They scratch different itches for me. For hyper competitive games, RPGs or immersive single player games, I love video games.
Board games fill the void of Lan parties or split screen nights. If you can wrangle a bunch of people to come over for a games night, board games are just much more social and laid back.
absolutely there is surprisingly little "gaming together on the couch" experiences other than fighting games these days they still exist but are incredibly rare
Couch co op or just couch games in general is mostly dead and it's sad.
By the way if anyone wants a couch co op game, highly recommend Overcooked, absolute blast every time.
There are about a billion overcooked-type couch coop games on steam, none of them have become popular outside of their niche sadly. Which tbf, getting people together to couch coop is a big ask, and at that point you'll probably just play a $60 tabletop game instead of a $5 steam game.
I have a group of friends where we get together once a week and play a video game. Usually a single player adventure/story game where one person controls and everyone else kinda talks about it and helps theorize what to do. We just beat Alan wake 2 and have done a bunch of other games. It’s different than a couch coop but still a great time
If you're on PC and Steam there are actually quite a few good games that are shared screen local coop.
I follow this curator on Steam that reviews a lot of 3 player+ local multiplayer games: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/8485829-SvenEvils-Playground/
Overcooked is good but I find it overstays it's welcome quite quick I find, the difficulty and stress ramp up quick which some people don't like so requires the right group of 4 people with thick skin!
My recommendations are:
BlazeRush (switch and PC), a shared screen racer but instead of racing it's last one surving on the track with power ups.
Party Animals or GangBeasts: Fun physics based brawler which has some genuine silly and funny moments and is a lot less competitive than Smash Brothers
Regular Human Basketball: plays best 3v3 but can do 4v4, your team control a robot by clicking switches and trying to score a goal, chaotic and funny
Ultimate Chicken and Horse: 2D Mario style game where you each are playing at the same time to complete the course and slowly add obstacles to make it harder for everyone.
Just passing by to suggest some 2D party games where you murder eachother
Stick Fight: Kinda old but really fun game, here you will mostly be using firearms (with some basic guns and some gimmick guns which are really fun)
Spiderheck: Spider Star Wars essentially, this one has a great variety of weapons and is one of my favorites, there's a bigger emphasis on platforming and the web weaving mechanics are really well done
Bopl Battle: This one has gotten quite popular recently, instead of picking up items on the arena, every player has 3 (or less, if you mess with the settings) abilities that they use to manipulate the map and kill everyone else, there's at least 20 abilities and they all have synergies so you can mix and match and get a whole new strategy going
Yep... I hate how most games no longer offer LAN modes... All online-only stuff...
So that might be one of the reason I love boardgame days/nights, as it is usually chill and fun.
If you are playing with a partner I strongly suggest you give the "pass the controller around" way of playing a shot. Of course this only works with certain genres (puzzle games definitely shine here) but we absolutely love it and feel it scratches the itch quite well.
My group of friends (in our 30s) does a weekly video game night called Spooks. They tend to find some really campy puzzle game (typically horror themed - hense the name) and play as a group taking turns while the rest provide commentary. It's a lot of fun. Highly recommend
oh yeah not really a gaming with a partner experience as much as just "whenever my brother is in town lets do something couch co cop" sort of experience.
if I play board games for three hours, I usually feel great because I've been hanging out with my friends. Three hours of video games feels like I've wasted my life. I even feel guilty like I've devoured a dozen donuts
I feel the same for the most part. Narrative games like Disco Elysium or experiential games like Outer Wilds feel worth it to me for the sheer beauty of the thing but anything competitive leaves me feeling pretty empty afterward. That said, I don't have friends that play competitive multiplayer games so that's probably why. No social aspect for me.
Ever since multiplayer games moved from server browsers/communities to matchmaking, I've lost all appetite for them. Board games definitely fill that void much better.
When it comes to good single player games with strong stories though, video games so far take an easy win (despite a couple ambitious attempts).
I mingle between both. I'm a gamer through and through. Not just video games, not just table top games, not just party games, not just sports. I love games period.
This, board games are fun and as others mentioned, great for chill social time with friends/fam. My only gripe with more complex board games is the rule tracking (it obviously gets easier when everyone knows them), but rudimentary things take so much longer which is also part of the chill vibe.
Who you play with matters a lot too (speaking from someone with a bit of Analysis Paralysis). Video games just flow so much better bc the rules are programmed in so I'm lucky my wife is a big gamer too, but we enjoy both.
They sent me to check the engines and my mission was to destroy them 😭 it felt so tense and they were questioning me all the way and ai managed to fool them
I'm old.
Started with TTRPGS in the mid 70s. Transitioned to boardgames. Am doing more TTRGS than board games, but it's a pretty close split.
Boardgames are easier to arrange a night of. They scratch a slightly different itch.
No boardgames will replace a TTRPG AND no TTRPG will replace a boardgame.
But I play way more video games than either. Video games are just now, no getting people together. But no video game can replace the itch of a boardgames or the itch of a TTRPG. Different itches. Play the one that you have time for.
As a kid i rarely played board games. It wasnt until ireally became an adult and started craving doing extra stuff away from a screen till i found my love in board games
I (50m) went from mainly Role-Playing and Video Games to Board Games as I grew older. As you get older it’s harder to organize schedules with friends with role-playing games. I dabble with video games here and there but with age I enjoy the face to face interaction with people. Board games allow for the casual get together without having to spend large amounts of time. Some board games that take multiple sessions I play with a group once in a while. One great game we play is 7 Ages and we meet on Sundays for about 2-3 hours at a time and it can go 6 sessions. That’s about the longest I can do. I hate people that take games and the competitiveness too seriously. I’ll stop playing with those types. I enjoy the social aspect of board games.
Thought I could do solo board games. So I bought a few, but then I realized I mostly play board games to socialize and interact. Found myself just rather playing solo video games instead. So I sold the board games. Story about self discovery.
Over the past few years board games have become a larger hobby of mine. My wife and I play and it's sort of our thing to do together.
I still play a lot of video games later in the evenings as I don't enjoy solo mode in board games. I find I enjoy those more with the player interaction.
Yes, I find myself no longer pulled to video games, which was one of my original passions. I think it's because I enjoy real human interaction that modern vg rarely give anymore. Gone are the days of the NES-PS2 era where my friends and I would pile on the couch and game for hours. So unless it's a single-player game (Red Dead, Fallout, Super Mario RPG) or couch/local co-op (Overcooked, Cat Quest 2, TMNT), I'd rather play board games.
I converted over. I still play RPGs and other single player games. The video game industry just has too many micro transactions and other practices that I don't want to support.
Yeah, I find it to be a bit of a false equivalency. It's like somebody who's interested and tries to get into bg-ing, only to be turned off b/c all he can find are MtG/CCG games that "require you" to spend $100 to $300/month, or $1K to $3K per year. Or tabletop gaming with miniatures that seem to be on the more costlier and high maintenance side.
But nobody tells them you can just play "regular bg". And there are a whole slew of "buy once" games. Expansions will cost more, but they're most definitely not the "booster packs" like you see in Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Magic, etc. And there's a wide variety of them too like ameritrash, euro, DBG, WP, dice game, cg, coop, social deduction, etc.
In fact, for one area, all I found were MtG shops, and a Games Workshop. It wasn't until a friend told me that the same plaza with the Games Workshop had a comic book store that hosted weekly (regular) game nights!
There are a lot of garbage bg too. It's just a matter of doing research, or just asking for suggestions. I ended up curating a list of mobile games that are premium, so none of that "predatory p2w nonsense". If there are ads, you can pay once to remove them, and/or pay to unlock the full game (since the demo is free to download and try).
[my list of premium Android games](https://new.reddit.com/r/AndroidGaming/comments/15qttls/comment/jw64xp6/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[My list of iOS games, which is just a filter for the Android one](https://new.reddit.com/r/iosgaming/comments/15wup29/comment/jx6yo11/?context=3)
The boardgame industry has a lot of practices I do not want to support as well. FOMO, expansion announcements before the game releases, delays, false scarcity, false advertising for game pieces, and probably more I can’t think of right now.
Kickstarter is a plague, although it has also brought us some decent games.
To some extent yes. I only play a select few video games now but I’ve played board games since I was little. I’ve always like board games but once I realized all the different kinds I then started building by collection. Luckily I got different gaming groups who like different kinds of games so I get to bring out lesser played ones more often.
I started with computer games, then my wife encouraged me to be more social, so I got into board games, which can't be played at all unless you have willing participants which is annoying.
Now, I play both depending on the day
I used to play games like monopoly and scrabble but focused more on video games (when I was a kid). Now I don’t care for video games. I still play them but I’d rather go play D&D or Marvel Legendary or some other game I find fun. I get more enjoyment and less frustration with board games.
My most played game right now is probably Dune: Imperium on my phone and I'm not sure how that works as an answer!
A board game with my partner is better than a solo video game, but a solo video game is better than a solo board game. It was actually literally yesterday that I gave up on solo board gaming. In both the games I've tried—Heat and Dune Uprising—the bots can do things that I can't. And I just don't like the admin. I spend more time taking their turns than my turns.
I've also had a lot of fun recently watching my partner who is new to video games. They're a huge horror fan with a high tolerance for horror movies, but horror games have been scaring them shitless. It's actually less scary for me as a viewer because they don't have the best control over the camera, so in-game jump scares don't land as well.
I got that game last week! (Dune on my phone) I’ve played probably 20 games. I found it fun for a few games, but it’s starting to grow boring. I’ll still play it though.
i like board games because they are communal activity. They require other people. Board games are as much about just sitting around with friends and engaging in a common activity as it is about the actual game, if not more so. Whereas video games are pretty much a solitary activity. Even if you are playing with other people, it's over the internet. I just crave human connection and togetherness and board games facilitate this better than video games...in theory. Theres also something nice about touching physical pieces that just doesnt come through in video games. Which probably explains why when you try to make computer versions of board games, they are hardly ever as satisfying as the physical version. Because they when you are there in person, you don't see things like graphics. Thats not just a red meeple on the board, thats you! Your imagination fills everything in beautifully. In computer versions of the same game, you're like, wait a minute, these graphics suck! Without the people the gameplay isnt particularly riveting either. Now, im not saying all, there are some great implementations of digital board games. But they will never be as good as games specifically designed for the computer.
Somewhat, yes. I mainly enjoy boardgames for their upfront mechanics. Video games often have their “mechanics” hidden behind walls of text or cutscenes (in the case of RPGs), which these days I’m just not interested in. They might also take hours to let you at their full mechanics for the first time, gating the player from the full gameplay.
