Board Games Companies Are Running Out of Ideas
There have been many classic board games over the years like Monopoly, Life and Operation and some more recent greats like Scattergories and Scene-It. I think board game makers are running out of ideas though. There is a new board game (okay so technically it's just a game since there is no board) called Cranium Jam Pack Jam.
In Cranium Jam Pack Jam there is a toy-sized SUV, some very tiny luggage and some cards. A timer starts and each player grabs a card. The card tells the player which piece of luggage to use and the player must pack that piece of luggage into the back of the SUV before the timer goes off. Once the timer goes off the luggage comes shooting out the back of the SUV.
Is this the best they come up with? Packing luggage is now a fun game to play? I remember when I was younger a friend and I used to make fun of how stupid Mouse Trap was. The object of the game is to catch a mouse? But at least Mouse Trap had all those cool gadgets before the trap was set.
What is supposed to be fun or cool about this? The SUV doesn't even look that good. You'd be better off getting a toy SUV that looks cooler and just playing with that. Did the people who created this actually think that packing stuff into a SUV is fun?
I wonder what genius game they'll come up with next. Maybe they'll make a board game where each player gets to make their bed. I sure can't wait for that game where you get to take out the trash. I'm surprised they haven't made a game that allows you to grow grass yet. Imagine how exciting that game can be. And afterwards you can use one of those toy lawn mowers to cut the grass.
Has there really been so many board games that there aren't any more good ideas left? I can't believe that is true. A lot of people will be quick to point out how movies are the same thing over and over again but if you look really carefully you can still find good original movies. Maybe I don't pay enough attention to the board game industry but if this is the best they have to offer then the board game industry is in trouble.
Published by Lee Andrew Henderson
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- Cranium Jam Pack Jam allows players to pack an SUV for fun.
- Maybe the next board games will be about making your bed and taking out the garbage.
- Board companies are running out of ideas.
5 Comments
Post a CommentI would agree with your caveat that you don't pay enough attention to the board game industry.
While it is true that Parker Brothers and Mattel are cranking out warmed-over rehash titles, there is a LOT more going on than you realize.
In 1995, a company called Mayfair Games took a popular German board game, Settlers of Catan, and published it in the United States. Do a search on it now. You'll find it's sold in Xbox Live Arcade, and has recently come out for the iPhone and the iPad, among other platforms.
Then look up games like Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride and Dominion. Some hobby board games are finally starting to break into the mainstream.
Then, look at the collection of co-operative board games that have come out in the last decade. Titles like Shadows Over Camelot, where the players assume the roles of Knights of the Round Table. Or Pandemic, where players scramble around the globe to prevent the outbreak of various diseases. Then look up economic games like Power Grid or
This is sarcasm, right? Bad joke?
Right now is the renaissance for boardgames.
this is funny; em and i were just discussing this
What's really sad is that this game isn't even original. When I was a kid, I had a game called Perfection. This game had a pop-up board, a switch, a timer and individual pieces. There were cut outs in the pop-up board in which you had to put the pieces. Once you got all the pieces in the right places on the board, you flipped the switch to cut off the timer. If you didn't get all the pieces in when time was up, the board would pop up and throw all of your pieces out. There was also a game called Superfection, which worked the same way except that you had bigger pieces with odd shapes. Two pieces would fit together to form a block. You had all the pieces mixed up and had to find the two that went together (I think there were 16 blocks and 32 pieces total) before time ran out.
Maybe they're just bored.