The Rise of the Board Game Culture

Not only can board games can save you money, but they can also help ensure you can have a great time with family and friends. Don’t worry, our team of certified financial planners and wealth management team here at Morris Financial Concepts in Charleston, SC will walk you through how. Queue the “Golden Age of Boardgames”, which we are currently experiencing. If you aren’t convinced, take a look at the Board Game Geek website which shows approximately 100,000 different board games that are currently in print. Try to see how many you can name before you look! Thanks to the rise of kickstarter programs, which serve as a funding platform for creative projects from films, music, and art to design, games, and technology, board games continue to be regularly released. In fact, one recently kickstarted board game is currently pledged for almost 13 million dollars!

The Golden Age has seen a huge transformation in board games, going way beyond the classic “Monopoly”. A random, time-consuming game, Monopoly can be very divisive and lead to intense competition among family and friends. Don’t get me wrong – if you adopt a good strategy, you can usually decimate your opponents in Monopoly, despite the randomness. But, it could be time to ditch Monopoly and try something new. “Pandemic” is a cooperative game where all the players are trying to solve several global pandemic crises at once.

Rather than competition amongst your company, it’s you and your friends versus the game. While there’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, working together can sometimes be more fun! However, if you prefer a more competitive style game, check out “Settlers of Catan”. This game takes Monopoly to the next level by giving you multiple goods to trade in a simulated economy. With so many new options, I encourage you to expand your mind beyond the simple games of your childhood. Although everyone appreciates nostalgically revisiting their childhood every now and again, a much broader selection of games is out there waiting for you to discover them.

Morris Financial Concepts’ View on The Monetary Benefits of Board Games

I like to think of investing in board games in terms of a rate of change, or dollars spent per hour of entertainment. Let’s break it down. If you live in a reasonably priced area, going to the movies probably costs you $20 with popcorn and condiments included, maybe more, for 2-3 hours of entertainment. Your friends will likely want to join you, costing them about $20 per person, too. In total, it costs you and your group of pals $80 for 8 hours of entertainment, which is $10 per hour broken down.

Now, let’s assume you buy a copy of “Pandemic” for about $35. A game of Pandemic takes about 2 hours to get through with four players. So, your $35 investment just provided 8 hours of entertainment. In other words, you paid ~$4 / hour for you and all of your friends. And that’s if you only play the board game once! Not to mention, you will get to interact and engage with your friends, rather than quietly watching a screen for several hours.

Board Games as an Asset

Have you ever collected something, maybe stamps, postcards, or special coins? Have you ever considered collecting board games? The board game market is currently thriving and has only gotten stronger since the turn of the century. With that being said, the board games you purchase now can be liquidated for cash at a later date with easy to use platforms like E-bay. I know people that have collected hundreds of board games that have actually provided monetary value, increasing and decreasing with the laws of supply and demand. Spending money on things like those new shoes you were eyeing at the store or the movie added to your Amazon cart doesn’t provide durable value. Many choose to more wisely spend their money on things that provide long-lasting benefits such as art, fine wine, or real estate. You can choose to stay even more ahead of the game (no pun intended) by investing in board games that provide long-term value and fun for the whole family in the meantime!

What Boardgames Should I Try?

After learning more about the board game culture and all of the benefits these games offer, I hope you feel encouraged to take up a new hobby today. Here are a few of my favorite “gateway” games that open the doors to a thrilling, new world.

Pandemic – How fitting is it to try to stop a pandemic during an ACTUAL global pandemic? Find out by playing this board game based on cooperation and collaboration. Either you all win, or no one does.

Settlers of Catan – This is a game about economics, trading, expansion of territory, and luck. It was a pioneer board game that helped lead the way into this new Golden Age. In this game, you must build settlements, upgrade them to cities, hire an army, and construct roads to defeat your opponents.

Betrayal at the House on the Hill – This is a semi-cooperative board game. You are all explorers in a haunted house, and one of you will become a traitor, but no one, not even the traitor, knows who it is yet. 50 different stories can emerge from this game, and you explore a new haunted house every time.

Dominion – During this game, you build and enhance a deck of cards that represents your “kingdom.” This isn’t a traditional deck of cards and is specialized just for this game. The game also has many “expansions”, which add more cards to the ones you can choose to enhance your deck. The cards you play can also affect how other people will be able to build their kingdom cards.

7 Wonders – Up to seven people can play this highly strategic game, and it still only takes about an hour and a half to play! You select one of the Seven Wonders of the World to be your civilization. You can grow your civilization and attempt to build your Wonder through a strategic card selection process called “Drafting.” It is a beautiful game, and super easy to play.

Ticket to Ride – This is a fantastic board game for the whole family, especially if you like trains. In it, you are a railroad baron trying to dominate the railroad industry by creating the most routes between the most locations in the good ole’ USA.

Whether you’re interested in how to best invest in assets that will provide long-term value or just learn how you can enjoy greater financial freedom, our Charleston financial planners are here to help. Our financial planners at Morris Financial Concepts work to enable you and your loved ones to live abundantly with responsible financial planning. Contact one of our certified financial planners at Morris Financial Concepts today to begin your journey to financial freedom.

The opinions expressed herein are those of Morris Financial Concepts, Inc. (“MFC”) and are subject to change without notice. This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. MFC is an independent investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about MFC including our investment strategies, fees and objectives can be found in our ADV Part 2, which is available upon request. MFC-20-18