The Evolution of Board Games in North America

It’s 2020 and we’re in the midst of a board games renaissance. We take it for granted that games released today will be designed by professionals, refined through playtesting, and enjoyed by a wide variety of players. In many ways, they’re much like Hollywood blockbusters backed by the power of market research and test audiences.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything released before The Settlers of Catan in 1996 is an unplayable disaster! Ancient pastimes like the Royal Game of Ur, Backgammon, and Chess influenced early American games from Monopoly to Risk, which in turn led to Catan and Pandemic. So it’s about time that we look back at how North American board games have evolved, from The Travellers Tour Through the United States through Gloomhaven.

Infographic designed and illustrated for FUN.com by Kate Willaert.

Originally published at https://www.fun.com.