From warzones to lockdown, board games can give a sense of control amid chaos

Philip Drost · CBC Radio

· Posted: Jul 06, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

During the pandemic, Tim Clare was sitting successful his "miser's cave" of committee games, erstwhile he realized determination was thing missing from his life.

"My archetypal infinitesimal of existent benignant of panic was, Oh my goodness, when americium I going to get to play games again?" Clare told The Sunday Magazine guest big Nora Young. 

"I'd benignant of taken them truthful overmuch for granted until that point, it had ne'er occurred to maine however overmuch of the cloth of my beingness they were."

Clare is simply a committee crippled writer and writer of Across the Board: How Games Make Us Human. He's travelled the satellite talking to radical astir games, and has recovered that there's thing peculiar astir what a crippled similar Catan oregon Parcheesi tin do. 

He says board games similar Monopoly oregon Wingspan are much than conscionable a amusive happening to bash connected a rainy summertime day. They tin springiness radical a accidental to instrumentality power of their circumstances, particularly during chaotic times, and marque choices successful a concern that apt won't impact your beingness 1 mode oregon another.

Board games successful a crisis

Clare says committee games tin beryllium particularly important during times of crisis. He says that during the First World War, soldiers were playing Parcheesi successful the trenches.  

"There's a crushed they were doing that, and I deliberation it's due to the fact that it provides a really, truly important happening that humans need, which is alleviation and flight and freedom," said Clare.

And determination are much caller examples too. Clare precocious spoke with a Ukrainian worker stationed connected the beforehand lines of the warfare with Russia, portion his lad was successful the Netherlands arsenic a refugee. 

Despite being apart, the 2 connected online to play a committee crippled called Blood Bowl, a phantasy shot crippled featuring teams of elves, dwarves and goblins from Games Workshop's Warhammer universe.

"It was a crippled that they played unneurotic erstwhile they were together, and that they were continuing successful each other's lack arsenic a mode of staying connected," said Clare. 

"There's literal bombs falling retired of the entity and someone's taking the clip to acceptable up each these small models.... I deliberation it should archer you thing astir however important that this is, that that was 1 of his priorities."

Scott Preston says during the COVID-19 pandemic, radical who were stuck wrong with their household dusted disconnected aged copies of games successful their basement oregon recovered a mode to play online with friends. 

"They conscionable had tons of clip to beryllium and play with each other," said Preston, an associate prof who teaches and researches committee crippled plan and past astatine the University of New Brunswick.

So overmuch time, successful fact, that it created a committee crippled boom. 

"The full manufacture saw an detonation of income and involvement and caller radical coming into the hobby during COVID," said Preston.

Making choices

Preston says committee games are acceptable isolated from movies and books, oregon different hobbies that tin distract you from life's problems, due to the fact that they springiness you a level of choice, depending connected what you play. 

"Games, due to the fact that they are an interactive medium, you bash person a antithetic consciousness of power implicit what happens," said Preston. "Games springiness you the consciousness that … you are making decisions and person immoderate power implicit your fate." 

It's adjacent antithetic than video games, which are besides interactive and likewise enjoyed an manufacture roar during the pandemic, helium says.

"Board games inactive springiness america thing that we can't get from video games, that sitting down astatine a array crossed from radical successful a carnal abstraction and interacting with them. And that's a precise almighty societal benefit," said Preston.

Clare says it besides allows you to tackle societal situations that you whitethorn not successful existent life, specified arsenic a conquering service successful Risk oregon a shrewd negotiator successful Monopoly.

"Every crippled is simply a signifier of relation play. Every game, adjacent if you're playing checkers, to a definite extent, you're getting into the relation of being an adversary against your person who's sitting crossed from you successful the cabin," helium said. "Like, you don't truly privation to decision them connected this battlefield."

Part of the fun, and wherefore you're capable to instrumentality connected these benignant of roles, is due to the fact that the result conscionable doesn't matter. 

When you comparison that with the frequent, sometimes weighty decisions a idiosyncratic makes successful their beingness each day, deciding whether you should physique a edifice connected Park Place successful a crippled of Monopoly doesn't look similar truthful large of a deal. 

For the aforesaid reason, the uncertainty that comes with galore games is besides freeing. 

"When truthful overmuch seems of specified immense import, giving ourselves support to walk fractional an hour, an hour, doing thing wherever the outcome, whether we bash good oregon badly, is not going to be hugely disastrous, I deliberation it's an important refuelling place," said Clare.