Top 10 Branded Board Games

Top 10 Branded Board Games

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Top 10 Card Games

These are the games we love to play on rainy Saturday afternoons. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 branded board games. For this list, we’re taking a look at brand name board games, which means games like chess don’t make the cut. We’re also looking at games that involve pieces moved or placed on a board or surface of some sort according to fixed rules, so card games aren’t included either. The games on our list must have first been released prior to the year 2000, and can’t be based on a movie or TV show. Games that rely on physical movements, gestures, drawings, and verbal cues, such as Twister, Operation, Charades, Pictionary and Taboo, are also excluded. Now, let the games begin!

D6? Hit and sink! Released officially by American game pioneer Milton Bradley in 1967, this guessing game actually has its roots as a pencil-and-paper game that originated during the First World War. Played on four grids, two to a player, “Battleship” has each player secretly positioning their ships in a location on the primary grid and leaving it to the other player to call out random grid positions in an effort to “sink” the other’s ships. This game has been so popular that India, Russia, and Japan all have versions of the game, and it was even the inspiration for the same-titled sci-fi 2012 movie.

Based on an ancient Indian game called Pachisi, and dating back to at least the 16th century, Sorry! was eventually registered in England in 1929. It was then adopted by the Parker Brothers, who were later bought out by Hasbro, and that company produced the version we know today. In the game, two to four players must compete to see who travels fastest with their piece around the board, using cards, and areas on the board to either speed up their own process or slow down others. Its popularity has been so great that several themed versions have also come out, including the Disney, Spiderman 3, and The Simpsons editions, among others.

Sold in England and Canada under the name Snakes and Ladders, and Chutes and Ladders in the U.S., this classic race game is another from ancient India, and was taken on by Milton Bradley in 1943. Though the game originally featured snakes instead of chutes, it was changed in America because the company thought kids would be put off by snakes. The game can also be used as a moral lesson of sorts, with the most popular version featuring a board where the travel up and down ladders and snakes, which symbolize the consequences for good deeds and mischievous deeds respectively.

After finding misplaced pieces of their Scrabble game, a photo editor and sports editor from two different Montreal newspapers decided to create their own game in the late ‘70s. Ultimately released in 1982, Trivial Pursuit is a game in which you must move around a board by answering trivia questions correctly and it came to be hugely popular, having sold almost 90 million games in almost 30 countries by 2004. With new editions being released all the time, Trivial Pursuit has also been turned into a video game, home computer game, and adapted into TV game show, among other things.

Now translated into around 30 languages, this German board game has players become the titular settlers, each constructing and cultivating settlements while also exchanging and procuring resources, in return for points. Though created relatively recently, having been first released in 1995, it has acquired many followers and fans outside of its home continent. “The Settlers of Catan” has also spawned spinoffs and has been awarded several trophies in gaming.

#5: The Game of Life

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This was Milton Bradley’s very first game, created in 1860 and originally called The Checkered Game of Life. Since then, it has abandoned its initial strong moral message and has become a simulation of a person’s journey through life. Including major life events going to school, finding a job, getting married, and more, Life also has its players dealing with insurance, stocks, and even mid-life crises! The game later inspired a book featuring practical advice on life, and has even become a part of the collection of the National Museum of American History.

Was it Mrs. White, in the library, with the rope? Play and you’ll find out! Created by an English musician in Birmingham as a new game to play during air raids, it took off as a murder mystery game, where up to 6 players must take on the roles of the suspects and deduce who killed the game’s victim in what room and with what weapon. Moving around the board and collecting clues, the first person to deduce the right answer correctly wins. Originally called Cluedo, Hasbro has since bought the rights to the game, which has produced more games, books, and even a 1985 movie.

Very few board games have become international, sold over 150 million copies, and inspired TV game shows and multiple documentaries; however, Scrabble is one such game. Created in 1938 by an American architect, this mentally challenging game sees players using tiles with letters on them to create words either left to right horizontally or downward vertically on a board with a grid. Initially rejected by companies like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, Scrabble has since been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, and there are currently tournaments where the world’s best players compete against each other.

In 1957, French film director Albert Lamorisse created a board game he called La Conquête du Monde. Recognizing gold when they saw it, Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game and released it two years later as Risk: The Game of Global Domination. In the strategy board game, players must try to occupy every territory of the world as shown on the board’s map, which they can do by capturing territory from other players. Due to its incredible popularity, Hasbro has since created versions based on film and television, including Transformers, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings-themed Risks. Before we unbox our topic pick, here are a few honorable mentions: - Connect Four - Axis & Allies - Candy Land - Stratego - Cranium

Yes, no matter the version, we’ve all played this game. With a history going back to as early as 1903, the version of Monopoly closer to what we know today was published by Parker Brothers about 3 decades later. Its goal (as it remains now) was to move around the game board buying and trading properties, all while collecting rent from other players and trying to bankrupt them. Since its original release, the game’s mascot has become an icon while Monopoly itself has been the feature of documentaries. It has also been published in dozens of variations, including a set worth $2 million. This is undoubtedly the world’s best-selling and most beloved branded board game of all time. Do you agree with our list? Which branded board game do you have sitting in your living room? For more entertaining Top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.