Will Meadows brandishes an unopened, newly released card game called FlipToons and begins explaining the rules. His wife, Sara, sits next to him on their living room couch and next to her, their friend Ryan. But Meadows, 43, isn\u2019t talking to either of them. Instead, he\u2019s addressing a camera live-streaming the game-play to a handful of viewers online.<\/p>\n
Those viewers come to Meadows\u2019 platform, Tantrum House, for trustworthy reviews of new hobby games, a market that has exploded in the past 10 years. The pandemic lockdowns gave the industry its first big boost. Now phone-weary consumers are searching for face-to-face interaction, and hobby games are meeting that need in cost-effective ways.<\/p>\n
Hobby, or tabletop, games include board games like Monopoly as well as trading card games like Pokemon and role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. According to market research firm IMARC Group, the global board game market is worth $18.53 billion and is expected to jump another $5.17 billion over the next four years.<\/p>\n
Unlike many other forms of entertainment, the tabletop game industry thrived during the pandemic as people were confined to their homes with family and close friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people went to the internet to find out what games they should buy and have sent to their family so that they could entertain everybody,\u201d Meadows said.<\/p>\n
Meadows, his wife, and three other couples loved playing games long before that. Together they launched Tantrum House in 2014 with the initial goal of publishing their own games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out to be a ton of work trying to fulfill international orders with custom boxes and child safety testing and all the things that go with international fulfillment,\u201d Meadows said.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Tantrum House team began to review games. With a newfound audience in 2020, Tantrum House became a trusted source.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had publishers sending us games,\u201d Meadows said. \u201cIt was like Christmas. Every other day, two or three games would show up in the mail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long before the cameras rolled, this group of four couples gathered regularly to play. Date nights out had become unaffordable, with the cost of dinner, a movie, and babysitting fees. A new board game cost a fraction of that. So once the kids were in bed and the \u201ctantrums were settled down,\u201d the games could begin. Hence the name Tantrum House.<\/p>\n
The team quickly learned there is much more to the tabletop game world than Monopoly, which Meadows calls mostly a game of luck.<\/p>\n
New games require skill and come with unexpected benefits. For example, Meadows has noticed his memory has improved, something he attributes to regularly learning new rules. Studies show playing board games can slow down cognitive decline and maybe even prevent dementia. Meadows\u2019 teenage sons also developed new skills\u2014good and bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids love social deduction games, which typically involve having secret information and having to keep it a secret,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so they\u2019re really, really good liars. \u201c<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www4.wng.org\/trending11a.jpg\")