A Board Game Reboot
If you’ve walked through a Target or Walmart in the past few years, you have undoubtedly noticed the comeback of Tabletop Games. Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots are back in full effect and the analog game aisles are fuller than ever. Retro redesigns on the Sorry, Jenga, and Monopoly boxes will take you straight back to the shag carpet in the family room where your brother sunk your Battleship.
Not only have the classic games been rebooted but a ton of new games are soaring in popularity. Kickstarter’s 2020 reports show that board games and role-playing games were taking the lead on the crowdfunding platform. In March of 2020, a campaign was launched for a board game called Frosthaven with a $500,000 funding goal. In the first 3 hours, Frosthaven had raised $3 million.
It seems that the instant onslaught of Covid lockdowns and quarantines caused an increased curiosity about analog entertainment options. The surge in popularity of new and retro tabletop and roll playing games is a great example of this cultural trend.
People have been playing board games in some form since the Ancient Sumerians and Ancient Egyptians over 5,000 years ago. When our modern, electronic worshipping civilization was sent home for a year, our TV’s, tablets, and social media platforms got old quick. We were hungry for entertainment to devour at home, and we rediscovered old faithful. The Tabletop Game.
Thousands of new board games were released in 2020 and 2021. Dune: Imperium is a game based off Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel and has artwork and characters that are inspired by the film. Half Truth by Studio 71 is a trivia game designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings. Other incredible new games include the artistically stunning Canvas, a silly bingo spinoff called Super Mega Lucky Box, and the elegant engine-building game Furnace.
People loved board games 5000 years ago and we still love them today. Board games bring people together. A family can sit around the dining room table after dinner discovering that it was Colonel Mustard, in the Library with the candlestick. A slumber party can wake up the whole block as they fall all over a Twister mat. Board games classically create quality time and memories and whether we know it or not, that’s just what we need.
