History of Fun: Cooperative Board Games

The history of board games covers thousands of years of history and speaks to some big questions: What happens in our brains when we play board games? What is fun? And (slightly less profound, but potentially of interest to intellectual property lawyers) who’s really responsible for Monopoly? Board game game history touches on culture and technology, psychology and politics. Why are cooperative games like Pandemic, Gloomhaven, Arkham Horror, and Hanabi so popular? Is it fun for everyone to lose? Welcome to the History of Fun, a new series about the history and science of humans’ favorite ways to have a good time. In this episode of The History of Fun, Justin (@juddtoday) explores the interesting history of board games, specifically cooperative games, with board game designer Matt Leacock, who is responsible for the Pandemic game series, Forbidden Island, and so much more. Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date on new episodes of this show. And leave a comment letting us know what topics you’d like to see covered next! Special thanks to Matt Leacock! If you’d like to check out his work (including his new game Daybreak), check out his website here: Music in this episode by: Kevin Macleod Drawings by: Nick Cox Website: Twitter: Facebook: