Analog media is making a comeback because digital spaces are so overcommercialized and isolating. Millennials & Gen-Z want more than what we've been force fed online.
Was going to say this. The “Renaissance” has been happening for a while now, lol. Also the vids they did show looked fake (AI?). Well, at least the professor has some “modern” games in the background….
I also own my board games. I buy them once and I'm done. No micro transactions, no licenses, and far less toxicity. I've never seen an expansion for a board game that was vital. I think consoles messed up when they stopped doing couch co-op.
If you don't see certain expansions for board games as essential your library isn't very developed. Many people see Rise of the Empire for Rebellion as essential. Same with Prophecy of Kings for TI4. Or on the more casual side, basically any expansion for Carcassonne, Everdell, or Dune Imperium greatly expands the gameplay scopes, let alone all the bling that you can get with deluxe editions on the games.
But these expansions aren't essential to the point where you can't play the game without them. If you never expanded any of those games, you could still play them. @@RichardArpin
@@celieboo To further develop the idea that games can be played after release without expansions, some games really do need their expansions because the game decision space is broken without it. 7 Wonders Duel should almost never be played base game only because of how it can railroad players into losses. The military tracker was always going to be tailored for an expansion, but when released they didn't know how the game would need to be fixed. At 400 or so play tests some things, like being railroaded into a loss by nothing breaking tempo, doesn't seem that prevalent. But when you've got a community playing it tens of thousands of times, cracks in game design can show up. Hence, Pantheon was specifically developed so that players could spend coins to break tempo and not have to draw a card from the structure. While modern board games might be elegant designs by necessity, that also means some games come out broken without the the mechanisms to actually provide an enjoyable and fair experience. Base game 7WD feels unfair at times to one or the other player and hence that's why the expansion addressed it. Similarly, Dune:Imperium Uprising fixes Heighliner and how in base game it's possible to get into a cycle of winning every battle due to Heighliner being the best spot to get lots of troops AND lots of water. Both of these games are games that I loved in base game form, but would never go back to having added the expansions.
I'm gen X so I was raised on boardgames AND video games and I love them both. They are not interchangeable, they each have their own delightful benefits and I will never give up either. Have my crew coming over tonight for our weekly game night dinner. We usually play a few rounds of board games first then hop to the video games, taking turns between the PlayStation and making dinner. There's only four of us so it's a great system and, as someone who lives alone off-grid in the jungle, these weekly game nights keep me socialized just enough to keep me sane and very grateful for my 3 longtime friends. 🤙
I kinda agree and not as well. A lot of the old boardgames are well boring for me, lacks theme , not so aesthetic and mostly about scores. But yeah its nice they are what made new games great
I’m 32 and I asked for a bunch of board games for Christmas! My friends and I have been loving playing them - probably in part because it keeps us off our phones. Def seems like a newer trend/uptick I’m seeing in people my age getting back into games!
Board games changed my life. I didn't have regular social experiences with real people outside of my family until I made a friend who introduced me to board games. Now I prefer board games to video games because it turns out I actually really like being around real people when I don't have to figure out how to drive a conversation.
There are lots of games, that have a solitaire element or have been created to be played solitaire. These can be played if you have no inclination or the ability to play with a group, but they can be lots of fun, and it still beats staring at a screen.
Excellent dive into this growing cultural zeitgeist. However, I would lay the blame at more than the pandemic and a desire for analog interaction. The boardgame renaissance began in 1993-1995 (with Catan & Magic the Gathering) and it was that generation that helped spark a love of boardgaming in the newer generation. This I did with my own kids, and have seen it replicated among other families I know.
Catan was a catalyst, same goes with carcossonne, and ticket to ride. I would not call this the rennaisance of board gaming. There's still modern games today that have the industry rethinking everdell, and azul off the top of my head.
Crazy to hear this after being big into board games since high school. There's several factors here - you buy the board game once, everything you need is included in the box, rules, board, pieces, cards, etc. and it's yours forever. When you play board games not only are you getting entertainment, you are socializing. You get to use a part of your brain that isn't used doomscrolling or playing video games or watching TV.
