Last time we looked at 70s Board Games and established that while enjoyable, they were not always the best. The History channel has commented that the decade was best known for its consumerism and materialism. Did this constant need of material possessions increase popularity and successfulness of 80s board games or were these published games as lacklustre as the previous decade?
Table of Contents
- Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases (1982)
- 1830: Railways & Robber Barons (1986)
- Civilization (1980)
- Survive: Escape from Atlantis! (1982)
- HeroQuest (1989)
- 80s Board Games: The Seed of Excellence?
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases (1982)
We will start this 80s board games list with the longest title on it, but for sanities sake, we will just call it Sherlock Homes Consulting Detective. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous detective has seen around one hundred board games thrown at him over the years, but the 1982 Thames Murders & Other Cases has probably seen the most success.
Ironically, this “board game” is as far away from a board game as you can imagine. There are no dice, there is not the typical one way to win. The game is a mental test and really tries to put you in the shoes of a detective.
The game sees you take on a mystery, for example, the murder of Oswald Mason. It is up to you to figure out the who and the why. You do this by searching the newspaper for clues, interviewing suspects, and combing the 19th century streets of London.
1830: Railways & Robber Barons (1986)
1830: Railways & Robber Barons has a lot less to do with railways and barons than you would imagine. The game is more centred on stock market manipulation than anything else. Players are attempting to get the greatest possible personal portfolio by buying and selling various stocks. The game finishes either when the bank runs out of money or one of the players goes bankrupt. One big gamble could be win or lose!
The game is really as complicated as you and your opponents make it. The trick is to get as much leverage out of your own stock, while attempting to crash your opponent’s. As far as the railroads themselves go, your actions are more often than not as follow: laying down or upgrade existing tracks, running existing trains along the profitable routes you have created, establishing new stations, and purchasing new trains.
The game does have somewhat of a cult following amongst board gamers. However there have been a couple of criticisms, first, it is very long, a typical game will be over four hours. Second, it can be quite complex, it will take a few tries to really get the hang of it, so players should not be discouraged if they do not get it first time.
Civilization (1980)
Civilization has a huge following, not just in the world of board games, but video games too having launched 6 core games over is lifespan. The original 80s board game works with a timespan covering the development of ancient civilisations from around 8000 BC to 300 BC.
The game is credited as having created some of the most well-known mechanics from modern games such as the technology tree. The game itself moved away from the traditional map conquest style of war games. Instead, you must win by having sufficient cultural, political or economic advancement.
The original Civilisation in 1980 is Civilization in its rawest form. Innovative? Yes. Unique? Yes. Fun? Yes. Long? Also Yes. The game takes around five to six hours to complete with an experienced group. As a first playthrough it can take closer to ten. The time length is atypical of games of the era, when people had more time to board game and there were less things to steal our attention. The time length does not age well. Modern games play closer to the one to two hour mark, with a third hour exceedingly rare.
Survive: Escape from Atlantis! (1982)
Survive: Escape from Atlantis! Is all about escaping the famous sinking island. The game begins with 40 tiles that are slowly slipping into the sea. Players manage ten people, who have different value scores between 1 and 6. Players must evacuate their people to the surrounding islands. However, as just described, not all people are equal, it worth prioritising one model that is worth six than four that are worth one.
Players can escape the sinking city by using boats or swimming, but the island is not the only obstacle that will try to take the lives of your people. While escaping the island you must avoid animals, such as wales and sharks, all the way to mythical sea serpents.
As opposed to Civilisation, this game plays incredibly quickly, under an hour. The stakes are always high with Atlantis slipping into the ocean faster and faster by the minute.
HeroQuest (1989)
HeroQuest sneaks in at the tail end of the 80s with a board game experience inspired by Dungeons and Dragons who, while having been around since 1974, had really caught wind by the early 80s. HeroQuest sees one player acting as game master – actually the evil mage Morcar – while the others take on the role of either wizard, elf, barbarian or dwarf.
Essentially, the game plays like Dungeons and Dragons in compact, all-inclusive board game experience. You had everything you needed simply in one board game without spending hours preparing campaigns. While this does mean that its less varied than its famous idol, HeroQuest does still boast 14 questlines in its base game, so plenty to get your teeth into.
The game master is trying to stop the heroes from completing their various quests. They can do this in a few ways: through traps, pit traps, spear/arrow traps, falling rock traps, or wandering monsters. These wandering monsters are not under the direct control of the game master, instead, they are randomised based on if the hero is unlucky enough to draw a wandering monster card from the treasure deck while looting chests.
80s Board Games: The Seed of Excellence?
The 80s saw a true boom in consumerism, people were buying more and more often than ever before. Importantly, 80s board games producers had learnt from some of the mistakes made in the 70s. The tale of board game success is really one decade at a time, there is no “golden era” and every five to ten years there is a clear improvement in board game quality and creativity all the way up to the 21st century. The 80s did, however, lay the foundations for some future mega-stars in entertainment, specifically the Civilization franchise.
