fanboy2000
Adventurer
So, over in the thread about the commercial for the Red Box, Raven Crowking made the following observation and question.
It’s an interesting question and there is so much one can infer from it. First, there’s the answer. In the board games category, there is Monopoly (discussed in the other thread), Life, Careers, and Axis and Allies. This list is not, to my knowledge, exhaustive. Monopoly in particular has a long history of change, starting out as a game that was anti-monopolistic about a hundred years ago. In the video games category, there is Final Fantasy III which was released with updated graphics + a few other things on the PSP recently, IIRC. In the hobby games category, Warhammer (and it’s sibling, Warhammer 40k) have changed significantly in the past 25 years.
There are of course, games that don’t change. Western Chess has been the same for a very, very long time. Though there many Chess variants in different countries. Go has been substantially the same game for over 4,000 years. Backgammon had a change recently with the addition of the doubling cube, a change that spurred it’s popularity early in the 20th Century. But it could be argued that change wasn’t substantial. Many popular board games also go through minor changes that are mostly cosmetic in nature, thus substantiating Raven Crowking’s observation.
But what really interests me is the idea (not explicitly state in the quote) that the rules for traditional games stay the same for decades. That’s simply not true. First, traditional games are often subject to house rules. For example, when I play Rummy 500 with my fiancee we play that when you pick-up a discarded card you have to meld it right away. This isn’t, however, the way I was taught to play with my family. Monopoly is infamous for it’s house rules. I don’t know about now, but the ubiquitous house rule of putting money in the middle of the board for the person who lands on free parking used to not be in the rules at all.
I’m met people who don’t play Checkers (Draughts) where you have to jump if it’s available. Back in the Navy, I met someone who had never heard the rule and refused to play that way.
Second, Poker is famous for it’s many variations, each with their own fans. It used to be that when I heard people talk about poker with out a modifier of some kind, it was 5 card draw. Now, they're usually talking about Texas Hold'em.
This is true with a lot of games. Rummy has a number of variants. People often call a variant by just the main game's game. I don't know how many times I've called Rummy 500 just "Rummy." Also, I've seen variants within the same game. Euchre is a popular trick taking game using a smaller subset of the standard 52 card deck. The number of cards used seems to vary depending on what rulebook I have in hand.
500, an offshoot of Euchre, has a number of different "schedules" that change the value of certain outcomes.
Baccarat's an interesting game too. Today, in the U.S. the game is dictated entirely for you. The player has no say in whether or not to draw a card or stand. Go to France, however, and the game allows the player to make choices.
What’s really interesting about this is that the name “Hoyle” is on lots of books by different publishers (much like Roget’s and Webster’s) who publish different books with no ties to originator of the name. The reason that book is still valid is the same reason the 1981 Starter Set is still valid: if that’s what you and your group agree to play by, then that’s the game you’re playing.
One of the side discussions in the thread is about the difference between the look of the new starter set (that it looks like the famous starter set from 1981) and the change in the contents.
It’s an interesting question and there is so much one can infer from it. First, there’s the answer. In the board games category, there is Monopoly (discussed in the other thread), Life, Careers, and Axis and Allies. This list is not, to my knowledge, exhaustive. Monopoly in particular has a long history of change, starting out as a game that was anti-monopolistic about a hundred years ago. In the video games category, there is Final Fantasy III which was released with updated graphics + a few other things on the PSP recently, IIRC. In the hobby games category, Warhammer (and it’s sibling, Warhammer 40k) have changed significantly in the past 25 years.
There are of course, games that don’t change. Western Chess has been the same for a very, very long time. Though there many Chess variants in different countries. Go has been substantially the same game for over 4,000 years. Backgammon had a change recently with the addition of the doubling cube, a change that spurred it’s popularity early in the 20th Century. But it could be argued that change wasn’t substantial. Many popular board games also go through minor changes that are mostly cosmetic in nature, thus substantiating Raven Crowking’s observation.
But what really interests me is the idea (not explicitly state in the quote) that the rules for traditional games stay the same for decades. That’s simply not true. First, traditional games are often subject to house rules. For example, when I play Rummy 500 with my fiancee we play that when you pick-up a discarded card you have to meld it right away. This isn’t, however, the way I was taught to play with my family. Monopoly is infamous for it’s house rules. I don’t know about now, but the ubiquitous house rule of putting money in the middle of the board for the person who lands on free parking used to not be in the rules at all.
I’m met people who don’t play Checkers (Draughts) where you have to jump if it’s available. Back in the Navy, I met someone who had never heard the rule and refused to play that way.
Second, Poker is famous for it’s many variations, each with their own fans. It used to be that when I heard people talk about poker with out a modifier of some kind, it was 5 card draw. Now, they're usually talking about Texas Hold'em.
This is true with a lot of games. Rummy has a number of variants. People often call a variant by just the main game's game. I don't know how many times I've called Rummy 500 just "Rummy." Also, I've seen variants within the same game. Euchre is a popular trick taking game using a smaller subset of the standard 52 card deck. The number of cards used seems to vary depending on what rulebook I have in hand.
500, an offshoot of Euchre, has a number of different "schedules" that change the value of certain outcomes.
Baccarat's an interesting game too. Today, in the U.S. the game is dictated entirely for you. The player has no say in whether or not to draw a card or stand. Go to France, however, and the game allows the player to make choices.
What’s really interesting about this is that the name “Hoyle” is on lots of books by different publishers (much like Roget’s and Webster’s) who publish different books with no ties to originator of the name. The reason that book is still valid is the same reason the 1981 Starter Set is still valid: if that’s what you and your group agree to play by, then that’s the game you’re playing.
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