Board Games Up, Video Games Down

That’s right, hobby game (board games, card games, role-playing games, collectible games) sales continue to see growth while video game sales have declined. In fact, for the first seven months of 2010 video game sales are down 8%.

So is this a sign of the death of video games? We very highly doubt it. The amount of money spent on video games is still a staggering number. Nonetheless, the continued growth in sales of hobby games and board games is fantastic. To us, it shows that more people continue to appreciate the face-to-face time and the social interaction that you get from playing board games.

And we believe that during recessionary times, families realize the value of good family board games. Instead of spending money on going out to the movies, where you get the enjoyment for just a couple hours, you can buy a board game and repeatedly spend hours of fun with your family for weeks, months, and years to come.

The same goes for video games. You can spend $60 for a new video game that maybe gets played by a couple members of your family in isolation. Or you can get board games that the whole family can enjoy together.

Another great piece of information that comes along with the report on sales numbers is what the top 10 selling board games have been.

1. Settlers of Catan
2. Dominion
3. Ticket to Ride
4. Munchkin
5. Carcassonne
6. Small World
7. Mystery Express
8. Pandemic
9. Agricola
10. Horus Heresy

What we love is that the majority of these games are great family games and are also listed in our suggested games to introduce to new players. We’re sure that’s why they’re such great sellers.

Settlers of Catan is a great game that first released in 1995 and has seen continual growth in sales every year. And those that are highlighted above are board games that we’ve done video reviews of so you can click on the link to see our game review.

We don’t have interest in trying Munchkin or Horus Heresy, but Small World, Mystery Express, and Agricola are all games on our “want to play” list.

So if you haven’t tried some of these games yet, we’d seriously suggest you go grab a copy and have some fun playing games with your family.