Game board

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Game board for Monopoly, a popular modern game

A game board (or gameboard; sometimes, playing board[1] or game map[2]: 25 ) is the surface on which one plays a board game.

The oldest known game boards may date to Neolithic times, however, some scholars argue these may not have been game boards at all. Early Bronze Age artifacts are more universally recognized as game boards (for games such as Egyptian senet and mehen, and the Mesopotamian Royal Game of Ur). Most ancient board games were race games, utilizing random outcome generators like dice.

Game boards evolved in complexity and design, with early examples featuring various shapes before the quadrilateral grid became common for abstract games. They serve as the primary interaction zone for players and can range from simple to highly elaborate, sometimes incorporating three-dimensional or electronic components. Modern board games often illustrated modular or customizable boards, enhancing replay-ability and player engagement.

History

One of the five game boards for Royal Game of Ur found by Sir Leonard Woolley in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, now held in the British Museum, dated to c. 2500 BCE

The history of game boards is a topic closely related to

dice games, today often classified as board games), likely existed before the invention of board games featuring actual game boards.[6]

Painting in tomb of Egyptian queen Nefertari playing a board game (commonly identified as senet
) on a game board with game pieces, c. 1295–1255 BCE

The oldest known game boards were made from stone (game boards made from less durable materials might have existed as well but have not survived until the modern era). Understanding of ancient board games is difficult, as artifacts from such time are often incomplete (smaller accompanying pieces are rarely found), and lack accompanying rules; in many cases even the original name of the game has been lost to time.

BCE (Beidha) and ~5870 BCE (ʿAin Ghazal). They were made from durable materials like limestone, and are likely related to mancala-style games.[1][2]: 92 [8][9][10]

An illustrated game board for a 1815 game Panorama of Europe

Thierry Depaulis has however criticized description of these artifacts as game boards, arguing that they look unpractical for that purpose, no expected gaming pieces nor dice were found to accompany the boards, and the concept of mostly abstract board games was likely too complex for the people of that period. Instead, he suggests those devices were intended for fire making.[10]

Very few if any similar objects have been found in the archeological evidence from sites linked to the Neolithic and

strategy games.[6]

In China, game boards were not often illustrated until around the 19th century.[15]

Board games made in the early 1800s started to feature maps of real locations (ex. Walker's Tour of France from 1815).[5]: 207 

The 1963 Mouse Trap is recognized as one of the first mass-produced three-dimensional board games.[16][17]

geomorphic map which allowed players to reconfigure sections of the game board, an innovation that became reused on many later titles.[3]
: 23 

Characteristics

A classic chessboard

The game board provides a shared space for the game components and visually communicates some rules to the players.[5]: 2, 304  Most interactions between players in a board game take place on the game board, making it the most important zone of play.[5]: 2, 194  By drawing player attention to itself, the game board is an important part of the "magic circle" (suspension of reality) created by the game.[5]: 2, 194 

Game boards have varying level of complexity, abstraction and aesthetics. Some can be very simple (ex. traditional

points.[5]: 32 

A map-building game in progress (Carcassonne
South Seas)

Some game boards can be quickly improvised using pen and paper or drawn on the ground.

worker placement mechanic), resource and card spaces (for storing and collecting relevant components) and spawn places (for generating components).[5]: 206  Such spaces are tied to game rules and mechanics influencing where pieces can be placed or how they can move. Reaching certain parts of the game board or map can be related to winning the game; this is common in games featuring a grid.[2]: 93, 102–103 [5]: 204-206  Game boards that have grids are sometimes called maps, although there are many exceptions (e.g., chess or checkers).[2]: 95–96  Other common elements of game boards include tracks for moving pieces. A common type of track is a victory track for counting score that is often placed around the edge of the board.[5]: 204, 206  Some games may be built around game board–centric concepts such as route building or pattern recognition, or the game play can be even focused on adjusting the shape of the game board (ex. Carcassone, in which players build the game board by laying down map tiles[20]).[2]: 98–102, 125–125, 180 

Two stickers - an island hex and a cross marker - added permanently to the game board in a game of SeaFall
. Such additions are prevalent in legacy-style games.

Most games use a standardized and unchanging board, usually

go, and backgammon each have such a board), but some games use a modular board whose component tiles or cards can assume varying layouts from one session to another, or even during gameplay (ex. Betrayal at House on the Hill or Descent: Journeys in the Dark). Some games have no limits on board (map) building and expansion and may be realistically only limited by a playing surface or availability of game pieces, and each game play can result in a creation of a unique game board.[2]: 98–99 [5]: 2  In particular wargames such as Star Wars: X- Wing Miniatures Game or Warhammer 40,000 can be played on surfaces such as tables, maps or three-dimensional dioramas.[5]: 2 [21] Some innovative games have used storybook pages as gameplay maps (ex. Mice and Mystics) or pop-up book mechanic.[5]: 211, 311-312  Some games can feature map reduction (shrinkage) as game progresses, or deformation (mechanics where parts of game board may shift, rotate or otherwise move).[2]: 101–102  Some games feature boards that are double-sided and flappable.[5]: 42  Legacy games like SeaFall allow permanent customization of game boards through the use of stickers or other markers.[5]: 311 [22]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0334-4355. Archived
    from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-63586-342-0. Archived
    from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-6797-6. Archived
    from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  4. ISBN 978-1-000-29098-1. Archived
    from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-119-98160-2. Archived
    from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  6. ^ a b c Depaulis, Thierry (2021-04-13). "A Timeline of Mind Games, with Some Correlations". BOARD GAME STUDIES COLLOQUIUM- the Evolutions of Board Games, Apr 2021, Paris, France. Archived from the original on 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  7. ^ Stern, Ian (2019). "GAME BOARDS". Excavations at Maresha Subterranean Complex 169: Final Report. Seasons 2000-2016. Vol. XI. p. 127. Archived from the original on 2024-04-23. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  8. ^ "Mancala". Savannah African Art Museum. Archived from the original on 3 May 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  9. JSTOR 1357113. Archived
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  11. ISBN 978-1-78649-455-9. Archived
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  12. ^ Hanussek, Benjamin (2021-01-01). "Transformations into Obscurity: Revisiting the Mehen Board Game and its Unresolved Disappearance in the late 3rd Millennium BC". BGSC/The Evolutions of Board Games: Book of Abstracts. Archived from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  13. ^ "game-board". British Museum. Archived from the original on 2024-05-15. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  14. ISBN 978-0-262-54263-0. Archived
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  15. JSTOR 26358185. Archived
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  16. ^ "How Toys Changed After World War II". HISTORY. 2022-11-03. Archived from the original on 2024-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  17. ^ "Mouse Trap Game". Victoria and Albert Museum. 1963. Archived from the original on 2024-05-15. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  18. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived
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  19. ISBN 978-1-003-11030-9. Archived
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  20. ^ Nichols, Tyler (2013-05-21). "Carcassonne Review". Board Game Quest. Archived from the original on 2024-05-12. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  21. ^ Hall, Charlie (2017-08-22). "Star Wars: Legion stole the show at this year's Gen Con". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2024-05-15. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  22. ^ Un, Haoran (2016-10-31). "A Board Game Where Everything Is Permanent". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2023-04-07. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
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