by Bruce Whitehill
Interaction is the key word in understanding the importance of traditional games. Games bring people together. They allow families to learn together, to play together, and to laugh together, and they foster communication; they allow parents to educate their children, both socially and intellectually. They allow people to compete with one another in situations where the outcome does not hold any significant penalties for the “loser.” Games often allow the weak to triumph over the strong; good family games allow children to best their elders on occasion, and also give the child a feeling of mastering his or her environment.
Morality, education, and leisure
Early American games were often games of morality. Landing on areas of a gameboard denoting virtue allowed a player to move forward, closer to one’s goal, whereas arriving at a place of vice forced the player backward.
Prior to the massive immigration that began in 1880, travel games opened the world to an insular America. Around the turn of the century games lost their moral fervor but often had an educational content. Games, especially card games, played a prominent role in teaching many subjects, primarily history and geography. By 1920, an influx of twenty million Europeans changed the makeup of America, moving the country from agriculture to industry, and changing American family life.
In the 1900s games became accepted for their leisure or recreational value alone. And with affluence came the time allowed for playing games. Until the television era, games were a prominent part of family life.
Games after television–and the internet
Considering the published reports on the amount of time Americans spend watching television, there must be little time left for games. The pervasiveness of TV, the advent of new computer-based communications, the increase in single parent households or of households in which both parents work, and a national loss of innocence that began in the 1960s all contribute to a change in the family which affects the way in which Americans play. Though leisure time may have stayed the same, options for use of that time have increased. And with the influx of the video game, players left the family at the kitchen table and went to the computer or TV screen and played alone; even in two-player video games, the set up is usually for the two to play separately (not interactively), the winner being the one with the individual high score.
What will this do to our game classics? What is the course that allows CAREERS, PIT, FLINCH, JOTTO, PASSWORD, and CONCENTRATION to disappear? What does the future hold when major companies base so many of their games on TV shows, movies, and popular personalities, so that when the interest in the show or character dies, so does the interest in the game? What does it mean when you look at the most popular classic games in our history and see that they are all available from two companies instead of the multitude of companies that originally produced them?
A game becomes classic because it has staying power. And the classic games have been shown to hold their own during recessions, video crazes, and the like. More traditional board games are being introduced by small, independent manufacturers. And from some of these companies are sure to come the classics for the next generations. With a increased interest in nostalgia and a “back to basics” philosophy that has been spreading, classic games should endure–and may even help bring families back to the kitchen table to talk, laugh, learn, engage in friendly competition, and play.
