Analog vs. Digital; Let the great game debate begin.,,

I was excited to receive my confirmation email from the good people at IndieGoGo concerning my financial contribution to the upcoming season three of TableTop on the Geek & Sundry network.  I would be the first to admit when it comes to G&S and their lineup of programming, I'm kind of a wh*re.  What can I say; their content entertains me and they do it on a shoestring budget. I make no apologies.

That being said, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day and the people over at Geek & Sundry, the popularity of tabletop games has surged in recent years as the people are finding it entertaining and, as some say, "cool" to unplug from the console and sit down with an old fashion tabletop board game. 

To provide a little context, board games go back thousands of years before the birth of Jesus Christ in ancient Egypt and have taken many forms and fashions in the millennia that followed. It hit a boom in the 80s with RPGs including Dungeons and Dragons capturing the hearts and attention of the hardcore gamers and the rest of the community enthralled by more family-friendly fare like Monopoly and Clue. Board games, card games, dice games and role playing games have all evolved from that original creation.  Fast forward nearly 5,000 years and a little thing called the home computer has overtaken the world and, to the delight of children of all ages everywhere, the power of the video arcade was for the first time available from the comfort of the living room. Atari became Commodore 64.  Commodore 64 became Nintendo and Sega.  Nintendo mutated, Sega folded, and Sony jumped into the ring.  In a matter of a couple decades, home gaming systems changed how games were played and created a multi-billion dollar industry to keep people in their seats...literally.  

With the video game industry at its peak of intricacy and artistry and tabletop gaming on the rise for the first time in thirty years, the arena of nerd home entertainment has two viable avenues available to feed their respective needs.  This begs the question, will the tabletop wheel gain momentum and draw gamers away from the console and back to the table?  Or is this Analog Renaissance just a brief blip on the radar which will die away as quickly as it rose up?  I personally enjoy both but I lean towards the camaraderie that comes with sitting around a table and flipping cards or rolling dice or making up a story out of thin air.

How do you feel?  Are you a plug and play gamer or a chart and map jockey?  Do you think tabletop is around for the long game or will it fizzle back into relative obscurity?  What is your most memorable video game or tabletop moment?  Let us know!