I joined Google+ a couple weeks ago with the other 20 million people and it’s a nice change from Facebook. I feels like a chance to start over with the people you follow and take interest in. My circle of people is extremely small but even with less than 20 people, one of them posted a photo that really brought back some happy memories. They posted a picture of a card from the Mille Bornes card game.

Lots of cards, lots of fun with Mille Bornes.

Going the distance

Like most of my childhood games, my mother got Mille Bornes at a garage sale. I’m not sure why she bought it. If I had to guess it was because it is a game about cars and, well, I like cars…and it was only 50 cents so you really can’t lose. As was done with many games during those years, we made up our own rules and it was a lot of fun. It was a game we played often, especially because I couldn’t convince my parents to play Monopoly with me all that often. However, as I would learn later in life, Mille Bornes is a pretty complicated game. There are a lot of rules and conditions that dictate when certain cards can be played, not to mention scoring in the game requires a decoder ring and a math degree. There is quite a bit of strategy involved in order to avoid car accidents and red lights while also laying down distance cards that earn you points. It’s a game that is easy to start and addicting in attempts to master.

Mille Bornes is not only a team game that can bring out the best and worst in people, it’s also a card game that is beautiful to look at. As my friend on Google+ captioned in the photo, the cards are a “great balance of style & substance,” and I couldn’t agree more. When I was young it really didn’t matter to me, all I knew is that there were cards with cars on them and some crazy foreign words I didn’t understand (but I did learn a little French), though as a I started a career in design and art, the Mille Bornes cards really stood out and still hold up after more than 50 years in production.

Simple and elegant. Playing card design you rarely see.

The lost art of playing card design

My copy of Mille Bornes is from 1966 and the mod style of the time is alive and well…and awesome. Every card has a great illustration on it symbolizing whatever it is the card does, and then both English and French text. Being a game about driving, you of course have your cards featuring cars, accidents, spare tires and the likes, but the most enjoyable aspect of the cards are the actual scoring cards. The object of the game is to be the first team to reach a thousand miles, so you have numbered cards that total up for your distance. The cards range from 25 to 200 miles (points) and each one has an animal associated with it. For example, the 25 card has a snail and the 200 has a swallow. All the animals make sense except for one, the butterfly, which is seen on the 75 mile card. Between the snail and the butterly is the 50 mile card, which has a duck on it. I’m not a zoologist, but I’d bet you a duck can outrun a butterfly…just saying.

Regardless of how well the animals match up with their corresponding speed cards, they are all perfect examples of how to use icons to convey a purpose while also being a lot of fun to play with. All the cards are printed with a limited color palette which only adds to their charm. Even when I was a kid I knew this game was old and the images on the cards were dated, but that didn’t make the game any less fun. Just because they weren’t shiny and new or embosed with holograms didn’t make me less interested in the game. The game is fun no matter what the cards look like and that’s a real testament to just how good this game is. Some things don’t need to change to continue to be fun and interesting, they just need to be experienced.

More flavors than Baskin-Robbins

Original games are still fun.

I look at a Monopoly, Risk, Uno and a long list of other games from my youth and they’ve all changed. In some cases it’s just cosmetic, as you’ll see with all the licensed versions of Monopoly, but in other cases they’ve reinvented or changed the game entirely. Monopoly is not without its derivatives and I’m sure each one is fun, but what’s wrong with just plain Monopoly? And don’t even get me started on the game of Life because that board game has done a complete 180 since the 1970s version I played (and loved) as a kid and now it’s just not as much fun. They dumbed it down a bit too much.

Okay, before anyone points it out in the comments, yes, I know that even my beloved Mille Bornes went through a brief period of reinventing. The game play didn’t change but they updated the card style with more “realistic” pictures and you know what, they didn’t help the game at all. The elegance of the original deck was lost in attempts to cater to a new generation of players that they seemed to assume couldn’t understand what a card with a snail on it meant. Instead all they got was a game that looked cheap. If you need any proof that the redesign of Mille Bornes was a bad idea, just look for the game on shelves today and guess what you’ll find? The original card designs. I can’t think of a better example of simple being better than this.

