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5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones

By
Chris Rio ·
April 05, 2017

If you're like me, you probably had a closet full of board games as a child. You probably have pleasant memories of your first round of Mouse Trap, and not-so-pleasant memories of the first time your cousin beat the vocabulary out of you at Scrabble. But over time, board games gathered dust. In the case of my generation, these pieces of cardboard and plastic grew instantly antiquated when placed beside the omnipotent aura of the video game. Why would you play boring old Monopoly when you could scream at your buddies over a 3 a.m. match of GoldenEye? Why bother with the game of Life when you could just as easily devote your entire existence to World Of Warcraft?

Times have changed, but fortunately, the world of board games has too. In a few short years of exploring, I've gone from not knowing what the hell Settlers Of Catan was to making my own card game. (Called Cheer Up!, which you can get right here. Shameless plug!) Here's what I learned diving back into the industry after a 15-year absence.

5
They've Grown Up With You

As I grew into big-boy clothes (backwards hats and pants with too many pockets), board games slowly dropped to the status of "easy gifts for relatives to give me at Christmas." Even though they had the best commercials in the history of advertising, that was that. Board games were out, and wondering how I'd look with a sweet wallet chain was in.

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But behind the scenes, board games were going through puberty too. Not only were they becoming more complex, but they were also growing up. Sure, there have always been games made for older hobbyists, but what I mean is that this is now a character from a commercially popular board game:

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Poots

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Oh, is that the new Monopoly piece?

In case you need an explanation for what you're looking at, that's a miniature from the horror game Kingdom Death: Monster named Wet Nurse. It appears to be a bulbous, throbbing sex organ with a baby face for a nose, a pair of boobs for eyes, and 20 boobs for boobs. It's H.P. Lovecraft's RedTube. Of course, nudity does not automatically equal quality adult content, but let's take a gander at some of the other creatures from the game. Just because something isn't covered in tits doesn't mean it's safe for children.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Poots

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5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Poots

Jesus Christ. Silent Hill doesn't have monsters as disturbing as that, and I'm including that thing that has it's own head for a dick. Now to be clear, this is pretty much as hardcore as it gets. These are creatures from a $400 board game in which you can wear the skin of your enemies as armor and roll dice to mate. One reviewer summed it up by saying it was life-changing, yet disturbing to the core and offensive to anyone with a pulse. Basically, it ain't for everyone.

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If you're looking for something adult and familiar that won't make your friends suddenly remember that they have other stuff to do, note that a shelf-full of video game franchises have already made the jump to board games. The Witcher, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Gears Of War, X-Com, and the upcoming games based on Dark Souls and Doom have all successfully transferred what made their games great into a plastic version.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Polygon

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Now when you die 500 times in a row, you can flip the table instead of throwing a controller at your TV.

Like gritty TV? Game Of Thrones has been turned into multiple board games. Dexter, a show about a serial killer, has a goddamn game. But are these popular? Oh, quite so. Kingdom Death: Monster (you know, that game with the Cthulhu rack) recently raised almost $12 million on Kickstarter, becoming one of the most popular projects ever. And 11.5 million of those dollars went to more monster boob.

If you're looking to ease back into the cardboard world without dropping handfuls of Benjamins, your best bet would be party games. (Which, ahem, my game happens to be.) These are perfect to pop open at a crowded gathering while imbibing alcohol. In fact, thanks to successes like Cards Against Humanity, "adult party games" are now their own mainstream genre. Many classics that you may have played before, like Taboo and Outburst, now have dirty versions that would piss off your parents way more than you knowing the second verse of Eminem's "Without Me." And this stuff is mainstream. Adults-only games like Monikers and Nasty Things are sold right on the shelf next to Candy Land at Target.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Target

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"Mommy, I want the big black one."

4
They've Embraced Technology

When you start to explore the world of board games as a video game fan, you realize that the two are not bitter enemies, but in fact are complementary. Some, like those made by Jackbox Games, blur the line completely. Board games and video games have now been made one. And they will conquer.

