If you’re someone who prefers spending time with friends at home rather than at the club, then you’ve probably found yourself thinking about what the best pastime activity would be for your particular group of friends. Oftentimes, it’s playing games, whether board or video games. While video games have become the primary source of entertainment for most people, board games have not lost their shine just yet either, and there are plenty of people that prefer them as their go-to toys for adults.
And while I personally love both, most often I have to decide between one or the other when I have get-togethers with my friends or family. If you’re on the same boat and are contemplating whether your next get-together should include more board gaming or video gaming, I’ve taken the time to playfully compare both types of toys for adults to determine which ones will go down as the ultimate get-together hobby.
Social Dynamics
Although video games quickly rose to the top of being one of the most sociable pastime activities, they’ve quickly fallen off. In the early days of video games, when most games were either single or two-player experiences, board games were the obvious number one choice in the social dynamics regard. Nowadays, however, thanks to the internet, you can easily play with dozens of friends online and communicate with them either in-game or through third party communication applications like Discord. But with the rise of YouTube gaming culture, many people don’t even like playing video games themselves, as they prefer watching someone else do it.
Board games, on the other hand, have always required the physical presence of other people to fully enjoy them. A six-pack of your favorite beer, a group of friends and a copy of Monopoly or Risk is the perfect recipe for a fun, social and argument-filled evening. Nowadays, the many different Legacy, Cooperative and Social Deduction Games have become the go-to toys for adults worldwide. Games like Cards Against Humanity have opened up the board gaming hobby to millions of adults who have never even considered playing before. That being said, board games are the obvious winner in the social dynamics category.
Cognitive Challenges
10 years ago, I would argue that video games are the clear winner in this category. However, lately, video games have become increasingly story-driven, and there’s less skill involved in beating the games. Many modern games are locked behind paywalls and some of them are pay-to-win. All of this has kind of put me off video games lately, but there’s no denying that there are still many challenging video games out there, such as Dark Souls II.
On the other hand, board games, for the most part, have remained the same. Puzzle games, word games, hand management games, strategy games, etc. all force you to flex mental muscles. And although not considered a board game these days, Chess is one of the most mentally challenging games to play with friends.
The winner in this category will honestly depend mostly on personal preference. Everyone plays different video and board games, and some people don’t want to use any brainpower when doing so.
Innovation
Video games have changed significantly over the past 20 years. 3D graphics, online play, motion controls, and socially networked games are just some of the many different innovations. The new battle royale games like PUBG, Apex Legends, and Fortnite took the gaming scene by storm, but it feels like all of these games are the same game in a slightly different coating. The same applies to most RTS, FPS and MMORPG games as well. There’s a reason why World of Warcraft: Classic is as big as it is nowadays, even though it’s a 15-year-old game.
Board games, on the other hand, are going through what I’d call a Golden Age, with many different types of games being developed and launched on an almost daily basis. There are simply far too many board games that are completely unique in all aspects from one another to count. You can find some of the most popular board games listed here.
The conclusion? Again, it’s up to personal preference, but personally, I feel like board games win in this category.
Replay Value
While the winner in this category will vary from user to user, I’ll still try to make a case for both video games and board games. It’s easy to see someone spend thousands of hours on World of Warcraft, or MOBAs like League of Legends and Dota2. However, it’s also easy to notice that most modern games don’t feature as time-consuming campaigns, with many of them not extending the ten-hour mark. However, the online play makes all the difference, and you can get thousands of hours of game time on the aforementioned games.
Board games would have easily won this category just a few years ago, but now their replay value has, in my opinion, significantly dropped. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there are many amazing, different games to pick from whose gameplay varies so greatly, that you can’t simply stick to playing one game. If you do like a particular game, however, you can probably go online and find at least a few expansions or variations of that game to spice things up for you.