In a time overly reliant on technology, with an ever encroaching presence of screens in every day life, with the line between real life and digital life becoming blurry, catching a break from screens has become increasingly difficult, screens at work, screens at school, screens at home, screens while shopping, screens while walking around, humans were not meant to live this way.
Have you taken your screen rest yet?
I wanted to do something different for this article, since I will be publishing it in my birthday, I wanted it to focus on another hobby of mine, board games, a hobby I took on during the Covid pandemic (can’t believe its been almost 6 years already since my first time ordering a board game through Amazon), mostly as a product of disillusion with video games. Also, my general dislike towards technology which has only gotten stronger every passing day.
I do dislike the fact of having to put this on the Tabletop RPG section, it is what it is.
To Game Is In Our Blood
We humans have been playing games since the moment we became capable of abstract thinking.
Although the oldest board game known is still up to debate, there has been evidence of humans playing board games, or at least, an approximation as to what we can consider board games, from as far back as 4000 BC, but, some anthropologists and historians believe, the oldest game may have existed as far back as 5800 BC, of course, something which is still being debated.
That game, is Mancala, not a singular game per se, more akin to a whole family of games, which is still being played today in many areas around the world, however, it is impossible to know if the versions being played today are the same as the ones played by our ancestors, as, Mancala is older than writing, and, since its a family of games, it has a myriad of variations, with some communities having not only special rules, and special boards, but special beliefs about the game as well, making it almost impossible for anthropologists to truly grasp what Mancala meant to or how it was played by ancient humans.
Backgammon is also pretty old, with some evidence of early boards for the game dating as far back as 3000 BC, of course, that version being vastly different from what is played today.
There are many such cases for modern games having their roots dating back to ancient humanity, games like Checkers, Go, Snakes and ladders, Tic-tac-toe, etc.
Games like Senet which were found in tombs of Pharaohs, believed to be a teaching tool about the Egyptian afterlife, its rules found by accident and translated from hieroglyphs.
Or, a game like The Royal Game of Ur, which had a manual written in clay tablets, in cuneiform, which was translated by an absolute mad lad, being the oldest game we modern humans know how to play the same way ancient humans did, yes, it is older than Go.
Although, Go does get the recognition of being the most consistent ruleset throughout history, with the modern version barely changed at all from the true og Go.
At the same time, both dice and playing cards were undergoing many transformations and evolutions.
For example, from sticks, to bones, to ornamented bones, to the classic cubes we know and love, the history of dice alone can fill up its own article.
Games have always been used as tools for education, tools for ritual, tools to show off one’s status, and tools for fun, for example, snakes and ladders was originally conceived on India, as a way to teach people about karma, which is why there are more snakes than ladders, as snakes represent evil and vices, meaning, that its far easier to be evil, than be virtuous.
Or how ancient Buddhists texts reference Ashtapada (a precursor to chess), or how there are religious depictions of Hindu deities playing Chaturanga (another precursor to chess), or how Plato and Homer reference skill on the game pettei (or polis) as a way to determine someone capable of debate and military strategy, or how some cultures believe that being good at Mancala is a sign of being a good leader, or the belief that Mancala can raise spirits from the dead wanting to get another game session, or how being adept at Go was expected for any member of the Chinese aristocracy worth their salt, as well as being good at Go was expected for high ranking courtesans to properly entertain the more cultured guests.
Or how there is evidence of trash talk among players outside ancient roman gambling dens and bars.
Although the oldest board game known is still up to debate, there has been evidence of humans playing board games, or at least, an approximation as to what we can consider board games, from as far back as 4000 BC, but, some anthropologists and historians believe, the oldest game may have existed as far back as 5800 BC, of course, something which is still being debated.
That game, is Mancala, not a singular game per se, more akin to a whole family of games, which is still being played today in many areas around the world, however, it is impossible to know if the versions being played today are the same as the ones played by our ancestors, as, Mancala is older than writing, and, since its a family of games, it has a myriad of variations, with some communities having not only special rules, and special boards, but special beliefs about the game as well, making it almost impossible for anthropologists to truly grasp what Mancala meant to or how it was played by ancient humans.