I got into a TCG and later got into Deck building board games. It's fun going to meet ups and tournaments to meet new people and catch up with friends.
It’s because every game is a subscription these days. A video game that isn’t is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, nostalgic for me. Jack Box Games are great games. But just a game of UNO or Taboo brings a kind of fun you can’t get with a video game.
I used to call them bored games to myself.. but with everyone looking at their phones all the time at work or at dinner or watching tv... couch co-op video games and board games have become some of my favorite ways to spend time with ppl
2:40 "thousands of new games get released every year" Yeah that is a turn off for me. I used to go to board game groups and every weekend we had to learn a new game someone wanted to try. It is exhausting. Just pick some top games, like a top twenty, learn those and just show up and play. Not everybody is into sitting and spending an hour learning the rules for a new game, especially when a lot of new games are just rehashes of other games.
Understandable. I like learning new games but I think the average person rather just jump into something they know rather than starting from scratch each time. I think that's a really difficult inclination to not always bring out something new when you have a large collection, but really should be a top consideration when playing with most people.
Yeah you're right. Music? Thousands of albums, songs, new artists every year. I'm out. Sports? Hundreds of games every week, new players, different rules. See ya later. Books? Thousands of new novels, series, authors, collectors editions. Can't keep up.
@@novon246 OP was just encouraging people to focus on what they like, rather than being consumed with “what’s new”. A dedicated selection of games can be a great thing, and sadly, nobody ever advises that.
I was getting worried when the only games they were showing were chess, monopoly and what might have been sorry? lol Thank god for the professor telling them about the vast world of games.
woah what the hell? I thought this was just me. I just woke up one day and was like "hey, I think board games are kinda neat". I had no idea this was like a collective thing that was happening.
Finally. I never understood how people could sit for hours alone staring at video games, over being with friends having fun on board games. Weird world now.
There are great boardgames like root and arcs… “There are also great card games, I’m thinking about Taco cat goat cheese pizza…” These two are not talking about the same universe
Axis and Allies needs to be played with D10 dice. Infantry could attack at 2 and defend at 3. Then two attacking infantry would have an advantage against one defending infantry. With D6 dice, it’s not a good idea for two infantry to attack one without support from a fighter or bomber. This makes the game too defensive and it can take forever because everyone just buys more and more infantry until you run out of chips.
Board games don't preach at you, push a message or have a DEI department watering down and ruining the game like most digital media does these days. Next question.
Many games are being developed towards DEI topics. Adjacent games such as Votes for Women, or even previously Freedom: The Underground Railroad. But many players of area control games are going to pick up/buy a COIN/WotR/TI4 before buying Votes for Women, hence the market is small for DEI games, and hence fewer are developed. And crucially these games are on topics that we generally see as acceptable; slavery or misogyny are bad, while much of the modern DEI initiative is based around entitlement based around self prescribed identifiers.
There's still a massive board game industry and a lot of board game local groups all over the world. Most people I know that play TCGs also enjoy board games and D&D. There's a lot of crossover there.
There are great boardgames like root and arcs… “There are also great card games, I’m thinking about Taco cat goat cheese pizza…” These two are not talking about the same universe
Once you purchase a board game, it is yours. You own it forever. No subscription needed.
wait till you start looking for the kickstarter exclusive expansions!
And once you have 100+ of them, you will get storage space problems.
But yeah, I agree. Subscriptions and buying only licenses (like on Steam) sucks.
Don't give them any ideas!
Perhaps more so: Boardgames offer easy regulated social contact. In times of social media overdose this is part of the medicine.
Analog media is making a comeback because digital spaces are so overcommercialized and isolating. Millennials & Gen-Z want more than what we've been force fed online.
They did not mention the revolution in design, table presence, artwork, themes, and mechanics of modern board games.
This!!!
Yes. But since their b-roll consisted mostly of chess and Parcheesi, I don't think CBS "gets" it.
