Board Games for Everyone

Board Games, Good Cheap Fun for Everyone.

Since 9/11, there seems to be a mounting resurgence of boardgame enthusiasts. Families seem to be realizing the value of spending time together, enjoying each other's company and partaking in good, wholesome family fun. Also, there's been a surge in popularity due to the rough economy. As journalist Rachel Bogert McClatchy puts it: "When times are lean, we're stuck with each other, so we might as well have some fun while we're at it." It seems that the manufacturers of board games are wary to test brand new titles, but are instead focusing their efforts at releasing DVD editions and new themed versions of classic board games.
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Life is too short to be serious all the time. It's no surprise, then, that people have realized this since 9/11 and have picked up on board games as a favorite pastime yet again. Titles like Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble, Battleship, Stratego, Outburst, That's Life, Apples to Apples and Password, and games such as backgammon, checkers and chess are some of the hottest sellers in America. Yet, while the sleeping giants develop re-makes of their classic games, other manufacturers are busy coming up with new titles like Cranium, Wings of War, Farkle, World of Warcraft and Zombies!
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Board games have endured some stiff competition over the years, from television sets in the fifties, to computer games in the eighties, to video games in the nineties. How does the boardgame compete with such mighty adversaries? Well, since the eighties, game manufacturers have been creating new editions of classic board games around themes from TV and movies to keep families coming back to the table. Even more recently, they've begun to make editions of games that can use DVD players to "wow" the whole family. Also, some popular computer games, like World of Warcraft, are popping up to entice audiences into playing different versions of their favorite games. There are also games like Cranium that combine several different types of games all in one, so there is something for everyone. Here we'll discuss some of the recent changes to America's favorite games.
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When the ancient tomb of King Tut was discovered in the 1920s, archaeologists were stunned to find board games, dice and playing chips dating back more than 3,000 years! In fact, Egyptians, Romans and Greeks enjoyed games similar to backgammon, checkers, dominos and chess. In America, simple games like tops, cards and jacks came over with the first settlers, but it wasn't until the 1840s when toy companies began to take off. Mansion of Happiness was one of the first games created by the W&SB Ives Company that had children working their way down a path of good deeds to reach eternal happiness at the end. In 1860, Milton Bradley created The Checkered Game of Life, which rewarded good deeds and punished bad deeds. In 1935, the Monopoly board game rescued Americans from some of the melancholy faced during the Great Depression, and during World War II, Americans snuck maps, escape tools and real money to our P.O.W.s trapped in Nazi war camps through the Red Cross! Later, games would be based on TV shows and popular characters to keep Americans turning to good old-fashioned fun, rather than television sets for their entertainment.

The Scrabble board game is one of the most popular educational games of all time. Initially, word-smiths would choose seven random letters from a pile and see if they could create words. The players could then build off one another's words and would vie for the most points, which were based on numbers assigned to each letter, as well as special spots on the board that awarded double or triple points. Over the years, new versions of Scrabble came out to entice buyers. For instance, there are Scrabble board games with side games like the Presidential Edition, where you must try to "win states," earn points for popular votes and earn the commander in chief job. There's also a Star Trek Scrabble edition, where players can consult Klingnon dictionaries and can earn "tribble" points. There are a number of special editions for children, like Scrabble Me, Scrabble Junior, Scrabble Junior 2009, Dora Scrabble Junior and Scrabble Apple. A Milton Bradley game called "Upwords" has gained tremendous popularity as a similar concept to Scrabble, except that players earn points by stacking letters on top of one another and making more than one word change at a time. Following the absorption of the Milton Bradley Company, Hasbro has re-christened the game "Scrabble Upwords."

