What is Your Favorite Board Game? – Survey of the Day

I am honestly not quite sure if anyone plays board games anymore. With technology that allows us to play games with ourselves and others via phone, and the overall hustle and bustle of life, board games seem to have taken a backseat. There was a time, however, that board games were a go to for entertaining. What is your favorite board game of all time?

After doing a little research I found that even if folks are not playing board games as often, they are still buying them. The NPD Group has released the year end sales results for the board game industry and their really quite encouraging. In a year where the overall toy segment was down 3%, board games were up 6%.

So what’s behind the oscillation in game sales? I have a feeling that the answer may be very basic – mainstream acceptance. For those who haven’t noticed, hobby board games are showing up in more and more channels – especially booksellers like Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million and Borders. With smaller publishers like Northstar Games and Out of the Box getting distribution deals with mega-chains like Target, the number of board games that appeal to adults has never been more visible. Do I have any data for this particular position? Nope – most industry research just doesn’t get to that level of detail. However, the timing is right and given that mass market retailers are much more susceptible downturns in the broader economy, we may have a situation where there is a baseline portion of board game sales that are supported by traditional hobby channels and purchases for children/families with the fluctuations occurring because of external factors impacting hobby game purchases within the mass market channels.

Specialty games for hobbyists and games dedicated to certain interests, such as Star Wars Monopoly and The Simpsons Scrabble, may keep the industry afloat, but most are probably sitting on a self not being played.