Capablanca chess is a variation of the game of chess, played on an 80-field or 100-field chessboard. 1)
Vera Menchik was an English chess player of Czech descent who served as the first women's chess world champion. 2)
In the early 1930s, struggling and unemployed Alfred Butts decided to create a new board game called Scrabble. However, it turned out that game manufacturers were not interested in the idea, and a determined Butts eventually sold the rights to entrepreneur and lawyer James Brunot. Today, about 2 million sets of this game are sold annually in America alone. 3)
Nine Men’s Morris is a board game designed for two people. Nine Men’s Morris is one of the oldest games still known today. Its origin is still unexplored. The first traces of miniature boards were found in Bronze Age graves (about 3400-700 BC), and they probably played a magical role and served as amulets. The game itself has been known in most parts of the globe since time immemorial. The peak period of the game's popularity was during the Middle Ages when it was often played on a board cut out of peat. 4)
Games of the mancala family have been known in Africa since the Neolithic times, so they are considered to be typically African games. Throughout history, every African tribe has had contact with this game. The board consists of 12 houses (holes) arranged in 6 columns and 2 rows. Often, on the shorter sides of the board, there are larger holes that are not used during the game. They are only used to store the stones. 5)
Settlers of Catan is a worldwide phenomenon among economic games. The game was released in 1995, and its first print run of five thousand copies sold out at such an unbelievable rate that even for the creator, Klaus Teuber, not a single commemorative copy remained! Within the first year alone, 400,000 copies of the game were sold. According to figures from the middle of last year, Settlers of Catan hit more than 32 million homes. 6)
Monopoly was used by British prisoners to escape from prison camps during World War II. And it's not at all that free prisoner escape cards fooled the Nazis. Humanitarian supplies were allowed into the camps, including necessities and things to keep the captives entertained. The British secret service, in cooperation with the manufacturer of Monopoly, hid a compass, maps, real banknotes, and several tools in the game's components. It is estimated that these sets may have been instrumental in the successful escape of 10,000 soldiers. 7)
In 1973 the BP Offshore Oil Strike board game was created with the goal of making $120 million in cash. In it, players had to face various adversities contained on risk cards. Among them were failures of various components, for the repair of which they had to pay a lot, but also the destruction of the platform by a gas explosion. The realization of this prophecy was probably not wished for by anyone. 8)
In 2013, Sierra Leone introduced an innovative solution for driver candidates. It stipulated that before taking the exam that would allow trainees to obtain a driving document, they had to play the board game The Drivers' Way at least once. In it, the gameplay is based on throwing dice in the colors of traffic lights and moving miniature cars around the board according to the score. During the gameplay, there are also questions about traffic regulations. Authorities reached for this out-of-the-box solution in response to the high rate of traffic accidents, which police officers said are often due to poor knowledge of traffic regulations. 9)
Diplomacy is a famous strategy game from 1959. Each player takes control of one of the European powers in the period leading up to the outbreak of World War I. An important element of the gameplay is the making and breaking of alliances and related negotiations. Great fans of the game included U.S. President John F. Kennedy, one of the most prominent geopolitical thinkers Henry Kissinger and respected journalist and TV presenter Walter Cronkite. 10)
The original version of chess, which according to most legends was invented in India, featured the following figures: king, vizier, elephants, chariots, horses, and foot soldiers. The game also used dice, which is unthinkable today. 11)
The world's oldest board game fan was Japanese woman Kane Tanaka, who was 119 years old. On the occasion of her announcement as the oldest living citizen of Japan, the press pointed out that the super-senior likes to spend her free time playing board games. 12)
The largest collection of board games in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records boasts Jeff Bauspies. His collection numbers 1,700 items. The record holder has devoted his entire basement to board games, where he keeps them on custom-made shelves in alphabetical order. The collection is estimated to be worth $35,000. 13)
The most expensive board game in the world is chess. The Jewel Royale edition is made of gold and platinum, and the figures and board are additionally decorated with precious stones, which can be associated with exclusive jewelry rather than a board game. Rubies, emeralds, and pearls are just some of them. The jewelry rarity, at which no queen would beat a king, is worth $9.8 million. 14)
The shortest Monopoly game took 21 seconds. 15)
The shortest Monopoly game lasted 70 days. 16)
It will be hard to find a game that beats 1979's The Campaign for North Africa: The Desert War 1940-43 in terms of suggested gameplay time. According to the publisher's calculations, more than 1200 hours are required to finalize a 10-player game! 17)
The most extreme game of the board game was fought by a pair of paratroopers 4,000 meters above the ground. In 2008, in honor of the 60th anniversary of Scrabble, they jumped out of a plane with a specially prepared copy of the legendary word game. The board was made of reinforced wood, and the letters were made to stick firmly to the ground. 18)