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We take a closer look at board games vs. video games. What draws us to each and why might we play one over the other.

Herbert Llanas, Blogger

April 19, 2017

4 Min Read

Both, board games and video games have been known for bringing out fun and enjoyment to whoever plays it. The board game industry has been around longer than the video game industry obviously, but if I tell you that the video game industry has existed for around 50 years would you take my word? Shocking right?

The first ever video game was released in 1962 by the name Space war, a game where two space ships battle each other out to the point of death in space. Video games were not very popular back in the day because at that point, technology was very slow at developing in most parts of the world causing many individuals to miss out on the fun it brings. Board games have been existing from the time period around 3500BC to 3100BC. The first ever board game according to history was in Egypt and named Senet.

Books turned into online reading material, Letters transformed into Electronic mails (E-mails), and likewise board games started transforming into video games all due to the rapid development of technology in this century. As the current generation is more engrossed into video games, there was a time where board games were the most exciting thing to ever happen. Especially during family gatherings, when one is chilling with his or her friends and so on.

Board Games

Some of the most popular board games of all time would be Monopoly, Chess, Scrabble, Bingo, Battle ship, Cluedo, Pictionary and so on. These helped individuals work on specific skills and build them up as they go.

For example – Monopoly helped players build or master up a business mindset giving them indirect training with handling accounts and mathematic problems and etc. Chess is a brain game that helped build the player’s level of concentration, thinking pattern, and the mind set to make right decisions. Scrabble on the other hand also helped the player to build the thinking pattern, helped the individual and other plays develop their vocabulary by helping to learn and discover new words, and it also taught an individual how to think fast under a short given period. Bingo was another game that helped to develop skills related to focusing and hearing as well. The other mentioned board games also played various roles in developing personal skills.

These board games were not only educational but also competitive and very fun and had enough room for many players leaving nobody out.

Cards are another hit game when it comes to board games. A standard card pack has precisely 52 cards per deck. And with these 52 cards people have managed to invent over a thousand games. Some go by different names around the world but are more or less the same. And unlike the actual board games, the rules implemented for cards can be bent and changed accordingly as they do not come with a manual but are taught from one individual to another.

Another type of board games are ones that have been based on movies or popular TV shows. Such as the Evil dead 2 board game, CSI, Star Wars are such games. Evil dead 2 is a personal favorite and is about a survival based horror game. It could be played between 2 – 6 players and includes dice, character miniatures, various character cards and other cards, many types of token including 16 board game tiles.

Video Games

Video games could be played using a PC, a laptop, via a smart phone, tablet, and even game consoles such as Xbox, PS2, PS3, PS4, Wii, Nintendo Gameboy, and many other kinds. Just like laptop models and other daily electronic components keep developing with time, these game console models and features also develop with time.

Most board games mentioned above have an electronic video game version. In board games, there has to be a minimum of two players in order to start up a game. But in the case of video games, there is no need as the player has the option to either play with another individual, or with the electronic component itself.

As mentioned in the introduction video games have been in existence for around five whole decades but are ever so popular now because of the mind set advancement and easy facilities that are readily available to everyone unlike in the past. There are also duplicate versions of the game consoles that are not as effective as the original but works the same and can be easily afforded by many individuals that do not have the financial capabilities of purchasing original video gaming products.

All in all, according to facts I believe people of the previous generation would choose board games over video games as there are quite a lot of complications that comes with handling a game console mainly. But whether it is board games or video games as long as the player is having fun out of it, there is nothing to complain.

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