Video Killed... the Board Game Star Quiz

"Spacewar!" is a two-player game developed in 1962 by a group of MIT students and employees on a donated minicomputer. It is a space combat simulation game where players, controlling "the needle" and "the wedge" spaceships, attempt to destroy each other against a starfield. They even created custom-built, detached control boxes which some people argue are the first gamepads.

Although not a commercial product itself, "Spacewar!" directly inspired the creators of the first commercial arcade video games and was added to the Library of Congress' list of the ten most important video games in history.

Meanwhile, board games were still very popular and did not realize the threat of their up-and-coming opponent of the video games. Families still played Monopoly and Clue while a new game, Aggravation, was introduced in 1962.

"Pong" was an electronic sports game released by the startup company Atari in 1972 that became the first commercially successful video game and helped launch the modern video game industry. Atari wanted to create a simple "warm-up" game for arcades. So they introduced two moving "paddles", a "ball" (a moving dot), and a center dotted line on a black-and-white television screen. The ball also sped up and changed angles.

It was installed in a tavern in California in 1972 and became a huge success. The machine even broke down frequently because the coin box overfilled. Its popularity helped launch a whole industry and made Atari a household name. "Pong" is considered one of the most culturally significant video games of all time.

Meanwhile, board games innocently carried on, unaware of the video craze. Boggle, a word search game, was introduced in 1972 and became very popular.

"Combat" is a classic shooter video game developed and published by Atari, Inc., released in 1977 for the new Atari video console. It was designed as a two-player game, with no single-player mode against a computer opponent. Players use a joystick to control their respective vehicles on a single screen. The idea is to use vehicles such as tanks, jets, and biplanes to score hits on the opponent in a given time period.

This video game, although appearing simple, was groundbreaking in the late 1970s. It was included in a "bundle" and came along with the Atari 2600 console. Its feature of 27 different variations of the game was something new that became immensely popular and was a forerunner for later games.

Meanwhile, perhaps sensing the video game craze, some board games became more modern. Battleship, for instance, was released in 1977 in an electronic form with computerized tracking and sound effects.

"Space Invaders" is a fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Taito in 1978 that is credited with launching the "golden age" of arcade games. The objective is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a laser cannon that can only move left and right across the bottom of the screen. Different aliens yield different point values, and a "mystery ship" occasionally flies across the top of the screen offering bonus points if hit.

"Space Invaders" became an immediate cultural and commercial sensation. This Japanese game moved the industry away from simple sports simulations and established action-oriented games as the dominant game type. And the pixelated alien graphics became part of pop culture.

Meanwhile, the board games realized they had better start catching up quickly with their video game "opponents". Video game creators had a hand in inventing new board games, including Simon which came out in 1978 also.

The 1982 "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" video game for the Atari 2600 is infamous as one of the worst video games ever made. It was rushed to market to capitalize on the movie's success. The game's objective is to guide E.T. through a maze-like world to find three parts of a telephone to "phone home". The mechanics, including collecting Reese's Pieces for energy and using powers, were considered confusing and not intuitive without reading the manual. The graphics were very basic.

Although over 2.6 million copies were sold by the end of 1982, many were returned. The game's poor performance is often cited as a key contributor to the video game crash of 1983, a market decline attributed to an oversaturated market, low-quality games, and waning consumer confidence.

Meanwhile, maybe sensing a weakening in the video market, board games took advantage of the lull. The game Trivial Pursuit was a massive success in the early 1980s.

In 1985, the video game "Super Mario Bros." was a revolutionary release by Nintendo that is widely credited with helping to revive the video game industry at that time. Players control Mario, or his brother Luigi in the two-player mode, on a quest to rescue Princess Toadstool from the evil King Bowser in the Mushroom Kingdom. The game introduced iconic power-ups like the Super Mushroom (making Mario grow larger) or the Fire Flower (allowing him to shoot fireballs).

The first level, World 1-1, is renowned for its intuitive design, subtly teaching players how to interact with the game world without explicit instructions. The game, and its soundtrack, became an immediate and massive commercial success, selling over 40 million copies. It also made Mario a global pop culture icon.

Meanwhile, the board games (perhaps sensing the renewed interest in videos) decided to go "old school". A big hit in 1985 was the release of the charades-type game called Pictionary.

The video game "Tekken" was an important release in 1995, primarily for its highly successful port to the PlayStation console, where it became immensely popular. The story centered around the "King of Iron Fist Tournament," a martial arts competition. It had a unique and intuitive control scheme, which assigned a dedicated button to each of the fighter's four limbs (left punch, right punch, left kick, right kick). It featured 3D character models and environments.

"Tekken" was a critical and commercial success, establishing the series and becoming a foundational title for the PlayStation console. It, with its story mode, also kicked off the 3D fighting genre for game players.

Meanwhile, the board games decided to invent a new genre for themselves! They introduced the Eurogame craze, which focused on strategy and resource management rather than luck. This included The Settlers of Catan.

In 1999, "Sonic Adventure" was the flagship game for the North American launch of the Sega Dreamcast console. The main objective of the game is to stop Dr. Eggman from using an ancient water creature named Chaos to destroy the world. This is done by playing through the interwoven storylines of six different characters. This was the first main "Sonic the Hedgehog" game to feature fully 3D gameplay.

Its stunning graphics and cinematic presentation were a major selling point for the new Sega hardware, with many people reportedly buying the console just after seeing the game. Its groundbreaking visuals and scope garnered tremendous acclaim at its launch and it sold well over a million copies in the U.S. alone.

Meanwhile, the board games were feeling left out. They decided to venture into the party arena and introduced some party game hits like Apples to Apples in 1999.

In 2006, "Wii Sports" was a revolutionary game that launched with the Nintendo Wii console, single-handedly popularizing motion controls and bringing video games to a broad "non-gamer" audience that included families and the elderly. The objective was to win a match in either tennis, bowling, golf, boxing, or baseball. To do this, a player used motion controls where they mimicked real-life actions-swinging the remote like a tennis racket or a golf club, or making a throwing motion for bowling-and the on-screen Mii characters responded to the direction and speed of the swing.

With simple graphics and easy-to-grasp gameplay, "Wii Sports" was designed for everyone, from experienced gamers to grandparents. The Mii avatars added a personal and engaging touch to the experience. The game won numerous awards for its innovation, design, and multiplayer experience, and it has been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, the board games were looking on and decided to go fast-paced themselves. They introduced newer, faster competition with games like Bananagrams that was created in 2006.

In 2017, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" was released as a launch title for the new Nintendo Switch console. The objective of the game is to defeat Calamity Ganon and rescue Princess Zelda, thereby restoring peace to the land. The player (controlling the protagonist Link) must typically complete several sub-objectives. However, the game features a non-linear structure meaning there is virtually no mandatory sequence of events on the player.

The game broke from many established open-world conventions by having minimal hand-holding and allowing players the ability to go almost anywhere from the start-including directly to the final boss, Calamity Ganon, if they were skilled enough. It received universal acclaim, with praise for its sense of discovery and immersion and helped establish a new industry standard for interactive game play.

Meanwhile, the board games decided to "go big or go home". They introduced games such as Gloomhaven with its 20 pound (9 kg) box. Perhaps the name referenced the feeling they had against their video game competitors!