Backgammon is also pretty old, with some evidence of early boards for the game dating as far back as 3000 BC, of course, that version being vastly different from what is played today.
There are many such cases for modern games having their roots dating back to ancient humanity, games like Checkers, Go, Snakes and ladders, Tic-tac-toe, etc.
Games like Senet which were found in tombs of Pharaohs, believed to be a teaching tool about the Egyptian afterlife, its rules found by accident and translated from hieroglyphs.
Or, a game like The Royal Game of Ur, which had a manual written in clay tablets, in cuneiform, which was translated by an absolute mad lad, being the oldest game we modern humans know how to play the same way ancient humans did, yes, it is older than Go.
Although, Go does get the recognition of being the most consistent ruleset throughout history, with the modern version barely changed at all from the true og Go.
At the same time, both dice and playing cards were undergoing many transformations and evolutions.
For example, from sticks, to bones, to ornamented bones, to the classic cubes we know and love, the history of dice alone can fill up its own article.
Games have always been used as tools for education, tools for ritual, tools to show off one’s status, and tools for fun, for example, snakes and ladders was originally conceived on India, as a way to teach people about karma, which is why there are more snakes than ladders, as snakes represent evil and vices, meaning, that its far easier to be evil, than be virtuous.
Or how ancient Buddhists texts reference Ashtapada (a precursor to chess), or how there are religious depictions of Hindu deities playing Chaturanga (another precursor to chess), or how Plato and Homer reference skill on the game pettei (or polis) as a way to determine someone capable of debate and military strategy, or how some cultures believe that being good at Mancala is a sign of being a good leader, or the belief that Mancala can raise spirits from the dead wanting to get another game session, or how being adept at Go was expected for any member of the Chinese aristocracy worth their salt, as well as being good at Go was expected for high ranking courtesans to properly entertain the more cultured guests.
Or how there is evidence of trash talk among players outside ancient roman gambling dens and bars.
Things would change a little during the middle ages, in which there was a clear divide of games for nobility like chess, and games for the masses, like backgammon.
It was during the middle ages and the renaissance, that many games still played today will slowly take recognizable forms, and rules.
Even though, the version of chess they played was quite different from the one played today, as the rules of modern chess became standardized in the 19th century, it can still be recognizable on medieval sources. It was often played by those of higher strata, so, being good at the game quickly became associated with being high class, and eventually it became tangled with the idea of using it to practice military tactics, just how it was with its precursors Chaturanga and Ashtapada in their respective cultures.
This perceived value, was the most important factor on the divide, with games like backgammon (which was often associated with gambling), openly condemned by both church and nobility, as a poison to the soul, there are historical records of backgammon boards being burned for this very reason.
People still played it in underground casinos anyway, the very first casino pretty much had people wearing masks just so their social life didn’t tank because god forbid they gambled.
It is during this time, that game manuals, and strategy guides became common norm, mostly by aristocrats with too much free time on their hands, monks wanting a break from translating ancient texts, or knights/merchants wanting to flex how cultured they were.
There was a belief, that in order for games to be worthwhile they had to have some form of value, either educational or as a show of status, otherwise, it was considered a frivolous waste of time, this belief continued for quite some time, all around the world. One could argue, this belief continues to this day, suffered by every single hobby in existence.
It was during the middle ages and the renaissance, that many games still played today will slowly take recognizable forms, and rules.
Even though, the version of chess they played was quite different from the one played today, as the rules of modern chess became standardized in the 19th century, it can still be recognizable on medieval sources. It was often played by those of higher strata, so, being good at the game quickly became associated with being high class, and eventually it became tangled with the idea of using it to practice military tactics, just how it was with its precursors Chaturanga and Ashtapada in their respective cultures.
