From Tabletops to Desktops: The Rise of Digital Board Games

Board gaming is an inherently physical, analog hobby. Right?

- Dann Albright

The idea of a digital board game strikes some people as strange. And that’s not surprising—one of the best things about the hobby is that it connects people. In an age where many people feel that digital technologies are pushing us further apart, and that technologically-advanced hobbies are not ideal, a digital board game almost seems like a contradiction.

But there’s no denying their popularity. New digital board games come out all the time. Massive online platforms continue to attract new users. Some people find that strange. Is there something paradoxical about digital board games?

For digital board games enthusiasts like myself, it’s an interesting question to think about. And to really find an answer, we need to look back.

Years ago, if you wanted to play a game with someone far away, you had two options. You could either travel — which was likely expensive — or play by mail. And play by mail we did. People have been playing chess by mail (“correspondence chess”) since the early 1800s, and there are still enthusiasts who use posted letters to play with friends around the world.

Each letter contains a single chess move. And it could be weeks until you receive the response. For some of us, this pace is hard to imagine. But it was exceedingly popular, with multiple large clubs and associations springing up in the 18– and 1900s.

Most people, however, have since switched to online variants. A chess server called PLATO was used in the 1970s, and a Usenet group sprung up in the 1980s, long before the modern Internet changed gaming. It wasn’t all that much more advanced than chess by mail — but it was a sign of things to come. Chess by email — the more modern version of correspondence chess — kicked off in the 1980s, and advancements in digital board gaming have come fast and furious since then.