Inside the Casual Game Revolution: Page 4 of 4
Submitted by Chris James on 02/13/2013 - 22:31. Category: Articles
This article was originally published in:
The Results
This program is largely an experiment based on an idea and a vision. The results are yet to be seen or verified. The program can and probably will morph as we learn and understand more about the direction we are headed and the response of casual gamers and the industry. But we hope to gather the combined efforts of those involved in every aspect of board gaming, from designers and publishers, to retailers, distributors, and reviewers, to help us obtain a change.
We hope that there will be a positive impact and that more people will be able to discover the joy of board gaming along with us. Let’s make board gaming a mainstream activity.
Here’s to us: the casual game industry.
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I am so pleased that you have begun the process of trying to reach this growing and eager crowd of casual gamers, which I feel more connected to than the traditional, typically closed, gaming crowd.
I was just talking about this "middle ground" of gamers with my husband the other day.
While we consider ourselves a little bit more involved with games than the average casual gamer, (we have been dabbling with designing some games, we are pretty familiar with game terminology, we are BGG trollers), our usual preference is for games that would likely fit in this middle ground, if you included in your "casual game definition" elements of randomness, (luck, chance) and light-to-medium strategic depth (as opposed to analysis-paralysis heavy strategy) :
Stone Age, Village, Vikings, Dice Town, Settlers, Catan Dice, Egizia, A Castle for all Seasons, Roll Through the Ages, Time's Up, Wits and Wagers, Aton, Archaeology, Carcassonne, Survive!, Kingsburg, Last Will, Scrabble, Mille Borne, Flinch, etc.
Some of our games skirt the line:
Caylus, Belfort, Castles of Burgundy, Troyes
Several of these games are highly ranked/awarded, which is why we found them. Others we found through digging and filtering our searches on BGG, because so many of the top-ranked games are for the "hardcore gamer, serious-and-difficult-games-only, we-thumb-our-noses-as-casual-games club".
We are fortunate that our local game store, Madness Games and Comics, in Plano TX, carries an extraordinary mix of games, for all levels of gamers, and they have been welcoming and friendly to us non-heavy gaming types. We are excited they will soon be expanding from 5000sf to 20000sf next month! I am definitely going to let them know about your amazing efforts and wonderful magazine and your other plans.
Good luck with your venture, thanks for being a voice for those of us out there who love board games.
Thank you for sharing this. We are very fortunate to have you on our site.
I think we're definitely on the same page. I am a designer of many games and have been in the industry for years, yet consider myself a casual gamer because of the types of games I enjoy most (casual games). It is, indeed, difficult to find good casual games on sites like BGG because you have to know exactly what characteristics identify them (such as a lower rating than the hardcore games). This is why we hope to gather a community of casual gamers who prefer the same types of games that we do. We hope to make it easier to discover and share games and articles that are better suited to casual gamers.
A few thoughts on this article:
1. I prefer casual games. Watch people play a casual game, then watch people play a hobby game. Which table is smiling? Casual almost every time.
2. Perhaps the Revolution should take advantage of the explosion of mobile gaming by making apps of its games? Days of Wonder has led the way here. Strangely, I would consider "casual board games" to be much more "hobby game apps" than "casual game apps." I feel like playing Ticket to Ride on my phone is much differen than pulling out some Angry birds for 4 minutes.
3. Amazon, Target or someone big like that should create a website that easily and clearly classifies game types for casual gamers. All hobby gamers have seen the "What game should I play?" decision flows, but it's not hobby gamers that need such things.
Great article Chris.
So, well into 2015, how is the Casual Game Revolution doing?
Has there been specific issues or breakthroughs that you'd want to share?
How about your views on international markets (like Mexico for example)? Have you tried venturing outside the US?
Hi Alfonso,
Slowly but surely we're seeing our message resonate with people. However, I think the market is so saturated with new games that it can be hard for casual gamers to keep up — we often see casual gamers stick to familiar games like Settlers of Catan rather than venture into new territory. Our goal is to continually highlight what is new (in addition to classic titles), so they can expand their casual game collections.
No new breakthroughs to share (other than our recent expansion into Barnes & Noble), just continuing to provide the best content we can and share our message.
We haven't done much international expansion in terms of distribution, though we do fulfill several subscriptions to international retailers. The game market in Mexico remains slow, in my opinion — I don't see much activity at all south of the border. The Russian market seems to be doing quite well, with a lot of expansion, and the Canadian and European markets seem strong as always. Game distribution companies would have a better idea of these markets, but these are my 2 cents based on my observations.