Do People Still Play Board Games in 2020? – {Are they Dying out?}

I remember when I was younger, I would play board games with my friends all the time.

But after my school years finished, I never picked up a board game until recently…

…I said to my friend, “Hey, let’s play Monopoly”

He brought the game over to my house and we had a blast.

Why hadn’t I resumed playing board games earlier?

I asked myself, do people still play board games?

In this post, we’ll be answering that question.

 

Board game popularity statistics

According to this Google trends chart, from 2004 to today…

…board games have a sudden rise every December.

I believe this is because of the Christmas holidays and board games are a popular gift.

But let’s dive deeper…

Here’s an infographic on board game statistics…

The golden age of board games

When did board games become popular?

Board games started in ancient Egypt and the first game was rolling dice!

As time went on board games advanced.

Creating popular classics like:

• Go!
• Chess
• Monopoly
• Snakes and ladders
• Scrabble
• Clue
• Chinese checkers
• Connect 4
• Guess who
• Ludo
• Jenga

I believe the golden age of board games were in the 1960s.

WHY?

Because that’s when most of the classic board games were out and…

…board games and the classics were well-known all across the world.

You may be thinking, “Board games increased in popularity after the 60s, so why aren’t the years after the 60s the golden age of popularity?”

You see, in the 60s, video games weren’t popular at all.

Board games were one of the main entertainment platforms.

As time went on, video games and TV took over and board games became less and less popular.

Sure, board games are bigger than ever…

BUT…

They are no longer a mainstream entertainment source like they used to be.

It’s now more of a niche in comparison to other entertainment platforms like video games, movies and TV shows.

How much do board game designers make?

This is a tough question to answer.

If you want to create a board game and actually make a living doing so…

…it’s going to be tough.

I’m not trying to put you off from being a board game designer, I’m simply being realistic.

As I’ve said earlier on, board games are no longer the main entertainment platform.

I believe you’d have an easier time making a living from designing video games instead of board games.

More people would be interested in your video game.

HOWEVER…

That does not mean you can’t be a successful board game designer.

If you want to do something like that…

…make sure you understand selling and marketing, this is critical.

You need to understand things like:

• SEO (Search engine optimisation)
• Growing an audience
• Facebook ads
• Google ads, and more

The things listed above will help you pull in the traffic.

But after you’ve pulled in the traffic, you will need to learn how to actually sell your board game.

Marketing is critical to your success in creating a successful board game.

If you’re interested in learning SEO, check out this page.

Conclusion

Yes, people still play board games and they’re not dying out but growing every year.

You can make money by creating board games but marketing is critical to your success.

If you were to make a masterpiece of a board game but didn’t know how to sell…

…you would make little to no money.

If your board game was mediocre but you understood selling…

…you would make a decent amount of money from your board game.

HOWEVER…

If you knew how to create fun board games whiles understanding marketing…

…you could definitely make designing board games your full-time income.