@@goldengriffon indeed, I was gonna mention all the games they showed are not considered "real games" by community standards these days.
Was going to say this. The “Renaissance” has been happening for a while now, lol. Also the vids they did show looked fake (AI?). Well, at least the professor has some “modern” games in the background….
The profesor DID mention Wingspan, Gloomhaven, Terraforming Mars, Root, Arcs, Ticket to ride, Carcassonne, Catan. All them Great modern GAMES
People are discovering that board games are more than just rolling dice and moving around a board.
I also own my board games. I buy them once and I'm done. No micro transactions, no licenses, and far less toxicity. I've never seen an expansion for a board game that was vital. I think consoles messed up when they stopped doing couch co-op.
If you don't see certain expansions for board games as essential your library isn't very developed.
Many people see Rise of the Empire for Rebellion as essential. Same with Prophecy of Kings for TI4. Or on the more casual side, basically any expansion for Carcassonne, Everdell, or Dune Imperium greatly expands the gameplay scopes, let alone all the bling that you can get with deluxe editions on the games.
But these expansions aren't essential to the point where you can't play the game without them.
If you never expanded any of those games, you could still play them. @@RichardArpin
@@celieboo To further develop the idea that games can be played after release without expansions, some games really do need their expansions because the game decision space is broken without it.
7 Wonders Duel should almost never be played base game only because of how it can railroad players into losses. The military tracker was always going to be tailored for an expansion, but when released they didn't know how the game would need to be fixed.
At 400 or so play tests some things, like being railroaded into a loss by nothing breaking tempo, doesn't seem that prevalent. But when you've got a community playing it tens of thousands of times, cracks in game design can show up.
Hence, Pantheon was specifically developed so that players could spend coins to break tempo and not have to draw a card from the structure.
While modern board games might be elegant designs by necessity, that also means some games come out broken without the the mechanisms to actually provide an enjoyable and fair experience. Base game 7WD feels unfair at times to one or the other player and hence that's why the expansion addressed it.
Similarly, Dune:Imperium Uprising fixes Heighliner and how in base game it's possible to get into a cycle of winning every battle due to Heighliner being the best spot to get lots of troops AND lots of water.
Both of these games are games that I loved in base game form, but would never go back to having added the expansions.
@@RichardArpin if a game NEEDS expansions it's not a very good game. Those you mentioned stand up well on their own without them.
@@ih8thinkingofnames1 Then we disagree. While D:I stands up decent in base form, 7WD is nearly unplayable after playing with Pantheon.
I'm gen X so I was raised on boardgames AND video games and I love them both. They are not interchangeable, they each have their own delightful benefits and I will never give up either. Have my crew coming over tonight for our weekly game night dinner. We usually play a few rounds of board games first then hop to the video games, taking turns between the PlayStation and making dinner. There's only four of us so it's a great system and, as someone who lives alone off-grid in the jungle, these weekly game nights keep me socialized just enough to keep me sane and very grateful for my 3 longtime friends. 🤙
Do they not realize that board games are more than chess and board games have been having a golden age for 20 years now
It's 10-15 years, but I agree.
I kinda agree and not as well.
A lot of the old boardgames are well boring for me, lacks theme , not so aesthetic and mostly about scores.
But yeah its nice they are what made new games great
I’m 32 and I asked for a bunch of board games for Christmas! My friends and I have been loving playing them - probably in part because it keeps us off our phones. Def seems like a newer trend/uptick I’m seeing in people my age getting back into games!
I have had a regular board game group that meets monthly for 18 years. It’s a great way to spend time together in person and to have some fun.
When he mentioned Root, I never felt such happiness and pride. My favorite cute, but complicated war game is getting some recognition
Casuals discovering board games in 2025 is like a group of people finding a hidden gem after it being constantly polished for a decade by the nerds.
The casuals were playing the games int eh 80s and now their kids are discovering them.
