Play board games as a kid? For most people, the answer is yes. Becoming nostalgic towards the feeling of beating your younger sibling in Monopoly every time? No? Maybe I'm just projecting. Although the rise of technology has shifted the gaming industry towards video games, board games are still around today. In fact, there's an entire subculture revolving around it.
1. The recession of 2008 induced a mass following of board game enthusiasts, as people with little disposable income were always looking for cheap ways to have fun (especially families).
2. Board Games allow for human emotion to consciously be secreted. I noticed a lot of young couples and families at the Board Game Republic, a board game bar in Denver. Keith, the bar owner, acknowledged that in a family dynamic, certain family members, primarily teenagers, are reluctant to tell their parents what's happening in their life. When one is concentrating on a game, they're not focusing on hiding deep-seated emotions. Parents can use this to their advantage to find out what's going on with their kids.
Moreover, within really dicey relationships (Ie: divorced couples), it's sometimes hard for two people to be civil with one another. The Board Game Republic is a stress-free environment that allows couples to sit at the same table in a humane, civil manner. It promotes interaction in a relationship where interaction wasn't previously possible.
3. People bond over shared excitement. Have you ever been to a sports game that comes down to the wire? Everyone leans in on every pitch, or on every free throw, with the same playful grin on their faces. The same things happens while playing board games. You may not notice this phenomenon while you are in the midst of playing, but from a third person's view, you can see the unified suspense that streamlines across the table, ultimately bringing everyone together.
4. Like many other subcultures in today's society, board game enthusiasts have formed an interactive online community. Within one google search, hundreds of different forums popped up. Enthusiasts use these forums to discuss board games and organize "meet-ups," where people come to play a variety of different games. There are also numerous board game clubs, including the Board Game Underground Club at my university.
5. If you initially thought that a board game club would just be a bunch of nerds playing board games, you were right. However, this is still a social club. After spending some time with these kids, I figured out that a lot of them really don't have other mediums to socialize with their peers through; or at least they don't have any that they're comfortable in. They were extremely inclusive and prided themselves on "being in the know," ultimately giving them a sense of belonging. They also follow game designers like many follow musicians. A few locals at the bar also made an interesting comparison: while they wait for Stefan Feld to release a new game, I'm waiting for Drake's album to drop. They didn't say it exactly like that; they were all 60 years old, but you get the idea.
7. Settlers of Catan is becoming the "New Golf" of SIlicon Valley. A Business Insider article depicted the game as a very desirable social skill among start-up tech company environments.
6. I also realized that a new generation of board games had been born. Settlers of Catan was launched in the early 2000's, and it's popularity set the stage for "Euro-Style" games (or a fancy way of saying strategy-based games). If you've never played Catan before, it's a game where people trade resources with one another to build settlements. One wins the game through building a certain number of settlements. Settlers of Catan's popularity is extremely fitting, as globalization and scarcity of resources become more and more prevalent in today's world.