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History of Board Games
When the tomb of the ancient Egyptian King Tut was discovered in the 1920s, among the artifacts found were a game board, dice and playing pieces. That means board games have been around for over 3000 years! Egyptians, Greeks and Romans have enjoyed playing games such as backgammon, checkers, dominos, and chess for thousands of years. Even before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, board games were being enjoyed all over the globe, by every culture except the Eskimos and the first Australian settlers.
Many of the early settlers to come to North America brought board games with them to trade or to keep their children entertained, but it wasn't until after the Revolutionary War that the first toy companies appeared. Most of the first games were made of paper and cardboard. Since printing companies were familiar with paper and cardboard, most toy companies began as printers.
American board games were a lot like real life situations. In the beginning, most of the games had to do with being good and doing the right thing. The first American "board" game was created in 1843 by the W.& S.B. Ives Company. It was called the Mansion of Happiness. In this game, good deeds led children and their playing pieces down the path to "eternal happiness." In 1860, Milton Bradley created The Checkered Game of Life, which rewarded good deeds and punished bad ones. It was a big hit. Many people still play this game today.
As travelling became more affordable in the late 1800s, more Americans traveled overseas. Companies created games that appealed to these travelers. When they came back, they could relive their trips by playing travel games such as Around the World, released in 1873, or the McLoughlin Brothers' Game of Round the World with Nellie Bly, which came out in 1890. Travel games like these remained popular into the early the 1900s.
As times continued to change, so did board games. America was suffering through depression and poverty when Monopoly was introduced in 1935. The object of the game was to acquire money and property. It was a big success. Game companies continued to create games based on popular pastimes, like sports and politics. However, the biggest influence on the popularity of board games was television.
Between 1948 and 1958, Americans spent over $15 billion on televisions sets. Game companies were worried that watching television would replace playing board games, so they started making games based on the TV shows kids liked. The first of these was a Hopalong Cassidy game by Milton Bradley. Hopalong Cassidy was a cowboy star on TV in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The game was a hit and soon there were hundreds of games based on television. Board games were as popular as ever.
In the 70s and 80s, video games became popular and board games lost a lot of attention. Now, for a board game to be appealing, it had to be challenging. Most people thought board games would fade away...until Trivial Pursuit. It sold millions in the mid-80s. Now there was a game that tested our knowledge and really made us think, but was also a lot of fun. Trivial Pursuit made a path for other board games to follow.
Today, the growth and popularity of fun-to-play thinking games has exploded. Now there are lots of reasons to get family and friends together for an entertaining evening.
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