Everyone reaches a state in life where they are allowed to ruminate, speculate and pontificate on any subject they desire. You can recognize this special time by certain social indicators. For men it is simple:
You have investigated the age requirement to qualify for the senior citizen's discount at McDonald's .
You have basically dropped out of the genetic pool.
Locating your bifocals is far more important than clean socks.
You begin to appreciate naps.
You simply cannot "see the logic" in thong underwear.
Having reached the afore mentioned stage in life, I am, by some very obscure law, allowed to express my views on any subject. Following a recent game session, we had a short discussion on Wiz Kid's Clix system and the potential effect it could have on miniatures in general. Never having delved into miniatures did not disqualify me from offering my opinion as once you turn 50 you believe you know everything. (Most 18 year olds believe they know everything also—the difference is that at 50, you really do.) The discussion that follows is the result of that conversation.
In every human endeavor there are actions or events that precipitate dramatic change. The creation of money, the printing press, the steam engine, harnessing electricity, and the transistor are just a few examples. Each of these discoveries or inventions altered the course of civilization. Sir James Burke has written extensively on this topic in his The Day the Universe Changed later detailing the sometimes odd chain of events in his The Pinball Effect. These types of events are, by their very nature, unexpected; they are usually not evolutionary but rather mutations that rock the foundation and move civilization in new directions.
On a significantly smaller scale, the world of games mirrors this phenomenon. Through the years, certain games have been introduced that dramatically altered the gaming world; revealing virgin areas for play and competition. They are not derivative games that sell well due to some movie/book tie in or fad frenzy generated by an advertising agency; these are games that are unique transformations. In the past 100 years, the car, airplane, telephone and electricity have been introduced the combination of which has so altered society that generations past would be lost. The last 100 years have seen a similar transformation in the game universe. There are claims that this is a "golden age" for gaming; that more people play games today than ever before (of course there are more people living today than ever before so make of it what you will). How then could we identify the games that were significant in creating and changing the game world we know today?
For purposes of this discussion there must be criteria that limits the eligibility of the game-candidate or it could be argued that every game is unique. There are four parameters that have been employed:
The game must have been produced in the past 100 years.
The game must have sold a significant number of copies (100,000+).
The game system must have produced derivatives either as variants or scenarios.
The game must have significantly altered the face of gaming.
Using this criteria to explore the thousands of games produced in the period specified results in ten "hits". The games have been listed in chronological order with a short history and their impact on gaming. I assume that anyone sufficiently interested in games to be reading this article would be generally familiar with the mechanics of these games so any discussion of the mechanics of a particular game will only be mentioned if they are relevant. Certain favorites may be missing and in most cases it will be because they failed one of the first three parameters. I admit that the fourth qualifier is subjective.
First Generation
Prior to Monopoly, the few board games available tended toward children and often had religious or moral themes. Introduced in 1934, during the "dark days" of the depression it offered players the opportunity to wield wealth and had a screw-your-neighbor approach that was not common to games of the day. Though considered to have flaws, Parker Brothers began publication and within one year was selling in excess of 20,000 copies per week. This is an amazing number of games given the financial situation of the times. (It actually saved Parker Brothers from bankruptcy.) There are many theories offered as to why Monopoly sold as it did; the most common is that given the economic situation, it was cheap entertainment. Others have suggested that it allowed players to fantasize about achieving great wealth. Whatever the reason it introduced an entire generation to commercial board gaming. It was the right game at just the right moment in history. Most gamers today will acknowledge that if it were introduce today, Monopoly would fail miserably. It requires too much time, has an exorbitant amount of luck and minimal player interaction. The model T Ford was not the first automobile but it managed to found an industry. Monopoly was not the first commercial board game but, like the Tin Lizzy, it managed to create an entire hobby.
For many years Charles Darrow has been credited with designing Monopoly. There is evidence that he may have "borrowed" the game from one published thirty years earlier. Elizabeth Maggie Phillips designed and published Landlord in 1904. "Coincidentally", Monopoly contained the same number of spaces (some with identical names) and a very similar mechanic. Legal battles have ensued. It is interesting that in the history section of the Hasbro/ Monopoly web site, they do not credit Darrow with having "designed" the game but merely as having "showed" it to Parker Brothers.
