How many of you still play board games? I would imagine that sales of board games at least in the US have been dropping a lot for several years now. I don't know anyone personally who plays them and in this current day world of tablet/smartphone games I can't really see the appeal of board games at all to the mainstream public. It's been at least 7 years since I've played a board game (it was Scrabble).

Scrabble is the only thing I play now. Fun to sit around the board outside in the summer instead of a computer game.

Sales of board games are actually increasing a bit it looks like

http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketi...ttens-board-games-are-making-a-comeback/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...s-join-board-game-renaissance/476986001/

From those two links you posted it seems that board games have gone through a bit of a revival like what has happened with vinyl records.

Yes, I've actually had a bit of resurgence into the hobby in the past few years. I play Scrabble with a small group, weekly at least.

My newest board game (and a few others I own):
http://www.gmtgames.com/p-568-american-revolution-tri-pack.aspx



Another favorite which takes a wider strategic and political view:

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-582-liberty-or-death-the-american-insurrection-reprint-ed.aspx



I also play a round of Star Wars LCG from Fantasty Flight Games, at least weekly:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-the-card-game/



Also a good cooperative game that puts up a really solid challenge:

https://www.zmangames.com/en/products/pandemic-iberia/



And then a few other lighter games I enjoy from time to time, such as Carcasone or Castles of Burgundy TCG.

Wife and I occasionally play Scrabble. When family visits we sometimes pull out Monopoly (Classic or Atlanta version) or play poker. More often than not they'd rather watch movies, not easy getting them off the screen to play a game.



I've been meaning to purchase the game of Life, I remember enjoying that one.

They are now making computer board games. A buddy of mine is converting a tabletop RPG into a digital boardgame format, and I happened across another one called "Armello" on the Humble Monthly. They're quaint as ever, and wouldn't mind catching a game of original "Risk" now and then. Otherwise, I have a hard as hell time getting my daughter to sit down and play any of them, Candy Land included. She does play Clue, though. Hasn't experienced Monopoly yet...

I remember in the 80s when I was a kid, we had some really innovative and cool ones like "The Real Ghostbusters."

Was also trying to teach my wife how to play chess, but she wasn't that interested. My older brother taught me when we were kids, on a homemade board (poster board). He drew the pieces on another poster board and cut them out, it worked.

I played chess all the time all through my college years and then I stopped. Yeah, PC gaming took over.

Battle Chess (DOS) was pretty cool.

Never played that one but I did have the Star Wars chess game that only ran on Windows 3.1.1!

With all due respect Panzer, just because you don't know anyone who plays board games does not mean it's now non-existent or on a decline. You just may have a different circle of friends

My family and I try to have game night as often as we can and we play board games a lot. King of Tokyo, Power Grid, Caverna, etc. There's a local FLGS as well that has tons of games and I'd probably buy more if I knew how half of those board games played out Probably a good thing that I don't.

Board game sales are increasing mostly because of modernization. The new boardgames of today are so much different from the board games from the 60s 70s 80s and 90s.

I've got an entire bookshelf full of board games and the only old school board game up there is parcheesi and a poker set.

My grown kids and I have been playing Settlers of Catan for a decade. There are a couple of others that we play, but Settlers is first choice.

I’m guessing that the majority of us here on SimHQ have played Axis & Allies?

Risk Othello, and Stratego were childhood favorites. Played plenty of boards games when the kids were little. How many still have games with all the pieces left?

When I was in college I had the board game version of "Harpoon" and that game had easily over 200 cardboard counters and plastic pieces. I ended up giving the game to someone I knew after I bought the PC version of Harpoon. With the PC version I could concentrate on actually playing the game and letting the PC do all of the tedious number crunching.

Board games are massive these days, because the old things like Scrabble, Monopoly, and whatnot have rightfully been replaced with things that are much much better.

https://boardgamegeek.com/ is the place to go to find out stuff.

Personally, in the last week I've played MBT (tank combat in 1987 Europe), Kemet (Egyptian themed game where you try to control various locations, as well as buying upgrade cards), and Battletech (classic big stompy robots).
Modern board games tend to have playing times of 1-2 hours, and no player elimination. Also player choice is very important. People talk about this being a 'golden age' of boardgaming.

My wife and I play board games at least once a week. When the kids come visit, we play all the time.

Cataan (I call this game a "gateway game," because it will lead to more complex and bigger board games, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Ticket to Ride, even fun ones like Apples to Apples, etc. Also with my son we have ongoing games like Axis and Allies or even more complex ones that get continued over a month or more.....

That game is so much fun.

Loved it! That's how I learned to play chess.