Don’t forget your roots

Of course, also on toy store shelves these days are “classic” versions of already classic games. Next to Star Wars Monopoly is a limited edition, all-wood version of the game, complete with collector’s box. It is nice to have these tried and true games in more of an original and elegant form, but I fear these wonderful games in their original state are being missed by generations upon generations of children and adults. I often wonder if kids playing Monopoly Crazy Cash or U Build have or ever will play the original game? Games like Mille Bornes and others are a lot of fun as-is and have been for decades. I’m not saying variations on these games shouldn’t exist, but let’s not forget about these original games. We can enjoy them with our kids and families because they are still a lot of fun and stand on their own quite nicely…plus, if you look in the right places, you can still pick them up for less than a dollar.

Origins and Comparisons

The official game began as an activity aboard a Canadian couple’s yacht in 1954 (dubbed “the yacht game” and later amended to Yahtzee). They soon asked their friend Edwin Lowe (a toy enterpriser) to make some sets of the game that they could use as gifts. Lowe agreed, in exchange for the rights to the game. By 1956, Yahtzee was being marketed as a thinking-man’s dice game.

With such a simple concept, aren't you a little frustrated you didn't think of it first?

Yahtzee bears many resemblances to “Generala” and “Yacht,” dice games from different areas of the world. A consistently popular game for families, Yahtzee was owned by Lowe until Milton Bradley bought his company. Currently, Hasbro owns the game, and estimates 50 million sets sold each year.

So Many Dice

Ironically for me and my recent article, the concept of Yahtzee came from a type of “dice poker” game, and consists of five dice and a scorecard. Players attempt to roll a three-of-a-kind, four-of-a-kind, full house, straight, or a yahtzee (all five dice are the same amount) in order to score higher. The poker-themed combinations are recorded on the lower part of the scorecard, while the higher portion scores you on the sum of the dice. Sorry, no bluffing. That’s called Liar’s Dice.

And this is a wholesome game; there's no room for liars.

The best part of Yahtzee for mathematicians is the probabilities and score possibilities that come from the five dice, three-roll setup. The maximum score is 375, but if the players are using Yahtzee bonuses it can be as high as 1575 points. The lowest theoretical score is 5, but that would require some special strategies of the player.

Since every turn in Yahtzee is three rolls, the probability of a yahtzee (five of a kind) in one turn is 1 in 22 attempts. When thinking about specific yahtzees (like five 2’s), that extrapolates to 1 in 75.

My History with Yahtzee

As a small child, I had no idea such a game existed. I called it the Mickey game, because my family’s set was a Disney collector’s set with Mickey Mouse in his sorcerer getup all over it. In fact, the dice had Mickey in the sorcerer hat instead of 5’s. I didn’t really know the rules until later.

Math was never, and shall never, be my strong suit. But I do remember learning my multiplication tables on the dice from a Yahtzee set. First we would play a fun game, then my father would ask what 5 times 5 was. I initially answered, “It’s a yahtzee. I win!” But I got better.

Even ol' Spud Head seems to know the value of Yahtzee.

It was later still that I applied my mad Yahtzee skills to a casino table. Yep, that family-friendly game taught me the initial concepts of poker, as well as how to calculate the probabilities of craps. Essentially, craps is just Yahtzee with an unnecessarily complicated betting system.

Value of the Game

With all the substandard board games out there today (“Twilight Scene-It” anybody?), I still take comfort in two particular classics: Scrabble and Yahtzee. One teaches vocabulary and spelling, while the other is an entire class on statistical math.

Yahtzee is a game that kids will find fun because of the dice, but as they get older it will become more fun because they are thinking, and Lowe originally marketed Yahtzee as the “Fun Game that Makes Thinking Fun!”

Maybe Lowe should have played more Scrabble. Yahtzee sets go for $10 to $20 depending on the vender and the version. Look for my personal favorite, Elvis Yahtzee, and the elegant Super Mario Yahtzee.

Want some more about classic games? Check out these articles:

-“Ain’t” Is Not a Word: A Scrabble Guide For The Lazy

-Like Capture The Flag With Bombs: A Stratego Retrospective

-Computers Must Be Stopped: A Short Chess Retrospective

Remember, Leon has proven that Kung Fu is an acceptable defence against zombie-ish villagers.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter (which you should), you may have noticed that I’ve been playing Resident Evil 5. I’ll have a full article on that tomorrow but for now I’m more concerned with its predecessor, Resident Evil 4. RE4 is without question one of the best games of all time and easily within my top 10, if not top 5. Why was that? Well hold on because I’m about to tell you since RE4 is today’s Game You Should Have Played.

