Wooden Board Games

There is a special connection between board game lovers and their games and a sense of nostalgia over wooden board games because they bring us back to the beginning of board games. In addition to the sense of history, wooden board games also offer a green alternative to the mass produced, possibly environmentally unsafe board games you find in any large shopping venue.

Wooden games give the feeling of being handcrafted pieces of history. Before there was a way to manufacture cardboard, wood was used as the basis for a board game. The boards were sanded down, finished and painted to whatever was needed. The most common wooden board games were classics like chess and checkers. Even back in the early days of board games, Clue, Monopoly and of course Scrabble were all wooden.

These days wood has been replaced by thick cardboard with stickers being applied instead of designs being painted. These are easily produced and at a much cheaper price tag than wooden games (at least by today’s standards).

Recapture the love of the golden age of board games with these games that are reproduced from their original (and sometimes new) designs.

1935 Monopoly: This version of Monopoly is not available in stores and can only be found on a few websites. This is a reproduction of the Deluxe 1935 First Edition of Monopoly. Suitable to play as well as display, the game comes inside of a wooden hinged box. The game board contains the original artwork as does Chance and Community Chest card which were not used since 1935. Wooden houses and hotels are also included as well as a double pack of money, original metal tokens and even the original color schemes. There is a special 16-page book that reveals facts about the early versions. This edition retails for about $90. This version of the game is also available in a wooden bookshelf edition for $35.

Franklin Mint Monopoly: If you are looking for expensively created board games for play and display, then the Franklin Mint Monopoly set is yours for the taking. The board is surrounded by solid wood with a nice finish and rests on top of a base that contains a series of drawers that house your pieces. The game comes alive with 24k gold accents and retails for around $550.00 thru select retailers.

Franklin Mint Scrabble: For just $550 you can have this deluxe version of the much loved Scrabble. Each game comes with 100 letter tiles that are individually pressed and covered with 24k gold. You can also get Scrabble in the wooden bookshelf edition for just $35.

Creative Craft House: Aside from the old favorites you can surf on over to Creative Craft House to find many handcrafted wooden games including:

• Connect Four
• Shut the Box
• Soduku
• Tic-Tac-To
• Mancala
• Cribbage
• Barricade
• Checkers
• Chinese Checkers
• Horse Race
• Dominoes
• Travel Chess
• Jenga
• Mah Jong
• Mikado
• Nine Mens Morris
• and more wooden toys, puzzles and games…

Go!: This is a very intimidating game at first glance which permits players to use militaristic cunning to surround their opponent's pieces. The game itself was created some 4,000 years ago in the East with no current Western clone. The wooden board is broken down into 361 intersections, and the players use stones to try to surround the stones of their opponent.

Historic Games:Before cardboard there was wood, and it was used quite extensively to create board games. Historic Games is a website dedicated to creating beloved games from years gone from such countries as Africa and Scotland. The games are made out of durable wood, beautifully finished and relatively inexpensive. The games are 100% all natural, and many of the games are made from recycled materials found in second hand stores or scraps from furniture makers. Some of the games they currently offer include:

• The Captain's Mistress: Rumored to be played by Captain Cook and his shipmates as a way to unwind, the game is the ancestor to Connect Four. It gets its name due to the fact that the good Captain played the game a little too much. Players have to try and be the first to line up their four wooden balls;
• Oak Nine Mens Moriss: The premise is simple enough for a child, but the strategies can interest adults as well. You simply have to create a line of three men in order to steal a piece from your opponent, and you win by reducing your opponent's men to just two;
• King’s Table: Originally played with bones, this version used simulated bone pieces and a one inch thick oak game board. The game was originally played by the Norse as early as 400 A.D. and was transported across Europe. This was the be all and end all of strategy games until chess. Unlike chess, the game is played with just one king and his defenders starting in the center of the board. Your king is surrounded by an army twice your size. They also have a genuine bone version available;
• Cribbage: They have two versions of very large cribbage boards available (31” x 8”) that are painted in Celtic knot designs (Bird and Serpent). Each game is suitable for hanging as well and comes with hand turned pegs and a booklet of 14 different ways to play;
• Many more designs including Pentalpha (a Celtic Solitaire game played on a wooden Pentagram) and Tables of Four Seasons, a game that resembles Backgammon.

Besides the above companies and games here are a few more websites that sell wooden board games:

1. Yesteryear Games: A website that is dedicated to selling games of a very old and classic nature including Dread Pirate, Pharaohs' Revenge and many others.
2. Excellent Wood Products: Kind of a blah name but the site offers all wooden, green products including many games.
3. Educational Learning Games: The games found here are all fun and have some sort of educational worth.
4. Brilliant Puzzles: Fun, entertaining and educational, the wooden games found here all have a strategy associated with them.

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