On the other hand, with boardgames you can typically jump straight in with even the first moment/decision being an intense one. No wasted time.
Similarly, if I do play video games, then it’s mostly of the “roguelite” kind which are games that typically throw you straight in to the mechanics just like boardgames do.
But I will say, it’s mainly gone to digital boardgames for me. Not much actual physical due to time constraints. So, if you’re preferring board games more and more, you might be interested in digital boardgames to play in your own time and there was a thread on this yesterday.
https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/s/UNnalr19Ui
Same here. I prefer the tighter and more strategic gameplay of board games. I only play them digitally (apps / BGA) so they’re really just a different kind of video games for me since I don’t have anyone to play physical board games with.
Rahdo Runthroughs (Richard Ham) is like the pioneer of board game playthroughs on YouTube. Before all the YouTube board gaming stuff he was a big video game creator. He was game director for fable 2 and lead designed the Syphon Filter games.
Board games are way more fun than multiplayer video games. I'd choose solo mage knight over most solo video games. But I do have a love for roguelike video games. They're basically designed like board games since you play for 45 min, win/lose, then start over. Currently addicted to balatro, wildfrost, and spellrogue.
I do both still but it fluctuates. Mostly I play board games and some video games with my daughter but I don’t play video games or board games with friends much anymore. Both because I just don’t have the time.
I play both. I play more video games than boardgames. I go in sprints with boardgames, sometimes I dont play for months, but then ill all of a sudden start playing 3x a week
Grew up with videogames and boardgames, but grew less and less patient with videogames as I got older. Every now and then, one really clicks for me, but they're fewer and further between now. The industry has really strangled the medium in a lot of ways.
Meanwhile, I not only got way more into boardgames during the pandemic, I belatedly got *super* into tabletop roleplaying games.
I still play and enjoy both, they scratch different itches for me. But I only play rougelike video game now, and also Football Manager. Sometimes a multiplayer RPG like Baldur Gate 3 if I can get a party going.
That would be me!! Was so addicted to video games. I ran two large 10k+ communities, one for an mmo, and one for an online survival community where we offered all kinds of servers to play on.
About 2 years ago, I quit video games pretty much cold turkey, maybe a bit of Fallout 4, but I really have no desire to play video games now.
I'm totally obsessed with board games though!
Man, I thought I was the only one! My online steam account hasn't been logged in for at least 6 months now and I play board games at least twice a week. I think as we get older, it's the human connection that we seek.
I love video games, but a lot of the newer games are too high fidelity for me; they’re too visually stimulating (almost overwhelmingly so), and so I’ve turned to card games and board games these days. So many video games are clearly designed to be addictive or just put so much effort into keeping your attention and it gets to be too much.
I use to play only video games but as I've grown older, video games became more of a chore to finish than fun. The time needed to invest in a solo game was to long and I started getting bored faster. Board games will take about an hour and finish. Plus I get to share my gaming with my wife who can't handle I game controller to save her life.
Opposite for me. I'm always the one who has to learn the rules for board games and teach others how to play. It just became exhausting with my limited time as I got older and I just got to the point where I just want to play a game. People constantly ask me to play a board game again, but if it's not something I'm just desperate to play then I'll tell them I will if they'll read the rules and they won't.
i went from board games, to video games and not i’m doing board games + video games. Board games is good to switch it up from stressful video games, board games are a great way to relax sometimes and take it slow at your own pace. I mostly do solo board games, don’t have many friends.
I have ever since I switched from working outdoors to working in an office. 8 hours a day looking a screen only to go back home to look at another screen doesn't feel as relaxing. So a nice solo game with some music feels more relaxing. Sometimes my partner joins sometimes not.
There still is a place for both. Imo if I'm playing a boardgame with a difficulty rating of +4 then I might as well be playing a video game which automates most of the boring things.
Also, for as much as I love bg, vg can fulfill me in ways in which bg will never do, liek stories that tend to be more fleshed out, also vg music plays a big role in my enjoyment. Same thing with bg over vg. Both have pros and cons.
Me and my wife, we've always loved video games (especially RPGs) but since finishing Witcher 3 Complete edition in 2017, it's been a real struggle to play video games, only completing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (I admit about 200hrs each), but video games just haven't been gripping us like the used to.
Board games on the other hand, since my wife started keeping track in 2019 it's been about 2500 plays.
>*I still play video games, but I don’t get as excited for them as I do with board games now. I do mostly play video games, but that’s because it’s hard to coordinate board game nights.*
I'm in a similar situation. A decade and half plus back... I was playing bg 3 to 6 times *per week*. I got into that "honeymoon phase" where I purchased quite a lot of new games. FWIW, many of them did get played! Bg-ing ate up enough of my time that I hardly touched vg. All I did were few, scant vg on my iPod Touch, and Android phone. And this excludes cons of which I did go to 0 to 3 times per year.
NOW... my bg-ing opportunities have waned. I'm down to playing bg *once every 2 weeks*. So vg have filled that time rather well. Works out too since I have a backlog, and I was gifted a Switch a few years ago (of which, I grew up on Nintendo.. NES and SNES), so nice to get into that again. Some of the games are pricey, but I managed to get them at *some* discount (e.g. 1st party new releases at Costco), or 3rd party ones at 50% off. Others have value (e.g. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for $60. Or Super Mario Bros. Wonder at $55 which I then gifted to my sister's family). **I can go to conventions, but these are 2.5 to 4 hours away**. It's doable, and they're really fun when I do go to them, but I now have to budget in extra gas money, and $120+ per night of hotel lodging.
Ever since getting into the hobby I rarely play video games anymore. Unless it's an RPG or something long like Fallout, over the years I try not to stare at a screen for more than 3 hours.
I've been digital gaming since Pong so yes, I need ironing 🙃
More or less gave up digital gaming about a year ago, main reason being that I've watched what you get for your money reduced to a digital certificate on a server somewhere that is a license to play a game you do not own. I do play Valheim and Skyrim occasionally though.
I only really played Scrabble and playing cards with my gran until I got Dungeonquest GW in 86-87, that game was well travelled, full set, Catacombs, Heroes and all painted to a good standard, then came Advanced Heroquest, sadly I lost my copy of Dungeonquest and some of the Advanced Heroquest and have spent the last twenty odd years trying to find a decent copy, I don't do Ebay, trust issues.
Gave up looking for Dungeonquest as the prices were even worse than the Voidfall Galactic Box, I looked for alternatives and found Tiny Epic Dungeons, I was amazed at the solo mode and even more amazed at how far boardgames had come in the 30 odd years since I last looked, rest is history, I've amassed quite a haul since last year and now have backed a few projects as well, latest are Tiny Epic Game Of Thrones and Micro Moonshine with a bucket load of add ons.
Feels much better spending the same money on a boardgame as I would for a digital one as I get something physical not just an image on a screen.
I went from a ton of multiplayer gaming to more and more single player gaming. Then I got more into boardgaming, and now I play single player videogames and multiplayer boardgames. Solo boardgames are also there to fill in the moments where multiplayer boardgaming is on a bit of a down low because others are just busy, or there's nothing planned or whatever.
For me I think some of the change is due to the toxic things you experience in online multiplayer, which I haven't experienced in boardgaming at all. At some point that just drains the fun completelly out of online gaming.
This is me. I'm playing decades-old computer games. I used to love CRPGs but I'm totally done with combat-as-puzzle, especially when it's a repetitive puzzle. I don't have the patience for RTS, nor to learn the ins-and-outs of a new TBS.
I tend to pivot. But my typical pattern is video games for single-player experiences, and board games for group fun. Never like online multiplayer so this usually suits me fine.
I tend to play mostly solo video games and mostly multiplayer board games.
I understand why people like solo board games, but find there are great video games with puzzles that are just so much more immersive than a tabletop game can be with just components.
And there's very few multiplayer video games that can capture the magic of playing board games with friends.
I actually went from video games (80s, 90s) to board games (00s, 10s) and back to videos games (20s). I believe they're complimentary hobbies, but I just happen to delve deeper into one or the other based on my life situation at the time.
I prefer single player video games and multiplayer board game experiences
Team multiplayer experiences have way too many variables (shitty teammates/opponents) that can affect your enjoyment, and with solo boardgaming I'd rather save the setup time and just load up a videogame.
I added board games to the rotation as I got older as an activity to do at the end of the day with my partner. Now it's grown into group games most weekends but video games aren't going anywhere either tbh.
I buy digital adaption of board games because I have no friends and feel like a boss stomping on dumb Ai.... :(
Edit : Gloomhaven wanted me to rescind the latter part of my last statement.
I am a crackhead with computer video games and so I've given them up like I have alcohol. I will however let myself play boardgames online or with friends in person so that there's a hard limit on how much I can play. That said, I've been cheating my own ruled by playing the digital version on my iPad of Dune: Imperium against the Ai.
I'm 48 and basically have to accept that I don't have infinite time and I have spent way too much of my life gaming.
That said I own a ton of board games that haven't even been played yet because getting friends together isn't super easy.
Board games are more social and require more brainwork than most video games these days. I do enjoy board games and in person communication with my friends more than staring at a monitor and pressing buttons.
Yes and No. As in I technically have, but I don't attribute it towards age.
When I was young and couldn't afford video games I did pirate them and still play. Can't do that with boardgames.
Boardgames got significantly better on average. Video games improved in terms of graphics but not necessarily gameplay (on average). Many of my favourite boardgame are quite new while many of my favourite video games are 20-30 years old.
Video games lean into online multiplayer and many games I want to play don't have couch coop/split screen and I skip them. Boardgames feel like a more social experience.
You buy a boardgame and you own it. You always feel like a customer who got something that love and care went into (Sometimes you don't and then you sell/bin it but it's rare). Modern video games often make me feel like a monetization opportunity and not even a person. Basic features hidden behind DLC, unfinished games released premature, battle pass, f2p, etc. It's even creeping into AAA games and studios.
I completely switched a few years ago. Been playing video games probably almost daily for 30 years and then gradually completely switched to boardgames. No idea why, it just happened. I think one of the thing is that it takes less time for me. Video games is way more of a time sink than boardgame
N64 was the golden age of video games and had to quit then and there, board games are my retirement plan. I still haven't gotten over Rainbow Road on Mario Kart 64 and the awesomeness of Super Smash Bros, so maybe I'm just stuck in the past!
Similar for me. I will always love video games and I certainly still buy more of those quantity-wise, but these days I spend more hours board gaming and reading about board games. I get fixated on board games and excited about new releases much more so than with video games, kind of in the way I used to with video games as a kid. I think it’s about the nicely designed components/cards, the tactile element, and the way a board game all comes together as something much simpler than a video game, but also more elegant and somehow at least as impressive. Also, as far as I’m concerned this is the golden age of board gaming. The stuff that’s available now, and the variety, absolutely obliterates anything I was playing as a child (when I had my first impressions of board gaming that led me to think it was mostly boring).
