Where and when were famous board games invented?

Jovialis · Jun 8, 2023

Growing up, my favorites in no particular order were Monopoly, Life, Risk, and Clue. I like to play them on phone apps too to pass the time if need be.

Maciamo · Jun 8, 2023

My favourites as a child were Stratego, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. Nowadays I prefer Cluedo, Scrabble, Ticket to Ride and Catan.

There is also the relatively new Stratego Waterloo that was released in 2015 for the 200 years anniversary of the battle and that is more complex and overall better than the traditional Stratego. The pieces are real units (e.g. Old Guard, Polish lancers, Highland regiments, Brunswick Leib, Dutch carabiniers, Silesian Landwehr) or real generals (Napoleon, Ney, Wellington, Uxbridge, Blücher, Bülow). The game has many options, such as adding hills, marshes, farms or villages that alter the movement, defence or shooting range of units.

amandarogers · Jun 30, 2023

Maciamo said:
Have you ever wondered what the oldest board games were? Which country has produced the most board games that are usually found in people's homes? Or the most board games per capita? Here is a table to summarise it all.

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 600"]
[TR]
[TD]Board game[/TD]
[TD]Year invented[/TD]
[TD]Place invented[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]The Game of Life[/TD]
[TD]1860[/TD]
[TD]USA (Massachussetts)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sorry![/TD]
[TD]1929[/TD]
[TD]United Kingdom (Essex)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Monopoly[/TD]
[TD]1932 (published in 1935)[/TD]
[TD]USA (Pennsylvania)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scrabble[/TD]
[TD]1938[/TD]
[TD]USA (New York)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stratego[/TD]
[TD]1947[/TD]
[TD]Netherlands[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Cluedo (Clue in the US)[/TD]
[TD]1943 (published in 1949)[/TD]
[TD]United Kingdom (Birmingham)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mille Bornes[/TD]
[TD]1954[/TD]
[TD]France[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Risk[/TD]
[TD]1957[/TD]
[TD]France[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mastermind[/TD]
[TD]1970[/TD]
[TD]Israel[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Uno[/TD]
[TD]1971[/TD]
[TD]USA (Ohio)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Connect Four[/TD]
[TD]1974[/TD]
[TD]USA[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Pay Day[/TD]
[TD]1974[/TD]
[TD]USA[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Trivial Pursuit[/TD]
[TD]1979[/TD]
[TD]Canada (Montreal)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Guess Who?[/TD]
[TD]1979[/TD]
[TD]Israel/USA[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Axis and Allies[/TD]
[TD]1981[/TD]
[TD]USA (Massachussetts)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scotland Yard [/TD]
[TD]1983[/TD]
[TD]United Kingdom[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jenga[/TD]
[TD]1983[/TD]
[TD]United Kingdom (Yorkshire)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Pictionary[/TD]
[TD]1985[/TD]
[TD]Canada/USA[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hotel[/TD]
[TD]1986[/TD]
[TD]USA[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Catan[/TD]
[TD]1995[/TD]
[TD]Germany (Stuttgart)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Cranium[/TD]
[TD]1998[/TD]
[TD]United Kingdom[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Carcassonne[/TD]
[TD]2000[/TD]
[TD]Germany[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Blokus[/TD]
[TD]2000[/TD]
[TD]France[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ticket to Ride[/TD]
[TD]2004[/TD]
[TD]United Kingdom (Hampshire)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Agricola[/TD]
[TD]2007[/TD]
[TD]Germany[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dominion[/TD]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]France[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7 Wonders[/TD]
[TD]2010[/TD]
[TD]France[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Codenames[/TD]
[TD]2015[/TD]
[TD]Czechia[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

I did not include games with a complicated history like checkers (the first game of the kind dates back to the Sumerian city of Ur 5000 years ago!), backgammon (found in the ancient Middle East and Egypt), Go (originating in China over 2300 years ago), chess (first mentioned in 7th century Persia and India), or even Snakes and ladders, which originated in ancient India as Moksha Patam.

I also omitted games that were not really board games like Twister (more like gymnastics!), or dice games like Boggle or Yahtzee, although I included card-based games using special, non-standard playing cards. The history of the game Battleship is a bit confused, so I didn't list it.

There are so many board games nowadays, with new ones being published every year just in France (!) that I had to select only the most famous ones. In order to to that I checked the number of languages into which the Wikipedia page for each game was available and rejected games that didn't have Wiki entries in at least 5 languages. But I am sure that I forgot quite a few games, so feel free to propose others. And it's so interesting to see how the gaming industry is developed now. Back then, there were a few games, and now we have thousands, and it's cool because everyone can choose something good to play. I like gambling, and when I was looking for a new casino to play, I found this site https://terracasino-ca.com/fr/5-depot-casinos/ with detailed info on Casino dépôt 5 $ au Canada 2023 which helped me to choose fast. And I'm happy to live in the 21st century and have such a variety of casinos and other games.

It's interesting to note that the games based on making money or getting rich (The Game of Life, Monopoly, Pay Day, Hotels) are all American.

Statistics by country for the games listed above

USA : 10 games

UK : 6 games

France : 5 games

Germany : 3 games

Canada & Israel : 2 games

Czechia & Netherlands : 1 game

Wow, that's very interesting information, thank you! It's hard to imagine that now there are so many games, but back then it was something totally new and unique

samuelwilliams · Oct 9, 2023

I'm excited to see that three of my favorite board games, Monopoly, Scrabble, and Mastermind, are on the list. No surprise that Monopoly and Scrabble came from the USA, but I was surprised to learn that Mastermind was invented in Israel.

freddiewolf · Nov 29, 2023

So interesting to read! And it's fascinating how games have changed over the years.

Ratskulk · Dec 7, 2023

Honestly, I didn't think the US would be at the top of this list

Ratskulk · Dec 12, 2023

freddiewolf said:
So interesting to read! And it's fascinating how games have changed over the years.

You're right, games do change from year to year

Where and when were famous board games invented?

Jovialis

Advisor

Maciamo

Veteran member

amandarogers

Regular Member

samuelwilliams

Newbie

freddiewolf

Newbie

Ratskulk

Newbie

Ratskulk

Newbie