Monopoly clubs abound with the internet expanding the possibilities to meet and play. There is no shortage of analysis, strategy tips, suggestions and debate; and there is one heck-of-a-lot of debate. There are numerous "house rules" found among Monopoly players. The two most common are some form of monetary gain when landing on "Free Parking" and alternate victory conditions. A common misunderstanding is that the player with the most money wins the game. Monopoly, like Risk, is an elimination game: the winner is the player who has bankrupted all of his opponents thus eliminating them from the game. Through gaming generations, the original concept has been twisted and mutated into several strong series of wealth accumulation games. Derivatives such as Rail Baron have morphed into the Empire Builder series. Touches of Monopoly can be found in the 18xx series as well as dozens of other games. Monopoly was the first commercial board game to successfully challenge the classic games of Chess and Go for playing time. It created the opportunity for all that followed.
With more than 200 million games sold, Monopoly is simply the best selling commercial board game in the world. It is published in 26 different languages and in 80 different countries. In the original game, the spaces are street names from Atlantic City but there are dozens of other versions available that use street names from other major cities. There is even a make-your-own kit. In recent years themed versions have appeared ranging from sports (NASCAR and NFL) to comics (Spiderman and X Men) to sci-fi themes (Star Wars). With so many copies and versions in print, one can be had for next to nothing at garage sales or thrift shops. For those so inclined, Franklin Mint offers a deluxe version with gold plated pieces.
"Bingo"
Arthur Butts, an architect by profession, did not so much invent a game as construct one. He began by examining the game market, determining the types of games available and then with deliberate plodding proceeded to construct a game. He discovered that there were no "word games" on the market and decided to construct a crossword style game. Unfortunately he was unable to find information detailing the frequency of the appearance of specific letters in English words. So Alfred sat down with the front page of the New York Times and began tabulating the frequency of every "A", every "B", every "C" … and he did not stop with just one issue of the Times! His final results determined the mix of letters available in the game and his method resulted in a relatively accurate accounting.
The original version was introduced as Lexicon which, with a few changes, became Criss-Cross Words. Finally, with further refinements he created the world's first tile laying game: Scrabble. Unable to produce sufficient units on his own he partnered with James Brunot who is credited with the "Scrabble" title. Introduced in 1948, it was sold to Selchow & Righter in 1952. In 1986 Coleco bought the rights but bankruptcy soon followed with Hasbro picking up the pieces three years later. To date Scrabble has sold in excess of 100 million copies and continues to sell one to two million each year.
Following Chess and Go, Scrabble has the greatest number of organized players with thousands of clubs around the world, major tournaments (offering significant monetary prizes) and a ranking system similar to Chess. There are books and newsletters where strategies are debated and tile combinations are examined . There are word lists for two through nine letter words with special emphasis being place on two, three and seven letter words (seven letter words, when placed, are known as "bingos"). The aficionados play only two player games, have memorized (at a minimum) all of the two and three letter words and will readily explain that tile placement is at least as important as word knowledge. An excellent description of the world of Scrabble can be found in Stefan Fatsis' book: Word Freak.
Scrabble introduced two new concepts to board games: the word game and the tile placement game. The game is published around the world in a variety of languages and has generated so many variants it boggles the mind.
High Crimes
Cluedo (Clue) mixes a variety of seemingly unassociated elements into an elegant but simple game. It is the "who-done-it" novel of the game world. The game system is a straight forward logic puzzle; a simple exercise in deductive reasoning. The theme allows each each player the opportunity to become a Sherlock Holmes, finding clues and determining the culprit. Logic puzzles are not new; some can be found in the Bible and the time of Alexander the Great. Cluedo was the first board game to successfully blend the elements of a logic puzzle with an appealing theme while, unlike previous attempts at this, the game was not diminished by repeated plays.
Cluedo was designed by Anthony Pratt in 1944. Unfortunately, due to the war and the subsequent lack of materials it was not published until 1949. Waddington published in England while Parker Brothers covered the North American market. The Cluedo name is based on Latin for "I play" so the American audience, with Parker Brother's name change to Clue, was deprived of the pun.
The basic game is published in 40 countries under similar names (Clue, Cluedo, Master Detective, etc). There have been 3-D versions, VCR versions, expanded versions and pop culture versions (Simpson's Clue for example). From country to country the play remains the same but the characters and the locations change. For example, the Spanish and Swiss versions include a bedroom and bathroom. One item that has remained inviolate for each game is the reason for the murder; none is ever given.
Every mystery game produced since Cluedo must acknowledge the influence of the grand daddy of all mystery games. All of them, from Sackson's boardless Sleuth to Faidutti and Laget's Mystery of the Abbey are variants of a sort (and in many cases superior to the original).