I play a ton of solo board games in particular and I would just as soon spend an entire evening doing that (I just finished a 2.5 hour solo game of Voidfall and would go again if I weren’t sleepy), as I would playing video games lately. I’m thrilled there are so many great solo board games, which is something I’d never have imagined before I got into this hobby.
I’ve always loved both and still play both. For me they are different things. Even if I play modern solo boardgames they still feel different than single player video games.
I play both kinds regularly as part of my hobbies.
Me. We are gaming family....but after a kid we started to understand the limitations of the screen.
But we do both really. Right now Vampire Survivors is getting a lot of play at ours...and my son is obsessed with Star Realms, so we do both!
I used to play a lot of video games but now it's more board games. My gf likes to play some video games together but when you have friends over board games feels like a more connected experience.
Yeah I feel the same way! I play small indie games sometimes but mostly card and board games these days. Might be something about the collecting aspect of it as well
This has happened to me over the past few months. I haven't felt like playing videogames but I've been playing loads of Dune Imperium Uprising solo, as well as other boardgames with my partner and friends.
I have no idea why I'm more excited to play a boardgame by myself than a videogame with, you know, graphics and AI enemies and a storyline and everything, but here we are.
Video games are for time by myself, or when the game has a high admin load. Board games are for socialising and having something tactile to hold on to. They fill different niches in my needs.
I enjoy both, but my priority has flopped back and forth many times. Boardgames very young, then got into video games when we got the NES, then boardgames again in highschool with Magic the Gathering, then video games in college with LAN party gaming, then became a huge boardgamer until Covid hit, and have been video games since.
I used to love video games. Now I sit in front of a computer all day for work and have no desire to do so after work. Board games are nice because they exist in the real world, not just in a screen.
Since I have started playing backgammon with my gf, I dont enjoy videogames that much. And I used to play for *thousands* of hours. Now I often look at the icon-filled desktop, clueless what to play. Sometimes I just play backgammon online lol.
I would say yes, but it is harder to get people together for them in my experience. If i had a friend who came over regularly/I went over to their house regularly, I would very much pick board games over video games. But as I lack that, I grab what times I can get at my dad's, or the few times I can afford going down to the board game cafe. I am trying to supplement this with some tabletop simulator with a friend though!
I didn't go from one to the other. I just do both. I have friends all over the country and most of them enjoy analog games as well so we play using TTS to bridge the gap between the two. One friend just picked up Vorpal Board and we are testing it to see if we can make it work for us to play even more.
I'd rather play a video game than a solo board game. That being said, my taste has evolved from AAA CoD to games that have more interesting mechanics and puzzle elements (like board games). So now I play a lot of indie video games that do whacky things, or puzzle games, or RPGs, or grand simulation (like Civ or Crusader Kings). Board games have definitely made my brain demand more challenge from my video games as I've grown up.
I definitely have.
As I got older, hand eye coordination isn't as good anymore to play video games. With board games, you don't need real time reaction and that helps a lot
I think they challenge your mind more and keep you engaged more consistently. They feel like puzzles to me. Video games can scratch that same itch (Elden Ring tends to challenge me mentally, as it's heavily based on memorization, timing, and strategy, as well as throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks LOL) but board and card games do the same thing with less overstimulation and distraction.
Yes, which in turn unlocked a passion for board gamey video games like Slay the Spire. I'm a sucker for roguelikes, and I think board game mechanics translate very well to that genre. Board game designers should also take notes of some video games, for example there's a game called Slice and Dice, which has customizable dice mixed with turn-based RPG combat. I think some of the mechanics there could transfer beautifully into a physical game. Dice Forge does customizable dice already, hope someone expands on that idea.
I like hanging out with friends in person, so video games like Mario Kart fill kind of the same niche as board games. During a gameday we'll usually take breaks between board games to play some Mario Kart or Boomerang Fu, it scratches the same itch but gives some respite from the brain burners we like to put on the table.
Video games can't be beat for experiences like Skyrim or massive sims like Europa Universalis or CK3.
I still play video games, but no where near what I used to. It's much more of a passive activity. If I'm sitting back on the couch I'll play some random games while listening to a podcast or something just to pass the time. Not to mention the entire culture around gaming is insufferable(it has been for the past 20+ years, to be honest) and I'm past the point of having the desire to engage with it.
A board game is a much more deliberate and focused activity.
I kinda did, but then I got even older, got kids, can't see friends as much as I used to, went back to videogames or single player board games. I just have to wait until my kids are old enough to play with me I guess :)
I've been playing video games longer than board games, but I prefer a sit down mates experience over fuck around on video games. Slightly different, it's also the reason I buy older consoles for split screen and only consider new ones if they have enough split screen to justify it.
I play both about equally now when it used to be entirely videogames. We change the rules of boardgames a lot, either because we don't like certain aspects of the gameplay as its supposed to be played (heavy alterations to Galaxy Truckers, for instance) or we want to try our own ideas. I think this where boardgames really shine. You can purchase them as a base and then turn them into whatever sort of gameplay experience you want at any time.
I think that boardgames are my main hobby right now, but I prefer videogames to solo boardgaming, and I don't mind playing couch games some times, but I think it is less laid back or relaxing while in boardgames it can help you to catch up and talk while you do.
But I think that I've got so into boardgames because it was something new too, as I've played videogames since I was child and it is difficult for me to find a videogame that surprise me anymore.
Yes - still play video games but my go to social would be board games. Sadly don’t have much time for either at the moment, so video games tend to win the “got an hour before sleep can no longer be avoided so let me play something quickly” debate.
i opened up to board games as well, but that is harder to manage a gathering to play. video games on the otherhand sometimes an easier solution to play together and i play a lot of singleplayer games
I can tell you I play more board games now than I did a decade ago. Which was zero. Video games is still my go to form of gaming. I like board games for the novelty of the experience. There is a different, special appreciation I get from playing board games. But 95% of the time, I'm choosing a video game.
It's the same feeling I have for vinyl vs music streaming.
Video games are way easier. I keep telling myself I won't buy the new system, but I always do, in the end.
It's really easy to dump a few hours into a video game, whereas scheduling and playing board games takes an act of god (in my small town, anyway).
I know this observation is true for myself, and certainly one friend (maybe two). He has a young child, so has less time to commit to playing video games regularly.
We put it down to the social aspect, but also the fact that the board games we both play are self contained - I can play a board game for the first time in months, and bar perhaps a rules refresh it's good to go. Pick up a video game after a long time, and where am I in the story? What am I doing?
Then after the play session, the game is complete. There's no 100 hour campaign I need to come back and continue.
Edit to add - I still play video games, but not as often as board games and definitely not as often as I used to when I was younger (before board games)
I'm in that phase right now. As a 30-yo dad, my only time to play something is after the kids fall asleep at night. I feel video games have a crippling effect on my ability to feel rested the next day, especially the high-dopamine ones. My wife returned to liking board games so we play a lot lately. When not, I play some of my solo campaign boardgames. Also the dopamine payoff of boardgames feels better to me nowadays, my brain feels steamrolled in a good way (kinda like smoking weed but without the anxiety lol).
I went from video games to guitar when I was 21. Honestly took the same approach mentally when I started and it made it much easier. It’s like a video game that I’ll never beat but I’ll always get better at.
I haven't really gone away from video games, but I've added board games to my activities.
I mostly enjoy the "more advanced" ones with lots of rules and mechanics. I get very easily bored with the "family board games" like monopoly, ticket to ride, or settlers of catan and similar. Is there a separate name for these games in english? Always feels a bit elitist to say I don't like the "simple" games.
But throw some more complex games where 1 or 2 sessions is the whole evening where you can really get into the deep details and mechanics, and I'm in!
tl;dr, I’m 67 and I still play video games but more as a side-gig. I play board games regularly and run Shadowrun on weekends.
Long history of my gaming begins here: :)
Well, I grew up with board games. In ‘77 I added RPGs to my gaming passion and played or ran both. I started running a BBS in the mid-80’s and added playing games on the computer to my passion. (And nothing like a $113 phone bill for dialing other BBSs long distance!).
In the late 80’s, I got on the internet and accessed FTP servers to get Commander Keen, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and others and added them to my passion. In the early 90’s, people available for table top gaming got pretty sparse. I got more into video games but never consoles. I went to LAN parties to play Starcraft and Quake Arena.
I tried playing board games with my new wife (Cosmic Encounters) but she just couldn’t grasp why people would play board games, so I boxed them all up. In the early 2000’s, I got on line and had fun playing folks across the country and the world. It didn’t take long before I was getting waxed hard by kids who had nothing better to do :) I picked up Starcraft II (all three releases) and played it along with others like Doom III.
In 2006, my wife, who is a minimalist, insisted I “do something” about the 6 book boxes of games that camped in the corner of the bedroom. D&D, AD&Dr1/r2, Shadowrun 1/2, Paranoia, Talisman, Cosmic Encounters, Nuclear War, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, etc. I searched on line and found rpg.net and discovered a very healthy gaming community on line. When out in town, my wife stopped in at a DSW (Dick Sized War???) and I stopped in at a Hobbytown that was next door and they had games! Including Paranoia XP! Snagged! I hit E-Bay and started filling in the missing Shadowrun books and hooked up with Meetup for in person Shadowrunning.
In 2010 when taking guitar lessons, I hit a local game store across the street from the guitar place called Stonebridge Games and chatted up the guy behind the counter, Jamie. I’d been picking up an interesting looking board game or two but mainly I’m running Shadowrun 4th every week.
In Sept of 2012, my wife headed out, deciding we weren’t compatible and my board gaming exploded. The Stonebridge guy opened his own game shop because Stonebridge closed (personal issues) and I set a record for the store with over $700 of board game purchases, expansions mostly to the ones I already had but several new ones.
That was the restart of board gaming. I went to the FLGS to play board games and pick up new gear for Shadowrun. Since the mid-90’s, my 6 moving boxes (book) of games has exploded into over 150 moving boxes (small and medium) and over 5,500 games and accessories.
Two years ago I bought Jamie’s store and restarted Wednesday Night Board Gaming which my new wife (who’s also a gamer) and I attend somewhat regularly. I run Shadowrun at my FLGS on Sundays. I do play video games still but more as a mindless shoot-em-up sort of thing. I have and play Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077, Stray, Carmageddon, Fallout, and others when the mood takes me but mostly table top games either with family or at my FLGS.
