For years, board games have been the go-to pastime for any family. Even as the world evolves, and video games become more mainstream, board games still find their place in the world. Even now, new board games are constantly being released to the masses, but what about the older games of this genre?
While games such as chess have been around for centuries, and therefore having a great deal of staying power, this isn't the case for other board games. Over the years, many titles have faded into obscurity, but a few have remained icons of the genre. Here are a few board games that have been around for several decades, and yet remain pillars of the tabletop genre.
Updated October 24, 2022: We've updated this list to include Amazon links so you snap up your favorite classic board games.
10 Guess Who? (1979)
This two-player board game was originally developed by Israeli game inventors Theo and Ora Coster. They founded Theora Design, a business devoted to designing games, toys, and electronic games. Guess Who? was first produced by Milton Bradley, but would later come into Hasbro's possession.
Each of the two players starts with a board filled with the images of 24 people, as well as their names. Each player will then select one of those characters, and attempt to guess the character their opponent chose by asking a series of questions regarding their character's appearance.
9 Scrabble (1948)
As many know, Scrabble is a word game that has players putting out an assortment of tiles, each with a letter of the alphabet printed on its surface. In a manner similar to a crossword puzzle, players must arrange their letters to form words. Those words are then tallied up into points, indicated by the small numbers at the bottom of each tile.
What people don't know is that the concept of Scrabble dates back to the 1930s and Alfred Masher. It wasn't until 1948 when James Brunot, one of the few owners of Masher's creation, bought the rights to the game. After a few slight tweaks, Scrabble was born.
8 Candy Land (1949)
While recovering from polio in 1948, Eleanor Abbot created Candy Land as a simple racing game that required little thought or skill. After testing the game with the children in her ward, she was convinced to submit her game to the Milton Bradley Company. Upon approval, the game quickly became the company's best-selling game, before the rights were sold to Hasbro in 1984.
Since its initial creation, Candy Land has experienced a great deal of change. While the core gameplay remains the same, the game has received a storyline, characters, and new art to promote its revitalization. Several other versions, including a puzzle edition and a computer game, have also been released.
7 Risk (1957)
This game of diplomacy and conquest comes from the French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse's La Conquete du Monde, or The Conquest of the World. The rights to this game were then sold to the Parker Brothers in 1959, who re-released this game under the name Risk: The Continental Game.
From 1986, new versions of Risk began to be released to keep itself fresh, starting with Castle Risk — which featured 18th-century European castles instead of a world map. The early 2000s saw several editions of Risk appear that were themed around film franchises such as Transformers and Star Wars. Even now, new editions of Risk continue to be released, keeping this title at the forefront of every board game night.
6 Catan (1995)
It was originally developed as 'The Settlers of Catan' by Klaus Teuber, with Kosmos publishing it in Germany in 1995. It later became hugely popular outside of Europe, and can be found in over 40 languages.
Players take on the role of settlers, building and developing settlements through gathering and trading resources. As their settlements grow, players gain victory points, with the first to reach a set number the winner. Numerous expansions and scenarios have been released to both extend the game's duration and introduce new ways to overcome your opponents.
5 Battleship (1930/1967)
While the version that most people are familiar with was published in 1967 by Milton Bradley, the oldest form of Battleship is a pencil-and-paper game that dates back to World War I, the French game L'Attaque. However, there have been parallels made between Battleship and a game from the 1890s, Basilinda.
While there have been several variations of this game, the core gameplay remains untouched. Battleship is a strategy-type guessing game that pits two players against one another. On a grid, players place their 'warships' on their board, out of the view of their opponent. Players then take turns calling their 'shots', trying to land hits on their opponent's warships until one player is out of ships.
4 The Game Of Life (1960)
The Game of Life, or simply Life, was created in 1860 as The Checkered Game of Life. It had players traversing a checker-like board, aiming to land on 'good' spaces to earn points. This game was considered the first popular parlor game in the US.
Since its creation well over 100 years ago, the game has since expanded to contain images of buildings, mountains, and other features. The purpose of the game is for players to make their way through the stages of life, such as going to school, marriage, employment, and taxes, before reaching retirement. There have been several versions released to reflect the current climate of the world.
3 Clue (1949)
Also known as Cluedo, this game was originally conceived in 1943 by Anthony E. Pratt, a factory worker and musician, during the air raids taking place in Birmingham at the time. Inspired by the murder mystery games that his clients played, as well as the popular detective fiction genre, Pratt would present and publish his idea for a murder-mystery game to the British manufacturer Waddingtons.
Since the game's publication, numerous games, books, television series, and films have been released as part of the Cluedo franchise. In addition, there have been several spin-off games released that feature several new characters, weapons, and rooms.
2 Sorry! (1929)
While Sorry! is a board game whose name is commonplace among many households, many don't know that this game has roots in an ancient Indian game known as Pachisi. The first version of Sorry! was released in 1929 by W.H. Storey and Co. in England, before the rights were eventually sold to Waddingtons, then Parker Brothers, and finally Hasbro.
The game itself hasn't changed much over the years. The goal has always been for players to get their colored pieces across the board to their 'home' before the other players. There are cards that promote or hinder the movement of pieces, as well as several editions that add to these cards, but it's the simplicity of this game that makes it fun for players of all ages.
1 Monopoly (1935)
When people think of board games, the one that always comes to mind is Monopoly. Inspired by Lizzie Magie's The Landlord's Game, Parker Bros. bought and marketed this game as Monopoly in the 1930s. Interestingly enough, the UK created a special edition of Monopoly for World War II soldiers held at Nazi camps. These games would hold maps, compasses, real money, and other useful tools to aid in those soldiers' escape.
Since its conception, Monopoly has been printed in over 37 different languages, and has seen a myriad of expansions, editions, and spin-offs that still take the world by storm. There have even been competitions centered around it. It's surprising that a game centered around economics is as popular as it is, but Monopoly has proved itself to be a true board game for the ages.
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