This perceived value, was the most important factor on the divide, with games like backgammon (which was often associated with gambling), openly condemned by both church and nobility, as a poison to the soul, there are historical records of backgammon boards being burned for this very reason.
People still played it in underground casinos anyway, the very first casino pretty much had people wearing masks just so their social life didn’t tank because god forbid they gambled.
It is during this time, that game manuals, and strategy guides became common norm, mostly by aristocrats with too much free time on their hands, monks wanting a break from translating ancient texts, or knights/merchants wanting to flex how cultured they were.
There was a belief, that in order for games to be worthwhile they had to have some form of value, either educational or as a show of status, otherwise, it was considered a frivolous waste of time, this belief continued for quite some time, all around the world. One could argue, this belief continues to this day, suffered by every single hobby in existence.
Things wouldn’t change much, until the invention of the printing press.
When it comes to firsts, we got, the game of Goose, the very first game to make use of the printing press, what truly made it gain popularity, was that one copy was gifted by Francesco I de Medici of Tuscany, to King Philip II of Spain, this made it the hot new item for all European aristocracy, quickly replacing chess as the game of choice. Its popularity was solely due to its novelty (at the time).
For good and for ill, many board games from then on do have some of its DNA, why? Because the game of Goose was so popular, that it got a ridiculous amount of spins, and re-skins. Once you have seen the board, you cannot unsee how much influence it has.
Of course, many of these spins had an educational undertone just so people didn’t feel guilty playing it themselves, or with their children.
The Goose had such a chokehold on board gaming for such a long time, that one of the firsts board games printed in the US was a Christian spin on it (The Mansion of Happiness), the other was a a geography teaching tool (Travellers' Tour Through the United States).
Bored by chess, and finding no value in the game of Goose (besides propaganda purposes, yes there are propaganda versions of Goose), generals and tacticians started to make their own homebrew wargames, just to practice tactics and get ready for yet another war, eventually, KriegsSpiel will come about, and pretty much all wargames ever since have some of KriegsSpiel’s DNA.
It would be in the 20th century when things will actually shape up.
In this century, we will have the games everyone knows and has played at least once, Monopoly, The Game of Life, Risk, Battleship, etc.
When it comes to firsts, we got, the game of Goose, the very first game to make use of the printing press, what truly made it gain popularity, was that one copy was gifted by Francesco I de Medici of Tuscany, to King Philip II of Spain, this made it the hot new item for all European aristocracy, quickly replacing chess as the game of choice. Its popularity was solely due to its novelty (at the time).
For good and for ill, many board games from then on do have some of its DNA, why? Because the game of Goose was so popular, that it got a ridiculous amount of spins, and re-skins. Once you have seen the board, you cannot unsee how much influence it has.
Of course, many of these spins had an educational undertone just so people didn’t feel guilty playing it themselves, or with their children.
The Goose had such a chokehold on board gaming for such a long time, that one of the firsts board games printed in the US was a Christian spin on it (The Mansion of Happiness), the other was a a geography teaching tool (Travellers' Tour Through the United States).
Bored by chess, and finding no value in the game of Goose (besides propaganda purposes, yes there are propaganda versions of Goose), generals and tacticians started to make their own homebrew wargames, just to practice tactics and get ready for yet another war, eventually, KriegsSpiel will come about, and pretty much all wargames ever since have some of KriegsSpiel’s DNA.
It would be in the 20th century when things will actually shape up.
In this century, we will have the games everyone knows and has played at least once, Monopoly, The Game of Life, Risk, Battleship, etc.
Dungeons and Dragons will revolutionize the way people thought about tabletop games. Opening the doors for many thematic and story driven board games, which would come later down the line.
Warhammer will make wargaming reach never seen before popularity among people too intimidated by counter galore.
Magic the Gathering created a whole new way to look at and play with cards.
Board games became widely available, many of which were experimenting with components, mechanics, and rules, many of which will become household names, others will become lessons for future designers, and others, will become the bar to surpass.
