Video games owe their very existence to the enduring popularity of board games, so it’s little surprise that a number of developers over the years have opted to pay homage to gaming’s oldest genre through video game adaptations of the tabletop originals.
Whether it’s classic titles such as Scrabble, Battleship and Risk, or more complex strategy games like Warhammer and Ticket to Ride, the vast majority of board games you can likely think about off the top of your head has likely received an electronic release in some form or another. Today, we’re taking a look at three of the most awesome board games that made even better video games.
Sid Meier’s Civilization Series (PC / 1991-Present)
The seminal and definitive turn-based strategy game, Sid Meier’s Civilization was first released in 1991, before going on to spawn numerous critically and commercially successful sequels. The series’ most recent entry, Civ IV, released last year to widespread acclaim; it currently holds an impressive Metacritic rating of 88.
In Civilization, players are tasked with presiding over their own colony in ancient times, starting out with only a handful of settlers before eventually building their empire up through the ages all the way through until modern and future times.
The key tenets of the game are exploration, diplomacy and warfare, while players must also play god to an extent and choose which particular technological advancements they want to pour their resources into.
Sid Meier’s Civilization has been so popular that it has received its own physical board game in recent years – but what many don’t realize is the concept for the series actually started out as a board game itself.
Published by Avalon Hill in 1981, the tabletop Civilization bore only a slim resemblance to its more popular computer counterpart, and fell out of print in the mid-1990s.
Given that the popularity of Sid Meier’s series has transcended generations of gamers and continues to thrive to this day, it’d be fair to argue Civilization made a far greater video game than it did a board game.
Snakes & Ladders (PC & Mobile / 2015)
While board games have traditionally been played for bragging rights amongst friends, the rise of the internet and smart devices has allowed developers to create unique take-offs of traditional board games that not only boast the same accessible, fun gameplay as the originals, but can also be played for real money.
While a lot of users now associate real-money gaming with the burgeoning eSports industry, a number of sites also allow regular people to play any number of games for cold, hard cash.
Fortune’s Snakes and Ladders, for example, offers users the opportunity to play a variation of the classic family favorite in the form of a slots no deposit bonus game, with a progressive jackpot on the line.
Such titles usually combine several aspects of the source material with gameplay more typically associated with mobile slots; Snakes and Ladders, for example, features a multiplier mini-game based on the classic board game. These games can be played on the vast majority of devices, either through the user’s web browser or by downloading dedicated smartphone apps.
Monopoly (NES / 1991)
Monopoly is one of those board games that friendships and allegiances are built and destroyed on. Conceived in 1935 and seeing countless iterations over the decades since then, there’s a reason why the Parker Brothers’ property trading game has remained so enduring.
Offering frustration and euphoria in equal measure – depending on how the current game is going for you – Monopoly encourages players to purchase properties of differing value as they traverse the game board. They subsequently collect rent from their opponents and develop their investments with houses and hotels – with the ultimate aim being to drive all of the other players into bankruptcy, leaving him or her to hold a monopoly over the city.
Monopoly has seen a number of video game adaptations come and go ever since the first personal computers and home consoles were released, but it’s one of the earliest attempts that remains one of the better-realised versions of the Hasbro-owned IP to date.
Developed by Sculpted Software, the 1991 release of Monopoly for the Nintendo Entertainment System perfectly captured the fast-moving, pure gameplay of the original board game. This was a time before the series would become bloated with overcomplicated cut scenes and drawn-out animations, as consoles moved towards 16-bit graphics and eventually high-quality CD visuals.
Playing on the NES meant the hassle of calculating rent and ensuring other players paid up properly was eliminated, leaving a much more efficient – and subsequently more enjoyable – experience for the user. Better still, if you fancied a game but you’d scared off the rest of your family by bankrupting them the week before, you could simply plug in the cartridge and do battle against computer opponents instead.
The Future of Board Game-Based Video Games
With the video game industry almost quadrupling its revenues since 2004 to over $80 billion worldwide, it’s completely eclipsed the hobby and board games market, whose value stood at approximately $9 billion in 2016. As a result, we are now starting to see more and more adaptations head in the other direction. Toy makers are increasingly looking to capitalise on the popularity of video game franchises: board games based on the Fallout, Portal and The Legend of Zelda series have all seen releases in recent years.
That being said, owing to their shared history and commonality in terms of social play, it’s not unlikely that we will continue to see both traditional and modern board games be adapted into video games in the years ahead