Living Games and Changing Times

Wednesday Blogs

Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Blogs! This week, I discuss the idea of sports game changing and evolving and how that differs from new editions of main stream board games...

As hard as it is to believe, even I'm getting older. And nothing has driven that home more than the 20th Anniversary Edition of Second Season Football (a limited special edition of the game that was available for a limited time...sorry if you missed it!) When I think of the year 1999, it doesn't seem like 20 years ago. I mean didn't Ken Griffey, Jr. just sign that new deal with Cincinnati a couple of years ago? And who's this wiry new pitcher that the Red Sox got who was last pitching for the Expos?

So what's changed in 20 years? Quite a bit actually! Aside from my hair being more grey than black, there have been so many advances in the board game world that it's hard to keep track of them all. Now, anyone can design a game and have it printed to look like a professional product. Developers now have access to a treasure trove of stats and history when they are fine tuning the latest season for their game.

Over the past couple of years, we've seen a new version of Title Bout (and then another version shortly after that as well!) But other than that and the limited Second Season game, usually what happens in sports games is we get rules updates.

In the bigger world of the board game industry, it's often we see games get new versions all the time, or re-skins, re-themes, but in the sports world, I've come to think of my various games as a living thing. Another great by-product of this modern age is that it's easier than ever to share home-brewed rules and cards! So some games that have been long out of print can continue to thrive in the community of fans who still want to play.

Who knows what the next 20 years will bring us? I hope that I'm still around to discuss the special 40th Anniversary edition of Second Season. Because, unlike my hairline, somethings just keep getting better with age.

Steve