Yet, it would be at the end of the century in which one of the most influential games will come out, starting a whole new era.
Catan, which made Eurogames become a global sensation.
Following Catan, the trailblazers of the 2000s came, Carcassonne, Ticket To Ride, Pandemic, Agricola, Puerto Rico, etc. Each being a complete paradigm shift from the classic 20th century rules and concepts, many of which will become gateways to the hobby for many enthusiasts, different and crazier concepts took hold, many new ways to play, many new designs, many new designers, it was truly, a renaissance.
Warhammer will make wargaming reach never seen before popularity among people too intimidated by counter galore.
Magic the Gathering created a whole new way to look at and play with cards.
Board games became widely available, many of which were experimenting with components, mechanics, and rules, many of which will become household names, others will become lessons for future designers, and others, will become the bar to surpass.
Yet, it would be at the end of the century in which one of the most influential games will come out, starting a whole new era.
Catan, which made Eurogames become a global sensation.
Following Catan, the trailblazers of the 2000s came, Carcassonne, Ticket To Ride, Pandemic, Agricola, Puerto Rico, etc. Each being a complete paradigm shift from the classic 20th century rules and concepts, many of which will become gateways to the hobby for many enthusiasts, different and crazier concepts took hold, many new ways to play, many new designs, many new designers, it was truly, a renaissance.
And, it wouldn’t stop there, the creation of kickstarter, will give indie designers a chance to finally publish their games, no matter how niche, no matter how weird, a good design and pretty components sold themselves, it was at this point that the greatest success stories in the hobby happened, Root, Gloomhaven, and Zombicide, among many others. Inspiring a myriad of standout designers… And the usual kickstarter scammers.
Digital versions started to pop-out, putting aside the biggest hurdle of wanting to play out-of-print games, making them financially accessible, and making it easier than ever for anyone interested to finally give board gaming a chance, even for rule heavy games. Letting the computer handle setup and the complex mathematics can make all the difference.
Many franchises started to dabble into real board games, long gone are the X Monopoly, or X Jeopardy, it was now proper board games, like Sniper Elite getting a proper hidden movement 1 vs many game, or Elden Ring getting its miniature heavy mega game.
The golden age of board gaming had begun.
Digital versions started to pop-out, putting aside the biggest hurdle of wanting to play out-of-print games, making them financially accessible, and making it easier than ever for anyone interested to finally give board gaming a chance, even for rule heavy games. Letting the computer handle setup and the complex mathematics can make all the difference.
Many franchises started to dabble into real board games, long gone are the X Monopoly, or X Jeopardy, it was now proper board games, like Sniper Elite getting a proper hidden movement 1 vs many game, or Elden Ring getting its miniature heavy mega game.
The golden age of board gaming had begun.
Football clubs playing One Night Ultimate Werewolf while waiting for their next match to start, families bonding over the silliness of Camel Up, couples bonding over a nice game of Patchwork, people still mastering millennia old games. So many centuries later, we still hold the desire of our ancestors to have fun.
There is a lot more I could have written, as the history of board gaming is that deep, but, there was no reason to go farther in an overview.
You won’t get a historian as casual on his telling as yours truly. Did you know that LiberoVulpes has degrees in History and in Education?
There is a lot more I could have written, as the history of board gaming is that deep, but, there was no reason to go farther in an overview.
You won’t get a historian as casual on his telling as yours truly. Did you know that LiberoVulpes has degrees in History and in Education?
How The Fox Found A New Prairie
Now that we had a historical overview, let me tell you my own experience.
It started in 2020, college had just switched to remote classes due to quarantine, at the time, we thought it would be 2 months at most, oh how whimsical we were, with the whole commute thing no longer taking away hours off my life, I found myself with a lot of free time, I was also fresh from watching Houkago Saikoro Club, which is an anime I absolutely loved (it is criminal that the manga has been left untranslated), so I decided to sink my teeth on Tabletop Simulator, which a friend had gifted me around the time when everyone on YouTube was using it to play Secret Hitler, which I played twice with him and some other friends, then we never touched TTS again, such is the fate of co-op games, but I digress. I didn’t want to play games that were too social since I am a misanthrope, so, after much deliberation, I decided to play in one of the Catan rooms.
