Board games are often marketed as being "educational." And, most of these games are pretty bad -- they have some stupid trivia questions about their subject, to "earn" their educational status, instead of providing interesting strategies and meaningful player choices.
Board games can be very educational, but not in this way.
The first lesson one learns when playing a good, multi-player board game, is how to lose. Four people sit down to play; only one of them is going to win -- three are going to lose.
Learning to lose gracefully is tough. It's a skill - and anyone who doesn't think it is one has never played serious games with young children. Kids hate losing and a lot of them just can't handle it.
Second, good strategy games teach one how to make plans and adjust them as events unfold. This is a useful skill.
Strategy games that have a chance element, such as dice, can also teach some basic probability concepts.
But all this is missing the point, the real thing that these games teach is the difference between good decisions and good outcomes.
Sometimes, you make the correct decision in a game, but the cards or dice just don't come through; you have a bad outcome. This happens. That's the nature of a game of chance, of an uncertain world, of life itself.
For example, parents may consult specialists for some medical problem that their child has; decide the best option is to operate; and then have their child die on the operating table. And, usually, this was a good decision, followed by an absolutely horrible outcome (although, occasionally, it is incompetence).
But a lot of people can't draw this distinction and torture themselves with guilt for years and years afterwards for having made that good decision. Or, instead, they launch a lawsuit, since having a bad outcome means that someone somewhere must be at fault...
I believe that learning that, sometimes, good decisions can result in bad outcomes and that, sometimes, bad decisions can result in good outcomes, is one of the most powerful things strategy games can teach us, in a safe way.
But, no one ever markets board games for this quality or even discusses it...
Home