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You won’t get Board with these stats…
We recently shared some of the best stats about Video Games, but this is only one share of the total market for games (and arguably a less important one, at least historically)
Board Games, however, are as old as time, but the games we have now are noticeably different to the games our ancestors played
So for today, we’re looking at which board games have stood the test of time, and which are overtaking to become the most popular games of the modern day
What games did people used to play?
The earliest known examples of board games were found over 5,000 years ago, mostly around Ancient Persia and Mesopotamia (modern day Middle East)
The oldest, though, was a game called Senet that was found in Egyptian burials as early as 3,500 BCE (5,500 years ago), a game that is still played today!
Some of the next oldest are much more well-known:
- Checkers (a.k.a. Draughts) dates back 5,000 years to the Ancient of Ur in Southern Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). In the modern day, the International Draughts World Champions have been taking place for almost 150 years. It also has over 500 quintillion possible combinations on a standard board
- Backgammon is another game that has been found in sites from 3,000 BCE, this time in Shahr-e Sukhteh in Persia (modern day Iran). However, the rules of the game have evolved over time - the version of the game played today can be dated back to Greece in 480 AD (they called it “tabula”)
- Go originated in China 3,000–4,000 years ago and continues to be one of the most played games today, especially in Asia. While the origins of the game are unknown, it is believed that it was created by Emporer Yao (2356–2255 BCE) to teach his son discipline, concentration, and balance
Surely these can’t be older than Chess?
Despite being another well known game that’s existed through history, Chess is not quite as old
Most sources believe Chess originated during the Gupta Empire in India around 6th Century AD, although some historians claim the Chinese played a game resembling Chess earlier than this
The Ancient Indian versions of the game found had four types of pieces: “infantry”, “cavalry”, “elephantry”, and “chariotry” that have each evolved into some of the pieces used today (pawn, knight, bishop, and rook). Like with other games, the rules of Chess evolved, with the current version of rules only appearing c. 500 years ago
Despite being one of the oldest known games, it’s believed that Chess is also the modern day best selling game of all time, selling 3 million sets in the United States alone every year
And Chess is also one of the most competitive board games today:
- There has been some form of competitive Chess World Champions¹ since 1834, although for a long time this was not an annual competition (27 competitions were held between 1834 and 1948, with 43 being held since)
- Russia has generally performed best in these competitions, especially post-WW2. Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov have the joint record number of championships with 6 each, alongside the German Emanuel Lasker
- Lasker does have the record of retaining consecutive championship titles for the longest period of time (almost 27 years), while Kasparov has the record of being the youngest Chess World Champion when he earned his first victory in 1985, aged 22!
- In terms of the number of moves, the longest game to ever have been played was 269 moves (vs. 38 moves for the average game), with the longest lasting over 20 hours!
- Magnus Carlsen, one of the modern day stars of the game, won the longest ever World Championship match in 2021, playing for 7 hours and 47 minutes against Ian Nepomniachtchi (it was the first match in almost 30 years to span across two days)
And finally, some of the most expensive board games ever made are based on Chess. A set made by the Royal Jewel Company in the UK had 748 diamonds, 73 rubies and 146 sapphires. Can you guess how much its worth? $9.8million
Which modern day games are most popular today?
While there’s plenty of options to choose from when it comes to “modern” board games, you probably won’t be surprised to hear which game is the best selling modern game²
Originally sold back in 1934, Monopoly sold 20,000 copies in its first year (a reasonable effort), but then continued to grow in popularity. Today it’s believed to have sold 250–275 million copies worldwide in one of its many different versions
The total number of different versions of Monopoly, amazingly, is not actually know. The largest official collection of Monopoly games contains 3,500 versions, although there are a number of unofficial versions not approved by Hasbro or Parker Brothers. Including these, there could be up to 7,000 versions of the game
Next up on the list is:
- Scrabble which 150 million copies since the game was released in 1938
- Cluedo (also known as “Clue” in North America) has sold between 100 million and 150 million copies (depending on which source you believe) after coming out in 1949
- Trivial Pursuit, originally selling 30 million copies between 1983 and 1985, has now sold more than 100 million copies in total
Note¹: for simplicity, both Classical World Championships and FIDE World Championships are included in this list
Note²: there is no industry-wide statistics on board game sales, so most of these stats are based on estimates
Check out some more GoodStats about Games:
- Game On! From Pong to PlayStation
- Everything is Awesome! Suitable for ages 4–99
- The launch of Pokémon Arceus; It’s Super Effective