A Classic By Any Other Name

The Resident Evil series is regarded by many to have begun the survival horror genre in video games. The games themselves, while being classics, aren’t exactly what you’d consider fantastic. Characters are stiff, the camera is a pain to deal with, and the dialogue can be laughably awful. Despite all this, the series pushed forward as an overwhelming success for years to come with a few sequels, some prequels, and more remakes than I’d care to remember. Problem was, after a while the formula became somewhat tired and dated. Enter Resident Evil 4 to change all that.

And enter this thing to make you hate your life again.

RE4 takes Leon Kennedy, last seen in RE2, and sends him to a rural village in Spain, tasking him with rescuing the President’s daughter, Ashley. It’s simple enough, but within a few minutes Leon has explained the needed backstory of the series and fallen into a heck of a lot of trouble involving the local villagers being possessed by something called Las Plagas. They are not zombies, though you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from a few feet away.

You don’t Need Much Backstory For a Game Like This

The story itself is nice since it takes the series and decides it doesn’t have to be in a mansion or Raccoon City at all. In fact, it doesn’t have to be anywhere near any of those things, nor anything relating to the Raccoon City Incident or the T-Virus. Wonderful. I went in to RE4 having no clue to the series’ story and that has made all the difference.

Sure it's cheap to use a rocket launcher against zombie-ish monks, but hey, they started it.

Also gone are the series’ rigid controls and camera. No more pre-rendered background to deal with, breaking way to allow Leon full roam of his space. The camera stays over his shoulder, a style used all over after RE4, and allows you to aim with a surprising amount of accuracy. This is where the series becomes less about survival horror and more about action horror, but I’m all in favor of such a shift. Let Silent Hill deal with the actual scary things; I’m fine with a gun that can do some damage if I need.

One of the other big contributors to the shift is the inclusion of Quicktime Events within actual Cut Scenes. You’ve heard me complain about Quicktime Events in numerous articles at this point, but RE4 was still early on in the use of such a game mechanic, especially in a Cut Scene. They were smooth and original for the time, and the knife fight scene is still one of the game’s highlights, but they never overstayed their welcome. They just ensured you were paying attention even when characters were talking.

No other game has completely reenergized a series the same way RE4 has. It was such a hit with critics and gamers, Capcom decided to break their promise with Nintendo to keep it a GameCube exclusive and ported it right over to the PS2. Naturally, as soon as the Wii showed up, RE4 found its way over to the new platform with updated controls and extras. There are even versions for the iPhone and the PC. Essentially, I’m telling you that you have no good excuse for not having played Resident Evil 4 unless you’re a kid since, yes, it is very gory. I had a heck of a time finding screenshots that didn’t contain extremely graphic violence, so thank me for that.

"Yes Ashley, please, step in that bear trap. That's real helpful."

Everything about RE4 is near perfect with everything it does. Sure, having to take care of Ashley is rather frustrating, especially when you get through a tough section only to accidentally knife her and get a Game Over. But otherwise the characters are enjoyable, the setting is eerie enough without getting too bogged down in itself, and you never feel cheated by the game at any point. Bosses are still fun and the difficulty is high but fair, plus there is heavy replay value due to unlockable weapons and such. Also, the Mercenaries mode just ate hours of my time.

I just can’t recommend RE4 enough. RE5 on the other hand…well that’s an article left for tomorrow.

But just because something is great just the way it is doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved!

Connect 4 x 4 is essentially the same game as the original, but with the ability to play with up to four players instead of just two. The object of the game still revolves around trying to get four of your pieces to line up in a row, only now there are more players to stand in your way. The grid is now double-sided, so there are twice as many spaces in which to play in about the same amount of space. There are also special new pieces that allow players to block both sides of the grid.

More Strategy Brings More Fun

The addition of two more players adds both fun and challenge to the original concept. Rather than battling wits with one opponent, you must now pay attention to three. Sure, it’s a little trickier, but it is now much more family-oriented, as everyone can now join in.

And if you want to stick to basics, you can just as easily use one side of the grid to play the original two-player classic.

