History of board games
Journal
History of board games
Board games are older than writing in some places, and they have never been more popular than they are today. Here is a short, friendly walk through the generations that brought them to our tables.
- 01
Ancient times
Race games and stone boards
Some of the oldest known games are race games played on carved boards with dice made from bone or sticks. The idea is simple and still with us today: roll, move, and hope your opponent does not land on you.
See games from this era - 02
Middle Ages
Chess, draughts and the thinking game
Strategy games travelled along trade routes and changed shape as they went. By the late Middle Ages chess and draughts were familiar across Europe, and the abstract game of pure skill had found its place.
See games from this era - 03
Victorian parlours
Family games in printed boxes
Cheaper printing in the nineteenth century brought illustrated family games into ordinary homes. Many were meant to teach a lesson, but people mostly played them for fun on long winter evenings.
See games from this era - 04
20th century
Mass-market classics
Property trading, word building and detective games became household names. Almost every family had a cupboard with a few battered boxes — and a missing dice somewhere in the sofa.
See games from this era - 05
From the 1990s
The modern board game
A new wave of designers favoured shorter games, clever choices and no player elimination. Trading, tile laying and worker placement games made the hobby welcoming to families and friends alike.
See games from this era - 06
Today
Co-op, legacy and pocket-sized games
Players now team up against the game, open sealed envelopes as a story unfolds, or play a full game in fifteen minutes on a train. There has never been a better time to start a game night.
See games from this era