When discussing board games, everyone knows Monopoly. The Monopoly board game is the top-selling board game of all-time, selling over 200 million copies as of 2004. Players amass wealth by buying land around the Monopoly board and collecting taxes from other players who land on their properties. The game keeps going and going until all the players have gone bankrupt, except for the winner of course. There is literally a Monopoly for everyone! Some versions are just sensible updates, like the "Here and Now" version, where instead of buying railroads, you buy famous American buildings and landmarks; or there is also the "City Game," where players build cityscapes in the center of the board, instead of following the outer square; or the "Here & Now World" edition for those who have plans of world domination. You can also buy games themed after the Atlanta Braves, bass fishing, The Simpsons, cats, dogs, The Beatles, A Christmas Story, the US Coast Guard, Twilight, GI Joe, James Bond, Harley Davidson, I Love Lucy, Las Vegas, M&Ms, Disney, NHL, Nightmare Before Christmas, Seinfeld, Pirates of the Caribbean and much more.
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The Monopoly board game is the top-selling game of all time, with more than 200 million copies sold worldwide. There are Monopoly card games, shaker dice games and board games. There are Monopoly games that have modernized, allowing you to make lucrative purchases in American cities and even world cities now. The buildings are sleeker and shiny, the money notes are larger and tokens include more than just the standard Scotty dog and thimble. Sports fans will find a number of Monopoly boards designed for trading their favorite players, including the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Celtics, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys, the Denver Broncos, the Greenbay Packers, the LA Lakers, the Miami Dolphins, the Minnesota Vikings, Fantasy Baseball, NHL, NFL, NBA, the New England Patriots, the NY Yankess, the NY Mets, the NY Giants, the Oakland Raiders, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Antonio Spurs, the St Louis Cardinals and the Washington Red Skins.
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Often, the ability of manufacturers to morph board games over time and attract new generations of fans is the key to their success. For instance, the Monopoly board has changed from showing typical tycoon, Scotty dog, and iron and thimble characters to a number of different themes. Today you can buy a boardgame based on movie themes (like Transformers, The Wizard of Oz and Pirates of the Caribbean); TV themes (like The Simpsons, Family Guy and Seinfeld); sports teams (like the Boston Celtics, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Braves); hobbies (bass fishing, snowboarding or golf); pets (cats, dogs or horses); music (Elvis or The Beatles); collectibles (Ford Thunderbird, Harley Davidson or John Deere); cartoons (Peanuts, Sponge Bob or Rudolph); and the list goes on forever.

The checkers board game is one of those enduring board games that apparently has changed very little over the years. Sure, there's Disney Villain checkers, Lego checkers, Chinese checkers, family checkers, A Christmas Story checkers and magnetic checkers, but for the most part, the basic red and black chip boardgame has survived for decades. Historians say the game itself may date as far back as 3,000 BC, where similar game pieces were found in Iraq. In 1600 BC, the Egyptians played a game called "Alquerque," which is very similar to checkers. The Chinese were well known for their version of checkers around 350 BC. The French are said to have created the modern checker board with 25 squares and 12 chips in 1100 AD. Antonio Torquemada wrote about the official rules of checkers in 1547 and William Payne gave a more detailed account again in 1756. It seems that playing games as a way to relieve stress and enjoy the company of others has been going on for hundreds of centuries and will continue on for many more.
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The Sorry board game is another game that has seen many updates over the years. The objective of these board games is to be the first player to get all four pawns from the start square to home, which is achieved by drawing cards. There are slight variations to the rules to make the game more complex if you buy the Sorry Sliders edition, the Sorry Card Revenge game, Shakin Sorry, the Sorry Dice N' Grab edition, the Fun on the Run edition, or Sorry Express (the 20-minute edition for those with short attention spans). There are editions for The Simpsons, Spider Man 3, Pokémon, Splash Mountain theme park or the Key Quest/Neopets version. Indecisive purchasers can also buy the "greatest hits" pack, which includes five different versions of this classic game.
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Board games will continue to live on, passed down from generation to generation. Some true boardgame enthusiasts worry about this new trend, where manufacturers are simply remaking new themed versions of old classics. They hope that new titles will come out to compete in the market. Where's our next phenomenon? Is there room for another revolutionary game like Battleship, checkers or Monopoly? Perhaps it will take small rogue game makers to emerge from the crowd to give these big conglomerates a run for their money.

Related topics about board games

Board Games
If you think that the board game is a recent invention from your childhood, you would be off by several thousands of years. In fact the earliest example of a board game dates back to 3500 BC and was found during the Jiroft civilization. Around the same time there was a game called Senet that was discovered in Predynastic Egyptian burial chambers.

Games Board
You can also create your own custom Monopoly board through several different methods. At www.mymonopoly.

Boardgames
The 2009 American International Toy Fair in New York City introduced some great new boardgames this year. Pants on Fire (3 or more players, ages 10+) is a fun story-telling game, where a player writes brief stories about each of the three topics revealed. For example, a "bad date" or a "first job," and the other players have to guess if the story is "true or false.