Games to Play: A History and Evolution
From Ancient Boards to Digital Worlds
The concept of "games to play" has been around basically forever—or at least since humans figured out they needed something to do besides just surviving. But the way we think about games, how we play them, and what counts as a "game" has changed a lot over the centuries.
Early History
Ancient Times
The Royal Game of Ur, discovered in a tomb in Iraq, dates back to around 2600 BCE. It's one of the oldest known board games, and archaeologists found it with actual dice. People were rolling dice before they even had proper writing systems in some places, which tells you something about human priorities.
Around 500 BCE in ancient China, a military strategist supposedly created Go (called Weiqi there). The game spread to Korea and Japan over the next thousand years. It's still played today, which is pretty remarkable when you think about it—not many things from 500 BCE are still in active use.
Medieval Period
Chess shows up in India around the 6th century CE, though it looked different then. The queen piece was actually pretty weak in the original version. The modern rules we use today didn't really solidify until around the 15th century in Europe. Lewis Chessmen (the famous carved pieces found in Scotland) date to the 12th century and are now in the British Museum.
1800s
The Mansion of Happiness came out in 1843. It was basically the first commercially produced board game in the United States, published by W. & S.B. Ives Company. The game was super moralistic—landing on certain spaces would send you back if you did "bad" things.
In 1860, Milton Bradley printed The Checkered Game of Life using a new lithography process he'd just started experimenting with. His company would go on to become a major player in the industry (pun somewhat intended). The game sold 45,000 copies its first year, which was huge for that era.
The 20th Century Boom
Elizabeth Magie created The Landlord's Game in 1903 and patented it in 1904. The game was designed to demonstrate the problems with land monopolies. Charles Darrow later took this concept, modified it, and sold it to Parker Brothers in 1935 as Monopoly. Parker Brothers made a fortune; Magie got $500. This is a whole controversy in game history circles.
Crossword puzzles became a craze in the 1920s. The first crossword puzzle book was published in 1924 by Simon & Schuster—it was actually their first publication as a company. They included a pencil with each book because they weren't sure people would have pencils at home, apparently.
After World War II, games became more of a mass-market thing. Scrabble was invented by Alfred Mosher Butts in 1938 but didn't really take off until James Brunot bought the rights and started manufacturing it in 1948. By 1952, Macy's started stocking it and sales went through the roof—over 1 million sets sold in 1954 alone.
Clue (or Cluedo in the UK) was invented by Anthony E. Pratt, a British musician, during WWII air raid drills. It was patented in 1947 but didn't hit the market until 1949 because of post-war shortages. The original UK version had different rooms than the US version—the lounge was called the drawing room, for instance.
Risk came out in 1959 in France (called La Conquête du Monde) and hit the US market in 1960. Milton Bradley published the American version.
In 1971, Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren published Chainmail, a medieval miniatures wargame. This led directly to Dungeons & Dragons, which Gygax and Dave Arneson published in 1974 through their company TSR. D&D basically invented the whole RPG genre, though it wasn't called that yet. The first printing was only 1,000 copies, hand-assembled in Gygax's basement.
The original Atari Pong came out in 1972. Allan Alcorn built it as a training exercise, but Nolan Bushnell decided to test it at a local bar. The machine broke within two weeks—not because of mechanical failure but because the coin box was overflowing. That's when they knew they had something.
Trivial Pursuit was created by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott in 1979 over a game of Scrabble (they didn't have all the pieces). The first games were produced in 1981. By 1984, over 20 million copies sold in the US alone. Horn Abbot Ltd., their company, made an absolute killing.
The Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America in 1985 after the video game crash of 1983. Nintendo had to convince retailers that their system wasn't just another fad. They bundled R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) with the system and marketed it as a toy rather than a video game console to get around retail resistance. Only 34 games used R.O.B., but the strategy worked.
Tetris was created by Alexey Pajitnov in Moscow in 1984. He didn't own the rights—the Soviet government did. The licensing history of Tetris is incredibly messy and involves multiple companies, international politics, and a lot of legal battles. Robert Stein first tried to license it, then Henk Rogers secured the handheld rights for Nintendo. The Game Boy version (1989) sold 35 million copies, which is wild.
Magic: The Gathering was released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Richard Garfield designed it, and Peter Adkison published it. The original print run was 2.6 million cards. They sold out immediately. The game basically invented the collectible card game genre, and you can draw a direct line from Magic to basically every other TCG that came after—Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, all of them.
Settlers of Catan hit the market in 1995, designed by Klaus Teuber. It sold 400,000 copies in Germany within two years. The English version came out in 1996, and it basically kicked off the modern board game renaissance. Before Catan, the US board game market was dominated by classics and kids' games. Catan showed there was a market for strategy games for adults that weren't Risk or chess.
The first Pokémon games (Red and Green) released in Japan in 1996. They were buggy as hell—there's literally a whole category of glitches that speedrunners still exploit. But kids loved them. By 1998, when Red and Blue hit the US, the franchise was already massive in Japan. Over 31 million copies of the original generation sold worldwide.
