Настільна гра цікава.

In Ukrainian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So:

• Настільна гра цікава. = The board game is interesting.

This is completely normal Ukrainian.
If you want past or future, then forms of бути appear:

• Настільна гра була цікава. = The board game was interesting.
• Настільна гра буде цікава. = The board game will be interesting.

So the missing is is not a mistake—it is standard grammar.

Because they both agree with the noun гра, which is feminine singular nominative.

• гра = game (feminine)
• настільна = feminine singular form of настільний
• цікава = feminine singular form of цікавий

Ukrainian adjectives change their endings to match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

So here everything is feminine singular nominative:

• настільна гра
• гра цікава

If the noun were masculine, you would get different endings:

• настільний стіл цікавий = The desk/table is interesting

The dictionary forms are the masculine singular nominative forms:

• настільний = board / tabletop / desktop
• цікавий = interesting

In dictionaries, Ukrainian adjectives are normally listed in this masculine form, even if the sentence uses a feminine form like настільна or цікава.

They are in the nominative case.

Breakdown:

• гра — nominative singular
• настільна — nominative singular feminine, agreeing with гра
• цікава — nominative singular feminine, also agreeing with гра

This is because the sentence structure is basically:

• [subject] + [adjective predicate]

So гра is the subject, and цікава describes it.

Yes. Цікава is still an adjective.

Here it is used predicatively, meaning it functions like interesting in The game is interesting.

Compare:

• цікава гра = an interesting game

  • adjective directly modifies the noun

• Гра цікава. = The game is interesting.

  • adjective is the predicate description

So the word is still an adjective; it is just being used in a different way.

Ukrainian does not have articles like English a/an/the.

So Настільна гра цікава can mean:

• The board game is interesting
• A board game is interesting

Which one sounds best depends on context.
In actual translation, English usually has to add the or a, but Ukrainian does not.

A helpful approximation is:

• na-STIL-na hra tsi-KA-va

With stress:

• насті́льна гра́ ціка́ва

A few pronunciation notes:

• г in гра is usually pronounced like a voiced h sound, not a hard English g
• ц sounds like ts
• і sounds like ee in see
• ль in настільна is a soft l

So гра sounds more like hra, not gra.

Yes, Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible, but the most neutral version here is:

• Настільна гра цікава.

If you move words around, the meaning may stay similar, but the focus or style can change.

For example:

• Цікава настільна гра.
  This more naturally sounds like An interesting board game rather than The board game is interesting.

So for a simple beginner sentence meaning The board game is interesting, the original order is the safest and most natural choice.

Literally, настільна is related to table / tabletop / desk, so yes, the expression originally has that sense.

But in normal modern Ukrainian, настільна гра is the standard way to say:

• board game
• sometimes more broadly tabletop game

So it is a normal fixed expression, not a strange word-for-word translation.

In the plural, both the noun and adjectives change:

• Настільні ігри цікаві. = Board games are interesting.

Compare singular and plural:

• настільна гра цікава — feminine singular
• настільні ігри цікаві — plural

This is a good example of how Ukrainian agreement works across the whole sentence.