About 10 to 12 years ago, I was playing another Star Wars card game which was very dice heavy. Some units would roll 8 or 10 dice in an attack. And repeatedly I felt frustrated by the random outcomes often nullifying sometimes very expensive tactical efforts. There were times it didn't seem to matter what choices I made. The dice made things a tossup, either way.

So about that time, I looked at some Axis and Allies. Risk too, as I recall. Becoming more interested in WW2 PC sims, this made sense. But after watching some play, and reading the rules, it was so much dice and random outcomes. Many players enjoyed it, and sure it was pretty accessible and relaxed play. But I just wanted something else, and never bought these games.

There was a span of maybe 5 or 6 years after that I didn't play any board games.

When I came back, I discovered games like those in my prior post. Games which are completely *unlike* anything I played growing up. In some of those games I posted, there are zero random outcomes to combat. Each player can fully see how any combination of individual or group combats will result. This leaves everything down to player choices, tactical decisions on who will fight, where, and with what support as backup.

For me, this makes a 1 to 3 hour play far more rewarding, when I can feel like the results have been down to my choices, or a battle of player wits, more than anything really random.

Even in the "Battles of the American Revolution" series I posted, which is quite a traditional hex and counter system, the dice are there, but the outcomes seem very carefully measured, and I always have choice of when and where I attack, and can try (so far as the enemy and terrain allows), to aim at a larger battle goal, more than the individual unit clashes. Meaning for example, I can have some units operating as a ruse or screen to prevent or slow an enemy threat from interfering with my main force who is pushing for a breakthrough or flanking action.

And yea, I do get what you mention about book keeping. For my "Liberty or Death" plays, I keep pen and paper to log my play choices, in addition to the in-game tracking counters. While really unnecessary from a general gameplay standpoint, I do this mainly as an assist to analyzing my plays. This way, as I play a single campaign year each weekend or so (this over the course of a 3 to 6 year campaign, meaning 3 to 6 weekends), it's easier putting all my choices together and seeing how my overall plays worked toward my opening strategic goals (or if I strayed for some reason), and to what result.

These aspects make this type of board games quite as good as a PC game, to me. Even better, considering that not only is the play learning and experience portable (the core mechanics of both "Liberty or Death" and the "Battles of the American Revolution" are part of 18 or 19 separate games, in each of their own series of 9 or 10), but they are also platform independent and self contained. And as someone mentioned above, there's the bonus of sitting back with a drink, some music, and the interaction with friends, too. A play session quite similar to our Arma3 or R6 multiplayer PC gaming sessions.

I own my Dad's Risk game he bought back in around 1967 or so.... it still works I have it here in Prague and we occasionally break it out for some great old-school gaming.

Other than that, I play X-Wing, a nice kinetic flowing game with dramas and some phonebox knife-fights that are really fun. Nice models too.

What other kinds of records are there?

Only if Cards Against Humanity count as a board game...i highly recommend it either way

A bigger, blacker...what?

X-Wing and Armada have been appealing to my interests, lately. But I don't know anybody else who plays them. I see the X-Wing product line is getting a 2.0 reboot soon, so I'll keep an eye on that.

I still have a game called "Stop Thief". And it still works. Stupid good fun.

https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Thief-Electronic-Robbers-Board/dp/B000RHG3FC

My friends and I try to have a game night once a month or so. Some of the titles we play are Cataan, Dominion, Carcassonne, Ticket To Ride, Trolls, and a few others.

The gold standard for us gaming wise though has always been Cosmic Encounter. It has been released by a few different publishers with some new twists but we generally play the Mayfield (Mayfair? Not sure) edition. The original (Eon) version had balance issues. Avalon Hill put a simplified version out, and now there a newer version which is supposed to be pretty good but I haven’t tried it yet.

I guess like a lot of members her in the old years played anything avolon hill or SPI put out along with the Strategy and Tactics magazine games but then the Commodore 64 came around and we all drifted apartBut with the kids it was Othello,,axis and Allies,,Stratego and Risk along with the classics monopoly,,scrabble the usual milton bradly games...now the kids are grown and live far away and my dog can't learn to playso it's a lot of sims and turned based games but playing Panzer Corps and others passes a day when the weather is bad or I don't feel like doing anything

our family went out for mother's day to a gaming restaurant. they had shelves stacked with games, many I'd never heard of. we ate and played chameleon, good fun.

not a board game, but I guarantee you'll die laughing playing this game. We got it a few years ago, been playing every 6 months with my cousin and his wife.
It's so wrong if the cards are played right. They have multiple decks you can buy, then look up

https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/

http://www.crabsadjusthumidity.com/Crabs-Adjust-Humidity--Vol-One_p_8.html