A brief history of Brazilian Board Games

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOBBY, THE CHALLENGES AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BOARD GAMES IN BRAZIL

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far way…

Sorry, wrong movie.

The board games history in Brazil isn’t too old, maybe a little bit far to Europeans, North Americans or Asians, but this trajectory is plenty of action, bold entrepreneurs and huge amounts of creativity.

Come with us!

A new habit

Old school board games, like Monopoly, Game of Life or Risk, have been popular in Brazil since the 70’s. In the beginning this hobby was limited to a tiny Brazilian middle class because of social inequality, several economic crises and a high level of illiteracy.

In the first decade of the 21st Century, We saw a more stable economy and a significant improvement of wealth in Brazil. In this scenario the consume habits changed and Brazilians started to spend more money on entertainment: movies, TV series, comic books and, of course, games.

Famous games like Catan and Carcassonne were launched during this period, but they were a curiosity in comic books stores. Most recent games were rare, and probably only found in the house of a friend or a distant cousin who traveled abroad.

Things changed around 2013, when Zombicide, the classic amerigame created by Raphaël Guiton, Jean-Baptiste Lullien and Nicholas Raoult, was launched in Brazil and became a big hit. The popularity of the theme, the beautiful miniatures and a very friendly exchange rate, created a best seller. For many players, businessmen and shopkeepers it was a milestone to the Brazilian market.

Seeking the famous games

During the next 3 or 4 years, many publishers, components factories and games shops were born in Brazil. Events, like Board Game São Paulo or Diversão Offline, attracted thousands of people and we saw a great number of YouTube channels, Facebook pages and Instagram Profiles dedicated to review and comment board games.

In the middle of the decade of 2010, Brazilian players received a lot of international launches: Azul, Terraforming Mars, Clans of Caledonia and many others were launched almost simultaneously with the European and North American market.

Consequently the level of demand in relation to quality of components, art and mechanics grew quickly. This high level  forced Brazilian Publishers to seek opportunities to buy and launch international games in Brazil: great titles with prizes and with proven quality represented a low risk bet in a competitive market.

Competitive game

The Brazilian game designers needed to make products with international quality to meet the demands of players and publishers. It was an unfair situation: European and North American game designers had at least 20 years of experience in board games production.

In the beginning there was common prejudice about Brazilian games, but year after year the game designers insisted in developing and producing. Small editions – with 500 copies or less – , crowdfunding and family or party games were good options to fortify the image of Brazilian games inside the country.

After lots of work, some troubles and much learning, today it’s possible to say: the Brazilian market recognizes the talent and creativity of the Brazilian games. Recently, this quality has been noticed by other markets: Cartographers, Paper Dungeons, Brazil: Imperial and other games are great success around the world.

The pandemic’s impact

Covid-19 and its consequences are a challenge to everyone.

Many players used to play in games fair or with a group of friends have had to change their habits. Playing alone or with a partner was a new concept for many people, but the customers liked the idea. We saw an impressive increase in sales of games to 1 or 2 players. 

To game shops has been a huge problem. In Brazil game shops are an important meeting point to players. Many of them offered snacks, soft drinks and promote events to increase sales. The restrictions of the pandemic interrupted these activities. Small businesses outside great cities were not prepared to operate in online sales. Many of them didn’t survive.

The pandemic amplified structural problems in the Brazilian economy and created a nightmare for publishers. Currency devaluation against the dollar, problems in factories in China and the worldwide container shortage crisis are a real challenge to companies dependent on imports.

Because of these changes, Brazilian Publishers are actively working to create new opportunities. In the last two years more Brazilian games were released or announced than in the entire previous decade. The objective is clear: abandon a passive position of consumer and turn Brazil into a reference in game design.

Nobody knows what will happen in this new scenario, but I bet that creativity, innovation and love for board games will not be lacking.