With today’s huge popularity of video games that can offer great music and graphics along with an interactive story, pressure is put on traditional board games to hold players’ attention, just as these controller games can provide. . Games like Guitar Hero, which test not only players’ hand-eye coordination, but also their musical ability, will often give players a world to escape to that makes time fly with the level of concentration they they provide. Other games, like Dance Dance Revolution, give players something physical to compete with and this keeps all players active, holding their attention.
Board games are starting to get the message and are reinventing themselves in ways that are designed to get players up and moving, taking action. This prevents players from simply sitting around a table, using their intellect to win a game. Players are now also forced to use other skills in various ways. This stimulation, both mental and physical, is good for anyone trying to have fun with friendly competitive play, and as the popularity of these performance-based board games grows, more and more games will surely move in this direction. .
The board game American Idol is one of those games that will challenge players in more ways than just a simple race around the board. Based on the hit TV show where contestants compete against each other singing various songs, this show is a competition determined to find out who is the best singer in the group. The board game works largely on the same level, having all players race around a board to rack up points and move on to the finishers area. When two people reach the finishers area, they will each sing a song to determine who is the strongest singer and the winner of the game. While this game isn’t overly challenging, it does give players the opportunity to do more than just run around the board.
Stepping things up, though, the American Idol All-Star Challenge DVD game makes players work a little harder. Created by the same people who make the Scene It game, this game uses a DVD to help players complete tasks and sing the songs they need to sing to compete. This game is more inclusive in all aspects, as players not only sing, but perform dance routines to earn performance stars, by which the game is judged. While points aren’t always awarded for who sang the best, the game allows people to get up and do something, making them work for the prize.
Other games also have performance heavy elements involved. Cranium uses a number of factors during its competition, not just trivia and knowledge. Players in this game might be forced to draw or carve a clue out of clay or perhaps put on a performance for their team to guess. These performances can double as charades, where they have to silently act out a track. They can take the form of a celebrity impersonation or even a music track, where they have to hum a song for others to guess.
