Board games grew into a bigger industry—but not overnight

Board games do not change through one release or within a single decade. The available evidence points to a longer process: an era of creation that the Jugamos Todos association says emerged from the late 1970s, with its centre in Germany; and an industrial transformation that the publisher’s description of Encrucijadas del juego de mesa places especially in the 1990s, when it notes growing popularity and a larger offering. These are clues to an evolution, not a complete chronology or a single explanation.

A history with several layers

The word “change” can combine different phenomena: the creation of games, their publishing and distribution, their public recognition, and the way their history is later written. The supplied sources provide no comparable production or sales figures with which to measure each of these. They do offer two emphases: Jugamos Todos highlights a new creative wave from the late 1970s; Shangrila, presenting a volume on history, culture and industry, stresses the 1990s transformation and increase in choice.

That distinction matters. A creative scene can open new paths before commercial expansion becomes more visible. We should not turn this reading into a proven causal relationship: the material does not show that the first trend alone produced the second. It is safer to understand them as two moments identified by different sources.

The European clue—and its limits

Jugamos Todos describes the current that emerged in the late 1970s as a European school, also known as eurogames, social games or author games, and places its centre in Germany. It adds that this current would become an economically important sector with global repercussions. The page offers a useful framework for locating the phenomenon, but the available extract lists no specific titles, designers, publishers or mechanisms with which to reconstruct its development in detail.

For that reason, “eurogame” should not be used here as a label that explains every later game, nor should Germany’s mention be taken as proof that all innovation came from there. The source describes a centre of gravity and a current; it does not provide a complete inventory of European games or a systematic comparison between countries.

The 1990s: more choice, a claim to qualify

Shangrila’s description argues that the industry’s greatest transformation began in the 1990s, linking it to growing popularity and a larger offering. This is useful as an indication of the period the book considers decisive. It is not, by itself, an independent measurement: the supplied material does not quantify the increase or specify markets, formats or distribution channels.

We should preserve the difference between an editorial interpretation and a statistical series. We can say that the source highlights the 1990s as a period of expansion; we cannot say that it has proved how much the industry grew in figures, or that change occurred in the same way in every country. Expansion may also have meant different things to players, shops, publishers and designers, but the extracts do not let us describe those particular experiences.

Spain is not an appendix to a global history

The Jugamos Todos text “Juegos aquí, antes y ahora” offers specific Spanish reference points. It says that Dalmau Carles Pla S.A. published La reconquista in 1970, credits the game to Joaquim Pla i Dalmau and mentions Las Grandes Batallas del Mediterráneo among the titles that followed. It also says the publisher continued with educational games and games based on television programmes, and that in 1985 it published the first role-playing game in Spanish.

These details show Spanish publishing activity before the 1990s expansion described by Shangrila, but they are not enough to reconstruct the whole domestic market. The same text mentions the production of miniature wargames from the early 1960s and the history of Borrás, founded in 1894. These references make it difficult to present tabletop leisure as a story that suddenly begins in one decade. They do not, however, tell us how many people played each title or how commercially successful it was.

Authorship is part of the story too

Jugamos Todos uses the case of Monopoly’s predecessors to warn that a game’s public history can be simplified. According to its account, litigation concluded in the 1970s affirmed the existence of earlier precursor games, dating back to 1903, and later advertising maintained the figure of Charles Darrow without mentioning Elizabeth Magie. This is a claim made by that source, not an independent review of the litigation: with the supplied evidence, we should not add legal detail or claim a wider conclusion.

The example matters because game history is not just a matter of arranging release dates. It also requires asking who receives recognition, which account gets repeated and what is left out. The page itself describes a long history between Parker and the original inventor; the extract, however, supplies no primary documentation with which to develop the case beyond that attribution.

What we know—and what remains open

The material supports a reasonable, though necessarily incomplete, reading: a European creative current existed from the late 1970s; Spanish publishing activity predated the 1990s; and, according to a Shangrila publication, industrial expansion in popularity and choice was especially marked during that decade. The cited academic work on historical simulation games and the publication on their use in teaching confirm that board games can also be studied as cultural and educational objects. The available records, however, are not enough to summarise their specific arguments.

The conclusion is not that the 1990s invented modern games. Rather, several sources identify significant industrial expansion during that period, on creative and publishing foundations with a history of their own. A more precise chronology would require catalogues, publishers’ records, contemporary press and studies comparing data from different countries. For now, caution belongs in the story: we can recognise the transformation without pretending that the available sources tell the whole game.