'Lockdown year' brings traditional board-game revival to Spain: Top 25 most-sold revealed

BOARD games and card games have undergone something of a renaissance as a result of the pandemic and other forms of entertainment outside the house limited, according to consultancy NPD.

Whilst sales of toys fell by around 7.1% in 2020, traditional games saw a spike of 18.3%.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the card game Virus!, a type of 'snap' with pictures of bacteria, pills, syringes and other images associated with contagious and infectious conditions, was top of the list of the 25 most-sold games over 'pandemic year'.

Those which will be known by adults and children alike in most countries were very present, and showed their timeless nature – now into the second or third generation, and still being enjoyed.

Monopoly was the second-most sold game in Spain in 2020, followed by Operation, where players have to try to extract bones using tweezers from the 'patient' without touching the sides of the gaps they sit in; if they do, the patient's nose lights up in red and bleeps.

Trivial Pursuit came in at number five, Cluedo at number seven, Jenga at number nine, Twister at 13, Monopoly Cheaters' Edition at 15, the pre-schoolers' game Don't Step In It!, at 16, Uno at number 20, Risk at 21, the classical adults' edition of Trivial Pursuit at number 22, Monopoly Fortnite at 23, and an 'updated' version of Virus!, known as 'Evolution Expansion', at 24.

TV quiz shows becoming games for the family to play at home is a phenomenon that occurs internationally, and in the case of Spain, its hugely-popular, against-the-clock world-wheel show, Pasapalabra, has a 'home' version, which was the 25th most-sold game last year.

Popular in Spain, but invented in Germany in 1995, the strategy game known in English as 'The Settlers of Catan' was the fourth most-sold, a whole quarter-century after it was created.

More Spain-specific is La Máquina de la Verdad ('The Truth Machine'), based upon a game show on channel five, or Telecinco, from the early 1990s – the home version was the sixth-most sold over 2020.

Who's Who?, once known as Guess Who?, where facing opponents ask questions to narrow down to one person from a complete board full of flip-cards, came at number eight in the top 25.

The most-sold game in the UK in 2018 and 2019, Dobble – where players have to try to find common symbols between two cards – was 10th most-sold in Spain in 2020, and another international card-clue-guessing-deduction game, Dixit, was at number 11.

The 'charades with cards' game, Gestos ('Gestures'), came in at 12, and at 14, Hijos vs Padres ('Children vs Parents'), is where the adults have to answer questions about 'kids' stuff', and children answer questions about 'things parents ought to know'.

GraviTrax Starter Set, a mechanical game where players build a complex circuit for marbles, then the board game with quiz questions Party & Co ('Family' version), and Don Listillo ('Mr Clever-Clogs'), where the so-named character gives players a subject and they have to recite as many related words as they can as fast as possible, made up numbers 17 to 19 inclusive.