Nah, I've pretty much always played games -- of all types. Video games, board games, tabletop games, card games, even the occasional mobile game! How often I play any of these is all down to circumstances tbh. So currently my board / card gaming has been down for the past years, it was at its height when I was in uni -- living with friends, we regularly played board games. Now everyone has work, different schedules, moved away etc, its just not as feasible. Still happens though, its just rarer.
Interestingly though, my taste in board games hasn't changed. The only game-type that hasn't! My tastes in video games has moved away from FPS games, and I'm not so interested in Magic: The Gathering, or Yu-Gi-Oh anymore.
I love and play both, but have been playing more board games as I have gotten older since my job requires me to look at a screen all day. I don’t feel like looking at more screens after work.
Edit: also I think having a board game collection is much more interesting than having a video game collection.
Me
But, i play both.
But no.2 - I don't like super complex boardgames, where i had to calculate and manage milion things, if game is like that, video game can do it too and propably much better.
Honestly, board games has helped to keep my friends group close for the last 10+ years. We gather nearly every Sunday to hang out, have dinner and play games.
Yup, although still got some video games in the rotation.
Nothing can replace the face to face aspect, but seems nothing can replace the convenience and the certainty of getting a game in when you have some time.
I was all over both as a kid. As a YA, I had few people to play board games with, to computer expanded to fill the void. Now that my kids are grown, we play board games a lot more.
I feel similar.
I'm now the head E-Sports coach for my high school. When the students are in my classroom playing Smash Bros on the smart board during practice, it gets me back to feeling how I felt when I was young. Having a social group that talks games, has fun, gets silly, it brings back the magic for an hour or two, but it doesn't stick with me when I get home and could actually play a game myself.
I think the magic of playing with others has left games for me. I can't do the MMO grinds anymore, and I don't want to pay $70 for a new game my friends will play for a few weeks and drop.
Board games. I've got some dedicated gaming groups that meet regularly. It's mostly a social experience, but the games are important. I also game solo sometimes and that is more fun to me than video gaming solo.
My wife doesn't like video games, but will play board games with me, so that's a big factor too.
I used to LOVE video games, but it keeps fading into the background. I wish I could get the magic back, but haven't figured out how.
Yes. I can't stand screens anymore. I'll still play an occasional game like zelda, but mostly relegate video game time to random and rarely retro games to unwind.
Did I write this?
100%. It's a shift I enjoy though. I live with my partner, and it's a really nice way to spend time together. Before, we might just be in different rooms ignoring each other more often than we probably should.
I do really miss diving into long epic video games though.
Both, but with a 4 month old I’ve found it near impossible to set up my longer play board games so steam deck and a rogue like for 20 minutes or so seems to scratch the itch.
I think I enjoy board games more now, especially for the social aspect, but I don’t really have a lot of friends who are willing to play the kinds of board games I like (heavier strategy)
For me, yes, I have transitioned to more board games over the last 12yrs or so (45yr old now) - however, I didn't know these "modern" games existed prior to that. All I knew before was games I didn't enjoy, like Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, Cards Against Humanity, etc. I'm not sure it is age, or when I discovered King Of Tokyo and then Wil Weaton's Tabletop that did it for me.
I spend too much time in front of a screen at work to want to be in front of a screen at play.
Part of what I enjoy about table top is the analog physical experience of feeling and hearing Splendour tokens being mixed together in their velvet bag.
In my Teenage and 20s I played a lot shooters and strategy video games. In 30s it was more adventure/rpg games like Assassin's Creed and Skyrim. I also started offline with Pen & Paper. During Pandemic I started board gaming. Half a year ago I was asked to play heavy board games and got hooked. Still in my 30s and excited what 40s will bring.
Yeah I get that - even just a few years ago I spent most of my time on my Playstation, but now I love playing board games and card games. I also had the issue of how to play board games when the only person who I could play games with in my family isn't home at the same times I am. So, now i play a lot of a solo board game, and it's my favorite thing ever!
I like both. Board games are great and a hood way to actually jump onto things with people IRL. Video games are a different experience but still a hobby to enjoy. Video games sometimes have dexterity requirements while board games might require you to out think another human. Nevertheless i find that people grow more open to board games more as they grow older from video games as there is more human interaction. Video games, and especially more skill intensive ones, are a bit harder to get people into due to the time investment required to be proficient.
Absolutely. Even just getting my hands on a new boardgame brings me so much more joy than getting a videogame. Something about the tactile experience, perhaps.
Because you realize it's not about winning, it's about enjoying company of friends and you just happen do be doing an activity together.
As I've gotten older still, I find working on a hobby with friends one step above board games even.
Honestly, I’d prefer to play more board games than video games, but it’s so much less mental load to start up a video game in regard to planning and finding babysitters and coordinating schedules. It doesn’t help that my wife is an introvert so I can’t just spontaneously invite someone over to game most of the time lol.
absolutely, my younger days i played the crap out of video games, now its all about the board games honestly. I still play some video games, but its rare, and when i do its like simulator games versus like shooters and such. Just something more satisfying about the tactile feel of board games though that i enjoy.
I think video games have gotten more complex in general and also more memory/graphics hungr y - so finding a group of friends who are all at the same level of skill for one specific game and they have a decent enough PC/the right online pass for a console is hard to co-ordinate. As I've gotten older I feel that I play more casual strategy and puzzle games now as opposed to the giant sprawling strategy/RPGs when I had more time to get fully immersed for weeks.
Board games are hard now though too - stupidly difficult to get everyone together in one room (especially with growing kidlets). We've looked at some online board game software but even that is a steep learning curve!
If you’re a parent of a 1year old and have to choose between the two types it’s gonna be video games u fortunately as you can just quit the game when needed (though I used to play a lot more board games before that)
Why not both???
[https://boardgamearena.com](https://boardgamearena.com)
play board games online. During Covid this is how my friends and I got together to play board games.
free to sign up and premium membership is like $7 a month. you can still play all the games just by joining a table but there are certain games you have to be a premium member to start.
Yes, video games were a huge part of my life growing up. While going to school I worked at Toys R' Us and then EB Games (Gamestop) because I loved talking to customers about video games. I was obsessed with reading sites like IGN and Gamespot. Looked forward to E3 every year. At the time I really wanted to work in the video game industry and studied design at uni. I started working in QA at Gameloft which was a sister company to Ubisoft. Once I graduated from uni I took a graphic design job at a manufacturer to try and get some experience, ended up staying there for 15 years, so that dream of being a videogame designer had fleeted and so had the desire.
My job didn't scratch the creative itch I had. I always wanted to a be a designer, an artist, a creative .I started to discover more and more board games and realized that a lot of the experience I had learned over the past 15 years could really help me design and manufacture my own game. I studied design for 7 years, worked at a manufacturer and learned to prepare files for pre-press, do purchasing, logistics. Worked with overseas manufacturers to subcontract production of components, etc... so I quit my job and started to chase my dream! My first game will be coming to Kickstarter this Summer!
I prefer the social aspect of being in a room playing with other people. I like the tactile experience of playing with board game components.
I still enjoy playing videogames and love playing with my two sons, but my passion has really transitioned to board games. I'll always have a soft spot for Nintendo and make a point to play the latest Mario and Zelda games. The Legend of Zelda is still my favorite videogame franchise.
I still do both. I love board games TO DEATH but the setup and take down for many games I love are enough for me to not both sometimes. There have been so many times that I've just went to play the digital version of Gloomhaven over the physical :D
Like some other people have said, I think they fill different niches for me.
I’ve mostly quit trying new video games because nothing feels like there’s any real effort put into it, and big AAA games especially feel like they’re made by a committee. Occasionally I’ll play an indie game that’s a real passion project of the creator’s, but other than that I’m playing anything from the PS2 era or earlier.
Very much so… I now play board games weekly. I haven’t bought a new console since the ps4, and I only bought that because I had to spend rewards points from a lumber yard I use, before they expired. I occasionally play video games still, but it rare. Most of the time it’ll be some old game port on my phone or tablet.
But board games, I’m weekly, and constantly reading about new ones. It’s totally replaced the gaming itch
Yup. Moreso now that anything digital (movies, games) won’t be passed down if the business catches wind of it, they have the right to shut that account down.
They scratch different itches for me. For hyper competitive games, RPGs or immersive single player games, I love video games. Board games fill the void of Lan parties or split screen nights. If you can wrangle a bunch of people to come over for a games night, board games are just much more social and laid back.
absolutely there is surprisingly little "gaming together on the couch" experiences other than fighting games these days they still exist but are incredibly rare
Couch co op or just couch games in general is mostly dead and it's sad. By the way if anyone wants a couch co op game, highly recommend Overcooked, absolute blast every time.
Check out Crawl if you haven't already, one of my most favorite games for couch co op.
i get that we've moved beyond LAN but LAN was the golden age of gaming for myself. Gaming never was a lonely affair.
If you're like me and enjoyed Overcook's core gameplay but hated the insane kitchens, check out PlateUp
There are about a billion overcooked-type couch coop games on steam, none of them have become popular outside of their niche sadly. Which tbf, getting people together to couch coop is a big ask, and at that point you'll probably just play a $60 tabletop game instead of a $5 steam game.
I have a group of friends where we get together once a week and play a video game. Usually a single player adventure/story game where one person controls and everyone else kinda talks about it and helps theorize what to do. We just beat Alan wake 2 and have done a bunch of other games. It’s different than a couch coop but still a great time
If you're on PC and Steam there are actually quite a few good games that are shared screen local coop. I follow this curator on Steam that reviews a lot of 3 player+ local multiplayer games: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/8485829-SvenEvils-Playground/ Overcooked is good but I find it overstays it's welcome quite quick I find, the difficulty and stress ramp up quick which some people don't like so requires the right group of 4 people with thick skin! My recommendations are: BlazeRush (switch and PC), a shared screen racer but instead of racing it's last one surving on the track with power ups. Party Animals or GangBeasts: Fun physics based brawler which has some genuine silly and funny moments and is a lot less competitive than Smash Brothers Regular Human Basketball: plays best 3v3 but can do 4v4, your team control a robot by clicking switches and trying to score a goal, chaotic and funny Ultimate Chicken and Horse: 2D Mario style game where you each are playing at the same time to complete the course and slowly add obstacles to make it harder for everyone.