Board games changed my life. I didn't have regular social experiences with real people outside of my family until I made a friend who introduced me to board games. Now I prefer board games to video games because it turns out I actually really like being around real people when I don't have to figure out how to drive a conversation.
There are lots of games, that have a solitaire element or have been created to be played solitaire. These can be played if you have no inclination or the ability to play with a group, but they can be lots of fun, and it still beats staring at a screen.
The modern era of board games started long before the pandemic.
Technically the explosion of the board game market started around 2013. And it's not really a rennaissance but rather the rise of modern board gaming.
Board games have been blowing up since Catan, y'all just haven't been paying attention
everyone agreed, Risk is miles better than Catan
What brings people together??
1. Food
2. Music
3. Religion
4. Games
This is human history. It happens over and over again.
Everything is in cycles.
DONT CALL IT A COMEBACK .. I BEEN HERE FOR YEARS..
Excellent dive into this growing cultural zeitgeist. However, I would lay the blame at more than the pandemic and a desire for analog interaction. The boardgame renaissance began in 1993-1995 (with Catan & Magic the Gathering) and it was that generation that helped spark a love of boardgaming in the newer generation. This I did with my own kids, and have seen it replicated among other families I know.
Catan was a catalyst, same goes with carcossonne, and ticket to ride. I would not call this the rennaisance of board gaming. There's still modern games today that have the industry rethinking everdell, and azul off the top of my head.
Nothing nostalgic about board games, they're just timeless.
Shoutout to Kam Sandwich for getting me interested in obscure, weird yahtzee variants. :)
They got the right man for this interview. Cole Wehrle fan for sure (Root and Arcs are fantastic)!
Crazy to hear this after being big into board games since high school.
There's several factors here - you buy the board game once, everything you need is included in the box, rules, board, pieces, cards, etc. and it's yours forever. When you play board games not only are you getting entertainment, you are socializing. You get to use a part of your brain that isn't used doomscrolling or playing video games or watching TV.
Board games based off video games is what surprised me the most
I got into a TCG and later got into Deck building board games. It's fun going to meet ups and tournaments to meet new people and catch up with friends.
Excellent. All those board games mentioned are amazing
It’s because every game is a subscription these days.
A video game that isn’t is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, nostalgic for me.
Jack Box Games are great games.
But just a game of UNO or Taboo brings a kind of fun you can’t get with a video game.
Board games getting news coverage is like your phone on max brightness when you wake up in a dark room.
I used to call them bored games to myself.. but with everyone looking at their phones all the time at work or at dinner or watching tv... couch co-op video games and board games have become some of my favorite ways to spend time with ppl
Catan and Ticket to Ride have been around for decades. Should we really be calling them "new"?
He did say those games were from the last 20 to 30 years lol
We never got #3.
Was scrolling through the comments to find this lol
Guess he needs an expansion.
I'm an author, I'm currently making a boardgame based on my book: Treasure of the Mayan King. Sometime in 2026 it should see the light of day.
We already bought Karuba the card game
We love it! Mahjong and Canasta are wonderful games that are making a comeback among players of all ages!
Oh this is so fun to see! 🎉🎉🎉
Its the Interaction between people, its a way to slow down and relax thats not highly stimulating, the thematic aspect is an escape, and its fun!
Facebook groups are a good way to find people who like the same games, and to find local meet ups.
Great to see some mainstream coverage of our excellent hobby!
ROOT AND ARCS MENTIONED 🤩🤩
2:40 "thousands of new games get released every year" Yeah that is a turn off for me. I used to go to board game groups and every weekend we had to learn a new game someone wanted to try. It is exhausting. Just pick some top games, like a top twenty, learn those and just show up and play. Not everybody is into sitting and spending an hour learning the rules for a new game, especially when a lot of new games are just rehashes of other games.
Understandable. I like learning new games but I think the average person rather just jump into something they know rather than starting from scratch each time. I think that's a really difficult inclination to not always bring out something new when you have a large collection, but really should be a top consideration when playing with most people.
