Board Games Click With Adults

Thanks to the Washington Post for their article discussing the rise of sophisticated, adult-aimed board games. According to the piece, "sales of non-electronic specialty games... have nearly quadrupled since 1995, [and] one of the fastest-growing areas, industry experts say, is the adult strategy game." But although "the specialty market is still dwarfed by mass-marketed games", excluding a few break-out specialty titles like Settlers Of Catan, the article claims that "board-game sales have always increased during economic slumps", and, "in a sign of just how hungry people are for smarter board games, adult-education programs in Fairfax and Arlington now offer classes that introduce strategy-oriented [boardgame] titles."

Comments

Portability

[Momomoto]

It should also be mentioned that board games are definitely more portable than a game console/PC. I've known a couple of people who stopped going to LAN parties simply because they were sick of dragging out 10kg worth of equipment to the four corners of the earth. And, although the difference is less prominent, a Diplomacy game box is a lot easier to carry than a PS2, four controllers, a Multi-Tap, and your copy of TimeSplitters 2.

Thus, board gaming also appeals to computer players who need their social and competitive fixes but are sick of lugging around so much equipment.

Possible reason

[gazbo]

With the increase in tech workers over the years has been the correlated increase in cases of ADD amongst adults. Whereas in the past people may have watched TV or read a book in their spare time, it's not surprising that these people find it too boring and their attention drifts quickly.

Hence they buy a board game instead of reading. I suspect that we will continue to see a strong correlation between the increase in tech jobs (and tech education) and board game sales.

Increase education amongst the ADD

[bildstorm]

As a person with ADHD (woohoo!), I highly recommend going beyond just strategy games into pen & paper RPGs with or without tabeltop miniatures.

The more work that you put into role-playing, the more you have to read. (For gaming alone, I end up reading history, economics, law, & political science.) You also interact with others and get your creative juices flowing.