I could say that Catan was my gateway into proper board games, after years of playing monopoly, clue, operation, risk, game of life, and all manner of generic family board games everyone and their mother has played to death, it was a very refreshing experience.
When someone tells me they like monopoly, or risk, or battleship, etc. I look at them with the same pity I would towards a kid who likes the emoji movie, I just know they’re saying that, because they don’t know any better.
Although I started with Catan, I wouldn’t really get that into the hobby, until I played Nemesis, now that is a game alright, after playing a few games of Nemesis, I started watching board game content on YouTube, then I found myself trying out games on TTS, then browsing around Amazon for reasonably priced games, and then, I clicked on order, a few weeks later, my very first real board game was home, First Martians, not highly rated, but with a fun hard sci-fi theme, I didn’t like that it required a companion app, but that’s fine, it could also be played solo, and that’s how it all truly started.
There is something about touching high quality components with your hands that gives quite a zen experience, and the almost meditative groove you get by playing a solo board game is something quite pleasant.
While playing First Martians a lot, I also kept trying and trying games on TTS (later on I started to play around in Vassal as well), mostly putting out feelers just to see what genres I liked, since I don’t have many friends I knew that many party or multiplayer games wouldn’t really be an option (outside TTS or Vassal), shout out to One Stop Co-op Shop on YouTube for all the valuable info that helped me understand the hobby better as a solo player.
Eventually, I discovered what would become my favorite publishers, GMT Games and Compass Games, both focusing on historical and/or high complexity niche solo friendly wargames/board games, and, before I knew it, I had quite a few board games on my shelves, learned to play multi-handed, had no trouble handling automa rules (even writing some myself for certain games), found myself reading manuals before sleep, was starting to buy accessories (token silos mostly), I had learned to play a myriad of games, I had become a bona fide board gamer.
To the point, that my passion became contagious, and some of my friends began to play board games with me on TTS, full circle baby, love to see it.
It was also quite cathartic to rewatch Houkago Saikoro Club, now being able to identify every game they play, as well as every game in the background solely by components and/or cover art.
What are my favorite games? They are on the article cover.
It started in 2020, college had just switched to remote classes due to quarantine, at the time, we thought it would be 2 months at most, oh how whimsical we were, with the whole commute thing no longer taking away hours off my life, I found myself with a lot of free time, I was also fresh from watching Houkago Saikoro Club, which is an anime I absolutely loved (it is criminal that the manga has been left untranslated), so I decided to sink my teeth on Tabletop Simulator, which a friend had gifted me around the time when everyone on YouTube was using it to play Secret Hitler, which I played twice with him and some other friends, then we never touched TTS again, such is the fate of co-op games, but I digress. I didn’t want to play games that were too social since I am a misanthrope, so, after much deliberation, I decided to play in one of the Catan rooms.
I could say that Catan was my gateway into proper board games, after years of playing monopoly, clue, operation, risk, game of life, and all manner of generic family board games everyone and their mother has played to death, it was a very refreshing experience.
When someone tells me they like monopoly, or risk, or battleship, etc. I look at them with the same pity I would towards a kid who likes the emoji movie, I just know they’re saying that, because they don’t know any better.
Although I started with Catan, I wouldn’t really get that into the hobby, until I played Nemesis, now that is a game alright, after playing a few games of Nemesis, I started watching board game content on YouTube, then I found myself trying out games on TTS, then browsing around Amazon for reasonably priced games, and then, I clicked on order, a few weeks later, my very first real board game was home, First Martians, not highly rated, but with a fun hard sci-fi theme, I didn’t like that it required a companion app, but that’s fine, it could also be played solo, and that’s how it all truly started.
