Without realising it I’d become a Sid Sackson fan.
I’d enjoyed his push your luck game Can’t Stop.
But then recently I bought another game of his Acquire after finding out about it via my friend Gavin. Well Gavin was after a copy. I’d never heard of it and looked into it. Which made me think “oh that sounds interesting, I’d like to play that too”. So not long after the 60th anniversary edition with its bling was on its way to me.
At the same time I ordered a copy of Sid Sacksons book A Gamut of Games.
The 2011 printing of A Gamut of Games has three different prefaces from the earlier editions.
In the included preface for the Dover edition Sid Sackson says the following:
“1982 marked the end of what I consider a golden age of serious games.”
Which for me got me thinking has gaming been going down hill ever since?
Definitely when Sackson made that statement in 1982, he pointed out earlier in the same paragraph, video games were a thing. In the UK we were in the early days of the birth of the home computer boom. If memory doesn’t fail me the US was on the brink of the video game crash.
It was not hard to see where he was coming from. Video games pushing out board games for the attention of kids. Everyone and their dog trying to jump on the bandwagon. The writing was on the wall.
Sid Sackson passed away in 2002.
Catan aka Settlers of Catan was first published in 1995. Along with the likes of Carcassonne (2000), Ticket to Ride (2004) and many others to numerous to mention. A modern board game renaissance was born.
I can’t say Sid Sackson played or was aware of these games. I have no way to know. I do know he was not only a board game designer but also a collector. I have no way to know what he thought of those games that were out during his life time. But I’d be surprised if he had not at least heard of them.
Definitely since 2010 we have seen as some have called it a golden age of gaming, and numerous bubbles. Plus the rise of crowdfunding.
Each year somehow hundreds of new games get released. There is no way you can play them all, or buy them all.
Board gaming is more popular than ever. We have board gaming cafes, clubs, dedicated shops. Then add on the whole internet and what that brings to the coverage of board games.
Would Sackson think we are in a new golden age or renaissance?