Tabletop Games
Let the Games Begin!

More board and card games are sold in Germany than in any other country. They guarantee fun, variety – and sometimes even divorce: an article about good moods and bad losers.

Von Sarah Klein

“Anyone fancy a game?” This question can be the prelude to a wonderful games evening – or alternatively it could trigger a full-on family row in which the game ends up lying in a corner and at least one family member storms out of the room. We take a look at the most iconic, dramatic and popular games.

Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht

Can the red player manage to kick the yellow one off the spot? If the three on the die was a red throw, yellow’s probably in a bad mood now. | Photo (Detail): © Adobe/la_cucaracha The classic: your token’s right in front of the home base, you just need one throw of the die to get home, or even win the game. But then along comes your opponent, knocks you off the spot and just like that sends you back to the start. It’s enough to send you nuts! For a long time it was assumed that the origins of our modern “Mensch ärgere dich nicht” (Man, Don’t Get Angry) lie in 6th century India, more precisely in a game called “Pachisi”. Until they managed to decipher some Babylonian clay tablets that were much older – and lo and behold, there were the instructions for a similarly-structured game. Archaeologists had already dug up the 5,000-year-old game boards that went with them in the 1920s in Iraq and at other excavation sites. Admittedly no one was able to make sense of the gameplay until these rules finally turned up. In fact, the “Royal Game of Ur” is played once more today. But the German variant dates back to Josef Friedrich Schmidt (none other than the founder of Schmidt Spiele, one of Germany’s best-known games publishers), who developed it in 1907 for his children.

For people wanting (not) to get angry at a professional level, there are opportunities to let off steam at “Mensch ärgere dich nicht” world championships, which have been held since 2007. It’s not yet known how the games evenings of yore ended, but in modern-day Germany a group of friends made it into the papers in 2019: they got into such an argument over a (somewhat boozy) games session that things got physical and objects started flying. The police were needed to calm the group down: “Man, Please Don’t Get Angry!”

The Old Favourites: Backgammon, Chess, Draughts

The “Game of Kings”, chess, has enjoyed another veritable boom recently thanks to Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit”. | Photo (detail): © Adobe Let’s stick with the classic games collection: in addition to “Mensch ärgere dich nicht”, boards for chess, draughts and backgammon are a must. All three games are old. Ancient. The oldest version of a backgammon game to have been found (so far) dates to 3000 BC, and the Babylonians called it “Vibhitaka”. But even the ancient Egyptians and Greeks were familiar with the game: the chronicles of the ancient poet Homer indicate that soldiers used them to pass the time during the siege of Troy. Roman emperors Caesar and Augustus partook in board games, as did Napoleon Bonaparte and Martin Luther. The “Game of Kings”, chess, by contrast is still really recent – it is thought to have originated sometime between the 3rd and 6th century, probably in China or Persia. The fascination continues to this day, with the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit most recently causing another full-scale chess boom. Draughts is even “younger”: it has only been played since the 12th century.

Monopoly

Unfortunately there are no official statistics on how many friendships have been wrecked over Monopoly, but the game has conflict potential for sure. | Photo (detail): © Adobe/U. J. Alexander Now let’s look at the absolute classic: Monopoly – the game that unites families and puts friendships to the test! A journey through the world of property trading, where even the gentlest players turn into unscrupulous tycoons. Money is won and lost, houses are built and destroyed, and you periodically land up in jail too. Monopoly, the game from which we learn that riches and bankruptcy are often separated only by a roll of the die. Contrary to the popular rumour, it wasn’t American games publisher Charles Darrow who invented modern Monopoly in a fit of boredom. No – he pinched the idea from Elizabeth Magie, who developed “The Landlord’s Game” in 1904 with the aim of conveying a message: the game was supposed to illustrate that poverty is caused by the excessive wealth of a few monopolists.

UNO and Mau-Mau

The world unites in the game of UNO: variants of the popular card game exist almost everywhere. | Photo (detail): © Adobe/Acento Creativo Whether you’re playing Mau-Mau or UNO – who hasn’t experienced the frustration of having to miss another turn or pick up more cards when they were on the cusp of winning? Both of these card-shedding games have been delighting (or annoying) us for decades, whereby the origins of Mau-Mau are significantly older. It is thought to have emerged in the 1930s, while the UNO success story didn’t begin until the 1970s. Being easy to transport, these card games are especially popular on long train trips or on holiday. Variants of Mau-Mau or UNO are played basically everywhere in the world.

Trivial Pursuit

Oh please, not another sports question! Trivial Pursuit calls for knowledge from all areas of life. | Photo (detail): © Adobe I know something you don’t! From general knowledge to nerdy facts – Trivial Pursuit has brought many a clever-clogs down to earth with a bump. Whilst it’s perfectly possible to stand out in your areas of interest, if you want to win the game you have to collect scoring wedges from six different categories. Developed in 1981, there are now countless special editions – including Harry Potter, Star Wars and Disney-themed games. And now let’s test your knowledge on the world’s top-selling game: what did they originally plan to call the game? (Answer: What’s the Facts?) Trivial Pursuit is even played in the White House – under which president was it played most? (Answer: Ronald Reagan).

Settlers of Catan

Trade sheep for ore! Even though it was judged too complex by critics, the game really hit the spot with players. | Photo (detail): © Adobe/Bernadette Who’d have thought it? Ironically the game that no games publisher wanted at first is still a perennial favourite even 30 years after its initial release. Whether you prefer the rivals version or the multiplayer board game – many people have been going crazy to trade raw materials and build settlements. The game has now been translated into 42 languages and is sold in 40 countries. Its developer Klaus Teuber was able to retire from his profession as a dental technician and from 1999 he focused on developing games as his main job. When Teuber passed away in April 2023 he left behind a loyal gaming and fan community, and his Settlers of Catan served as an inspiration for numerous other strategy games.

Scrabble

No place names, no proper nouns, no abbreviations – who will get rid of their tiles first? | Photo (detail): © Adobe/Pixarno “That’s not a word!” Doesn’t everyone have that one family member who keeps coming up with new and fanciful neologisms? To prove their non-existence, many families used to have a dictionary or an encyclopaedia at hand – today a smartphone does the job. Developed by architect Alfred Mosher Butts during the Great Depression in 1930s USA, it became one of the biggest game hits of the 1950s, and has retained that status to date.