How Board Game Enthusiasts Got Creative in 2020
If you’re anything like our family, you spend most holidays and group gatherings looking at a stack of board games and deciding which games you want to play.
But what if there are no social gatherings, or you have to interact with one another on video calls or outside?
It makes playing games together nearly impossible, as we found in 2020.
Most board gaming enthusiasts probably felt a similar disappointment last year, as lockdowns began and persisted across the world. Trying to gather together with friends and family became difficult.
Despite this, board game enthusiasts got creative. Here’s a look at how many of us found ways to continue to play new and old board games, and play them with those we love.
Rise in Strategy and Adventure Game Interest
In the past few years, there has been an increase in interest over strategy and adventure games, and 2020 was no exception. With more time at home, lots of board gamers purchased new strategy and adventure games they could play at home. These complex games often take longer to play, so the extra time was nice.
This included Kickstarter games like Frosthaven and Gloomhaven. These games can also be played in smaller groups of people - if not entirely alone.
Board Game Rentals
Local board game cafes and comic book stores also had to get creative in how to stay in business and get customers buying and playing games.
There weren’t as many tournaments or indoor gatherings in the stores that often drive their business success. Some of these stores got creative with their online marketing and creating a new service like “Board Game Rentals” to keep their stores in business.
How these rentals work is you rent the game for a period of time, play it and then when you return it, you can decide if you want to actually buy the game or not.
Online Games & Escape Rooms
A more obvious adjustment to gaming in 2020 was the move to online games and escape rooms - finding different websites that offered your favorite games online.
You can find some popular games to play online on sites like Board Game Arena, Tabletopia or 365escape.
Board Gaming App Downloads
If you had specific board games in mind that you wanted to play, you could always look to board gaming apps like Splendor, Ticket to Ride and Risk - giving you the option to play with friends or against a bot.
These games can also be played over time vs. played in one sitting, so they have some additional benefits, depending on how you like to play.
Masked Game Nights
Still others, desperate for some social interaction after lengthy times in isolation, did meet in person for game nights. These game nights were often smaller gatherings than you would normally see pre-pandemic, many attendees wore face masks as a precaution, no snacks were provided and lots of hand sanitizer breaks were taken after touching the same game pieces throughout the evening.
TV-Top Games
For us, we came up with a new idea called TV-Top Games. While this is an idea we had been thinking about for some time, 2020 was the year to finally put it into action. Even when you are able to gather and play with friends and family, set-up and tear-down of the game (as well as sifting through the rulebook) can take a lot of time and take away from the time you could be playing the game. So we created TV-Top Games - a way to cast the board to the screen and play from your individual device.
Contrary to some of the other options available today through online gaming and gaming apps, we didn’t want to make another “board game turned video game.” We wanted it to feel like you were playing a traditional board game.
We could have never guessed after the initial idea how perfect this idea would be for a time such as this. Not only do you not have to worry about the set-up/tear-down time of the game, but you don’t have to be touching the same game pieces and you could play this more easily online with friends. You could see each other’s faces while you played using a video chat channel, and still have a great board gaming experience.
Learn more about our games and shop our initial games on our website.