Ranking dot com has a listing of the seventy-six top board games of all time, 76 Best Board Games of all Time.   I have played twenty-four of the games listed, or just under a third.   Interestingly I have played eight of the top ten games (80%).

Last night we played “Payday” a Parker Brothers game introduced in 1975.  In it’s first year of sales more games were purchased than Monopoly.

Payday is number sixty-nine on the list of all time best board games.

Whats are the elements of a popular board games?

The number one most popular game is Chess and number two is Monopoly.

Although Monopoly game was first published (and thus began it’s climb to popularity) in 1935, the game was actually invented in 1903 as a teaching aid to demonstrate that an economy which rewards wealth creation is better than one in which monopolists work under few constraints and to promote the economic theories of Henry George and in particular his ideas about taxation and women’s rights.

Chess is based on the feudal concepts and the battle strategies of that time.  (Things like kings, queens and castles were prominent in feudal times when the game originated)

While the underpinnings of the game were forged from a specific purpose the current popular version incorporates what I think are the key attributes of a successful game.

• align with basic real life scenarios so you can identify with the game
• simple rules that work (easy to understand, easy to execute)
• aligned with commonly accepted values (in this case things like; right of ownership, individuals ability to choose freely)
• A fair balance between risk and reward based on luck and skill
• appeals to all demographics – that is neither focused on young/old, male, female, specific races, etc.