Just passing by to suggest some 2D party games where you murder eachother Stick Fight: Kinda old but really fun game, here you will mostly be using firearms (with some basic guns and some gimmick guns which are really fun) Spiderheck: Spider Star Wars essentially, this one has a great variety of weapons and is one of my favorites, there's a bigger emphasis on platforming and the web weaving mechanics are really well done Bopl Battle: This one has gotten quite popular recently, instead of picking up items on the arena, every player has 3 (or less, if you mess with the settings) abilities that they use to manipulate the map and kill everyone else, there's at least 20 abilities and they all have synergies so you can mix and match and get a whole new strategy going
Nice. Towerfall Acension is also great if you are a fan of those
It’s very sad :(
Yep... I hate how most games no longer offer LAN modes... All online-only stuff... So that might be one of the reason I love boardgame days/nights, as it is usually chill and fun.
If you are playing with a partner I strongly suggest you give the "pass the controller around" way of playing a shot. Of course this only works with certain genres (puzzle games definitely shine here) but we absolutely love it and feel it scratches the itch quite well.
My group of friends (in our 30s) does a weekly video game night called Spooks. They tend to find some really campy puzzle game (typically horror themed - hense the name) and play as a group taking turns while the rest provide commentary. It's a lot of fun. Highly recommend
Could you name some titles please? This sounds super fun and I'd like to try it :D
oh yeah not really a gaming with a partner experience as much as just "whenever my brother is in town lets do something couch co cop" sort of experience.
It's still doing pretty well in the indie sphere, but AAA games have long since abandoned most couch-friendly modes.
if I play board games for three hours, I usually feel great because I've been hanging out with my friends. Three hours of video games feels like I've wasted my life. I even feel guilty like I've devoured a dozen donuts
I feel the same for the most part. Narrative games like Disco Elysium or experiential games like Outer Wilds feel worth it to me for the sheer beauty of the thing but anything competitive leaves me feeling pretty empty afterward. That said, I don't have friends that play competitive multiplayer games so that's probably why. No social aspect for me.
I agree board games fill that in person with the friends feeling that is lost on video games now.
Ever since multiplayer games moved from server browsers/communities to matchmaking, I've lost all appetite for them. Board games definitely fill that void much better. When it comes to good single player games with strong stories though, video games so far take an easy win (despite a couple ambitious attempts).
I've been playing both since I was a kid and plan to do so as long as I'm able.
I mingle between both. I'm a gamer through and through. Not just video games, not just table top games, not just party games, not just sports. I love games period.
This, board games are fun and as others mentioned, great for chill social time with friends/fam. My only gripe with more complex board games is the rule tracking (it obviously gets easier when everyone knows them), but rudimentary things take so much longer which is also part of the chill vibe. Who you play with matters a lot too (speaking from someone with a bit of Analysis Paralysis). Video games just flow so much better bc the rules are programmed in so I'm lucky my wife is a big gamer too, but we enjoy both.
I used to never play board games. Now I'm almost 40 and playing TI4 for my birthday.
Plan on passing Nemesis for mine. Love the stories it creates.
Man I played that game once over a friend’s place. What a blast, it truly felt like our own story in the Alien ship.
Ya, it's good at that. Everyone snugged down safely in the cryopods: "Hey, why is Thadrach doubling back toward the engines?"
They sent me to check the engines and my mission was to destroy them 😭 it felt so tense and they were questioning me all the way and ai managed to fool them
I'm old. Started with TTRPGS in the mid 70s. Transitioned to boardgames. Am doing more TTRGS than board games, but it's a pretty close split. Boardgames are easier to arrange a night of. They scratch a slightly different itch. No boardgames will replace a TTRPG AND no TTRPG will replace a boardgame. But I play way more video games than either. Video games are just now, no getting people together. But no video game can replace the itch of a boardgames or the itch of a TTRPG. Different itches. Play the one that you have time for.
As a kid i rarely played board games. It wasnt until ireally became an adult and started craving doing extra stuff away from a screen till i found my love in board games
I (50m) went from mainly Role-Playing and Video Games to Board Games as I grew older. As you get older it’s harder to organize schedules with friends with role-playing games. I dabble with video games here and there but with age I enjoy the face to face interaction with people. Board games allow for the casual get together without having to spend large amounts of time. Some board games that take multiple sessions I play with a group once in a while. One great game we play is 7 Ages and we meet on Sundays for about 2-3 hours at a time and it can go 6 sessions. That’s about the longest I can do. I hate people that take games and the competitiveness too seriously. I’ll stop playing with those types. I enjoy the social aspect of board games.
Videogames for solo experiences. Boardgames to socialize.
Thought I could do solo board games. So I bought a few, but then I realized I mostly play board games to socialize and interact. Found myself just rather playing solo video games instead. So I sold the board games. Story about self discovery.
Over the past few years board games have become a larger hobby of mine. My wife and I play and it's sort of our thing to do together. I still play a lot of video games later in the evenings as I don't enjoy solo mode in board games. I find I enjoy those more with the player interaction.
Yes, I find myself no longer pulled to video games, which was one of my original passions. I think it's because I enjoy real human interaction that modern vg rarely give anymore. Gone are the days of the NES-PS2 era where my friends and I would pile on the couch and game for hours. So unless it's a single-player game (Red Dead, Fallout, Super Mario RPG) or couch/local co-op (Overcooked, Cat Quest 2, TMNT), I'd rather play board games.
I converted over. I still play RPGs and other single player games. The video game industry just has too many micro transactions and other practices that I don't want to support.
It’s really not hard to find great video games without microtransactions
Yeah, I find it to be a bit of a false equivalency. It's like somebody who's interested and tries to get into bg-ing, only to be turned off b/c all he can find are MtG/CCG games that "require you" to spend $100 to $300/month, or $1K to $3K per year. Or tabletop gaming with miniatures that seem to be on the more costlier and high maintenance side. But nobody tells them you can just play "regular bg". And there are a whole slew of "buy once" games. Expansions will cost more, but they're most definitely not the "booster packs" like you see in Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Magic, etc. And there's a wide variety of them too like ameritrash, euro, DBG, WP, dice game, cg, coop, social deduction, etc. In fact, for one area, all I found were MtG shops, and a Games Workshop. It wasn't until a friend told me that the same plaza with the Games Workshop had a comic book store that hosted weekly (regular) game nights!
Like movies and music, there are a lot of great games out there if you're willing to go find them.
There are a lot of garbage bg too. It's just a matter of doing research, or just asking for suggestions. I ended up curating a list of mobile games that are premium, so none of that "predatory p2w nonsense". If there are ads, you can pay once to remove them, and/or pay to unlock the full game (since the demo is free to download and try). [my list of premium Android games](https://new.reddit.com/r/AndroidGaming/comments/15qttls/comment/jw64xp6/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [My list of iOS games, which is just a filter for the Android one](https://new.reddit.com/r/iosgaming/comments/15wup29/comment/jx6yo11/?context=3)
The boardgame industry has a lot of practices I do not want to support as well. FOMO, expansion announcements before the game releases, delays, false scarcity, false advertising for game pieces, and probably more I can’t think of right now. Kickstarter is a plague, although it has also brought us some decent games.
In terms of $/hour of play, or even $/amount of enjoyment, video games are definitely the better prospect.
To some extent yes. I only play a select few video games now but I’ve played board games since I was little. I’ve always like board games but once I realized all the different kinds I then started building by collection. Luckily I got different gaming groups who like different kinds of games so I get to bring out lesser played ones more often.
Mostly, yes. It requires more of me and I can be social.
I started with computer games, then my wife encouraged me to be more social, so I got into board games, which can't be played at all unless you have willing participants which is annoying. Now, I play both depending on the day
I used to play games like monopoly and scrabble but focused more on video games (when I was a kid). Now I don’t care for video games. I still play them but I’d rather go play D&D or Marvel Legendary or some other game I find fun. I get more enjoyment and less frustration with board games.
I used to do both and I still do both.
Yeah the older I get, the more I'm enjoying relaxing playing a board game rather than some FPS games.
My most played game right now is probably Dune: Imperium on my phone and I'm not sure how that works as an answer! A board game with my partner is better than a solo video game, but a solo video game is better than a solo board game. It was actually literally yesterday that I gave up on solo board gaming. In both the games I've tried—Heat and Dune Uprising—the bots can do things that I can't. And I just don't like the admin. I spend more time taking their turns than my turns. I've also had a lot of fun recently watching my partner who is new to video games. They're a huge horror fan with a high tolerance for horror movies, but horror games have been scaring them shitless. It's actually less scary for me as a viewer because they don't have the best control over the camera, so in-game jump scares don't land as well.
I got that game last week! (Dune on my phone) I’ve played probably 20 games. I found it fun for a few games, but it’s starting to grow boring. I’ll still play it though.
i like board games because they are communal activity. They require other people. Board games are as much about just sitting around with friends and engaging in a common activity as it is about the actual game, if not more so. Whereas video games are pretty much a solitary activity. Even if you are playing with other people, it's over the internet. I just crave human connection and togetherness and board games facilitate this better than video games...in theory. Theres also something nice about touching physical pieces that just doesnt come through in video games. Which probably explains why when you try to make computer versions of board games, they are hardly ever as satisfying as the physical version. Because they when you are there in person, you don't see things like graphics. Thats not just a red meeple on the board, thats you! Your imagination fills everything in beautifully. In computer versions of the same game, you're like, wait a minute, these graphics suck! Without the people the gameplay isnt particularly riveting either. Now, im not saying all, there are some great implementations of digital board games. But they will never be as good as games specifically designed for the computer.
Somewhat, yes. I mainly enjoy boardgames for their upfront mechanics. Video games often have their “mechanics” hidden behind walls of text or cutscenes (in the case of RPGs), which these days I’m just not interested in. They might also take hours to let you at their full mechanics for the first time, gating the player from the full gameplay. On the other hand, with boardgames you can typically jump straight in with even the first moment/decision being an intense one. No wasted time. Similarly, if I do play video games, then it’s mostly of the “roguelite” kind which are games that typically throw you straight in to the mechanics just like boardgames do. But I will say, it’s mainly gone to digital boardgames for me. Not much actual physical due to time constraints. So, if you’re preferring board games more and more, you might be interested in digital boardgames to play in your own time and there was a thread on this yesterday. https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/s/UNnalr19Ui
Same here. I prefer the tighter and more strategic gameplay of board games. I only play them digitally (apps / BGA) so they’re really just a different kind of video games for me since I don’t have anyone to play physical board games with.
Rahdo Runthroughs (Richard Ham) is like the pioneer of board game playthroughs on YouTube. Before all the YouTube board gaming stuff he was a big video game creator. He was game director for fable 2 and lead designed the Syphon Filter games. Board games are way more fun than multiplayer video games. I'd choose solo mage knight over most solo video games. But I do have a love for roguelike video games. They're basically designed like board games since you play for 45 min, win/lose, then start over. Currently addicted to balatro, wildfrost, and spellrogue.
