Examining Popular 1980s Board Games

The 1980’s were a time of great innovation and creativity for board games. Iconic classics such as Clue and Monopoly remained as popular as ever. New comers such as Connect Four and Hungry Hungry Hippo exploded in popularity in the 1980s.

The 80s saw a rise in popularity of games lacking the traditional “board” we think of when it comes to board games. Plastic parts and pieces dominated the scene. While Hangman had humble beginnings with paper and pencil. It was upgraded to lettered tiles and a dial to progress the hangman‘s noose.

Other games that had been around a while also saw improvements. Battleship transitioned to a digital version. Even though Electronic Battleship was launched in 1977. It wasn’t until the 80’s that it became popular. I still prefer the version with plastic ships and all the red and white pegs that wind up everywhere.

No doubt video games rise in popularity impacted board games. Video games were competing with board games as a pastime in the 80’s. Games such as Pac-Man, River Raid, and Q Bert dominated the video game scene. Pac Man was so popular they made a Pac Man board game.

Still it wasn’t nearly as popular as the video game. Nor was it as popular as classics such as Monopoly, Clue, or Sorry.

These games have been around a long time: Monopoly (1904) Clue (1943), and Sorry (1930). The game of Life dates back to the late 1800’s. Card games had been the dominant form of gaming entertainment back then. It wasn’t until the 1930’s when Parker Brothers mass produced Monopoly did board games really take off.

The introduction of television in the 1950’s further increased board games popularity. By the 1980’s Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, and Life still topped the list of popular games.

Manufactured in 1974, Connect Four initially spread by word of mouth. Commercials led to it’s growth in the late 70’s. I remember it being one of the most popular games at school in the 1980’s.

Connect Four took checkers to a new level. More strategy was involved than checkers. Plus games didn’t drag out for a long time since the grid only held a limited amount of checkers.

Almost every house I knew had Monopoly, Clue, and Sorry. Connect Four was the most likely additional game found.

This game was created in 1978 but became popular in the 1980’s. Many kids have memories of getting this game on Christmas and having a blast the first time they played it.

Hungry Hungry Hippo was total chaos. Once the game started there was no letting up on slamming the lever until all the balls were gone. Whether they flew off the table or wound up in a hippo’s mouth.

Me and my brothers wore ourselves out playing it the first time. Our parents had to step in to put an end to our exhilaration. Somehow this game disappeared after a few weeks never to be seen again.

I understand it had something to do with the sheer amount of noise generated by this game. Who knew such a little amount of plastic could generate so much noise? No worries, plenty of my friends and extended family also had this game.

Another popular game from the 80s was Battleship. The classic game that initiated everyone to cheating. I don’t know of anyone who ever played Battleship that doesn’t have a story of someone cheating.

From moving ships to outright lying about a hit. Most people who have played this game experienced some form of subterfuge. Whether intentional or not.

Battleship certainly is a lot of fun when played with trustworthy people. Perhaps it was the ease with which one could cheat that spurred the invention of Electronic Battleship.

Electronic Battleship certainly eliminated any cheating or accidental misleading. Yet it wasn’t as fun as the board game. It lacked the excitement of calling a hit on your opponent, or the relief of confirming a miss on your ship.

In fact, it was hard to tell what was going on at all with the electronic version. You couldn’t tell if they were close to sinking one of your own ships let alone sinking one of theirs. Tracking any progress was difficult in Electronic Battleship.

Flaws and all, the classic Battleship remains a popular strategy game. While strategy games like Battleship, Risk, and Stratego were popular during the 80s. A new type of game was coming into the spotlight.

Launched in December of 1979, Trivia Pursuit popularized a different type of board game: one based on trivia. Quiz shows on radio or TV have always been popular so why not make a trivia based board game?

Trivia Pursuit challenged people’s knowledge about sports, science, geography, history, entertainment, and literature to name a few. Many of the questions tested obscure knowledge. Yet it seemed to me the sports questions were the worst.

They didn’t just ask questions about odd stats from favorite sports such as baseball, basketball or football. But included perplexing questions about bowling, equestrians, or darts.

Really, most questions from any category from the original edition were challenging. Of course, I played Trivia Pursuit so much with my wife we actually memorized a huge portion of the harder questions.

Trivia Pursuit also added several editions in the 80’s: All Star Sports, Baby Boomer, Young Players and Silver Screen. Each difficult in it’s own right.

The game is so old some of the answers are no longer correct. Records have been broken. Countries no longer exist. New discoveries have been made.

The game is a snapshot of it’s time. I’m glad to see it find popularity with newer generations. But I’ll always be a fan of the original.

Classic games like Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, and Life remained popular in the 1980’s. New additions such as Trivia Pursuit and Pictionary were also widely popular games in the 80’s.

The 1980’s were changing times for board games. Video games were revolutionizing how people spent their leisure time. Upgrades like Talking Clue and Electronic Battleship reflect the changing times.

While video games were stiff competition for board games in the 1980s. Broad games remained a popular way to pass time with friends and family.