So whether you like things the way they are or you want a little variety, Connect 4 x 4 is the perfect middle ground. It adds a new level of depth to a great game, but stays true to its original form. Just as the original Connect 4 left a lasting impression, Connect 4 x 4 will undoubtedly be a success and have a spot in any family’s game collection.  The game retails for less than $35 on amazon.

Someday I'm going to run this world while atop a noble steed and then we'll see who's laughing!

I am not very good at Risk. Ever lost Risk in two turns? I have.  I’ve seen friendships nearly break up as a result of Risk games going bad. It’s even worse than Monopoly with the amount of hate you seen thrown about. Regardless, never let your friends dissuade you from utter conquest of Asia or Europe, as you can’t take over the world without them. They’re impossible to hold onto, but still.

Risky Business

Risk was the brainchild of one French film director Albert Lamorisse who created the game in 1957 and called it something in French (or “La Conquête du Monde,” which means, naturally, “The Conquest of the World”). Why would someone decide to make a game that revolves around world domination? If you have to ask that question then you’re probably not a man. Every man hopes to someday rule the world with an iron fist and a glorious hat.

A standard game of Risk begins with a group of friends deciding their friendship has reached its limit. A few tears are shed and players are given their share of armies depending on how many total players there are. For instance, a two-player game has each player start with 40 armies, a three-player game has 35, a four-player game has 30, and so on. Each army is represented by a piece that looks like a solider. Cavalry pieces count as five armies and Artillery pieces are 10 armies.

Get used to seeing this because it's gonna be a long night.

Once everyone has their armies they take turns claiming territories to place an army on, just like in real life. Once the world is divided up, players place their remaining armies on their territories as they see fit to fortify them for the inevitable attacks from their former friends. Thus begins the bloodshed.

Like The History Channel Come Alive

The first player decides where he wishes to attack by looking at where his territory touches another and saying he’d like to attack for possession. It never sounds this formal though as most of the time they just scream, “Prepare for battle!” and toss dice in your face. Each turn you are given at least three additional armies to do what you will with, so when he means to tackle a territory, he’ll have some extra firepower to do so with.

These attacks are conducted as follows: The attacker gets up to three dice depending on how many armies he has in a territory. He can only attack with as many dice as one less than the number of armies that he has. The defender gets a die for however many armies he has, up to two. The once-friends roll their dice and compare the highest dice together. One army is lost when you lose a roll. The same goes for the second highest dice rolled. You can keep attacking as many times as you want even if your army is getting destroyed, but you have to stop when all your men are dead (unless you have necromancer powers or something, but I don’t think that applies to most games of Risk).

The rest of your turn can be spent fortifying your troops, getting Risk cards that can be turned in at the beginning of your next turn should you make a set (they give you more armies), and then apologizing to your friends. The game just keeps going until someone controls every territory in the world or someone thinks of something better to do with their time.

Maybe You Prefer Orcs

One Ring to Rule Them All!

Not everyone likes the idea of world conquest. Some people may prefer conquering a fictitious land, like Middle Earth or the Star Wars galaxies. Luckily there’s an edition for each of you as Risk has a few Lord of the Rings editions, a few Star Wars editions, a Transformers edition, and even a Halo edition. There are just too many worlds out there to be conquered, aren’t there? Better get to it.

Before you depart, let’s talk about what you’ll hear from your friends when you play. Don’t forget, they aren’t your friends anymore. So whatever they say is a dirty rotten lie. When someone says “Are you crazy? You can’t hold Asia,” make the attempt anyway. You’ll get seven additional armies at the beginning of every turn when you hold all of Asia, so you can fortify like nuts and stomp any that oppose you. But yeah, it’s easier to hole up in Australia and build a massive army to unleash during the best Blitzkrieg ever seen this side of WWII. I’ve seen it happen, and it is amazing when it does.

No, not "Genius" Edition. "Genus." You just learned something.

If you’re talking Trivial Pursuit, you mean the Genus Edition, the classic edition, the hardcore edition. I’ve never met anyone that can play Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition at a masterful level.

I have found people that know a few things, but no one that destroys lives via their pursuit of the trivial. So should you play Trivial Pursuit, knowing darn well that you may not be very good at it? You’re darn right you should.

Trivial History

Let us go back a few years to 1979, (you remember 1979, right?). One night two Canadian gentlemen by the names of Scott Abbott and Chris Haney wanted to play Scrabble, but they discovered that too many pieces were missing. So they did what anyone else would have done and invented their own game.

