ENCAPSULATE: 1995

As trading card games were taking the world by storm, other companies saw the potential in publishing board games, especially after a certain island was being settled...

We stand at the birth of the modern hobby

Nineteen ninety five. The year of the Board Game Renaissance. As the world marvelled at technological achievements like the Playstation, DVD Players and Java (the programming language later used to make Minecraft), board games underwent a significant boost in attention and popularity. Let’s look now at 1995, the year that changed board gaming forever.

SETTLERS OF CATAN

Let’s start with the biggest release of 1995, the ever popular hexagonal trading game Settlers of Catan. Chances are high that if you’re reading this magazine, you’ve played one of the many numerous iterations of this board game icon, given that as of last year this game had sold over 32 million copies worldwide, firmly establishing it as one of the best selling board games of all time. The game was developed by then full time dentist Klaus Teuber, who was inspired by the Vikings who settled Iceland and Greenland, in which players produce and trade commodities in order to build towns and roads, with the winner being whoever could race to ten victory points first.

Many of Catan’s mechanics and themes have become industry cornerstones. As well as more obvious influences such as the surge of farming and settling themed games, Catan doesn’t allow players to battle each other to claim territory or level cities, with the most aggressive action being to block a tile and steal a random resource using the infamous Robber piece, popularising the ‘Eurogames’ genre. The game also saw a deviation from the standard ‘wait your turn’ framework, as resources are produced for anyone whose tile matches the value rolled and trading with the active player is highly encouraged, keeping players engaged throughout. It was also one of the first games to use a hexagonal tile board, ensuring that no two games need be the same and that the best players would be whoever could react to the board first.

Not only was the game immediately popular and award winning, it was also one of the faster games to be translated for a UK/US audience, making it a common sight in board game shops worldwide for over 25 years. The success of the game lead to several expansions, spin offs and now a dedicated design studio, ensuring that the phrase “have you got wood for sheep?” will continue to cause immature sniggering for years to come.

FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES TAKES FLIGHT

Twilight Imperium. Arkham Horror. Keyforge. The list goes on for popular franchises in tabletop which are published by one company: Fantasy Flight Games. Founded in 1995 by Christian T. Peterson in Minnesota, United States, FFG is responsible for some of the best board games ever made, with numerous games featuring in BoardGameGeek’s Top 100 list and a library of literally hundreds of beloved titles.

The company began life as “Fantasy Flight Publishing,” making and distributing comics, but Peterson wanted to expand and produce his passion project of an epic space opera game. In preparation for the company’s first game’s release at Origins 1997, Peterson would stay up late individually separating the cardboard components to assemble the first edition of Twilight Imperium, actually sending him to the hospital due to inhaling infected cardboard particles in the process. Fortunately he made a speedy recovery and was ready to demonstrate the game at the convention, selling out their entire stock and firmly establishing the company as a part of the board game industry.

Over the years Fantasy Flight have released several original games as well as well received tie-in games. in 2008 the company partnered with wargame giant Games Workshop to produce a series of third-party RPGs and games, including Dark Heresy, Chaos in the Old World and the revised 4th Edition of Talisman (the latter of which they still produce spin-offs and revisions today.) The recognition gained from this success led to many other properties partnering with FFG, most famously of which was Star Wars in 2011, with which they produced popular games like X-Wing, Star Wars Rebellion

and Star Wars Destiny.

The company continues to operate today, now as the American subsidiary to another game industry giant that was founded the same year...

ASMODEE APPEARS

Currently only one company can rival Hasbro’s monopolistic (geddit?) hold on board gaming: Asmodee. The company was founded by Marc Nunès, having finished his years in military service and spent many years managing in the commercial sector, as he wanted to not only have a company to produce games he was interested in, but also provide smaller companies a means to distribute their own games as well.

The company’s first major release was frantic totem grabbing game Jungle Speed, which sold millions nationwide in France. This, along with the money raised from distributing games such as Formula Dé and the French version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, helped catapult the company to success, garnering the attention of several private equity firms over the years who’ve helped swell the number of companies who are now direct subsidiaries of Asmodee.

In addition to buying Esdevium games (the UK’s largest board game distributor which now operates under the name Asmodee UK) Asmodee went on to buy Ticket to Ride publisher Days of Wonder, F2Z Entertainment (then owner of Z-Man Games and Plaid Hat Games) as well as both of the previously listed companies, opening Catan Studio and acquiring Fantasy Flight Games.

The company is now comprised of 11 development studios, 11 distribution businesses and over 750 employees worldwide, with publishing credits to over a thousand board games across the last quarter of a century. Exactly one fifth of the games listed in BGG’s top 100 were published through Asmodee and its subsidiaries, showing a commitment to creating and distributing great games from designers around the world.

The company is also one of the larger supporters of providing board games to the digital world, creating computerized versions of games like Ticket to Ride and Catan for phone, tablet and PC, something that’s been highly appreciated for any board game fan recently.

Whilst some worry that this rampant buying of companies may lead to a two-horse race between Asmodee and Hasbro for all board game publishing, it’s hard to not acknowledge the contributions to board gaming that Asmodee has provided and continues to provide today.

EBAY FOUNDED

And last but no means least, secondhand board gaming wouldn’t be the thriving marketplace it is today without the help of internet auction titan, eBay.

Founded on 3rd September 1995 by French-born IranianAmerican computer programmer Pierre Omidyar, the website was originally a side business to allow individuals to sell unwanted items through person-to-person transactions. The original name “AuctionWeb” was rebranded in 1997, as Omidyar wanted to name it after his consulting firm “Echo Bay,” though as that domain was already taken he shorted it to “ebay.com.”

The company is now one of the biggest names in online retail, with over 182 million eBay users worldwide and over a BILLION different listings online at any given time. The Toys and Games category (which includes our beloved board games) is the 8th most popular on the website, representing a little under 5% of all products available.

So from all of us who’ve ever purchased an out of print title or helped clear out our board game overfill, thank you eBay.