Are Board Games Still Popular? Stats and Trends from Kickstarter, YouTube, and Reddit

Board gaming has blossomed into a thriving hobby, with its popularity surging year after year. Evidence of this boom is everywhere, including in mainstream media, where board games are enjoying unprecedented attention.

From Eleven and her friends delving into Dungeons and Dragons in Stranger Things to the charming exploration of tabletop gaming in the Japanese anime After School Dice Club, the cultural footprint of board games has never been more visible.

Adding to this momentum, celebrities have been increasingly vocal about their passion for board and tabletop games. The movement gained significant traction with Wil Wheaton, affectionately dubbed the “King” of the tabletop world, and his hit YouTube series Tabletop. Others have joined the conversation, like Rich Sommer from Mad Men, who launched the podcast CARDBOARD!, and Deborah Ann Woll of Daredevil fame, a frequent guest on GameNight!. Most recently, Henry Cavill made headlines when he gushed about his love for Warhammer during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

But the real question remains: just how popular is board gaming?

Kickstarter Trends Prove Board Games Are Thriving

If you’re looking for proof of board gaming’s meteoric rise, Kickstarter provides a compelling snapshot. The platform (begrudgingly) has become the go-to hub for board game preorders, attracting companies both large and small.

The data speaks for itself: between 2015 and 2020, the amount of money poured into board games on Kickstarter doubled, with a particularly sharp spike in 2020. Analysts at DW attribute this surge to the Coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that people turned to board games as a much-needed respite from screen fatigue.

And this upward trajectory shows no signs of slowing. Market research powerhouse Arizton Advisory & Intelligence projects a robust annual growth rate of 13% for the board gaming industry from 2020 to 2026.

However, it’s worth noting that while this graph paints an exciting picture, it only tells part of the story. The increased funding could indicate that more people are embracing board games – or it could simply mean that existing enthusiasts are spending more money. The truth likely lies somewhere in between.

YouTube Growth Reflects Board Game Popularity

Shifting our focus to YouTube, we see another clear indicator of the board gaming boom. Three of the platform’s most prominent board game channels – Shut Up and Sit Down, The Dice Tower, and Watch It Played – experienced impressive subscriber growth over the past year, underscoring the increasing interest in tabletop gaming.

Watch It Played, a channel dedicated to teaching board games, grew its subscriber base by a remarkable ~25% in 2021, reaching 250,000 subscribers. Shut Up and Sit Down, known for its humourous and insightful board game reviews, saw slightly smaller but still impressive growth of ~18%, climbing to 354,000 subscribers. Meanwhile, The Dice Tower, which ambitiously reviews just about every board game imaginable (and we’re grateful for it), had more modest growth of ~10%, reaching 288,000 subscribers.

What sets The Dice Tower apart, however, is its incredible viewership. Despite having fewer subscribers than Shut Up and Sit Down, The Dice Tower boasts over 260 million video views—roughly four times as many as Shut Up and Sit Down’s 68 million. This speaks volumes about its reach and influence within the board gaming community.

Unlike Kickstarter funding, which could be attributed to a mix of factors, these YouTube metrics paint a more definitive picture of the rising interest in tabletop gaming. The growing audiences of these channels reflect a genuine and sustained enthusiasm for the hobby.

Reddit – r/boardgames – A Growing Community

Continuing this trend analysis, let’s turn our attention to Reddit, the world’s largest forum, which hosts a vibrant and growing community for board gaming. The dedicated subreddit, r/boardgames, showcases an even steeper growth curve than what we observed on YouTube or Kickstarter, complete with the same 2020 Coronavirus-driven spike seen in Kickstarter’s funding data.

As of now, r/boardgames ranks as the 106th largest safe-for-work subreddit, boasting an impressive 3,472,147 subscribers. Despite its massive subscriber base, daily engagement is surprisingly low, averaging just 732 posts per day. That equates to a mere 0.000001 posts per subscriber—a surprisingly quiet level of activity for a forum of this size.

Still, the subreddit’s rapid growth underscores the broader trend of increasing interest in board gaming. While the community may not yet have reached its full engagement potential, the sheer number of subscribers suggests that people are eager to explore the hobby and find new ways to connect. This growing subscriber base highlights a desire for involvement, even if the ideal outlet hasn’t quite been nailed down yet.

The Board Game Boom

Unfortunately, statistics from Board Game Geek – the holy grail website of board gaming – aren’t available. Instead, check out this graph from Boooored illustrating the number of board games published annually from 1975 to 2015.

As with the other data we’ve explored, the trend is unmistakably positive. The steadily increasing number of games being published signals a thriving industry, with opportunities for creators and publishers to profit from the growing demand. This boom is fueled by an expanding audience hungry for more tabletop experiences.

However, this abundance comes with its challenges. With thousands of new titles hitting the market each year, finding the gems among the deluge can be daunting. That’s where reviewers like us at Roll to Review come in, helping players separate the wheat from the chaff. Because, let’s face it, most of us don’t have time to sift through 4,000+ games in a single year!

Undeniable proof that board games are still popular

There you have it – solid evidence that board games have never been more popular than they are today. Whether it’s funding on Kickstarter, YouTube subscriber growth, Reddit community growth, or the sheer volume of new games being published, all signs point to an industry that’s not just thriving but accelerating.

And the future looks just as bright.

With board gaming projected to grow even further in the coming years, there’s never been a better time to dive into the hobby.

So, what about you? Are you just starting your journey into the world of board gaming, or have you been rolling dice and flipping cards for years? Share your experiences in the comments – I’d love to hear them! And if you’re searching for your next favourite game, be sure to explore our rankings for top-notch recommendations to inspire your next game night.