1001 Surprising Board Game secrets that will blow your mind
- Barry
- Oct 15
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
In this blog, we will summarize interesting things that you may have never heard about board games. We will split it into 10 chapters and each chapter will contain 100 surprising secrets according to each topic. Let's begin!
Chapter 1: 100 Secrets of Board game history
Ancient Time
Senet (Egypt, ~3100 BC) is the world's oldest board game.
The Egyptians believed Senet represented the soul's journey to the afterlife.
Mehen – a snake-shaped board game associated with rituals.
Royal Game of Ur (Iraq, 2600 BC) was found in a royal tomb.
Mancala (Africa) has over 800 different variations.
Backgammon is believed to have originated in Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago.
Go chess appeared in China over 2500 years ago.
Shogi is “Japanese chess” with rules that allow captured pieces to return to the board.
Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) is the most popular strategy game in China.
Pachisi (India) is the predecessor of today's Ludo.
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Middle Ages and Europe
Chess originated in India and then spread to Europe via Arabia.
In the Middle Ages, chess was a game of the aristocracy.
13. The original chess board had many variations, not fixed 8x8.
Checkers/Draughts (Checkers) was popular from the 12th century.
Snakes and Ladders originated from India, carrying the moral meaning of karma.
When it came to England, Snakes and Ladders was turned into an educational game for children.
Fox and Geese - a Nordic hunting game from the 14th century.
In the 16th century, board games began to be used to teach children letters and numbers.
The Mansion of Happiness (1843, USA) - the first commercial board game in America.
The Checkered Game of Life (1860, Milton Bradley) is the predecessor of Game of Life.
20th Century – Modernization
The Landlord’s Game (1904, Lizzie Magie) is the original version of Monopoly.
Lizzie Magie wanted to criticize social injustice through the game.
Parker Brothers bought the copyright and renamed it Monopoly (1935).
During the economic crisis, Monopoly exploded because of the dream of getting rich.
Monopoly has sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.
Scrabble was originally called “Lexiko”, invented in 1938.
Alfred Butts, the author of Scrabble, was an unemployed architect.
Scrabble was rejected for publication many times before becoming famous.
Clue/Cluedo was born during World War II when the British people were under curfew.
The first version of Cluedo had 10 characters and 9 weapons.
Globalization
After World War II, Germany became the cradle of modern board games.
Germans love intelligence and hate the element of eliminating players early.
Spiel des Jahres (1979) - Germany's prestigious board game award.
This award brought Catan and Carcassonne to the world.
Japan developed a line of compact, portable microgames.
Tokyo Game Market is the largest indie board game fair in Asia.
Korea is famous for its educational board games.
"Blue Marble" (Korean version of Monopoly) is extremely popular here.
China is the world's largest board game processing center.
Vietnam has recently become famous for its Werewolf, Codenames, and Dixit communities.
Important milestones
1950s: Board games become household products in America.
1960: Milton Bradley releases a color version of The Game of Life.
1980s: The term “Eurogame” begins to become popular.
1995: Catan is released, ushering in the modern era of board games.
Catan has sold over 40 million copies.
2000s: Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride become global phenomena.
2008: Dominion introduces the “deck-building” mechanic.
2009: Pandemic sparks the co-op boom.
2017: Gloomhaven becomes a complex but best-selling game.
Kickstarter becomes an “incubator” for thousands of indie board games.
Classic game reborn
Chess has a 3D Chess variant, Star Wars Chess.
Backgammon was one of the first games to be programmed into a video game.
Monopoly has hundreds of local versions (Amsterdam, Paris, Tokyo…).
Scrabble has evolved into mobile and online applications.
Risk was born in 1957 and still has avid fans.
Risk has a Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings version.
Trivial Pursuit (1981) turned trivia into a global family game.
Pictionary (1985) created a trend of drawing and guessing party games.
Jenga (1983) is a classic skill game with wood.
Uno (1971) became a “national” in the family.
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Records and achievements
Monopoly is the best-selling board game of all time.
During World War II, Monopoly was used to hide maps to help prisoners escape.
The longest recorded game of Go lasted over 2 days.
The World Chess Championship has a prize pool of millions of dollars.
Scrabble is now played in over 30 languages.
Carcassonne has over 10 official expansions.
Ticket to Ride has a hugely successful digital version.
Catan has had a VR release.
Gloomhaven has been #1 on BoardGameGeek for years.
Pandemic has been a sought-after purchase during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Board games in popular culture
Jumanji appeared in the movie, then was made into a board game.
Clue was adapted into a detective movie (1985).
Monopoly had its own TV show.
The movie “The Queen’s Gambit” made chess explode again.
Stranger Things released an official board game.
Game of Thrones Risk was well received by fans.
Dungeons & Dragons deeply influenced role-playing games (RPGs).
Many board games were adapted into video games.
Conversely, many video games were also made into board games.
Japanese comic books and anime often take inspiration from board games.
Trends and transformation
From war games → Eurogames → Hybrid games.
Cooperative games are becoming more popular than competitive elimination games.
Legacy games permanently change the rules as they progress.
Japanese microgames are booming because they are compact.
Story-driven board games are becoming more popular.
Escape room in a box simulates the escape room experience.
Educational board games are widely used in schools.
Party games with integrated smartphone support for rules.
Print & Play booms during Covid-19.
Kickstarter creates a “golden wave” for indie designers.
Chapter Summary
Board games reflect the life and society of each period.
From a tool to teach morality (India), a game of nobility (Europe), to a tool to criticize society (Monopoly).
Each continent has its own style: America = Ameritrash, Germany = Eurogame, Japan = Microgame.
Modern board games combine both tradition and technology.
Many games that have existed for thousands of years are still popular today.
The global board game industry is worth tens of billions of dollars.
Board games are not just games, but also “design art”.
Over 5000 years of development, board games have never been out of date.
The history of board games goes hand in hand with the history of mankind.
The biggest secret: the nature of board games has always been to connect people.
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