Yeah you're right. Music? Thousands of albums, songs, new artists every year. I'm out. Sports? Hundreds of games every week, new players, different rules. See ya later. Books? Thousands of new novels, series, authors, collectors editions. Can't keep up.
@@novon246
OP was just encouraging people to focus on what they like, rather than being consumed with “what’s new”. A dedicated selection of games can be a great thing, and sadly, nobody ever advises that.
I was getting worried when the only games they were showing were chess, monopoly and what might have been sorry? lol Thank god for the professor telling them about the vast world of games.
woah what the hell? I thought this was just me. I just woke up one day and was like "hey, I think board games are kinda neat".
I had no idea this was like a collective thing that was happening.
You're an Influencer!
[So ironic, given the topic at hand. 😂]
Go is the game for me!
Boardgames offer easy regulated social contact. In times of social media overdose this is part of the medicine.
Nobody mentions dungeons and dragons
They do a report on the resurgence of board games and almost only show games that have existed since the 1930s 🤦♂️
Finally. I never understood how people could sit for hours alone staring at video games, over being with friends having fun on board games. Weird world now.
They aren’t saying video games are the problem…social media is.
You can play video games with friends also….
He should have mentioned Board
GameGeek and Board Game Arena…
There are great boardgames like root and arcs…
“There are also great card games, I’m thinking about Taco cat goat cheese pizza…”
These two are not talking about the same universe
Cool
Dice rolling is more trustworthy
Than CBS? De acuerdo.
I love playing Werewords with friends.
#NerdFacts
I agree that Digital Exhaustion and Social Media are a deciding factor in unplugging and be offline.
Tactile things are better than screens, that’s why.
Doesn’t take a genius.
Garbage stock footage
🙄
No micro transactions required
0:01 Oh the Royal Game of Ur is going up! Wait why are they talking about chess
Long live Axis and allies
Heck ya. That was my gate way game into the hobby along with hero’s quest.
Axis and Allies needs to be played with D10 dice. Infantry could attack at 2 and defend at 3. Then two attacking infantry would have an advantage against one defending infantry. With D6 dice, it’s not a good idea for two infantry to attack one without support from a fighter or bomber. This makes the game too defensive and it can take forever because everyone just buys more and more infantry until you run out of chips.
@ infantry attacks at two with artillery. 🤷♂️
Balatro is good card game 👽
So CBS News read the NY Times
Digital exhaustion, perferctly said.
I love the AI clips of people Boardgaming.
Low minimum wage.
socialization. D&D.
Slow news day?
Renaissance. Yall believe me now🙄 🤣😭
People are broke
Some board are crazy expensive now I’m afraid.
It's simple, videogames have gotten boring.
No they haven't. I've played plenty that are still fun.
Renaissance dont we have another Renaissance around here some where that nobody voted for 😏
Board games don't preach at you, push a message or have a DEI department watering down and ruining the game like most digital media does these days. Next question.
Many games are being developed towards DEI topics. Adjacent games such as Votes for Women, or even previously Freedom: The Underground Railroad.
But many players of area control games are going to pick up/buy a COIN/WotR/TI4 before buying Votes for Women, hence the market is small for DEI games, and hence fewer are developed.
And crucially these games are on topics that we generally see as acceptable; slavery or misogyny are bad, while much of the modern DEI initiative is based around entitlement based around self prescribed identifiers.
🙄
Let's be honest Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic and Pokemon TCG has taken over. Board games are a thing of the past.
Nope. Board games are a huge multi million dollar industry. Magic is of course bigger though. You also didn’t mention Lorcana which is massive.
There's still a massive board game industry and a lot of board game local groups all over the world. Most people I know that play TCGs also enjoy board games and D&D. There's a lot of crossover there.
My little 17 year old niece plays Chess better than me & almost my Dad. 😂 🙌🏿🫶🏿🤙🏿✊🏿Go get em, kiddos!!
There are great boardgames like root and arcs…
“There are also great card games, I’m thinking about Taco cat goat cheese pizza…”
These two are not talking about the same universe