There is something about touching high quality components with your hands that gives quite a zen experience, and the almost meditative groove you get by playing a solo board game is something quite pleasant.
While playing First Martians a lot, I also kept trying and trying games on TTS (later on I started to play around in Vassal as well), mostly putting out feelers just to see what genres I liked, since I don’t have many friends I knew that many party or multiplayer games wouldn’t really be an option (outside TTS or Vassal), shout out to One Stop Co-op Shop on YouTube for all the valuable info that helped me understand the hobby better as a solo player.
Eventually, I discovered what would become my favorite publishers, GMT Games and Compass Games, both focusing on historical and/or high complexity niche solo friendly wargames/board games, and, before I knew it, I had quite a few board games on my shelves, learned to play multi-handed, had no trouble handling automa rules (even writing some myself for certain games), found myself reading manuals before sleep, was starting to buy accessories (token silos mostly), I had learned to play a myriad of games, I had become a bona fide board gamer.
To the point, that my passion became contagious, and some of my friends began to play board games with me on TTS, full circle baby, love to see it.
It was also quite cathartic to rewatch Houkago Saikoro Club, now being able to identify every game they play, as well as every game in the background solely by components and/or cover art.
What are my favorite games? They are on the article cover.
Getting Started With Board Gaming
Have I gotten you interested on giving board games a chance? I mean real ones, once you play the good stuff, you won’t even look at monopoly anymore.
I prepared a little image with some collection starters, however, is as over-compassing as I could make it, therefore, I went with wide appeal and easy to understand, it is always a good idea to research a game on boardgamegeek or on YouTube, unless you are interested on very niche things, there is a high possibility whatever you want likely has discussions, reviews, and playthroughs. And, then you will see the dreaded [Out of Print] and will understand the pain we board gamers have to endure.
I prepared a little image with some collection starters, however, is as over-compassing as I could make it, therefore, I went with wide appeal and easy to understand, it is always a good idea to research a game on boardgamegeek or on YouTube, unless you are interested on very niche things, there is a high possibility whatever you want likely has discussions, reviews, and playthroughs. And, then you will see the dreaded [Out of Print] and will understand the pain we board gamers have to endure.
Now, before ending things for today, let me give you some general tips about board gaming:
You don’t need to buy the expansions, most games don’t actually need them.
The numbers at the back of the box are a lie, when it comes to player count, check BGG, and when it comes to duration, always expect at least 20% more per player, 50% more if its 1st time play, add 10% to both for any player prone to analysis paralysis.
Most co-op games can be played solo.
Don’t go into high complexity games, until you have had some experience with eurogames.
Table presence is nice, but setting up and packing up gets worse the more components there are.
Be wary of kickstarters which either offer a ridiculous count of minis, and/or offer expansions on release, those are marketing ploys, more often than not, pretty disappointing.
Tabletop Simulator and Vassal are good ways to try out games, maybe board game arena as well, I guess.
You don’t have to play the top games on BGG, just pick whatever strikes your fancy.
Digital versions can make many games be far less intimidating.
And, that’s that, hope you give board gaming a try!
You don’t need to buy the expansions, most games don’t actually need them.
The numbers at the back of the box are a lie, when it comes to player count, check BGG, and when it comes to duration, always expect at least 20% more per player, 50% more if its 1st time play, add 10% to both for any player prone to analysis paralysis.
Most co-op games can be played solo.
Don’t go into high complexity games, until you have had some experience with eurogames.
Table presence is nice, but setting up and packing up gets worse the more components there are.
Be wary of kickstarters which either offer a ridiculous count of minis, and/or offer expansions on release, those are marketing ploys, more often than not, pretty disappointing.
Tabletop Simulator and Vassal are good ways to try out games, maybe board game arena as well, I guess.
You don’t have to play the top games on BGG, just pick whatever strikes your fancy.
Digital versions can make many games be far less intimidating.
And, that’s that, hope you give board gaming a try!