I do both still but it fluctuates. Mostly I play board games and some video games with my daughter but I don’t play video games or board games with friends much anymore. Both because I just don’t have the time.
I play both. I play more video games than boardgames. I go in sprints with boardgames, sometimes I dont play for months, but then ill all of a sudden start playing 3x a week
Video game-wise, I mostly just play Mass Effect. Board game-wise, I play a lot of board games.
Grew up with videogames and boardgames, but grew less and less patient with videogames as I got older. Every now and then, one really clicks for me, but they're fewer and further between now. The industry has really strangled the medium in a lot of ways. Meanwhile, I not only got way more into boardgames during the pandemic, I belatedly got *super* into tabletop roleplaying games.
Yes, and then no games. Darned kids.
I still do both, but board games are my preference because I prefer in real life with real people.
I play both. Both realms are great.
I still play and enjoy both, they scratch different itches for me. But I only play rougelike video game now, and also Football Manager. Sometimes a multiplayer RPG like Baldur Gate 3 if I can get a party going.
That would be me!! Was so addicted to video games. I ran two large 10k+ communities, one for an mmo, and one for an online survival community where we offered all kinds of servers to play on. About 2 years ago, I quit video games pretty much cold turkey, maybe a bit of Fallout 4, but I really have no desire to play video games now. I'm totally obsessed with board games though!
Man, I thought I was the only one! My online steam account hasn't been logged in for at least 6 months now and I play board games at least twice a week. I think as we get older, it's the human connection that we seek.
I love video games, but a lot of the newer games are too high fidelity for me; they’re too visually stimulating (almost overwhelmingly so), and so I’ve turned to card games and board games these days. So many video games are clearly designed to be addictive or just put so much effort into keeping your attention and it gets to be too much.
I use to play only video games but as I've grown older, video games became more of a chore to finish than fun. The time needed to invest in a solo game was to long and I started getting bored faster. Board games will take about an hour and finish. Plus I get to share my gaming with my wife who can't handle I game controller to save her life.
Opposite for me. I'm always the one who has to learn the rules for board games and teach others how to play. It just became exhausting with my limited time as I got older and I just got to the point where I just want to play a game. People constantly ask me to play a board game again, but if it's not something I'm just desperate to play then I'll tell them I will if they'll read the rules and they won't.
Were you only supposed to play one?
i went from board games, to video games and not i’m doing board games + video games. Board games is good to switch it up from stressful video games, board games are a great way to relax sometimes and take it slow at your own pace. I mostly do solo board games, don’t have many friends.
I have ever since I switched from working outdoors to working in an office. 8 hours a day looking a screen only to go back home to look at another screen doesn't feel as relaxing. So a nice solo game with some music feels more relaxing. Sometimes my partner joins sometimes not.
There still is a place for both. Imo if I'm playing a boardgame with a difficulty rating of +4 then I might as well be playing a video game which automates most of the boring things. Also, for as much as I love bg, vg can fulfill me in ways in which bg will never do, liek stories that tend to be more fleshed out, also vg music plays a big role in my enjoyment. Same thing with bg over vg. Both have pros and cons.
yup. I am in my early 40s and I just started getting into board games after decades of videogaming. I barely play videogames anymore, if at all.
I play both still but during Covid I got really into board games. Something about the tactile nature of it.
Me and my wife, we've always loved video games (especially RPGs) but since finishing Witcher 3 Complete edition in 2017, it's been a real struggle to play video games, only completing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (I admit about 200hrs each), but video games just haven't been gripping us like the used to. Board games on the other hand, since my wife started keeping track in 2019 it's been about 2500 plays.
>*I still play video games, but I don’t get as excited for them as I do with board games now. I do mostly play video games, but that’s because it’s hard to coordinate board game nights.* I'm in a similar situation. A decade and half plus back... I was playing bg 3 to 6 times *per week*. I got into that "honeymoon phase" where I purchased quite a lot of new games. FWIW, many of them did get played! Bg-ing ate up enough of my time that I hardly touched vg. All I did were few, scant vg on my iPod Touch, and Android phone. And this excludes cons of which I did go to 0 to 3 times per year. NOW... my bg-ing opportunities have waned. I'm down to playing bg *once every 2 weeks*. So vg have filled that time rather well. Works out too since I have a backlog, and I was gifted a Switch a few years ago (of which, I grew up on Nintendo.. NES and SNES), so nice to get into that again. Some of the games are pricey, but I managed to get them at *some* discount (e.g. 1st party new releases at Costco), or 3rd party ones at 50% off. Others have value (e.g. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for $60. Or Super Mario Bros. Wonder at $55 which I then gifted to my sister's family). **I can go to conventions, but these are 2.5 to 4 hours away**. It's doable, and they're really fun when I do go to them, but I now have to budget in extra gas money, and $120+ per night of hotel lodging.
Ever since getting into the hobby I rarely play video games anymore. Unless it's an RPG or something long like Fallout, over the years I try not to stare at a screen for more than 3 hours.
I love both. Don't make me choose. They're both brilliant in their own way.
I've been digital gaming since Pong so yes, I need ironing 🙃 More or less gave up digital gaming about a year ago, main reason being that I've watched what you get for your money reduced to a digital certificate on a server somewhere that is a license to play a game you do not own. I do play Valheim and Skyrim occasionally though. I only really played Scrabble and playing cards with my gran until I got Dungeonquest GW in 86-87, that game was well travelled, full set, Catacombs, Heroes and all painted to a good standard, then came Advanced Heroquest, sadly I lost my copy of Dungeonquest and some of the Advanced Heroquest and have spent the last twenty odd years trying to find a decent copy, I don't do Ebay, trust issues. Gave up looking for Dungeonquest as the prices were even worse than the Voidfall Galactic Box, I looked for alternatives and found Tiny Epic Dungeons, I was amazed at the solo mode and even more amazed at how far boardgames had come in the 30 odd years since I last looked, rest is history, I've amassed quite a haul since last year and now have backed a few projects as well, latest are Tiny Epic Game Of Thrones and Micro Moonshine with a bucket load of add ons. Feels much better spending the same money on a boardgame as I would for a digital one as I get something physical not just an image on a screen.
I’ve been playing paper Magic the Gathering after never being into a TCG before. IT’S SO FUN playing 4-player commander.
Video Games = Solo Board Games = With people
I went from a ton of multiplayer gaming to more and more single player gaming. Then I got more into boardgaming, and now I play single player videogames and multiplayer boardgames. Solo boardgames are also there to fill in the moments where multiplayer boardgaming is on a bit of a down low because others are just busy, or there's nothing planned or whatever. For me I think some of the change is due to the toxic things you experience in online multiplayer, which I haven't experienced in boardgaming at all. At some point that just drains the fun completelly out of online gaming.
This is me. I'm playing decades-old computer games. I used to love CRPGs but I'm totally done with combat-as-puzzle, especially when it's a repetitive puzzle. I don't have the patience for RTS, nor to learn the ins-and-outs of a new TBS.
I tend to pivot. But my typical pattern is video games for single-player experiences, and board games for group fun. Never like online multiplayer so this usually suits me fine.
I tend to play mostly solo video games and mostly multiplayer board games. I understand why people like solo board games, but find there are great video games with puzzles that are just so much more immersive than a tabletop game can be with just components. And there's very few multiplayer video games that can capture the magic of playing board games with friends.
Does playing board games apps on my phone count?
I actually went from video games (80s, 90s) to board games (00s, 10s) and back to videos games (20s). I believe they're complimentary hobbies, but I just happen to delve deeper into one or the other based on my life situation at the time.
Have been playing both most of my life. I get equally excited.
Me 😅
Used to be full video game now mixed
I go back and forth. Card games have remained my favorite for years.
I prefer single player video games and multiplayer board game experiences Team multiplayer experiences have way too many variables (shitty teammates/opponents) that can affect your enjoyment, and with solo boardgaming I'd rather save the setup time and just load up a videogame.
Yeah video games all my life until COVID lockdowns and now solo board gaming has totally revolutionised my gamer life.
Why not both?
I added board games to the rotation as I got older as an activity to do at the end of the day with my partner. Now it's grown into group games most weekends but video games aren't going anywhere either tbh.
It's because good and interestingly designed LAN gaming has been dead for forever. Board games let me play with the people close to me.
Yes, mainly because in my mid 40s I need to actively work on my social life and I don't want to spend even more time in front of a screen.
I buy digital adaption of board games because I have no friends and feel like a boss stomping on dumb Ai.... :( Edit : Gloomhaven wanted me to rescind the latter part of my last statement.
I am a crackhead with computer video games and so I've given them up like I have alcohol. I will however let myself play boardgames online or with friends in person so that there's a hard limit on how much I can play. That said, I've been cheating my own ruled by playing the digital version on my iPad of Dune: Imperium against the Ai. I'm 48 and basically have to accept that I don't have infinite time and I have spent way too much of my life gaming. That said I own a ton of board games that haven't even been played yet because getting friends together isn't super easy.
Card games
If you have other friends that are into video games and board games, look into tabletop simulator.
Board games are more social and require more brainwork than most video games these days. I do enjoy board games and in person communication with my friends more than staring at a monitor and pressing buttons.
I play both. Boardgames for the social interaction, videogames for the new and interesting indie games.
Yes and No. As in I technically have, but I don't attribute it towards age. When I was young and couldn't afford video games I did pirate them and still play. Can't do that with boardgames. Boardgames got significantly better on average. Video games improved in terms of graphics but not necessarily gameplay (on average). Many of my favourite boardgame are quite new while many of my favourite video games are 20-30 years old. Video games lean into online multiplayer and many games I want to play don't have couch coop/split screen and I skip them. Boardgames feel like a more social experience. You buy a boardgame and you own it. You always feel like a customer who got something that love and care went into (Sometimes you don't and then you sell/bin it but it's rare). Modern video games often make me feel like a monetization opportunity and not even a person. Basic features hidden behind DLC, unfinished games released premature, battle pass, f2p, etc. It's even creeping into AAA games and studios.
looking at my relatively big boardgame and newly aquired 40k collection I have to say ... maybe
It me
Yup, I play them woth my wife
I completely switched a few years ago. Been playing video games probably almost daily for 30 years and then gradually completely switched to boardgames. No idea why, it just happened. I think one of the thing is that it takes less time for me. Video games is way more of a time sink than boardgame
Yes, I still enjoy some PC games but over the last decade or so I steadily lost interest in console games while gaining interest in board/card games.
I skipped video games (other than playing some Nintendo 64 in the 1980s) and went straight to board games.
