“I’ll be the shoe. You draw seven letters. Don’t touch the side or his nose lights up.” I remember these from my childhood. Much of this was replaced by a joystick and later a keyboard and mouse. Now that I have children and discovered the new board game phenomenon, terms like First person shooter are being replaced with terms like game mechanic – from real-time strategy, to over the board economic development –to “Daddy, can I play this game,” to “Daddy, will you play this game with me.” There is new excitement in our home when a new game arrives, not because it’s new, but because we will soon be playing that new game together. And board game excitement is not simply for children. There is a huge culture on and offline of 20 – 60 somethings that are forming board game nights, clubs and associations all over the world. And like video games, board games range from simple to complex and can take anywhere from 20 minutes to eight hours to complete. Board games are raging back into style, and they are different from anything your father ever knew, rivaling video games in intricacy and ingenuity.
Over the past ten years, an explosion in the board games industry, which has largely been European in origin, has slowly caught fire in America during this decade, and if only the marketing resources were present, we might see a revolution of “analog” games that would cause concern for its digital industry counterpart. Video games were once seen as “geeky,” but now are the centerpiece of the home. But besides a console’s technological abilities, what is the point of the “media center” as the central hub of the home? What are the manufacturers of electronics trying to capitalize on? In a word – togetherness. This last element that video games attempt to hurdle, every board game has inherently, and, “together time,” cliché as the phrase may be, is still true. Friends and family are naturally together. It is what makes them what they are, and board games, not unsurprisingly, take advantage of this. In fact, there are no social exchanges like over the board face to face interactions, and though live video game services and split screen multiplayer games attempt to mimic being together, something is still missing. Much like talking on the phone, instead of in person, engaging someone personally over an internet connection, as opposed to a tactile experience in person, the electronic cannot capture the essence of what it means to be human and relational. There is something socially natural to board games missing from electronic games. The ironic effect of video games is the world it creates causes a world of isolation, and it causes us to wonder what we can do to get back those relationships we lost in the playing of the game. We are incomplete in isolation and desire to share our experiences.
To create that memorable experience lost to video games, board game makers are creating higher quality productions than anything in the past fifty years. And if you think merely throwing dice and moving characters around a square board is all that’s out there, you’re mistaken. Not only are many games “diceless,” but many are “luckless.” There are also ingenious game makers creating board games based upon cards, auctions, patterns, tile placement, secret deployments, farming, trading, and even negotiation. Economic development, for example, is a common theme in modern board gaming. Games like Rio Grande’s Puerto Rico base their entire gaming system around building an economy, complete with producing, selling, and shipping resources to the New World. Another publisher, Queen Games, created the board game Shogun, which uses economy and military might to decide the victor in over the board conquest. Even video game makers are seeing the board game market as a new and viable income source. Ensemble Studio’s computer game Age of Empires III, a fascinating real-time strategy game, has allowed board game maker Tropical Studios to create a board game by the same name. And while even the best video game attempts to create re-playability, they often fail. Beating a first person shooter on the sixteenth level is often unable to bring someone back to the game once it’s over, and the time in isolation to meet that goal is difficult to share. But re-playability and social interaction are standard components of board games. And the secret is that people like that interaction and want to come back to it. In my own experience over the board, being together is the most attractive part of the experience. Fun games are still required, of course, but instead of “I beat that level,” I hear, “I’ll trade you wool for ore; We both get to collect wood and wheat; String beans for stink beans!” These are the new mantras from my kids now, and I am with them when they say it, understanding all they mean by it because I taught it to them and learned it with them.
Now, if you think that I am someone who simply hates computers or video games, then you are mistaken. By trade, I am a computer programmer and server administrator and have literally carved my way into jobs by my fervor for that machine. And I do like technology. But there comes a time when stepping back and looking and reflecting reveals what is missing by staying on the digital side of our culture. I encourage you to step back away from your computer, yes, even the one you may be reading this article on, and take the time to buy a board game, learn the rules on old fashioned paper, physically (yes, labor) set up the game and play a game. Play a game with someone. Play with your friends and children and spouse. Play Mom and Dad. But remember that you’re doing more than moving pieces on a board – you’re together. Spending time with one another is the goal – together time all the time.
John Marchant
Georgia Boardgames Association
“Together time all the time”™
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