Board games [2/3]

Computer games vs board games
As some of you already mentioned we live in times of computer games. Someone could say that computer games have replaced board games. Of course computers, consoles and similar things have become very popular during last fifteen years.

Thanks to the Internet multiplayer games popularity is big like never before. The internet is definitely on the side of computer games and it is their strongest ally. You can now play computer games not only with your friends, but hundreds of other players all over the world at the same time. It sounds like a lot of fun. That all results in less interest in board games, but that’s not always the case.

There are some examples of overlapping of those two kinds of entertainment. There are board games based on computer games, like Warcraft: The Board Game. It is based on W3: The Reign of Chaos, which is well known and popular fantasy computer game.

On the other hand few months ago I found a computer game that was created by fans of board game called Neuroshima Hex. It looks exactly the same, but it allows people to play via the Internet in multiplayer mode, so now you have the possibility to play with your friends during night when your whole family is convinced that you are sleeping. To be honest, it took me a few nights when I found that game.

When it comes to me, I prefer traditional version of the game, but the electronic version is very useful to learn rules. Most of abstract games, like chess or checkers have its digital equivalent version. They are all good to practice, but miss one very important thing that board games allow you to do - look directly into your opponents eyes!

Games for adults
I found on the Internet video about a board game made in Great Britain called War On Terror.

Watch video HERE

In this game a player has to make a choice whether he wants to support terror or not. Sometimes that is the only effective way to win and the player is forced to make moral choices. I was shocked, because as a huge fan of board games I have never seen before a game based on similar rules. Of course there are thousands of games that are inaccessible, because their amount on the market is very limited, but this one looks like it has a lot of fans.

I had never thought about it before but on our market there are board games not appropriate for children, but sold to everyone. For the first time I found these games in shops called Flo, but they can be found in almost every big shopping center.

I noticed that there are two kinds of these games - erotic and those in which you have to drink alcohol. In the second type of games rules are really simple. You usually throw a dice or move your token to appropriate field of the board and read instruction, ex. “You drink”... This kind of games are not very complicated, but very difficult to finish, can you imagine?



We all know the games called Ships. It’s a perfect game to play during elementary school, where you need only a pencil and a sheet of paper. That was only a matter of time until someone would created something like this...



I’m sure that you can find almost every popular board game in its drinking version, even Monopoly, but where are the restrictions? Even twelve year old child can go to the shop and buy a game which is not appropriate for him it and it’s not good fun any more.

Contemporary games
Game boards don’t include only game board, board pieces (counters, tokens,...) and dice. Inventors become more ingenious and create special objects that make games more interesting and original. For example, in game Shogun there is a special tower where players throw their tokens, and player whose token falls out wins the battle.



There are thousands of great solutions in board games and I’m sure that everyone can find something that is interesting for him or her and spend a perfect time with friends.


Questions:

1. Will computer games replace board games? Or maybe they already did?
2. Do you think that making games like War on Terror is an appropriate attempt or is it just a way of making games more attractive for some people?
3. What’s your opinion about games for adults? Should young players have access to them?