One of the most licensed and varied board games over the last 20 years is Monopoly. When exploring Jarrolds, Toys 'R Us and Langley’s vast board game selections, there was around ten or more variants of the game in each of their various game selections. Here is two shots at Langley’s that perfectly demonstrate this point:
As you can see, Langley’s have over 30 Monopoly variants - including a Make Your Own copy; but what is the reason for these board game companies to use variance of box design and other game assets to fuel sales?
Interestingly when we were speaking about our research into board games and about them in general in our group, one member stated that while she didn't actually like Monopoly, she would likely buy a Halo franchised Monopoly set. When quizzed, she said that it would be interesting to see how they would fit some aspects of the Halo universe into the board game. Furthermore she is a fan of Halo so the whole ''collectors'' appeal suddenly comes to light. Surely it is these same points that cause Hasbro’s Parker games division to find it viable for these versions to be sold worldwide.
And furthermore other companies have seen that this is a huge way to make money and have created their own 'off brand' Monopoly sets - aptly named (something) -opoly. These are shown clearly in the right picture above and are made by 'Late for the Sky'. You can tell they are not official by slight variations. The biggest is that the Monopoly sign on the side of every Hasbro's copy never changes- no matter what the style. But yet these copies (for example Cat-Opoly and Choc-Opoly) have different type faces and do not feature the famous 'Monopoly Man' logo.
So from this it is clear that, however it is made, specialised board games aimed at a certain market clearly have the demand to warrant them being on the shop shelves - even in the video game age. But what makes them different from other copies? What changes are made to game assets and box art? Should we create a board game that is reliant on slight licensing (in the style of but not directly (otherwise copyright issues rear their ugly head)) then what could be changed and how.
To find this out, I photographed some copies of monopoly I had at home; Original Monopoly, Star Wars: Saga Edition and Star Wars: Clone Wars edition.
From the beginning there are clear differences between colour and design of the side panels of the boxes. In roughly the centre of each box there is the Monopoly logo. On the traditional box there is the slogan 'The Property Trading Board Game' clearly visible beside the Monopoly logo. To the slogans right there is the Parker games logo (and under it, the recommended age group). In the corner of the left side there is the Yellow 'Try new quick rules inside' caption. The colour scheme is simple - red and white and the presentation is simple.
The other copies are a little bolder. The Clone Wars copy has a blue galaxy sky as the backdrop, the Star Wars logo in place of the 'quick rules' caption and a circular decal with 'New Force gameplay' in Star Wars typeface. The saga addition again is different. It justifies the Monopoly logo slightly to the left, whilst switching the Star Wars logo to the right. On each Star Wars box, they have placed the slogan under the Monopoly logo.
Both copies clearly have to redesign their boxes to allow the necessary advertising of the Star Wars brand and also to appear more appealing than the traditional box - as to persuade both the new buyer and people with monopoly sets already at home that they need that copy. On the other hand the Original Monopoly copy is almost overly simple. It doesn't really need to describe or sell itself to the public, given its astronomical reputation. Instead it simply just sells through the brand name.
So it is obvious that all sides of the box are important, not just the large box cover. This is normally only presented in shops for the well-known fancy games. This will mean that whoever is designing the box art will have to focus the attention actually on the side of the box. This is what the customer will see and it must be able to 'Hook' them. Then they will slide out the box and look at the cover.
Point: Use box sides to Hook the audience. Use mystery or fancy styling’s to do so perhaps?
Then having done that the Cover/Back needs to make them WANT to buy it
The Clone Wars edition continues the sky backdrop onto the cover of the box. The Monopoly Logo is identical in Size, Position and Style to the original box. Below there is the Star Wars logo centred and the 'Battle of the Force gameplay' decal. To either side characters have been picked from the film and placed around the various logos. It is from these that it is easy to tell that this copy had been crafted around a film, as they are direct screenshots.
This board game box-design is the most extravagant as it is made from slightly holographic/shiny card that reflects in the light. Furthermore the characters have been drawn and rendered in such a way that is both dramatic and realistic. The artist has chosen to use several movement lines to force your eyes into the centre of the box, and perspective based poses to depict a sense of drama. In the bottom left corner, there is a small golden area that advertises the detailed brass figures inside. This clearly is meant to be seen as a powerful selling point, else the box design wouldn’t have been as disturbed by the inclusion (compare the blue company logo to the bottom right with the area used for the figure advertising to determine how valuable they think that is).
Obviously, the design variations continue onto the back panels of the board game boxes, however it mainly retains the same template for each of the three versions. A large image of the playing surface takes up around just under half of the space, and the background colours continue onto the base. Furthermore details of the game are written to the left of the image. The back is somewhat less impressive than the front - as by the point where the customer is looking at the back; the key battle has been won (for the game to have been slid out of the display and taken into consideration). It is at the back where all that needs to be done is the game needs to be described, and other features advertised.
Still, the Star Wars editions have tried again to improve upon the original copy - offering a much more dynamic camera angle for the playing surface picture and in the case of the 'Saga Edition' some space has been devoted to advertising the Collectors figurines. This widens the market of the game to collectors, beyond fans of Star Wars. This isn’t evident on the Clone Wars Editions - simply being just a promotion of the second film.
Having studied the box artwork, and how it specifically uses each piece of space wisely to target particular people and views, I know that designing and making the box will not just be a task for one, but maybe three of our eight people. Much time needs to be devoted to all of those sides as it is an integral part of the board game - as a product. Of course, the course is games art and design, so the emphasis is on making a working game and its assets - however if we had to make this like a real product - which would be a good mind-set, then assigning some of the team to creating the box would be important.
Now that I've looked pretty in depth at the outer layer of advertising and superficial colour - now it’s time to analysis the inner box.
The traditional Monopoly inners is comprised of red, moulded plastic in a way that allows slots for the property cards, the money, the metal playing pieces, the chance/ community chest cards and the Houses/ Hotels. This basic template is identical in the below edition - just black material has been used. The way Hasbro has produced this means that it is up to the player to organise the way they want to place each object before play. This could either reduce or significantly raise the set up time - but the result will be down to the player.
One 'con' to this is that the assets can be mixed up if the box is turned in transition, which can be irritating.
The saga edition's moulding is similar, but is altered to house the limited edition figures.
But as was evident with the way the box was presented, the Saga Edition is clearly aiming for the collectors market. This is all the more blatant when you consider the playing pieces below.
So far, Hasbro's has thought well and hard about how it can best fit in key aspects of the Star Wars universe - while keeping the production costs the same. I say this considering how, while Clone wars and Saga essentially become increasingly fancier, the materials, templates and actual manufacturing remains roughly the same. The card used is the same, as is the playing surface material. All that changes is what the mould looks like for the plastic assets, a few small rules and what is actually printed. The biggest variation is in the way the playing pieces have developed but even this isn’t hugely different.
The original monopoly piece is hollow and made of a thin silver metal. The Clone Wars 'Obi Wan' is similar, but with a different material used. The only variation is really with the Saga edition Obi Wan. It is made of a darker, fancier looking metal. Furthermore it is larger and features a coloured base. Also, it is clear that the moulding is far superior - offering greater likenesses and more extravagant characters can be made (General Grievous). This is where Hasbro's has had to pour more time into - to truly make it appeal to collectors in addition to their expected market.
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