Life is too short to be serious all the time. It’s no surprise, then, that people have realized this since 9/11 and have picked up on board games as a favorite pastime yet again. Titles like Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble, Battleship, Stratego, Outburst, That’s Life, Apples to Apples and Password, and games such as backgammon, checkers and chess are some of the hottest sellers in America. Yet, while the sleeping giants develop re-makes of their classic games, other manufacturers are busy coming up with new titles like Cranium, Wings of War, Farkle, World of Warcraft and Zombies!
The Scrabble board game is one of the most popular educational games of all time. Initially, word-smiths would choose seven random letters from a pile and see if they could create words. The players could then build off one another’s words and would vie for the most points, which were based on numbers assigned to each letter, as well as special spots on the board that awarded double or triple points. Over the years, new versions of Scrabble came out to entice buyers. For instance, there are Scrabble board games with side games like the Presidential Edition, where you must try to “win states,” earn points for popular votes and earn the commander in chief job. There’s also a Star Trek Scrabble edition, where players can consult Klingnon dictionaries and can earn “tribble” points. There are a number of special editions for children, like Scrabble Me, Scrabble Junior, Scrabble Junior 2009, Dora Scrabble Junior and Scrabble Apple. A Milton Bradley game called “Upwords” has gained tremendous popularity as a similar concept to Scrabble, except that players earn points by stacking letters on top of one another and making more than one word change at a time. Following the absorption of the Milton Bradley Company, Hasbro has re-christened the game “Scrabble Upwords.”
The Monopoly board game is the top-selling game of all time, with more than 200 million copies sold worldwide. There are Monopoly card games, shaker dice games and board games. There are Monopoly games that have modernized, allowing you to make lucrative purchases in American cities and even world cities now. The buildings are sleeker and shiny, the money notes are larger and tokens include more than just the standard Scotty dog and thimble. Sports fans will find a number of Monopoly boards designed for trading their favorite players, including the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Celtics, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys, the Denver Broncos, the Greenbay Packers, the LA Lakers, the Miami Dolphins, the Minnesota Vikings, Fantasy Baseball, NHL, NFL, NBA, the New England Patriots, the NY Yankess, the NY Mets, the NY Giants, the Oakland Raiders, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Antonio Spurs, the St Louis Cardinals and the Washington Red Skins.
Board games will continue to live on, passed down from generation to generation. Some true boardgame enthusiasts worry about this new trend, where manufacturers are simply remaking new themed versions of old classics. They hope that new titles will come out to compete in the market. Where’s our next phenomenon? Is there room for another revolutionary game like Battleship, checkers or Monopoly? Perhaps it will take small rogue game makers to emerge from the crowd to give these big conglomerates a run for their money.
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