In this episode of Games Britannia Woolley looks at games that are more modern than the last episode (Dicing with Destiny) starting with a 18th-19th century game and working through to some of the games available today.
The first game that was looked at is 'Mansion of Bliss'; which is the 18th - 19th century game previously mentioned. This was a reasonably standard parlour games, in the same vein as the ones discussed in the previous episode, with a heavy focus on morales and values. The players would move, then read a homily from the square they landed on, which would be a passage detailing a 'good' or 'bad' situation, which would reward or punish the player. This game was brought to America in it's early days as a copy called 'Mansion of Happiness' due to it's popularity.
America's love for board games was born about this time and a lot of the games they played had a 'rags to riches' approach. One of the earliest examples of this is the 'Chequered Game of Life' which looked at wealth, individualism and choice as opposed to the common parlour games before it which taught ethics and morales in a constrained form. The players had more choice in the way that they moved, allowing them to make 'life choices' on the board. During the civil a travel version was made for soldiers which helped spread the game around communities. This game started the 'subtle politics' style of games popularity.
A similar game to the one detailed above (but British) was 'Pank a Squith' which had the players competing against each other in a political struggle towards the Houses of Parliament; it also had images on the board of the darker side of politics, such as police brutality, etc..
In both America and Britain a game came out that was based around land ownership and taxation, it was called 'Brer Fox & Brer Rabbit'. This game allowed players to buy the squares they landed on and tax others that subsequently landed on it; the winner being the one with the most money at the end of the game. This game fell out of the public eye in the reconstruction of Britain after WW1.
Brer Fox & Brer Rabbit was still played in some places, including in universities, where it was adapted and played often. Elizabeth Magie turned it into 'The Landlord's Game' which was designed to show the folly of monopolies, but had the opposite effect. This game led into the creation of Monopoly, whose board was originally Atlantic City, but the British changed the setting to London very soon. The iconic character 'Rich Uncle Pennybags' embodied the classic top hat wearing fat cats of the time, which helped people change their view about these people; rather than viewing them as rich bastards, they were actually taken as people of success, people to aspire to be. The board itself had other applications; many soldiers had it sewn into their uniforms and used them as some sort of navigational tool, even using them to escape from prisons during time of war. Monopoly is commonly known for causing arguments through greed, strengthening the communist attitude of people.
When Cluedo came along there was a detective craze at the time, which helped the games success straight away. Many people instantly feel in love with Cluedo, even before it was released there were play testers who couldn't stop playing it. When the Americans got a hold of it they changed several aspects, such as 'Rev' into 'Mr' and more; even the name changed to 'Clue'.
When TV game shows came about the board game market died down significantly, allowing people to 'take part' (shout at the screen) without having to set up boards, pieces, cards, etc.. But then 'Trivial Pursuit' came out, which was like playing a TV quiz show at home; this helped start a new generation of board games.
Soon indie developers were releasing game of varied success, such as 'Kensington' which is a simple shapes based game where players had to try and successfully make a hexagon on the board. This game was a big hit, but was quickly forgotten.
Computer games started getting popular which had an effect on board game sales and worried many people in the market. But board games survived, especially with the help from the popularity of 'Dungeons and Dragons' which grew massively popular and was adapted from classic wargame mechanics.
Nowadays board games are still popular, and new games come out all the time as it becomes easier and easier to gain fans and publish with the help of the internet and clubs, etc.. We even have some political games being made again such as 'War on Terror' in which the players can liberate the world by dominating the opposing forces. This game is very satirical with it's overt political themes, demonstrating how the 'easy way' to dominate is by funding terror and such.
This episode was as interesting as the last, giving more insight on a lot of the games that I play today, and has shown me how serious the effect some games have on the world is. Soon I will be watching the last episode and I look forward to posting details and my thoughts.
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