Brettspiele im Wandel der Zeit
Learn about the historical board games that are stored in our toy collection’s depot, inaccessible to the public.
Even in the digital age, board games are just as important when it comes to social interactions: played with family, friends and acquaintances, and often even with strangers, they’re a great way to combat boredom and bring us closer together, especially during the dark, winter months.
For as long as humankind has existed, people have been playing either alone, in teams or against each another. Game boards were present in different parts of the world from very early on. One of the oldest board games ever discovered was found in a grave in Ireland and dates back to the Bronze Age (approx. 2000 BC). In Egypt, for example, various game boards were found engraved on the roof slabs of the Temple of Qurna (around 1400 BC). Old board games, many of which we now only know what they looked like, have long been forgotten, some are still familiar to us, while others have been given new names.
When is a board game a board game?
Germany currently has the largest international “gaming community”. More than 200 new games come into the market every year. The best games have been awarded the “Spiel des Jahres” [Game of the Year] critics’ choice award since 1979 and the “Deutschen Spiele Preis” [German Games Award], which is decided by the public, since 1990.As early as the 19th century, when numerous new games for “the education and entertainment of both young and old” were created, the character of the games changed and numerous variations were created. The classic board games (such as chess, draughts, Nine Men’s Morris, Go, Pachisi, mancala, bagh-chal, backgammon, etc.) were joined by modern board games (such as Asalto, Halma, Salta, ” Volldampf voraus” [Full Steam Ahead], followed by ludo and “Monopoly”). In addition, games with a wide variety of forms and content are created, both with and without a game board, including simulation games and solitaire, table-top games, card games, tile-based games (including puzzles), games of chance, games of skill, ball games to name but a few.
From competition to collaboration
The classic board games are primarily games of strategy during which two teams usually move gaming pieces around on a game board. They battle it out with cunning, deceit and aggression, conquer, get rich and try to skilfully manipulate or subdue their opponent. Power struggles are fought out on the game boards, just as they do in the real world.
The “Kaiserreise nach Nord und Süd“ [The Kaiser’s Journey to the North and South] (1888) is a classic race game.
What’s also interesting is that current topics and ideological views have always been the subject of games: Imperial splendour reigned around 1900, the Nazi regime propagated militarism, during the oil crisis players became “oil magnates” and in the 1980’s people separated – ” Ene mene Müll” [Eeny, Meeny Rubbish] – waste paper from waste glass.
Highlights
To this day, many board games have conflict, war and conquest as their theme – although usually not as obvious as in the once popular “Asalto”.
During the Cold War, accomplishments in the fields of research and technology were the subject of games in both the West and the East. This board game from the GDR focuses on the Soviet lunar probes from the “Luna” series.
In the GDR too, a dice game would serve as a playful introduction to socialist norms and values.
“Mensch ärgere dich nicht“ [Ludo] has been a classic right from the day it was invented. A fact that the Nazi regime in Germany wanted to take advantage of and use in its propaganda.
“Der bunte Würfel“ [The Colouful Die], a race game for preschool children published in the GDR, is similar to “Mensch ärgere dich nicht“ [Ludo].