Is boardgamegeek.com a scam?

Our automated security review found no threat indicators on boardgamegeek.com. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.

Is boardgamegeek.com safe to use?

boardgamegeek.com passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 93/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.

Does boardgamegeek.com have a valid SSL certificate?

Yes. boardgamegeek.com presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Google Trust Services · WE1, expiring in 60 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.

How old is the boardgamegeek.com domain?

boardgamegeek.com is 26.2 years old, registered on 5/19/2000 through GoDaddy.com, LLC. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.

Has boardgamegeek.com been flagged by antivirus engines?

No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report boardgamegeek.com as clean.

Is boardgamegeek.com on any phishing or malware blacklists?

No. boardgamegeek.com is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.

Where is boardgamegeek.com hosted?

boardgamegeek.com resolves to an IP operated by Cloudflare, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.

How often is the boardgamegeek.com report updated?

This is a permanent record of the scan run on July 10, 2026. The verdict and evidence above reflect that scan and do not change on their own. If circumstances around boardgamegeek.com have changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan, which re-runs every check from scratch and publishes an updated report.

SAFE

No threats detected

All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.

Security Review

Is boardgamegeek.com legit or a scam?

Our verdict:Safe· 93/100

SafeSuspiciousDangerous

Established 26-year-old board game community site with clean scans and positive marketplace feedback.

Why we trust it

Domain registered 26.1 years ago with continuous operation since 2000.Zero detections across 92 antivirus engines and clean browser blocklist status.Active US business registration for BoardGameGeek, LLC with no dissolution records.

boardgamegeek.comScanned 1h ago

Post Facebook

Trust score

SAFE

Score breakdown

Heuristics 95·MT 92

See the live page ↓

Positive signals (5)

Antivirus clearNot on major blacklistsDomain is 26 years oldEncrypted connectionClean server reputation

View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence

0/92

All engines report clean

Domain Age

26 years old

Registered May 19, 2000

Intelligence

Safe

Low likelihood · 95% confidence

Website Preview

LIVE RENDER

boardgamegeek.com

1Professional layout with consistent branding for BoardGameGeek (BGG)

Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →

Visual analysis

We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.

/ 100

No visual red flags

No scam visual patterns detected

The screenshot shows a fully-rendered, professional community website for board games with no visual indicators of scamming or phishing.

Visual risk0/100

What our vision model saw

6 signals

Professional layout with consistent branding for BoardGameGeek (BGG)

Functional navigation menu with multiple sub-categories

High-quality original graphics and community-driven content

Standard user authentication options (Sign In / Join)

No deceptive urgency tactics or fake trust badges visible

Search bar and interactive UI elements are properly rendered

Intelligence

Advanced threat intelligence

Analysis

Low scam likelihoodengineMT · Guardiantrust92/100

MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection

Confidence

The domain has operated continuously since May 2000 under BoardGameGeek, LLC with active US business registration. Zero engines flagged the page and the hosting IP carries no abuse history. Visual analysis confirms a professional, fully-rendered community platform with original branding and no deceptive elements. Multiple Reddit threads spanning years report successful marketplace transactions when using standard buyer protections. No scam reports or complaints appear in the evidence package.

Full dossier

Analysis complete

Page Content

The site presents as the primary online hub for board game information, cataloguing over 150,000 titles with user ratings and reviews. Navigation includes clear category menus, a prominent search bar, and standard account options. No urgency language, fake trust seals, or checkout flows appear on the landing page.

Infrastructure

The domain resolves to IP 104.18.25.78 with an abuse score of zero and no reported incidents. SSL certificate issued by Google Trust Services remains valid for 60 days. A single internal redirect occurs with no cross-domain hops or homoglyph usage.

Domain History

Registered 26.1 years ago on 19 May 2000 through GoDaddy. The record lists BoardGameGeek, LLC as the owner with no privacy masking. Business registration confirms active status in the United States since the company's founding in 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko.

Web Reputation

Four independent Reddit threads document repeated successful purchases and trades through the site's marketplace. No scam reports, fraud complaints, or legal actions surface in the evidence package. The platform itself maintains active discussions warning users about external industry scams rather than being implicated in any.

What this means for you

BoardGameGeek operates as a legitimate, long-standing community resource. Users can safely browse the database and participate in the marketplace using normal buyer protections such as PayPal Goods & Services.

Positive Signals

Domain registered 26.1 years ago with continuous operation since 2000.
Zero detections across 92 antivirus engines and clean browser blocklist status.
Active US business registration for BoardGameGeek, LLC with no dissolution records.
Multiple user reports spanning years confirm reliable marketplace transactions.
Professional layout with original branding and no deceptive visual elements.

AI Recommendation

The site is safe to use for browsing and marketplace activity. Apply normal buyer protections such as PayPal Goods & Services for any transactions.

Next-gen fraud intelligence

Evidence-backedCross-checked

Web Research Findings

Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for boardgamegeek.com, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Business registration

Active · United States

Site traces back to an actively registered business.

Clone check

Not a clone

No well-known site's layout or branding detected here.

Typosquat check

No look-alike match

The domain doesn't resemble any well-known brand's spelling.

