Reuters (via Yahoo) has a story about game companies looking to speed up board games - because consumers believe they don't have time to play games otherwise. Examples are Scene It? (a decent DVD-based movie game) and the Nascar version of Monopoly which are both designed to be played in less than an hour. They also promote the ability to play without reading the rules. Game on!

But they also talk to the founder of Cranium and he describes the need to squeeze kids games down to even shorter time-frames. Why is this, exactly? Should we really promote short attention spans?

Posted by scottsh at Saturday December 31, 2005 - 2:06 AM | Category: Board Games | © 2005 Gaming Signal

This is the difference between American (the casual gamer) and European games. Americans want a fast game and don't mind a lot of luck being involved. Europeans aren't afraid of multi-hour games and like more strategy.

I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done to change the minds of the casual American gamer. I also think that the fast pace of most people's lives lends itself to shorter games. I know I don't have several hours a night to play a game, even though I'd love to play Descent or some other longer game with my kids. I just don't have the time.

Posted by JP on Saturday December 31, 2005 at 3:14 PM

I would rather they make network versions of those board games. While it's nice to play with your friends and family in a live environment, it's not always possible. In our connected lives, why not bring the world closer in yet another dimension?

Posted by Pete on Monday January 02, 2006 at 6:56 PM