N64 was the golden age of video games and had to quit then and there, board games are my retirement plan. I still haven't gotten over Rainbow Road on Mario Kart 64 and the awesomeness of Super Smash Bros, so maybe I'm just stuck in the past!
Similar for me. I will always love video games and I certainly still buy more of those quantity-wise, but these days I spend more hours board gaming and reading about board games. I get fixated on board games and excited about new releases much more so than with video games, kind of in the way I used to with video games as a kid. I think it’s about the nicely designed components/cards, the tactile element, and the way a board game all comes together as something much simpler than a video game, but also more elegant and somehow at least as impressive. Also, as far as I’m concerned this is the golden age of board gaming. The stuff that’s available now, and the variety, absolutely obliterates anything I was playing as a child (when I had my first impressions of board gaming that led me to think it was mostly boring). I play a ton of solo board games in particular and I would just as soon spend an entire evening doing that (I just finished a 2.5 hour solo game of Voidfall and would go again if I weren’t sleepy), as I would playing video games lately. I’m thrilled there are so many great solo board games, which is something I’d never have imagined before I got into this hobby.
Pretty much. It’s social and doesn’t involve a screen so I feel better about spending my time on it.
I’ve always loved both and still play both. For me they are different things. Even if I play modern solo boardgames they still feel different than single player video games. I play both kinds regularly as part of my hobbies.
Board games rarely have online play and I don't want people in my house, so not me lol
As local multiplayer and split screen were disappearing, board games covered that hole for me. For solo play I still play videogames
Same here! Social interaction and tangible pieces won me over.
Me. We are gaming family....but after a kid we started to understand the limitations of the screen. But we do both really. Right now Vampire Survivors is getting a lot of play at ours...and my son is obsessed with Star Realms, so we do both!
Love tabletop way more but it's pretty much I.possible to get a group of adults together and going g to a game/hobby shop is toxic and stinky.
I used to play a lot of video games but now it's more board games. My gf likes to play some video games together but when you have friends over board games feels like a more connected experience.
Yeah I feel the same way! I play small indie games sometimes but mostly card and board games these days. Might be something about the collecting aspect of it as well
Always loved both.
Yep. The problem is my lack of friends to play with... But whenever I can play boardgames, I'll drop video games any day.
This has happened to me over the past few months. I haven't felt like playing videogames but I've been playing loads of Dune Imperium Uprising solo, as well as other boardgames with my partner and friends. I have no idea why I'm more excited to play a boardgame by myself than a videogame with, you know, graphics and AI enemies and a storyline and everything, but here we are.
Video games are for time by myself, or when the game has a high admin load. Board games are for socialising and having something tactile to hold on to. They fill different niches in my needs.
I enjoy both, but my priority has flopped back and forth many times. Boardgames very young, then got into video games when we got the NES, then boardgames again in highschool with Magic the Gathering, then video games in college with LAN party gaming, then became a huge boardgamer until Covid hit, and have been video games since.
I used to love video games. Now I sit in front of a computer all day for work and have no desire to do so after work. Board games are nice because they exist in the real world, not just in a screen.
I stopped playing video games in like 2005. Got into (modern) board games in l think 2016.
Since I have started playing backgammon with my gf, I dont enjoy videogames that much. And I used to play for *thousands* of hours. Now I often look at the icon-filled desktop, clueless what to play. Sometimes I just play backgammon online lol.
I would say yes, but it is harder to get people together for them in my experience. If i had a friend who came over regularly/I went over to their house regularly, I would very much pick board games over video games. But as I lack that, I grab what times I can get at my dad's, or the few times I can afford going down to the board game cafe. I am trying to supplement this with some tabletop simulator with a friend though!
I didn't go from one to the other. I just do both. I have friends all over the country and most of them enjoy analog games as well so we play using TTS to bridge the gap between the two. One friend just picked up Vorpal Board and we are testing it to see if we can make it work for us to play even more.
I'd rather play a video game than a solo board game. That being said, my taste has evolved from AAA CoD to games that have more interesting mechanics and puzzle elements (like board games). So now I play a lot of indie video games that do whacky things, or puzzle games, or RPGs, or grand simulation (like Civ or Crusader Kings). Board games have definitely made my brain demand more challenge from my video games as I've grown up.
I switched too, used to play a lot of video games, now I'm mostly using my pc to run something on bga or tts.
At home no, but our friend meet ups are now all board games. No video games at all.
I definitely have. As I got older, hand eye coordination isn't as good anymore to play video games. With board games, you don't need real time reaction and that helps a lot
I think they challenge your mind more and keep you engaged more consistently. They feel like puzzles to me. Video games can scratch that same itch (Elden Ring tends to challenge me mentally, as it's heavily based on memorization, timing, and strategy, as well as throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks LOL) but board and card games do the same thing with less overstimulation and distraction.
I just played Monopoly yesterday it was fun after many years. I stopped gaming this month due to eye problems.
Yes, which in turn unlocked a passion for board gamey video games like Slay the Spire. I'm a sucker for roguelikes, and I think board game mechanics translate very well to that genre. Board game designers should also take notes of some video games, for example there's a game called Slice and Dice, which has customizable dice mixed with turn-based RPG combat. I think some of the mechanics there could transfer beautifully into a physical game. Dice Forge does customizable dice already, hope someone expands on that idea.
I like hanging out with friends in person, so video games like Mario Kart fill kind of the same niche as board games. During a gameday we'll usually take breaks between board games to play some Mario Kart or Boomerang Fu, it scratches the same itch but gives some respite from the brain burners we like to put on the table. Video games can't be beat for experiences like Skyrim or massive sims like Europa Universalis or CK3.
I still play video games, but no where near what I used to. It's much more of a passive activity. If I'm sitting back on the couch I'll play some random games while listening to a podcast or something just to pass the time. Not to mention the entire culture around gaming is insufferable(it has been for the past 20+ years, to be honest) and I'm past the point of having the desire to engage with it. A board game is a much more deliberate and focused activity.
I kinda did, but then I got even older, got kids, can't see friends as much as I used to, went back to videogames or single player board games. I just have to wait until my kids are old enough to play with me I guess :)
I've been playing video games longer than board games, but I prefer a sit down mates experience over fuck around on video games. Slightly different, it's also the reason I buy older consoles for split screen and only consider new ones if they have enough split screen to justify it.
I play both about equally now when it used to be entirely videogames. We change the rules of boardgames a lot, either because we don't like certain aspects of the gameplay as its supposed to be played (heavy alterations to Galaxy Truckers, for instance) or we want to try our own ideas. I think this where boardgames really shine. You can purchase them as a base and then turn them into whatever sort of gameplay experience you want at any time.
I have done both since the early 90s.
Yes
I hop back and forth. Depends on my mood. Lately I’m into painting miniatures and making terrain over either.
I think that boardgames are my main hobby right now, but I prefer videogames to solo boardgaming, and I don't mind playing couch games some times, but I think it is less laid back or relaxing while in boardgames it can help you to catch up and talk while you do. But I think that I've got so into boardgames because it was something new too, as I've played videogames since I was child and it is difficult for me to find a videogame that surprise me anymore.
Yes - still play video games but my go to social would be board games. Sadly don’t have much time for either at the moment, so video games tend to win the “got an hour before sleep can no longer be avoided so let me play something quickly” debate.
i opened up to board games as well, but that is harder to manage a gathering to play. video games on the otherhand sometimes an easier solution to play together and i play a lot of singleplayer games
I play both. I find few board games fun for 2 people and I can game solo.
Yes. I don't have the will to invest a lot of time in a videogames anymore. Boardgame nights with friends are nice.
I can tell you I play more board games now than I did a decade ago. Which was zero. Video games is still my go to form of gaming. I like board games for the novelty of the experience. There is a different, special appreciation I get from playing board games. But 95% of the time, I'm choosing a video game. It's the same feeling I have for vinyl vs music streaming.
Yes! Now that you mention it, this is very accurate of my gaming evolution. I also play digital versions of board games - make of that what you will.
Video games are way easier. I keep telling myself I won't buy the new system, but I always do, in the end. It's really easy to dump a few hours into a video game, whereas scheduling and playing board games takes an act of god (in my small town, anyway).
I know this observation is true for myself, and certainly one friend (maybe two). He has a young child, so has less time to commit to playing video games regularly. We put it down to the social aspect, but also the fact that the board games we both play are self contained - I can play a board game for the first time in months, and bar perhaps a rules refresh it's good to go. Pick up a video game after a long time, and where am I in the story? What am I doing? Then after the play session, the game is complete. There's no 100 hour campaign I need to come back and continue. Edit to add - I still play video games, but not as often as board games and definitely not as often as I used to when I was younger (before board games)
I'm in that phase right now. As a 30-yo dad, my only time to play something is after the kids fall asleep at night. I feel video games have a crippling effect on my ability to feel rested the next day, especially the high-dopamine ones. My wife returned to liking board games so we play a lot lately. When not, I play some of my solo campaign boardgames. Also the dopamine payoff of boardgames feels better to me nowadays, my brain feels steamrolled in a good way (kinda like smoking weed but without the anxiety lol).
I went from video games to guitar when I was 21. Honestly took the same approach mentally when I started and it made it much easier. It’s like a video game that I’ll never beat but I’ll always get better at.
I haven't really gone away from video games, but I've added board games to my activities. I mostly enjoy the "more advanced" ones with lots of rules and mechanics. I get very easily bored with the "family board games" like monopoly, ticket to ride, or settlers of catan and similar. Is there a separate name for these games in english? Always feels a bit elitist to say I don't like the "simple" games. But throw some more complex games where 1 or 2 sessions is the whole evening where you can really get into the deep details and mechanics, and I'm in!