Web mentions

4 positive

Key findings

7 headline facts from open-web research

Domain registered in 2000 (26.1 years old as of 2026); founded January 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko; currently owned by Scott Alden / BoardGameGeek, LLC in the United States.
Widely recognized as the definitive online database and community for tabletop/board games with millions of user ratings, reviews, and over 150,000 games catalogued.
Hosts its own marketplace (Geek Market) where users buy/sell games directly; Reddit and BGG forum users consistently report positive experiences with transactions when using buyer protection like PayPal Goods & Services.
Trustpilot page for boardgamegeek.com shows limited reviews (8 total, average ~3/5); separate store site (boardgamegeekstore.com) has more reviews but lower score; no widespread scam allegations against the platform itself.
Site forums actively host discussions on scams, poor Kickstarter fulfillment, and shady publishers in the board game industry; BGG itself is not implicated.
No records of major complaints, fraud accusations, or legal controversies against BoardGameGeek, LLC or its operators found in searches; occasional user disputes over moderation or fake reviews on the platform.
Wikipedia, LinkedIn, and official site confirm long-standing legitimate operation with awards (e.g., Origins Hall of Fame) and annual conventions.

Positive reviews (4)

Quotes indicating the site is legitimate.

Reddit r/boardgamesopen
"I've done both Auctions and straight sales and never had an issue."
Reddit r/boardgamesopen
"I've done a trade via BGG, Haven't had any problems at all."
Reddit r/boardgamesopen
"I have bought and sold games via BGG many times over the years and have never had a problem."
Reddit r/boardgamesopen
"It's very reliable. "Very good" games often arrive in a near mint ("like new") condition."

Business registration

Status: active · United States

Operated as BoardGameGeek, LLC; founded and owned by Scott Alden (with co-founder Derk Solko); registered trademarks held by the LLC; active since 2000 with no dissolution records found.

Research summary

Narrative write-up from our AI analyst, grounded on the facts above

Our research located four Reddit posts where users describe successful purchases and trades through the BoardGameGeek marketplace. Threads span from 2015 to recent years and consistently note reliable delivery when using standard payment protections. No scam reports, fraud allegations, or consumer complaints appear in the evidence package.

Domain Timeline

May 19, 2000
Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 26 years old today.
Jul 10, 2026
Latest security review — Reviewed as safe
This scan re-ran every check and found no active threat signals.

boardgamegeek.com has operated for years with no threat signals in this review — a long, stable track record, though it is never a guarantee on its own.

Threat Detection

Antivirus Engines

Clean pass · verified

Clean across 92 engines

We cross-check every URL against our antivirus network of 92 malware and blacklist engines. None of them flagged this URL in the last scan.

0Malicious0Suspicious59Harmless92Engines

Clean

Kaspersky

Clean

Bitdefender

Clean

Microsoft

Not in pass

ESET-NOD32

Not in pass

Avira

Not in pass

Sophos

Clean

Fortinet

Clean

Google Safebrowsing

Clean

Emsisoft

Clean

No engine detections. The URL passed every antivirus and blacklist engine we queried in this scan. Stay vigilant — AV coverage is only one signal among many.

Security Scans

Blacklist Check

Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing

Not listedCheck ↗

VirusTotal

Not listedCheck ↗

AbuseIPDB

Not listedCheck ↗

Also verify:Spamhaus ↗DNSBL / SURBL ↗PhishTank ↗

Technical Details

domain · encryption · redirects · server reputation · referenced

Domain & Encryption

Domain History

Age26 years old

RegistrarGoDaddy.com, LLC

RegisteredMay 19, 2000

ExpiresMay 19, 2030

Owner privacyVisible

Encryption Certificate

StatusValid

ProtocolTLSv1.3

IssuerGoogle Trust Services · WE1

ExpiresSep 8, 2026 (60d)

Self-signedNo

Hosting & Technology

HostingCloudflare, Inc.

Server locationUS

Redirect Chain

Hops

Cross-domain

Lookalike

Punycode

1301http://boardgamegeek.com/
2403https://boardgamegeek.com/

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence

Confidence score0%

Reports on file0

ISPCloudflare, Inc.

Usage typeContent Delivery Network

What to do

Still, stay alert

No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.

Double-check the exact URL in your address bar
Confirm you are actually on boardgamegeek.com and not a lookalike like b-oardgamegeek.com.com or an IDN homoglyph.
Use a password manager
Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.
Discuss this site on the forum
If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.
Open

Final Verdict

Trust / 100

Final Verdict·boardgamegeek.com

SAFE

BoardGameGeek is a long-established board game database and community site. The 26-year-old domain shows no malicious detections and hosts an active marketplace with consistently positive user reports. No payment details are required to browse.

The site is safe to use for browsing and marketplace activity. Apply normal buyer protections such as PayPal Goods & Services for any transactions.

AV engines

Domain age

26 yrs

Flagged

Scan another URL

Security review completemalwaretips.com/url-scan

Safety FAQ

Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.

Our automated security review found no threat indicators on boardgamegeek.com. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
boardgamegeek.com passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 93/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
Yes. boardgamegeek.com presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Google Trust Services · WE1, expiring in 60 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
boardgamegeek.com is 26.2 years old, registered on 5/19/2000 through GoDaddy.com, LLC. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report boardgamegeek.com as clean.
No. boardgamegeek.com is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
boardgamegeek.com resolves to an IP operated by Cloudflare, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
This is a permanent record of the scan run on July 10, 2026. The verdict and evidence above reflect that scan and do not change on their own. If circumstances around boardgamegeek.com have changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan, which re-runs every check from scratch and publishes an updated report.

Recently scanned

Other Safe reports

Community review

User reviews & comments(0)

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This report is generated automatically by combining threat intelligence, domain signals, and an AI security analyst. It is informational, not legal advice. Always use your own judgement before sharing personal information or money online.