The Most Popular Board Game the Year You Were Born
It's all fun and games until someone loses.
What game ruled the year you showed up on this Earth? Find out here, and trace the evolution of games from family game night classics like Risk and Scrabble to the party games and sophisticated board games of the 21st century.
1950: Candy Land
Years before Roald Dahl's book took us inside Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, there was Candy Land. Pretty much every kid had fantasies about strolling through Lollipop Woods on the way to Candy Castle.
1951: Afrikan Tähti
Race around Africa on a quest for the "Star of Africa" diamond (and a horseshoe.) Over four million copies over the game have been sold around the world since its release, many of which were in Finland where the game was invented.
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1952: Scrabble
The classic word game has been around since 1938, but really took off in '52 thanks to Macy's president (at the time) Jack Strauss. Strauss played it on vacation and insisted they start to sell it at the store. The rules have changed over the years, but the basic premise remains tried-and-true.
1953: Peter Pan
Released in conjunction with the Disney animated film, the game is a race to Never Land and back with a spinner that guides the way. Players chose between Peter Pan, Wendy Darling, John Darling, and Michael Darling — each with their own instruction card to follow.
1954: Traffic Jam
Players “drive” around the board trying to get to their destination first by strategically placing road signs and getting lucky on the die. Win or lose, guaranteed to be more fun that a real traffic jam.
1955: Careers
Be the first to finish a formula for success by choosing between fame, happiness, money, or a combination of those option. Career points are achieved by taking different occupation tracks and collecting opportunity cards.
1956: Yahtzee
Rumor has it that this game got its name from a Canadian couple who invented it to play with friends on their yacht. This game of luck was originally sold by E.S. Lowe Company from 1956 to 1973. Over 40 million sets were sold around the world during that period. Hasbro estimates that around 50 million sets are still sold each year.
1957: Risk
The game of global domination still reigns. The OG version remains a huge hit and special editions set in Narnia, the Star Wars universe, Middle Earth, and more have been popular among fans.
1958: Why
Milton Bradley attempted to cash in on the success of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with this mystery game similar to Clue. Players chose between detectives Sergeant Monday, Dick Crazy, Charlie Clam, and Shylock Bones to try and capture the ghosts of Daniel Boone, Pocahontas, Napoleon, Nero, Cleopatra, or Henry the Eighth. They also needed the weapon and motive card.
1959: Diplomacy
This strategy war game was the first commercially sold “played by mail” game and it quickly gained a cult following among hobbyists. According to its makers, it was also JFK and Henry Kissinger’s favorite game.
1960: The Game of Life
How many pink and blue pegs will fill your car? Life isn't always fun and games but Milton Bradley changed all that with this update on their 1860 game, The Checkered Game of Life. Good luck getting to Millionaire Acres!
1961: Stratego
Capture the Flag in board game form. This army strategy game is so big that there's actually an International Stratego Federation. They host a global Stratego competition every year.
1962: Acquire
This one is all about making money by owning hotel chains and cashing in on your stocks. It has won several game awards over the years and is part of the GAMES magazine Hall of Fame.
1963: Mouse Trap
Everyone remembers Mouse Trap as the game that takes as long to set up as it does to play. It was even turned into a game show as part of a British children's program called Motormouth.
1964: Hands Down
Years before Hungry Hungry Hippos, people got slap-happy with Hands Down. It has had many incarnations since it was first introduced, but it’s always been about making pairs and getting your hands in before the other players.
1965: Trouble!
Popping the game's iconic Pop-O-Matic was definitely the main draw. Sending your friends and family back to the start was a close a second.
1966: Twister
Twister was initially blasted as "sex in a box" but sky-rocketed in popularity after Johnny Carson featured it on his show and played a round with Eva Gabor. As the story goes, people were lining up on the street the next day to snag a copy for themselves.
1967: Ouija
It's not really a game if you believe in that sort of thing. Parker Brothers made a mint by convincing people that trying to conjure the dead was actually fun.
1968: Don't Break the Ice
Use you plastic mallet to knock out block of ice without making the little figure fall through. This was part of Milton Bradley's collection that also included Ants in the Pants, Cootie, and Don't Spill the Beans.
1969: Ant in the Pants
The object of this game is to fling all of your plastic ants into the pair of pants before your opponents. It was featured on an episode of South Park in 1998 when Cartman freaked out after receiving it as a gift. But hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Jacob is a Temporary Partnerships Editor at Hearst based in Queens, New York with his partner and cat Tiger. He loves learning and writing about Film and TV, Video Games, and the weird histories of unexpected subjects.
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