My main reason for starting this blog was to create a record for myself of the traditional board games I have. And if others also happen to be interested to see these, and learn a bit of their history, that's an extra bonus.
But what is regarded as a 'traditional' board game? I think I will largely follow David Parlett in this.
In his view, a 'traditional' board game is one which is centuries or millennia old, has no specific named inventor, and has an origin more or less hidden in the mists of time. 'Folk game' would be another term for it.
Another category of board games that Parlett covers is 'proprietary' games. Much more recent, invented by a named person or a company, name and game under copyright, and commercially produced. Probably the majority of board games on sale right now fall into this category.
And then there is the category 'classic' board game. What is 'classic' here? I guess this category sort of straddles both 'traditional' and 'proprietary' board games. Chess can be considered a 'classic' board game as well as, say, Monopoly. But Chess isn't under any copyright (anyone can market a chess game and call it Chess), whereas Monopoly is (so marketing a game called Monopoly, without permission, breaches copyright). The Royal Game of Goose is probably one of the first board games which was commercially produced, but is long out of copyright and in the public domain. And a more recent game like Ludo, a 'proprietary' game based on a 'traditional' game, Pachisi, can also be considered 'classic'.
So 'classic' is a rather nebulous term here; when does a 'proprietary' board game become 'classic'? There is no clear-cut answer, but having been around for quite a while is certainly a key part of it.
Why am I going on about these different categories? Basically, to clear my head for expanding my collection to include what I regard as 'classic' board games which don't already fall under 'traditional' (still with me?).
So my (admittedly, vague and flexible) definition of 'classic' board games is 'proprietary' games that have shown to have 'staying power'. In other words, that have been around for decades if not longer, and are still being commercially produced and played today. Mainly, these will be board games I used to play in my youth (one of these, Mens Erger Je Niet!, is already part of the collection). I intend to explore their 'ludemes' (key play characteristics) and links to 'traditional' board games, and see where they fit in the 'traditional' categories (race, hunt, positional, war, etc).
Watch this space if you're interested!