Okay, just think of how smart these guys must have been, alright? When you can’t find all the pieces to Clue, do you think to yourself, “You know good chums, I do believe we shall play a game that tests our knowledge at a level beyond the heads of most learned men!” No, you search for Candyland and call it a day. These two guys went ahead and invented a game that made an entire generation feel stupid and STILL people play it. Genius!

Trivial Pursuit Rules

Fun fact: This actually ruins families rather than brings them together.

If you haven’t played Trivial Pursuit in a while here are the rules: Someone asks you a question and you fumble around unless magically you actually know the answer.

Okay, yes, you roll a die to move and when you land on a colored space you must answer a trivia question relating to the category. Blue is Geography, pink is Entertainment, yellow is History, brown is Arts & Literature, green is Science & Nature, and orange is Sports & Leisure, (remember those in case one of the questions is, “What color is History associated with?”).

If somehow you answer a question correctly, you will be given a colored wedge to fit into your marker. When you have one wedge from each category you must move into the center of the board and answer a trivia question selected by the other players before you can win the game.

Naturally, the other players always select the category you know the least from because they aren’t really your friends and don’t really want to see you succeed.

Trivial Editions

Disney equalizes everything.

I am not very good at Trivial Pursuit. I enjoy playing now and then, but I don’t know much about anything (unless I give a recommendation; those are spot-on). I do my best but most of the questions blow right over my head. There is hope for me yet as there are multiple editions geared towards more specific things, such as Lord of the Rings, Saturday Night Live, and the always popular Disney Edition, also known as the Great Equalizer since I stand by my claim that everyone knows enough about Disney to hold their own in a game based around Disney knowledge.

Kids will always have a harder time than most when it comes to Trivial Pursuit, but not to worry as there are editions made specifically for kids, such as the Junior Players Edition or the Kids Nickelodeon Edition. You can and will find a version that suits your needs, but don’t expect a version for absolutely everything like Scene-It? or Monopoly will deliver.

Vintage Batman Robot

One area that has been particularly influenced by this has been toys.
Nowadays it seems as though everything is vintage or retro.  It is true, styles of previous times have been coming back with a vengeance.  Everything from clothing to contemporary décor has been influenced by this throwback. The vintage wave can be characterized in two different ways: modern twists on vintage looks and the surge in collector’s items. Not only are modern toy manufacturers these days making new versions of the toys from yesteryear, but the market for vintage toys has also skyrocketed.

Try an Ebay search for a huge selection of vintage toys. (Hint: try “classic toys”)

Everything from classic tin toys to classic star wars toys to vintage tonka trucks and toys are in high demand these days so here’s a breakdown of some major categories and popular toys.

Classic Toys Made Modern

You can find manufacturers today making all sorts of old standards. Classic toys like rubber chickens, x-ray goggles, and whoopee cushions are still made and sold in a variety of gag and party stores.  Other manufacturers have dedicated themselves to making replicas of toys that were once very popular.

One example of this is tin toys.  These include wind-up robots, planes, and automobiles.  Inspired by classic Americana, Schylling, for example makes many of these colorful toys for the younger generation.

Another popular classic is the erector set.  First made in 1911, this feat of kid engineering still helps growing minds today. Toy companies have even taken to replicating old-fashioned pedal cars.  These retro baby toys look in like the real Model T’s, roadsters, and Jalopies, but they’re made today in compliance with modern safety standards.

Wood Toys Always Valuable

Classic wood toys are also regaining popularity.  Toys like Lincoln logs and wooden trains are still as exciting to today’s kids as they once were decades ago.  Companies like Melissa and Doug are still making ever-popular Pound-a-peg, pickup sticks, and even tabletop baseball with vintage baseball design.

Perhaps the oldest toy still in production today, the abacus, still delights babies and toddlers alike.  These sturdy wooden toys have maintained their appeal since the 1920′s. Because of their enduring appeal to kids of all generations they’ve managed to survive developing technologies and fads.

Collecting Vintage Toys

Collecting vintage toys is also gaining in popularity.  The new user- friendly Internet bidding sites has made it increasingly easy for collectors to exchange and sell their vintage toys thus crafting the collection of their dreams.  Each decade has its own sub-genre.

