Not too many years ago but who I can remember, the most popular board games were not that long ago; certainly not before the computer gaming boom. Maybe it was Christmas day, now that we sort of nostalgic impulses. The best selling board games are all from that era or at least that period. Monopoly is probably the one that has the most longevity along with Chess and Scrabble. We all know what happened to those latter two.
Chess was also one of the most popular board games at one time. It was quite a bit different then it is now, in fact it was a lot slower than it is now, and the concept of making the board work for you was rather bizarre and confusing. For instance, you had to use the pieces you had to make the squares where your pieces lay down. So how could you possibly move your pieces around the board if you can t put them on the squares?
The concept was rather bizarre, but a monopoly was the next big thing and from there the mass market games like Badugi (a very popular game) and Chutes and Ladders were born. The rules of monopoly were simple enough, you purchased the most stocks first, then you used the money you had to buy other stocks. You could buy three of your stocks for free, then you could buy five stocks for free, etc. That’s pretty much it.
So, when the computer geeks came along and made monopoly accessible to the masses it just added to the popularity of the board games. Now we have the computer race and the mass market games, such as Scrabble and the rest of the free flash game types, that geeks love to play. They are so addicted to the monopoly and other games that they created an entire hobby board game genre based around them. As far as hobby board games go that are popular in the board game geek has his hands down his favorite.
If you are a board game geek then you probably know who all of the big names are, and who their biggest fans are. Most of the people who write about monopoly and other abstract strategy games are guys who were fanatical about it when it was first out. You see, it’s all about being abstract in its strategy play. Most people don’t understand that abstract strategy games are not actually very strategic but they are about being abstract and making an argument and creating situations that can be perceived from many different perspectives.
Take for example, Texas Holdem poker, which are essentially a very simple game of checkers and area control, but because of the way the rules are laid out the entire playing environment is very complex. One person is always at a disadvantage because of the way the game is set up and this is where a great deal of the gaming fun comes from. As a board game geek I find this stuff fascinating, because it is the way that games are meant to be played and it is an incredible amount of fun.