More Than Monopoly: The Rise of the Modern Board Game Part I

Part I: An Introduction to Modern Board Gaming

                When the term board game comes to mind, people often think of Monopoly, Risk, Clue, Candy Land and checkers among others. These are the classic games that people in American society grew up playing in their childhood and eventually have outgrown.  However, there exists a “secret society” of people who still play board games.   The games being played are those that most people have never heard of but that have interesting mechanics, sometimes expansive rules, and unique design that can give hours of entertainment and food for thought.  Some examples of such games are Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Seven Wonders, and hundreds of others. 

                The modern board game comes in a variety of formats and sizes.  Some games are considered “filler” games which can be played in a short amount of time.  Others can take hours upon hours.  These modern games can also be categorized into different genres:  party games, strategy/tactical games, war games, RPG (Role playing games) and the more traditional variety such as Monopoly, which is considered a “roll and move game (where you roll the dice, then move a pawn).  Each of these genres can be further divided into sub genres.  In this series, I will be focusing on party games and strategy games, which are my two favorite genres. 

             The three genres which I will not be covering are war games, which are games in which players often enact a famous battle using game pieces, dice and paper maps.  These can range from being simple, or taking up the entire day.  Some examples of these types of games are a Few Acres of Snow, a card game designed by Martin Wallace which simulates the battle between France and England over Canada, and Memoir 44’ by Days of Wonder, a war game which is about World War II. 

             The two other genres which I will not be covering are the classic or traditional game, such as Clue or Monopoly, because I feel as though the public is already well aware of these games, and the RPG, such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder.

              My personal interactions with board games began at a young age.  I always played games with my family such as Monopoly, Life or Chutes and Ladders.  When I became older, I started playing party games such as Balderdash, Taboo, Cranium and Charades.   After a while, these games began to lose their appeal because they had become too familiar from too many repeated plays.  It was at this point, I found the fantastic website www.boardgamegeek.com and discovered other party games that exist.   In my next article, I will be writing about party games, and some of the various representations that you can buy at stores such as Target or on Amazon.com