Some popular categories include Betsy Wetsy, a classic doll made in 1934 and popularized in the 40′s and 50′s,  circus-themed toys, which are cut outs and representations that come together to form an entire circus scenery complete with characters and animals, and classic Barbie dolls, ranked by their date, outfit, and condition, of course. Even vintage board games like Shenanigans, made in 1966, have their spot on collectors’ radar.

Star Wars Toys – The Ultimate Collectibles

Perhaps the most collectible of the retro toys are vintage Star Wars toys.  Everything from playing cards, to action figures, to costumes and bits of vintage advertising, the Star Wars vintage community has a wide reach.

With an intricate inner hierarchy that determines the value of a particular item, the Internet is a great resource for finding that one particular toy or perhaps making a little cash off of attic finds. Other popular vintage action figures include: comic book action figures such as Batman or Superman, cartoon action figures, and even G.I. Joes.

Be it classic star wars toys, vintage 1970s toys, or even modern yet retro toys, it is clear that this fad has made a name for itself in the toy community.  Not only does this provide a cheerful reminder of a fading childhood, but the persistence of these items speaks to way in which they have been able to relate to kids just being kids.

Try an Ebay search for a huge selection of vintage toys. (Hint: try “classic or vintage toys”)

Today, board games are as diverse a form of fun and entertainment as you can find.  Word games, strategy, puzzle games and the ever- present classics are among the types you can find on just about any major store’s shelves.

Not only are people still buying board games “over the counter,” but with the advent of the Internet, if you want to play board games on the computer or online, you will find good company.  Collectors are also coming out of the woodwork to get their hands on vintage examples of early board games, and will pay considerable sums of money for rare examples good condition.

Board games and their online versions come in three basic forms:  Dice based, educational and strategy.

Dice-based Board Games

Dice based games, such as Yahtzee, Backgammon, and a newer favorite, Bunco, all rely on using those most ancient of recognizable game tools, six-sided dice.  Roll the dice, make your move or write down your score, rinse and repeat.

Using dice for basic game rules is an amazingly simple, but very effective method, and opens up too many game ideas to imagine – maybe that is why new dice based games pop up constantly. Even complex games, taking (in some cases) years to finish like Dungeons and Dragons, employ dice as their primary element.

Without the invention of the six-sided die, board games and their variations, would not have developed the way the same way in modern culture. D&D is a shining example of how dice games have converted to online and computer play. What was once a pure dice-rolling adventure game, has been turned into several highly successful computer and online based versions.

Dice based games are also seen in many hybrid board games, such as the popular games Monopoly, Candy Land and Shoots and Ladders.  These games combine dice, cards, play money and in some cases, small toys to pack in the action turn after turn.  They are superb entertainment, at the same time teaching math, cooperative play and even basic accounting.

Educational Board Games

The second type of game is what I would call “educational” style board games.  This category has a ton of favorites in it, including Scrabble, Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit.

The focus on these games is not only (sometimes) hilarious fun, but to challenge the mind and to encourage learning.  Since its final conception in 1948, Scrabble has been an important and fabulously fun example of a game offers challenge and enjoyment for people of all ages.

Scrabble also has a large fan base of collector type players who “scramble for scrabble” on vintage boards.  If you can lay your hands on a pristine example from the late 40’s or early 50’s, be prepared to shell out hundreds of dollars, perhaps more.

Trivial Pursuit’s popularity has also passed a more recent test, becoming one of the best selling games of the late 20th century.  It’s focus on answering questions as the path to victory marks it as one of the great learning games.

Strategy Board Games

The last major category is strategy style games.  Chess and Checkers are two that have been played by Emperors, Kings, commoners and witty professional gamers for a very long time.

Strategy games, also including war games such as Risk and Stratego,  teach odds calculation, mathematics, strategic thinking and cooperative play.  They are considered the most challenging board games for many, and are a category where you find people who play both for fun, and as a career.

Chess and Checkers were the first two complex games that appeared on a computer, and helped to develop processing capabilities for the future.  Chess may be the most played board game on the computer, and is certainly one of the most challenging to beat; however it is without question one of the most exciting games in the world.

If you are a true collector of vintage board games, Chess and Checkers are probably the easiest to find of all, and are certainly more common than early versions of games like Monopoly.  Recently, a late 19th century Baseball board game was discovered in the attic of an old home, and sold for a staggering price of $27,000 – take that Chess!