Artic vs Boardgames

In-depth architectural comparison of the Artic and Boardgames MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Artic when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Artic Details

Choose Boardgames when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Boardgames Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Artic Developer Tools	Boardgames Developer Tools
Summary	Art Institute of Chicago MCP — wraps the ARTIC public API (free, no auth)	Boardgames MCP — wraps Board Game Atlas API (public demo client_id, free)
Category & Scope	Developer Tools	Developer Tools
Quality signal

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "artic": {
      "url": "https://pipeworx.io"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "boardgames": {
      "url": "https://pipeworx.io"
    }
  }
}

Related MCP Server Comparisons