The Digital Age
World of Warcraft launched in 2004. By 2008, it had over 11.5 million subscribers. That's more than the population of several countries. The game's economy became so complex that economists studied it. One player, Ge Jin, used his in-game experience for his PhD dissertation at UC San Diego.
Wii Sports came bundled with the Nintendo Wii in 2006 (in most regions). It became the best-selling Nintendo game of all time—82.9 million copies. Part of that is because it was bundled, sure, but people actually played it. Nursing homes started using it for elderly fitness programs, which Nintendo definitely didn't predict.
Angry Birds launched in 2009. Rovio had made 51 games before it, and none of them were successful. Angry Birds made them a billion-dollar company. The game has been downloaded over 4 billion times across all platforms. There's an Angry Birds theme park in Finland.
Minecraft's full release was in 2011 (though it was playable way before that). Markus "Notch" Persson developed it independently, then founded Mojang. Microsoft bought Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014. As of 2023, Minecraft had sold over 300 million copies, making it the best-selling video game ever. The game's cultural impact is enormous—kids growing up today probably know Minecraft before they know Mario.
Fortnite's Battle Royale mode launched in 2017 (the original Save the World mode came out earlier that year). By 2020, it had 350 million registered players. Epic Games made $9.1 billion in revenue from Fortnite in 2018 and 2019. The game's cultural penetration was insane—kids were doing Fortnite dances in school playgrounds, professional athletes were doing emotes as celebrations, and the in-game concerts (Travis Scott, Ariana Grande) drew tens of millions of concurrent viewers.
Among Us was released in 2018 by InnerSloth, a small indie studio. It had about 30 concurrent players for most of 2019. Then in 2020, during COVID lockdowns, some streamers picked it up, and it exploded. By September 2020, it had 1.5 million concurrent players. The three-person development team suddenly had to scale up infrastructure while managing a massive viral hit.
Wordle was created by Josh Wardle in 2021 for his partner. He released it publicly in October 2021. By January 2022, millions were playing. The New York Times bought it for "low seven figures" (reported to be around $1 million). The game's simplicity—one puzzle per day, no monetization initially—was part of its appeal. It spawned countless clones and variations.
Baldur's Gate 3 released in full in 2023 after three years in early access. Larian Studios developed it with 470 employees across multiple studios. The game has over 174 hours of cinematics, which is more than most TV series. It won Game of the Year at multiple ceremonies and proved that old-school CRPGs still have massive appeal if done right.
What Makes Games Work
Games to play—whether they're board games, card games, video games, or sports—seem to need a few things. There's got to be some kind of challenge or goal. There's usually competition or at least comparison (even if it's just against yourself or a high score). Rules matter, though some of the best games let you bend them a bit.
The social aspect can't be ignored either. Even single-player games create communities—speedrunning communities, modding communities, Let's Play videos. The Game Boy had a link cable in 1989 specifically so kids could play together. Xbox Live launched in 2002 and fundamentally changed how console gaming worked.
Randomness plays a role too. Pure skill games (like chess) have their place, but a lot of successful games incorporate luck—card draws, dice rolls, random loot drops. This creates comebacks, surprises, and means that new players can occasionally beat experienced ones.
The Industry Today
The global gaming market hit $184 billion in 2023. That's bigger than the movie and music industries combined. Mobile gaming alone accounts for about half of that. The demographics have shifted too—the average gamer is in their 30s, and the gender split is much closer to 50-50 than the stereotypes suggest.
Esports is its own massive thing now. The International (Dota 2's championship) had a prize pool over $40 million in 2021. League of Legends World Championship finals regularly draw over 100 million viewers. Colleges offer esports scholarships. There are professional gaming houses where teams live and practice together, just like traditional sports.
Board games have had a renaissance too. Kickstarter changed everything—games like Exploding Kittens raised $8.8 million in 2015. Board game cafes are common in major cities now. The annual Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award in Germany can make a game into a massive success—Azul won in 2018 and sold over a million copies.
Looking Forward
VR gaming is still trying to find its footing. The Meta Quest 2 has sold over 20 million units, which sounds impressive until you compare it to the 120+ million Nintendo Switches out there. But VR is getting better and cheaper.
AI is changing game development and gameplay. AI-generated content, NPCs with more sophisticated behavior, procedural generation that actually works—these are happening now. Some games are experimenting with AI dungeon masters for D&D-style experiences.
The line between games and other media keeps blurring. Is Pokémon Go a game or augmented reality exercise? Are Discord communities part of gaming or social media? When Fortnite hosts movie screenings and concerts, what is it exactly?
One thing's pretty clear though—people will keep finding new games to play. They've been doing it for at least 4,600 years, and there's no sign of stopping. Whether it's a board, a screen, cards, dice, or something we haven't invented yet, humans seem to be hardwired to play games.