involve quiet thinking or even poker faces. But take a closer look, and some surprising connections start to show. Behind the animations and clicking mice, there’s a lot more in common than most people realize.
Here are a few games that share unexpected crossover with League of Legends, starting with a classic: poker.
Poker: The Quiet War of Minds
It’s not about cards. Not really. Sure, poker players sit with chips and hope for the right hand, but the real game is played between the eyes. Reading people. Sensing hesitation. Spotting bluffing patterns. Recognizing when someone is pushing hard without the cards to back it up.
Poker is a traditional game with hundreds of years of history, so it might come as a surprise that there is a place where poker and League of Legends meet. Poker has even followed a path that has brought it online, and is most commonly played competitively via the internet. The world of online poker continues to evolve as people have more options to play than ever. This is another parallel with LOL, which has a huge number of online players.
In high-level LoL, the best players are constantly trying to guess what their opponents are thinking. Will the jungle gank top lane? Is the ADC baiting a fight? Can the enemy really engage, or are they bluffing? Hey – that term even comes from the game of poker.
Both games also make it easier to learn more from the pros and the very best in the world – online research makes it possible to watch the pros in action.
Both games reward calm under pressure. Both ask players to make decisions with incomplete information. And both can turn on a single event…
Chess
Chess may not come with a chat box full of flames and emotes, but it’s got many factors that LoL players know well: calculated aggression. Planning. Control.
Every game of League has a structure. Just like chess, players must think moves ahead. A good jungler isn’t just farming camps. They’re setting up warding paths and anticipating where the enemy might be five minutes from now. Even choosing a champion involves a level of strategy for players.
It’s strategic layering. LoL players who understand macro gameplay are really just playing chess at 300 actions per minute. Where to rotate, when to push, how to trade towers for dragons… It is a myth that poker players can think 30 moves ahead, but it is possible that some are thinking 10 or so moves ahead.
Sometimes sacrifices must be made. Give up a lane. Let someone else take the glory. Play the long game.
Codenames: The Language of Clarity
Here’s a curveball. Codenames, the word game where teammates give single-word clues to connect related words on a board, might seem like it’s from another universe. But look again.
Communication in League of Legends is everything. And clarity matters. When a shotcaller pings “on the way,” or someone says “go in now,” the entire team is relying on those few words to act fast. There’s no time to explain, only time to be clear.
Codenames works the same way. Players need to give precise clues without over-explaining. The goal is understanding each other with limited information, just like in LoL voice comms or chat. It’s about trust and being on the same wavelength.
Okay, these two aren’t exactly peas in a pod, but there are similarities there!
Go: Mastering Territory and Pressure
Old. Minimalist. Played with black and white stones on a grid. The game of Go has been around for thousands of years, and it is fair to say Go might not scream “Esports” to most, but its DNA has plenty in common with League.
In Go, the goal is to control territory by placing stones. But it’s not just about grabbing space. It’s about pressure and about using threats without overextending. That should sound familiar to anyone who’s fought for mid-lane prio or tried to sneak a Baron with one ward still active.
League of Legends is a game of map control. Vision battles. Slow pressure. Forcing enemies to respond. That’s Go all over. Small, steady gains snowball into a win.
More than that, Go players develop patience. They wait and trap. They don’t rush. The best LoL teams play the same way. They don’t always win with kills – they may win with control.
So maybe it’s not that surprising after all. Beneath the surface, League of Legends shares core mechanics with all kinds of games. People may find that there are more crossovers than they initially assumed, even as games have become digital and gradually moved online.
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