The Golden Age of Board Gaming – A
Niche Hobby Becomes Mainstream
Since its development in
the 1970s, pen and paper tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons have inspired
people to create their own stories. Pens, paper, dice, and a little creative
energy are all that is needed to play through hours of adventures. However, for
many years, the hobby was since as niche, the territory of nerds and social
outcasts. In the 1980s in particular, Dungeons and Dragons amassed a great deal
of negative press that spawned from “Satanic Panic” – the notion that the game
was promoting Satanism and witchcraft. For decades, being a tabletop gamer was
almost seen as a source of shame, something to hide or risk being ridiculed
over. Although the stigma did reduce over the years, the hobby itself
maintained a limited audience. However, in recent years, the hobby has seen a
massive amount of growth, entering the mainstream.
Perhaps as a result of
nostalgia, or a desire for a more social gaming experience, tabletop gaming has
seen a major increase of popularity. The hobby has even spawned an array of
board game cafes, such as Kansas City’s own Pawn and Pint, which boasts a
collection of a thousand games to entertain its customers. From more structured
experiences that can be played over a night, like Settlers of Catan, to more
free-flowing improvised journeys, like Dungeons and Dragons or Vampire: the
Masquerade, tabletop games offer a little something for everyone. The games
span a variety of genres and formats, appealing to a wide audience. Perhaps
most importantly, tabletop games give players an excuse to get out and play
with their friends, rather than being isolated to a screen at home. This has
clearly spoken to many people, as sales for tabletop games has risen
dramatically. Whether this growth will continue or not remains to be seen, but for
now, this analog hobby seems to be doing perfectly well, even in the digital
age.
Pawn and
Pint boasts a collection of 1000 board games.
Miniatures
are often a staple of tabletop games, many of which are handpainted by players.
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