Note: it has been my experience that mystery games, be it Clue or one of the many derivatives, are welcomed by all gamers. This is an unusual phenomenon as most gamers seem to have some genre that they simply do not care for. I have yet to cross a gamer that refuses a good mystery.
Armageddon
Risk was designed by Albert Lamorisse ( A French film maker) and released in France in 1957. Two years later Parker Brothers released the first edition in North America. Risk was unique in several areas. It was the first popular game where movement was not determined by a die roll. Though commonly accepted today, this was revolutionary for the times. Having grown up with the likes of Monopoly and Life, the novice Attila was suddenly confronted with the problem of where to move.
The depth of Risk was well beyond the average commercial game. Sophisticated gamers played Chess and Go, where the average player elevated Monopoly to the apex of the gaming mound. Risk fell somewhere in between; deeper than Monopoly but less elaborate than Chess or Go. It grew extremely popular on college campuses. Entering a student union in the evening and one would find a few, very quiet, games of Chess and Go being played but the crowds surrounded the tables with Risk games. Brassy, macho and loud, Risk was a game that was testosterone driven; it was the bad boy on the block. Risk was the first "nasty" commercial game where there was no pretense of civility. In Monopoly the object is to eliminate the other player's holdings; it was one step removed. In Risk you directly attacked other players; it was personal.
Many games have house rules, for example the tax/ free parking payout in Monopoly. Being so popular on college campuses, the house rules for Risk became intricate and in many cases historic. Scenarios for re-enacting many historic battles were developed and the demand for these eventually gave birth to the war game industry. (Yes, I know that Charles Roberts designed Tactics II, considered by many to be the first commercial war game but, as my kids would say, "Let's get real." More people were introduced to war games through Risk than have even heard of Tactics II.)
The final innovation in Risk was unintentional; it was the first negotiation game. Monopoly offered the opportunity to trade properties but Risk inadvertently offered alliances (i.e. temporary co-operative play), treaties and deception. This introduced a bold new concept to games. Changing the combat system while retaining the remainder led to the development of a new genre of diplomatic games beginning with Diplomacy. And after forty years a touch can still be seen in some of today's games.
Though Risk continues to sell well, and continues to be a great introduction to more sophisticated gaming it is not extremely popular among die-had gamers. Time has taken a toll on the game and the derivatives play significantly better. Those interested in the historic conflicts introduced in Risk have moved on to war games. Those interested in the negotiating aspects play Diplomacy or Machiavelli for example. For the rest of us, games such as El Grande and San Marco (area control games) have improved on the multi player conflict aspects of Risk resulting in simply a better game.
At the time of its publication, no one realized that Risk would signal the end of an era in gaming. A new generation of more sophisticated games were on the horizon.
The Next Generation
1962 is an epic year in the history of board games. All of the games published prior to this, and many more to follow, could be considered first generation board games. These first generation games followed a rigid format where turns alternated in a strict pattern, there was little player interaction, a minimal number of choices per turn and, with rare exceptions, no real need for players to remain at the table when it was not their turn to play.
This would all change beginning with a game published by a company better known for selling tape (3M - Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing). 3M published a line of adult strategy games presented in bookcase boxes (versus the long flat boxes common to that point). These games were sold in hobby shops and book stores and offered the players games with more complex strategy and adult themes. One of the games published in this group would alter the board game world.
Sid Sackson's Acquire was published by 3M in 1962. The components appeared very similar to Scrabble - a grid formed the board and letter/number tiles were placed in the squares of the grid and that is all they shared in common. Acquire was unusual in many ways; there were no random generators (dice, cards or spinners), players were faced with multiple choices each turn and each could be the "right move", no player could afford to leave the table as the game changed rapidly and finally, players shared ownership! It was a stock market game where player actions determined the stock valuation. Unlike all previous games the system was layered; what occurred off of the board was as critical to play as what occurred on the board.
3M would eventually publish six additional games by Sackson but none would have the impact of Acquire. With a less than acceptable level of performance, 3M sold the entire line to Avalon Hill who reprinted Acquire in 1976. It became one of Avalon Hill's better sellers and for a short time could be found in toy and department stores. The latest version, published in 2000, has the finest components to date.
The significance and impact of Acquire cannot be overstated. It was the first of what 40 years later would be deemed German style games. An entire genre of gaming would grow from this seed. Sid Sackson was the founding father of the German style game. During an interview Sackson was asked what makes a good game and he replied:
"It should be easy to learn yet have infinite strategic possibilities, give you the chance to make choices, create interaction among players and take a maximum of one and a half hours to play".
