Classic board games and card nights are back in vogue

While classic games such as Scrabble, Cluedo and Monopoly are still popular, more than 3000 new games hit the shelves each year, widening the choices for game enthusiasts.

Popular games vary drastically and include strategy-based group games like Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan, role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, war games like Nexus Ops and casual party or drinking games such as Cards of Humanity. 

Gamesworld Plus owner Shirley Clifford, of Launceston, said the swing towards tabletop popularity started about five years ago.

"Parents want to get their kids away from electronic games and instead have some more family time.  Friday and Saturday nights are turning into family games nights," Ms Clifford said.

"Younger people in the 17-to-35 year age group are also now having games nights at home rather than going out to the pub," she said.

"It's about bringing families and friends back together, having conversations and communicating with others rather than sitting individually in front of devices."

Kickstarter is a creative crowdfunding platform that sees many game developers pitch their ideas to would-be backers, with the aim of securing enough cash to bring their games to fruition. 

In 2015 the creators of the card game Exploding Kittens raised $10,000 in seven minutes, eventually raising more than $8 million in less than a month, testament to the rising popularity of games.

Mind Games owner Matt Costello, of Burnie, said pop culture and television shows like Stranger Things had also broadened game popularity, as had improved marketing to a wider audience.

He said game culture had always existed within traditional nerd or geek group stereotypes, but now people outside those groups were starting to take notice. 

He compared the classic Western-style US board games, such as Monopoly and Cluedo, against strategy games originating from Europe.

"Monopoly is adversarial, someone in the game often has a big pile of money while others are broke, the buying and trading is cutthroat and I'm sure we've all seen brother and sisters in tears," he said.

"In the European games, like Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne, there is a slightly different take, where they are less obviously a competition and more of a shared activity, with social game play."

Mr Costello said role playing games, which were hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s, were also experiencing a resurgence. 

"You take on the role of a character in a fantasy style game and play out what they say and do by using dice," he said.

"There are no winners; you are playing to create a shared story, a political or fantasy story, and can play stories that last for years."

For instance Mr Costello has been playing such a game for 18 months with the same characters, where once a week a group of players sit for up to five hours continuing to play their shared story. 

The Launceston Gaming Club also meets weekly, where players aged in their 20s up to their 60s play games of all varieties, depending on who brings what games on the night. 

Its president Nick Frech said the group was seeing a lot of people who had rarely played such games before. 

"It used to be that there were tabletop war games like Warhammer 40,000,00, board games, role play games, and card games with very little overlap. Over the years the lines have blurred somewhat, with some war games using cards instead of and as well as dice, board games that use models, and card games which use dice," he said.

"I've always enjoyed board games and the themes and styles have become a lot more varied in the last 10 to 15 years."

He said tabletop gamers were enjoying the current trend. 

"Many shops are getting this varied range of games now, so it is always very exciting see something new come out."