Discuss “Updating board games”

For those of us who have grown up playing Monopoly, Clue, and Life, here’s a thought to consider: Perhaps the games have grown up with us, too. Monopoly, which has always been the classic game of hoarding little colored strips of paper (i.e., Monopoly “money”) has now been updated to being the classic game of hoarding millions in little plastic cards with Visa logos on them.

The updating of games doesn’t end with Monopoly; a new version of Battleship produces “the explosive sounds of real-life warfare,” and a new version of Life has an electronic “lifepod” that helps players keep track of their money, property, and time. Even something like Candyland hasn’t been spared. In the Dora the Explorer edition of Candyland, the traditional...