BOARD GAMES GOING DIGITAL!

Ruwandi Perera indulges in a few rounds of traditional board games online

Avurudu is here once again; and hopefully, Sri Lankans will have a little more time on their hands than usual to engage in some quality family activity. Most traditional avu­rudu games require people to gather in one place though, which may not be ideal due to the pandemic related un­certainty that’s still in the air.

As it has been over the past two years or so however, digital technology has come to the rescue to give us plenty of tech driven options to spend time with family – both near and far away – without  det­racting from the traditional quality.

Let’s take the time-honoured avurudu board game called pancha keliya for instance, which is the Sri Lankan version of ludo. Did you know you can download an app to play this game now, and that it could connect you with other players too?

Games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, and snakes and ladders – and even playing cards –  have stood the test of time… and that’s quite strange, given how quickly and effortlessly many things have become outdated with technology.

Maybe it’s the community engagement or perhaps even the fact that so much nostalgia is passed down from genera­tion to generation around board games. And instead of relegating traditional board games to the trash heap, digi­tal technology is elevating them to a far more experiential level.

No, we’re not talking about online video wizardry but actual board games that have been digitalised so that people can play them without running the risk of unsafe social contact.

Many traditional board games are available online these days; and with most of them possessing a chat function and even webcam configurations, players can interact with each other in real time and connect with others who are far away.

Traditional card games too have been digitally enhanced, even to the extent of playing for money with the use of offshore websites.

Poker is another online favourite and estimates show there are around 100 million players in the world with some of them even playing it as a full-time job.

Word games too have had a reawakening ever since Wordle became popular. It is taking over the planet and bringing back people’s love of playing with words!

Some may even say that word-based board games are far more interesting in digital form than their original formats. The game Paperback is played by those who love Scrabble for instance, which – although nostalgic as a family bonding exercise – can be somewhat dull if you have digital natives around the table.

Paperback is gaining popularity, given that it’s a digital board game, which has elements of word and deck building on the other hand, and requires players to be strategic and creative at the same time.

Even Dungeons & Dragons has been digitalised and adopt­ed by a larger community of players. Available on interactive online platforms with newer and simpler rules, the collaborative storytelling game of damsels, knights, warriors, trolls and the all-encompassing dungeon master has never been more exciting!

We’re also seeing tech startups trying to rewrite the narrative of digitised board games by taking their technology driven versions to another level! Simply put, these are traditional board games with new, improved and techy boards.

Digital tabletop gaming boards – like an iPad or tablet in many ways – are now allowing players near and far to engage in multiple board games with or without tangible pieces or cards on top of them.

Take a system like Game­board, which replaces the usual cardboard board with a digital surface that’s complete with stereo speakers and microphones, and even mimics the way players use their hands on the screen.

It’s designed to be played with a group – either physically or virtually – and therefore eschews the perception of isolation that clouds the world of video games. This type of immersive gaming may not be affordable to the masses but looks like it will be an addiction.

It can be argued that digital board games will never replace the real thing. After all, there’s as much – if not more – fun in sharing snacks, drinks and having the occasional food fight as there is in playing the game!

Yet, in a post-pandemic world where getting people together in one location at the same time and staying together for the entire duration of the game is close to impossible, digital board games may be the next best thing.

One thing’s for sure, however… We’re probably not going to get bored with board games for the foreseeable future.