America's Most Popular Board Games

Life is too short to be serious all the time. It's no surprise, then, that people have realized this since 9/11 and have picked up on board games as a favorite pastime yet again. Titles like Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble, Battleship, Stratego, Outburst, That's Life, Apples to Apples and Password, and games such as backgammon, checkers and chess are some of the hottest sellers in America. Yet, while the sleeping giants develop re-makes of their classic games, other manufacturers are busy coming up with new titles like Cranium, Wings of War, Farkle, World of Warcraft and Zombies!

The Scrabble board game is one of the most popular educational games of all time. Initially, word-smiths would choose seven random letters from a pile and see if they could create words. The players could then build off one another's words and would vie for the most points, which were based on numbers assigned to each letter, as well as special spots on the board that awarded double or triple points. Over the years, new versions of Scrabble came out to entice buyers. For instance, there are Scrabble board games with side games like the Presidential Edition, where you must try to "win states," earn points for popular votes and earn the commander in chief job. There's also a Star Trek Scrabble edition, where players can consult Klingnon dictionaries and can earn "tribble" points. There are a number of special editions for children, like Scrabble Me, Scrabble Junior, Scrabble Junior 2009, Dora Scrabble Junior and Scrabble Apple. A Milton Bradley game called "Upwords" has gained tremendous popularity as a similar concept to Scrabble, except that players earn points by stacking letters on top of one another and making more than one word change at a time. Following the absorption of the Milton Bradley Company, Hasbro has re-christened the game "Scrabble Upwords."

When discussing board games, everyone knows Monopoly. The Monopoly board game is the top-selling board game of all-time, selling over 200 million copies as of 2004. Players amass wealth by buying land around the Monopoly board and collecting taxes from other players who land on their properties. The game keeps going and going until all the players have gone bankrupt, except for the winner of course. There is literally a Monopoly for everyone! Some versions are just sensible updates, like the "Here and Now" version, where instead of buying railroads, you buy famous American buildings and landmarks; or there is also the "City Game," where players build cityscapes in the center of the board, instead of following the outer square; or the "Here & Now World" edition for those who have plans of world domination. You can also buy games themed after the Atlanta Braves, bass fishing, The Simpsons, cats, dogs, The Beatles, A Christmas Story, the US Coast Guard, Twilight, GI Joe, James Bond, Harley Davidson, I Love Lucy, Las Vegas, M&Ms, Disney, NHL, Nightmare Before Christmas, Seinfeld, Pirates of the Caribbean and much more.

The checkers board game is one of those enduring board games that apparently has changed very little over the years. Sure, there's Disney Villain checkers, Lego checkers, Chinese checkers, family checkers, A Christmas Story checkers and magnetic checkers, but for the most part, the basic red and black chip boardgame has survived for decades. Historians say the game itself may date as far back as 3,000 BC, where similar game pieces were found in Iraq. In 1600 BC, the Egyptians played a game called "Alquerque," which is very similar to checkers. The Chinese were well known for their version of checkers around 350 BC. The French are said to have created the modern checker board with 25 squares and 12 chips in 1100 AD. Antonio Torquemada wrote about the official rules of checkers in 1547 and William Payne gave a more detailed account again in 1756. It seems that playing games as a way to relieve stress and enjoy the company of others has been going on for hundreds of centuries and will continue on for many more.

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