But video gaming's one advantage is being able to play with anyone, anywhere, right? What if there was a way to play board games with friends across the country without downloading a shitty iPhone version? This isn't a unicorn dream, friends. Enter Tabletopia, a PC app that is the Netflix of board games.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Tabletopia Inc.

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This is not a photo.

The platform has over 300 games, everything from newcomers like Scythe to whatever the hell Canadian Checkers is. Games are pretty accurately recreated, and the best part is that you don't even have to pick up all the pieces when you inevitably flip the table in a blind rage.

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But maybe you want something more than a neatly packaged digital version of some indie game you've never heard of. In that case, you're gonna want Tabletop Simulator, which is a literal board game simulator. Unlike Tabletopia, there are no 21st-century conveniences like score counters or auto-shuffling. In order to play the games in Tabletop Simulator, you must physically pick up and move the pieces, or draw cards from the deck with your mouse. Everything is manual and physics-based. There are no rules unless you follow them voluntarily. A game of poker can suddenly become a house of cards building contest, just like real life. The game even lets you upload your own art and create a game, like this completely unauthorized fan version of the Pokemon Trading Card Game which I'm assuming you are going to go download now. It's beautiful madness.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Berzerk Games

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Gee, sure makes spending $100 on a Charizard back in 2001 seem a little dumb now that everyone has one.

It's compatible with virtual reality, too, so that's about as realistic as it gets, folks. This is nerd porn.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones Berzerk Games

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Not sure what game uses chess pieces, Uno cards, and mancala chips, but I'd try it.

3
Goddamn Legacy Games

No matter how into board gaming you are, I'm sure you're familiar with Risk. In fact, you probably have it in your attic right now. To catch you up to speed, it's a world domination game in which you fight against a handful of other people to take over the Earth via brute force. (There's no diplomacy or trading. You make the biggest army you can and try to make your buddies cry.) A lot of the game is based on rolling dice and building up territory, so later in the game, it can get a little slow and tedious rolling dice 47 times to take over Australia.

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In 2012, Hasbro figured that the 50-year-old game was getting a little stale and released Risk Legacy. This isn't just a re-skin. It's a completely different game, and it was the first of its kind. This is a game that you play over and over with the same people across multiple sessions until a predetermined amount of games have been finished, changing the game as you go. But here's the kicker: You can never play it again after that, because the game changes become permanent. This board game has actual spoilers.

Let me show you what I mean. The very first action you do is choose a faction and one of two power-ups. You're supposed to pick your favorite, then throw the other one away. Haha, no, I don't mean you toss it in the discard pile. I mean you throw it away.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones The Board Game Family

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Don't skip this step. The game will know. It remembers.

During the game, players unlock various rewards for winning each game -- like, for example, naming your own territory. In this case, you take a Sharpie and write it on the damn board. So name your new place "Fuck-Greg-Istan" if you want, because really, fuck Greg. There are even spoiler cards that unlock after certain conditions are met that are sealed in an envelope like an Academy Award.

5 Reasons Why Board Games Now Are Way Better Than 90s Ones The Board Game Family

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"Dumbledore dies on page 596."

This is a $50 board game that you destroy over the course of playing it. In case that sounds stupid, the success of the game has created a new subgenre. Pandemic, a popular strategy game about curing global disease, now has a legacy version. Hell, even this parody game has a legacy version that parodies legacy versions of games, which is the equivalent of taking a niche interest and then drilling holes into it to make room for more niches.

2
There Are Modern Versions Of The Classics Now

OK, maybe this still isn't convincing you to go check out some new board games. Maybe you legitimately do miss the old games you used to play and would play them all again if they had some mechanics that weren't invented in 1910. Monopoly is great, but it's basically Woodrow Wilson's America: The Game. Speaking of the era before World War II, when was the last time you played Monopoly? Because a shitload of stuff has changed. First off all, credit cards have been added.