Yes, That’s Board Games for Baby Boomers—Not Bored Games

Often, what’s old is new again, and that is true for board games. For a while, with all the focus on video games, they seemed ready to die out—following the path of rotary telephones, roll-up windows and looking something up in an Encyclopedia.

Yet board games are back, especially with the crowd that grew up playing them. Game nights are the new “book clubs.” People are bored of the same old thing and want to get together with friends (these days often via Zoom) to do something fun.

 

So What Are the Best Board Games for Baby Boomers?

That’s a question we asked ourselves when we developed our pop culture trivia game, Boom Again—a game made by Baby Boomers for Baby Boomers.

Back in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, there, there were those board games everybody played. Monopoly. Life. Candy Land. Parcheesi. Sorry. Clue. Careers. The list goes on and on. When you think of playing a game, those may be the first that spring to mind. They’re nostalgic. They’re familiar.

But some you’ve probably outgrown. And others may sometimes just feel, well, boring because you’ve already played them so many times.

So we wondered, Was it possible to make a new game that evoked the games of “days gone by” without actually being a game of days gone by? Could we take Baby Boomers on a road trip down board game memory lane—but in a fun, engaging and Boomer-age appropriate way?

That’s when we had our “aha” moment. We realized that the best board games for Baby Boomers to play now—especially with fellow Boomer friends—are those that let us remember what it’s like to be a kid again. Sure, they’re geared to adults, but they’re inspired by not only by the games we played growing up, but the way that we played them.

 

We Played to Get Together with Friends.

You probably had certain types of games you liked a kid or teenager. Some people liked games with strategy, like Risk or Battleship. Others preferred a clever theme, like Mousetrap, Cooties or Chutes and Ladders.

The thing the board games of the Boom era had in common? We played them together. If you had one friend, you could play a two-person game. The more friends, the more game choices you had.

You didn’t play games to exercise your brain. And even though you probably liked to win, that wasn’t the reason you pulled out the game board.

No, you did it because you wanted to hang loose with friends. That, and having fun, were the only reasons you needed to make a beeline for your board game shelf.

 

Cool Game Tokens Mattered.

Board games for baby boomers often had cool tokens. Take, for example,  Monopoly. Even before the game started, the battle began between players over whether you’d be the top hat, the battleship, the boot, the cannon, the racecar, dog, thimble, top hat or iron. That could take longer than the game itself!

And remember how the game of Life had those pink and blue cars as game tokens? That wasn’t necessarily the fun part—but piling the tiny pink and blue “children” into the car sure was (not unlike how Boomers as kids piled into the back of a pickup).

Boom Again wanted to get tip its hat to the tokens of old by creating game pieces inspired by the Boom era —including authentic items like a 45-record insert and even a roach clip.

You Didn’t Always Have to Play by the Rules.

Board games for baby boomers could often be played “not as intended” and still be a blast. Lots of Boomer kids, for example, were actually surprised to learn as adults that Dominoes was a game with rules and not just a bunch of pieces that you stacked in order to knock down. Cooties could be played by following the rules, or simply putting together the “cootie bugs” in silly ways.

That’s why board games like Boom Again that allow different types of play appeal to Boomers now. Sometimes you might want to play by the game’s rules as written with friends, and sometimes you might just want to hang out and guess the trivia answers—no rules required.

After all, a catchphrase of the Boom generation was, “Rules are meant to be broken.”

 

The Louder, the Better.

And of course, the Baby Boom was famous for its games that had you shouting, laughing, or doing crazy things. Like screaming in surprise when you hit the buzzer in Operation. Collapsing with a giggle in Twister. Cheering on your robots in Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

What were some of the things that you enjoyed most about the board games you grew up with during the baby boom? Do you still play any of them?

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