Board Games

Doom: The Board Game

Price: $54.99*
(eToys)

Doom: The Board Game

Merchant: eToys

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Family Feud Board Game

Sale Price: $14.39*
Retail: $17.99 (20% off!)
(Stuff Kids Like)

Ages: 8 to Adult The Survey Says, "Fun!" The ultimate family game is back!!! Family Feud?, the classic game show of family fun is back as a new board game from Endless Games?. The game, like the game show, pits family against family as they answer questions about popular culture.

Merchant: Stuff Kids Like

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15 Greatest Board Games

Price: $25.98*
(Are You Game)

The greatest board games in the world have been collected together in this book. They were specifically selected to appeal to a wide range of players. The game boards are right in the book, which is designed to lie flat. The game pieces are stored in an attached storage case.

Merchant: Are You Game

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Drueke Ultimate Game Board

Sale Price: $219.99*
Retail: $249.99 (12% off!)
(ToysRUs)

The Drueke ultimate game box offers six games in one vintage wood storage box. The set includes a carefully crafted wooden cribbage board, wooden checkers and rosewood chessmen with a 15-in game board.

Merchant: ToysRUs

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Ultimate Board Game Collection (Wii)

Price: $29.99*
(KB Toys)

Ultimate Board Game Collection contains 12 classic board and table top games that have been played by countless families around the world.

Merchant: KB Toys

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Indianapolis Colts S.B. Champs Monopoly

Price: $18.99*
(Sports Fanfare)

Celebrate the Colts big victory. Compete to own the ultimate Colts team in this completely customized version of the world's best selling board game, MONOPOLY. Buy, sell and trade the greatest Colts and moments from the big game.

Merchant: Sports Fanfare

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A board game is any game played on a board (that is, a premarked surface) with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. Simple board games are often seen as ideal "family entertainment" as they can provide entertainment for all ages. Some board games, such as Chess, Go (Weiqi), Xiangqi (Chinese Chess), or Oware, have intense strategic value and have become lasting classics.

There are many different types and classifications of board games. Some games are simplified simulations of real life. These are popular for they can intermingle make-believe and role playing along with the game. Popular games of this type include Monopoly, which is a rough simulation of the real estate market; Cluedo/Clue, which is based upon a murder mystery; and Risk, which is one of the best known of thousands of games attempting to simulate warfare and geo-politics.

Other games only loosely, or do not at all, attempt to imitate reality. These include abstract strategy games like chess and checkers, word games, such as Scrabble, and trivia games, such as Trivial Pursuit.

History

Board games have a long history and have been played in most cultures and societies; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents exist which shed light on early board games. The most of important of these include:

• Senet has been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca (external). Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed. Also see Okno do svita deskovych her (external) for a photo of the actual fresco found in Merknera's tomb (3300-2700 BC).
• Mehen is another ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt.
• The Royal Tombs of Ur contained, among others, the Royal Game of Ur. They were excavated by C. Leonard Woolley, but his books document little on the games found. Most of the games he excavated are now housed in the British Museum in London.
• Buddha games list is the earliest known list of games.

Timeline

• 3500 BC - Senet found in Predynastic Egyptian burials gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca (external); also depicted in the tomb of Merknera.
• 3000 BC - Mehen, board game from Predynastic Egypt, played with lion-shaped game pieces and marbles.
• 2560 BC - Board of the Royal Game of Ur (found at Ur Tombs)
• 2500 BC - Paintings of Senet and Han being played made in the tomb of Rashepes
• 2000 BC - Drawing in a tomb at Benihassan depicting two unknown board games being played (depicted in Falkner). It has been suggested that the second of these is Tau.
• 1500 BC - Liubo carved on slab of blue stone. Also painting of Board Game (external) of Knossos.
• 1400 BC - Game boards including Alquerque, Three Men's Morris, Nine Men's Morris, and a possible Mancala board etched on the roof of the Kurna Temple. (Source: Fiske, and Bell)
• 200 BC - A Chinese Go board pre-dating 200 BC was found in 1954 in Wangdu County. This board is now in Beijing Historical Museum. (Source: John Fairbairn's Go in Ancient China (external)).
• 116 - 27 BC - Marcus Terentius Varro's Lingua Latina X (external) (II, par. 20) contains earliest known reference to latrunculi (often confused with Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, Ovid's game mentioned below).
• 79 - 8 BC - Liu Xiang's (劉向) Shuo yuan, contains earliest known reference to Xiangqi.
• 1 BC-8 AD Ovid's Ars Amatoria contains earliest known reference to Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum and the smaller merels.
• 220-265 Nard enters China under the name t'shu-p'u (Source: Hun Tsun Sii)

Board games first became widely popular among the general population early in the 20th century when the rise of the middle class with disposable income and leisure time made them a receptive audience to such games. This popularity expanded after the Second World War, a period from which many classic board games date. Computer games are closely related to board games, and many acclaimed computer games such as Civilization are based upon board games.

Many board games are now available as computer games, including the option to have the computer act as an opponent. The rise of computers has also led to a relative decline in the most complicated board games, as they require less space, and are easier to set up and clear away. With the Internet, many board games can now be played online against computer or other players in real time (like to classics board games available on Yahoo, Lycos and other big Internet sites) or during your spare time, every time it's your turn (see the links at the end of this article).

The modern board game industry is rife with corporate mergers and acquisitions, with large companies such as Hasbro owning many subsidiaries and selling products under a variety of brand names. It is difficult to successfully market a new board game to the mass market. Retailers tend to be conservative about stocking games of untested popularity, and most large board game companies have established criteria that a game must meet in order to be produced. If, for instance, Monopoly were introduced as a new game today, it would not meet the criteria for production.

Common terminology

Although many board games have a jargon all their own, there is a generalized terminology to describe concepts applicable to basic game mechanics and attributes common to nearly all board games.

• gameboard (or board) — the (usually quadrilateral) surface on which one plays a board game; the namesake of the board game, gameboards are a necessary and sufficient condition of the genre
• Game Piece (or token or bit) — a player's representative on the game board. Each player may control one or more game pieces. In some games that involve commanding multiple game pieces, such as chess, certain pieces have unique designations and capabilities within the parameters of the game; in others, such as Go, all pieces controlled by a player have the same essential capabilities.
• Jump — to bypass one or more game pieces and/or spaces. Depending on the context, jumping may also involve capturing or conquering an opponent's game piece. (See also: Game mechanic: Capture)
• Space (or square) — a physical unit of progress on a gameboard delimited by a distinct border (See also: Game mechanic: Movement)