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Crowdfunding gives board game industry new life
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Aug 28, 2015
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Crowdfunding gives board game industry new life
Board game sales are up, totaling $880 million last year. Crowdfunding is giving the industry a boost.
Settlers of Catan + Seafarers of Catan
Settlers of Catan + Seafarers of Catan
(
Alexandre Duret-Lutz/Flickr Creative Commons
)

Board game sales are up, totaling $880 million last year. Crowdfunding is giving the industry a boost.

For many years, big companies like Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers decided what games would be made. But oh how times are changing! 

Now the people are weighing in on what games they'd like to see next. The crowdfunding website Kickstarter has become the place to go to float a new idea for a game and to get it funded.

Oliver Roeder is a senior writer for the website 538 and has been covering the board game trend.

"The industry is healthier than ever. It's nearly a billion dollar industry, with sales of board games reaching $880 million last year," he said. 

Edwin Mach and his two brothers are engineers and game designers in Southern California. For the past three years they have been working on developing a strategic board game which they call the   Vikings of Dragonia. He hopes their game can be as popular as the game Settlers of Catan.  

"It's simple to learn, and it's a game that a lot of people can play," he said.

Mach said they will be launching a Kickstarter soon to fund the game. 

To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above