Board games first became widely popular among the general population
early in the 20th century when the rise of the middle class with disposable
income and leisure time made them a receptive audience to such games.
This popularity expanded after the Second World War, a period from which
many classic board games date.
Many board games are now available as computer games, including the option to have the computer act as an
opponent; and many acclaimed computer games such as
Civilization were originally based upon board games. The rise of computers has also led to a relative decline
in the most complicated board games, as computers require less space, and the games don't have to be set up and cleared
away. With the Internet, many board games can now be played online against a computer or other players. Some web sites
allow play in real time and immediately show the opponent's moves, while most use e-mail to notify the players after
each move (see the links at the end of this article).
Some board games make use of additional components, aside from the board and playing pieces. Some games use
CDs, video cassettes and more recently DVDs to provide an accompaniment to the game. A genre of
DVD games makes use of the interactive features of DVDs, often to provide a "quizmaster" for trivia games.
The modern board game industry is rife with corporate mergers and acquisitions, with large companies such as Hasbro
owning many subsidiaries and selling products under a variety of brand names. It is difficult to successfully market a
new board game to the mass market. Retailers tend to be conservative about stocking games of untested popularity, and
most large board game companies have established criteria that a game must meet in order to be produced. If, for
instance, Monopoly were introduced as a new game today, it might not meet the criteria for
production.
Our roster of Board Games will include:
- GO-
- Risk
- Robo-Rally
- Settler of Catan
- Beyblade
- HorrorClix: Cthulhu War!
- HorrorClix: Aliens VS Predator
- World of Warcraft
- Prince of the City
**Please note that all events are subject to
change
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