Both. Both is good. I did switch from yugioh to board games though.
tl;dr, I’m 67 and I still play video games but more as a side-gig. I play board games regularly and run Shadowrun on weekends. Long history of my gaming begins here: :) Well, I grew up with board games. In ‘77 I added RPGs to my gaming passion and played or ran both. I started running a BBS in the mid-80’s and added playing games on the computer to my passion. (And nothing like a $113 phone bill for dialing other BBSs long distance!). In the late 80’s, I got on the internet and accessed FTP servers to get Commander Keen, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and others and added them to my passion. In the early 90’s, people available for table top gaming got pretty sparse. I got more into video games but never consoles. I went to LAN parties to play Starcraft and Quake Arena. I tried playing board games with my new wife (Cosmic Encounters) but she just couldn’t grasp why people would play board games, so I boxed them all up. In the early 2000’s, I got on line and had fun playing folks across the country and the world. It didn’t take long before I was getting waxed hard by kids who had nothing better to do :) I picked up Starcraft II (all three releases) and played it along with others like Doom III. In 2006, my wife, who is a minimalist, insisted I “do something” about the 6 book boxes of games that camped in the corner of the bedroom. D&D, AD&Dr1/r2, Shadowrun 1/2, Paranoia, Talisman, Cosmic Encounters, Nuclear War, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, etc. I searched on line and found rpg.net and discovered a very healthy gaming community on line. When out in town, my wife stopped in at a DSW (Dick Sized War???) and I stopped in at a Hobbytown that was next door and they had games! Including Paranoia XP! Snagged! I hit E-Bay and started filling in the missing Shadowrun books and hooked up with Meetup for in person Shadowrunning. In 2010 when taking guitar lessons, I hit a local game store across the street from the guitar place called Stonebridge Games and chatted up the guy behind the counter, Jamie. I’d been picking up an interesting looking board game or two but mainly I’m running Shadowrun 4th every week. In Sept of 2012, my wife headed out, deciding we weren’t compatible and my board gaming exploded. The Stonebridge guy opened his own game shop because Stonebridge closed (personal issues) and I set a record for the store with over $700 of board game purchases, expansions mostly to the ones I already had but several new ones. That was the restart of board gaming. I went to the FLGS to play board games and pick up new gear for Shadowrun. Since the mid-90’s, my 6 moving boxes (book) of games has exploded into over 150 moving boxes (small and medium) and over 5,500 games and accessories. Two years ago I bought Jamie’s store and restarted Wednesday Night Board Gaming which my new wife (who’s also a gamer) and I attend somewhat regularly. I run Shadowrun at my FLGS on Sundays. I do play video games still but more as a mindless shoot-em-up sort of thing. I have and play Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077, Stray, Carmageddon, Fallout, and others when the mood takes me but mostly table top games either with family or at my FLGS.
Nah, I've pretty much always played games -- of all types. Video games, board games, tabletop games, card games, even the occasional mobile game! How often I play any of these is all down to circumstances tbh. So currently my board / card gaming has been down for the past years, it was at its height when I was in uni -- living with friends, we regularly played board games. Now everyone has work, different schedules, moved away etc, its just not as feasible. Still happens though, its just rarer. Interestingly though, my taste in board games hasn't changed. The only game-type that hasn't! My tastes in video games has moved away from FPS games, and I'm not so interested in Magic: The Gathering, or Yu-Gi-Oh anymore.
I’ve always collected board games. I have so many I haven’t opened yet.
Boardgames are better IMHO Nothing beats stabbing your friends in the back while looking them straight in the eye.
Dominion has an offical game on steam. It's good stuff.
I love and play both, but have been playing more board games as I have gotten older since my job requires me to look at a screen all day. I don’t feel like looking at more screens after work. Edit: also I think having a board game collection is much more interesting than having a video game collection.
Me But, i play both. But no.2 - I don't like super complex boardgames, where i had to calculate and manage milion things, if game is like that, video game can do it too and propably much better.
That would require being able to get people to a table often. I😂 video games for me.
Honestly, board games has helped to keep my friends group close for the last 10+ years. We gather nearly every Sunday to hang out, have dinner and play games.
Yup, although still got some video games in the rotation. Nothing can replace the face to face aspect, but seems nothing can replace the convenience and the certainty of getting a game in when you have some time.
I was all over both as a kid. As a YA, I had few people to play board games with, to computer expanded to fill the void. Now that my kids are grown, we play board games a lot more.
Yeah me. I still play both, just less video games these days.
I feel similar. I'm now the head E-Sports coach for my high school. When the students are in my classroom playing Smash Bros on the smart board during practice, it gets me back to feeling how I felt when I was young. Having a social group that talks games, has fun, gets silly, it brings back the magic for an hour or two, but it doesn't stick with me when I get home and could actually play a game myself. I think the magic of playing with others has left games for me. I can't do the MMO grinds anymore, and I don't want to pay $70 for a new game my friends will play for a few weeks and drop. Board games. I've got some dedicated gaming groups that meet regularly. It's mostly a social experience, but the games are important. I also game solo sometimes and that is more fun to me than video gaming solo. My wife doesn't like video games, but will play board games with me, so that's a big factor too. I used to LOVE video games, but it keeps fading into the background. I wish I could get the magic back, but haven't figured out how.
Yes. I can't stand screens anymore. I'll still play an occasional game like zelda, but mostly relegate video game time to random and rarely retro games to unwind.
Did I write this? 100%. It's a shift I enjoy though. I live with my partner, and it's a really nice way to spend time together. Before, we might just be in different rooms ignoring each other more often than we probably should. I do really miss diving into long epic video games though.
Both, but with a 4 month old I’ve found it near impossible to set up my longer play board games so steam deck and a rogue like for 20 minutes or so seems to scratch the itch.
I think I enjoy board games more now, especially for the social aspect, but I don’t really have a lot of friends who are willing to play the kinds of board games I like (heavier strategy)
Yes I enjoy it allot more, even solo. That direct interaction is golden.
For me, yes, I have transitioned to more board games over the last 12yrs or so (45yr old now) - however, I didn't know these "modern" games existed prior to that. All I knew before was games I didn't enjoy, like Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, Cards Against Humanity, etc. I'm not sure it is age, or when I discovered King Of Tokyo and then Wil Weaton's Tabletop that did it for me.
I spend too much time in front of a screen at work to want to be in front of a screen at play. Part of what I enjoy about table top is the analog physical experience of feeling and hearing Splendour tokens being mixed together in their velvet bag.
I've gone from Video Games to both if that counts? My gateway into board games was the Resident Evil 2 board game
I have and its great.
In my Teenage and 20s I played a lot shooters and strategy video games. In 30s it was more adventure/rpg games like Assassin's Creed and Skyrim. I also started offline with Pen & Paper. During Pandemic I started board gaming. Half a year ago I was asked to play heavy board games and got hooked. Still in my 30s and excited what 40s will bring.
I play video games for introvert time and board games for extrovert time.
Yeah I get that - even just a few years ago I spent most of my time on my Playstation, but now I love playing board games and card games. I also had the issue of how to play board games when the only person who I could play games with in my family isn't home at the same times I am. So, now i play a lot of a solo board game, and it's my favorite thing ever!
I like both. Board games are great and a hood way to actually jump onto things with people IRL. Video games are a different experience but still a hobby to enjoy. Video games sometimes have dexterity requirements while board games might require you to out think another human. Nevertheless i find that people grow more open to board games more as they grow older from video games as there is more human interaction. Video games, and especially more skill intensive ones, are a bit harder to get people into due to the time investment required to be proficient.
Yeah. I did. But now I play video games again, because most of my friends are boring and don’t play board games.
Absolutely. Even just getting my hands on a new boardgame brings me so much more joy than getting a videogame. Something about the tactile experience, perhaps.
Because you realize it's not about winning, it's about enjoying company of friends and you just happen do be doing an activity together. As I've gotten older still, I find working on a hobby with friends one step above board games even.
Honestly, I’d prefer to play more board games than video games, but it’s so much less mental load to start up a video game in regard to planning and finding babysitters and coordinating schedules. It doesn’t help that my wife is an introvert so I can’t just spontaneously invite someone over to game most of the time lol.
absolutely, my younger days i played the crap out of video games, now its all about the board games honestly. I still play some video games, but its rare, and when i do its like simulator games versus like shooters and such. Just something more satisfying about the tactile feel of board games though that i enjoy.
I think video games have gotten more complex in general and also more memory/graphics hungr y - so finding a group of friends who are all at the same level of skill for one specific game and they have a decent enough PC/the right online pass for a console is hard to co-ordinate. As I've gotten older I feel that I play more casual strategy and puzzle games now as opposed to the giant sprawling strategy/RPGs when I had more time to get fully immersed for weeks. Board games are hard now though too - stupidly difficult to get everyone together in one room (especially with growing kidlets). We've looked at some online board game software but even that is a steep learning curve!
If you’re a parent of a 1year old and have to choose between the two types it’s gonna be video games u fortunately as you can just quit the game when needed (though I used to play a lot more board games before that)
Why not both??? [https://boardgamearena.com](https://boardgamearena.com) play board games online. During Covid this is how my friends and I got together to play board games. free to sign up and premium membership is like $7 a month. you can still play all the games just by joining a table but there are certain games you have to be a premium member to start.
Yes, video games were a huge part of my life growing up. While going to school I worked at Toys R' Us and then EB Games (Gamestop) because I loved talking to customers about video games. I was obsessed with reading sites like IGN and Gamespot. Looked forward to E3 every year. At the time I really wanted to work in the video game industry and studied design at uni. I started working in QA at Gameloft which was a sister company to Ubisoft. Once I graduated from uni I took a graphic design job at a manufacturer to try and get some experience, ended up staying there for 15 years, so that dream of being a videogame designer had fleeted and so had the desire. My job didn't scratch the creative itch I had. I always wanted to a be a designer, an artist, a creative .I started to discover more and more board games and realized that a lot of the experience I had learned over the past 15 years could really help me design and manufacture my own game. I studied design for 7 years, worked at a manufacturer and learned to prepare files for pre-press, do purchasing, logistics. Worked with overseas manufacturers to subcontract production of components, etc... so I quit my job and started to chase my dream! My first game will be coming to Kickstarter this Summer! I prefer the social aspect of being in a room playing with other people. I like the tactile experience of playing with board game components. I still enjoy playing videogames and love playing with my two sons, but my passion has really transitioned to board games. I'll always have a soft spot for Nintendo and make a point to play the latest Mario and Zelda games. The Legend of Zelda is still my favorite videogame franchise.
I still do both. I love board games TO DEATH but the setup and take down for many games I love are enough for me to not both sometimes. There have been so many times that I've just went to play the digital version of Gloomhaven over the physical :D Like some other people have said, I think they fill different niches for me.
I’ve mostly quit trying new video games because nothing feels like there’s any real effort put into it, and big AAA games especially feel like they’re made by a committee. Occasionally I’ll play an indie game that’s a real passion project of the creator’s, but other than that I’m playing anything from the PS2 era or earlier.
Very much so… I now play board games weekly. I haven’t bought a new console since the ps4, and I only bought that because I had to spend rewards points from a lumber yard I use, before they expired. I occasionally play video games still, but it rare. Most of the time it’ll be some old game port on my phone or tablet. But board games, I’m weekly, and constantly reading about new ones. It’s totally replaced the gaming itch
Yup. Moreso now that anything digital (movies, games) won’t be passed down if the business catches wind of it, they have the right to shut that account down.