Postcards from Brazil: Return Games Will to Old Brazil

By Antonio Marcelo and Flavio Jandorno
December 7, 2007

Tales of Games Past
Brazil is a country of multiple cultural aspects, with a continental dimension and almost 185 million habitants. In this cultural diversity, the boardgaming habit started to pick up in the 1970s with many imported board games being released in national (i.e., Brazilian) versions, such as classics like Monopoly and Clue which are still in production to this day.

In the 1980s, board games had their golden age here in Brazil. National publishers such as Grow Jogos released a variety of great games including Cartel, Cosmic Encounter, Awful Green Things from Outer Space, Alaska, Scotland Yard, Heimlich & Co., Ghosts!, and Convoy. This was the peak of boardgame market growth in Brazil. In the beginning of the 1990s, role-playing games started to become popular in Brazil with many publishers (including national publishers) grabbing a share of the market.

The boardgame market started to decline in Brazil in the 1990s, most likely due to computer and video games. Sales of electronic games boomed like never seen before, and sadly board games were forgotten in dusty cabinets.

To survive this phenomenon, Brazilian game publishers went down a path that almost destroyed the boardgame scene for local gamers. Since they felt unable to compete with electronic games, Grow, Estrela and other publishers focused production on kids games and party games, with Monopoly, War (a Risk “clone") and Clue being the only adult games to stay in print. Board games had to fight for shelf space, mostly in toy stores, and the few times that a company brought a game back into print—such as Estrela’s attempt to release Masterpiece in the 1990s—it made the art more cartoony to give it a childish appeal. To make things worse, RPGs brought on CCG mania (starting with Magic the Gathering) and miniature games like Warhammer 40K, Battletech and Ogre. With all this going on, games like Settlers of Catan that were revolutionizing boardgaming didn’t even show up in Brazil.

By 2000, despite everything that was happening with board games throughout the rest of the world, the market in Brazil remained the same: CCGs were hot, RPGs had their solid publishers, and players had their conventions. Was anything changed? Unfortunately, yes—online gaming was entering its boom period, driving national toy and game companies further away from board games. Almost nothing new was happening here…

We should also consider the theory that the weather in Brazil doesn’t help the growth of board games. Unlike Europe and many parts of North America that face frigid winters (forcing people to stay at home), in Brazil we have very hot tropical weather in almost the entire country that forces people out of the house. (Down here, people can go to the beach almost year round.)

The thought of board games having a chance in Brazil seemed against all odds because it seemed that there was no space to develop a board game market again.

The 21st Century
With the turning of the millennium came the winds of change for board games in Brazil. In 2001, we had what we can call the first gathering of players (imported board games fans). It was more of a small social reunion in someone’s house, but it was a milestone for greater things since from that gathering was born the “Festa do Peão de Tabuleiro” or FPT. The FPTs grew with each occurrence, and in 2004 it became an annual event with support from the local toy and game companies that continues to this day. In 2004, we also had the important release of Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne by Devir (but unfortunately not on a large scale and with lousy distribution).

In 2005 we had in Rio de Janeiro the 1st WargameCon (with 60 attendees) that was a beacon for the rebirth of the genre in Brazil. In 2006, WargameCon took place in a hotel once again in Rio (this time with 150 attendees) and also featured modern board games. In 2006 we welcomed an important newcomer to the Brazilian Board Game World: Odysseia Jogos, which debuted to great success with Reiner Knizia’s Modern Art (Arte Moderna) in a beautiful design by Mike Doyle. An important step had been taken…

2007 and Beyond...
Some enthusiasts are calling 2007 the “Year of the Board Game” in Brazil because many initiatives are starting to pop down here. Game groups are multiplying and growing, and new monthly gatherings like the “Catelo das Peças” in Rio are becoming part of the gaming agenda. Ludus—the first “Luderia,” or boardgame bar—opened its doors in São Paulo.

New designers and publishers (like Riachuelo Games) are starting to show their work. December 2007 will bring the release of Knizia’s Samurai by Ceilikan Jogos (another newcomer), bringing new options for Brazilian players. In the meantime those players are importing board games as never before. The Internet allows everyday new gamers to import their games from international retailers (despite the high customs taxes), and also more and more information about the boardgame world is available in Portuguese at websites like Portal dos Wargames for Grognards and Ilha do Tabuleiro for general boardgaming. Websites like that are bringing gamers together and really doing their part in developing board games in Brazil.

But we must be aware that there is much more to be done, as the road is long and the path is rough. Most of the good news above was brought by small companies, group of people and individuals who just love board games. With no support from large companies we live a silent revolution that should be lead by those people in a way to bring board games back to the general public, so they can discover again the joy and fun of play board games.

Until Next Time
This was an introductory text, and there is much yet to say. Sorry if we forgot to mention someone or something important, but as a first article we wanted to give a general view of the boardgame situation down here. We hope that in the future we can present you with much more of what’s going on here, our gaming days, breaking news, and so on! We’d love to hear from you, get your opinion so we can share our experiences.

Antonio Marcelo, being a specialist in IT management and information security, is the author of 14 books about Linux, IT, and Information Security. A wargamer from age 14 (and now 38) and a game designer since 1994, he nowadays coordinates Riachuelo Games and is the keeper of Portal dos Wargames. Marcelo has designed games like Batalha Naval do Riachuelo, Colonial, Piratas Paraguaios and Cruz de Ferro among others and coordinates the monthly gathering ”Castelo das Peças.”

Flavio Jandorno is a 29-year-old economist who works in the stock market and who discovered modern boardgames back in 2003. Nowadays he’s a playtester who helps local designers and is also designing his first two games.

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