November 13, 2012
LIKE WORDS WITH FRIENDS, BUT WITH FRIENDS:
Board games are growing in popularity again : Table-top games, once overshadowed by video games, are drawing people who want more social forms of entertainment. Still, it's a tough business for publishers. (Todd Martens, 11/12/12, Los Angeles Times)
Blockbuster board games are unusual, but Days of Wonder has one in its Ticket to Ride.The already-classic cardboard game, in which players strategize over how to build the best railway routes, was released in 2004 and has worldwide sales of "several hundred thousand units per year," said Eric Hautemont, co-founder of the Los Altos, Calif., game company.That places it in the forefront of a blossoming independent game world, in which new titles such as monster bonanza King of Tokyo and kingdom-building game Dominion are fighting to join traditional classics such as Monopoly and Sorry.Driven by online word of mouth on board game websites such as BoardGameGeek and by the popularity of online digital games, including Days of Wonder's Small World, old-fashioned board games have acquired cult status and are growing in popularity.The American board game thriller Pandemic and imports such as Carcassone and the Settlers of Catan are the titles most often cited as having fueled the table-top renaissance. They have been followed by hits such as the celebration of misery game Gloom, the civilization epic 7 Wonders and the galactic adventure Race for the Galaxy.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 13, 2012 5:13 AM
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