In the 21st century, consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to playing games. Video games are everywhere, with almost half the population enjoying this digital medium in some form or another. This has been helped, in part, by the growth of casual titles like Fruit Ninja and Wordle which have appealed to a broader audience than first-person shooters. Sites like oddschecker have also been key in boosting the popularity of games by making it easier for players to find casino bonuses for video slots so they can enjoy spinning the reels for longer.
With the ballooning demand for these flashy digital games, you might expect there to have been a sharp decline in interest in board games. And for a while, you’d have been right. But in more recent years, board games have been enjoying a renaissance, with sales heading to the moon.
According to some sources, the global market for this classic form of entertainment will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% between 2019 and 2025, reaching a value of $23.9 billion.
But what’s driving this? Let’s take a look.
TV and Movies
After its release in 2020, the hit Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit got people excited about chess again. For a short while, sales of new sets were boosted by a whopping 215%. Naturally, that’s petered off a little, but it’s still going strong.
This isn’t a one-off, we’ve seen it with films like Rounders (1998) and 21 (2008), both of which helped to get people excited about card games.
Kickstarter
A big driver of board game popularity in the last decade or so has been involvement from the community. Creators of games have, to a degree, become unshackled from the traditional design, development, and distribution channels by seeking funding and support from players.
In 2020 alone, the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, raised $236 million for tabletop games, with players directly funding the ideas they wanted to see turned into reality.
The best example of this is Exploding Kittens, a card game that went on sale in July 2015 after almost 220,000 backers pledged $8.78 million to make its production possible. It has since gone on to become one of the best-selling titles ever made, with more than 10 million copies shifted since its release.
Growing Value in Ditching Screens
When video games first became mainstream, it was a novelty to have a screen that displayed characters you could control.
But today, almost every waking minute is spent gazing into light-up boxes. So the opportunity to ditch them and socialize with friends is something that interests many more people.
Overall, a combination of pop culture, crowdfunding, and changing societal norms are all contributing to growth in board game demand, a trend we’re unlikely to see reversed any time soon.
