Evolution of simulator games: from Monopoly to Bluelight.inс

A thousand memories are brought back to the majority of us when we hear the word “monopoly”. The game did not only stand the test of time, but rather came to symbolize the economy of various countries.

The origins of monopoly as a board game can be traced back to the early 20th century, when it was known as the “Landlord’s Game”. The latter was designed by Elizabeth Magie and patented in 1904, 2 years after its creation in 1902. The Landlord’s Game originally had two sets of rules, one which included taxation and one which resembles the contemporary set of rules we now use. The less capitalistic taxation provision was not present in the original 1935 edition of Monopoly, which led to a more competitive game. In 1991, Hasbro eventually absorbed Parker Brothers who first published Monopoly as early as 1935. The name of the game refers to the economic idea of a monopoly, which is when one company dominates a market.

Okay, enough with the history lessons; let’s get to the enjoyable stuff. As we all know, the game of Monopoly allows players to construct and strategically acquire properties and shares as they advance in the game. Over time, there have been a number of board games that are somewhat reminiscent of Monopoly, each with its own unique style, set of rules, and set of tactics, but generally with a shared ideology and trajectory. When taking a journey down memory lanes, some of the well-liked and well-known board games include:

Catan (The Settlers of Catan)

One of the most well-known games that have drawn many people into the hobby of board gaming is Catan. In Catan, players must construct and link towns, routes, and cities to establish themselves as the prevailing group. Players roll dice each turn to determine which resources they will get. From this point on, players can use a variety of tactics, such as obtaining development cards or using the robber pawn to take resources. The winner is the first person to earn 10 points. Catan is a very simple board game with various expansions that further deepen the enjoyment and strategic options available. It is suitable for all ages and is simple to learn.

Chinatown

Chinatown is an economic board game that heavily emphasizes negotiating and is set in New York in the 1960s. Players act as entrepreneurs attempting to expand their individual firms by arranging the tiles on the board. The profit increases with the number of connected tiles. When a player has the most money, they win.

To succeed, players must exchange shops, services, and money. The game is appealing to those who prefer engaging in a lot of social contact and negotiating agreements because in-game real-time trading and negotiating can get rather frantic and noisy. The game may be completed in just six turns, and because there is little downtime in between turns, Chinatown is an extremely exciting game.

Acquire

Monopoly players will need to play more strategically and cunningly to outwit their opponents, while enjoying this 1964 game. In Acquire, players purchase various businesses through investments, asset sales, and hostile takeovers. Players have a variety of tiles that they can place on the board in a game that is vaguely comparable to Monopoly and, weirdly, Scrabble. A company can be formed whenever two tiles connect, with the players who founded the company receiving stock. Like in Scrabble, players can also acquire new tiles and buy more shares within this enterprise.

In order to control a majority of the stock in the biggest and most successful companies, players will strategically invest in the many businesses represented on the game board as the game progresses. Once two companies’ tiles are connected, they will merge, with the larger company absorbing the smaller one to increase its size and profitability. The objective of the game is to amass the most riches.

Following the preceding trajectory, it is easy to conclude that board games have in some way inspired the idea of company start-ups. Each new board game invention has managed to inspire a variety of concepts for startups, business sustainability, and economic growth, which eventually evolved into technological advancement.

From the Board to the Screen

During the last two decades, we have witnessed a shift in the way we enjoy our down time and what gaming stood for. This shift is best characterized as one from the board to the screen of a laptop, a desktop and even a smartphone.

SimCity is a series of open-ended video games that let you design cities. It was developed and first released in 1989. Later, a number of sequels and “Sim” spin-off games were released, notably The Sims in 2000, which went on to become a best-selling computer game on its own right and start a franchise.

9 years later, the Real-time strategy and economic simulation video game series Anno was created by Max Design. The series centers on players developing colonies on a number of little islands, exploring the area, participating in commerce and diplomacy with other civilizations and traders, managing resources, and engaging in both land and sea conquest.

In 2001, the first installment of the Tropico video game series was released. In the latter, you start out by building a few cities to start, planting some sugar cane, and seeking to gain the support of your populace. Later, the players establish enterprises, dig mines, construct banks, and attempt to attract tourists. One can utilize their influence, politicians’ bribes, and others around them to maintain them in power.

Gamers now have access to a huge compendium of rivals outside of their living room borders as a result of technology, which has finally been able to satisfy their needs as players continuously seek adventures and competitions both inside and outside of their physical geography. The Sims games have enabled players from different parts of the world to come together online and compete. The gaming industry, however, is forever growing and changing.

From WEB2 to WEB3

Gaming is only one of the many industries that Web3 has revolutionized. Web3-based games offer players the opportunity to interact with the games in novel and decentralized ways, which represents a significant change from traditional gaming platforms. People can play to earn NFTs and cryptocurrencies. By democratizing all facets of gaming, this removes the need for a single central authority within a game and instead places the power in the hands of the player. One of the games seeking to harness the power of Web3 and contribute to the revolutionization of the gaming industry is BlueLight.

BlueLight

Bluelight, a virtual version of Silicon Valley, is based on the first crypto-sponsored animated series on YouTube, Take My Muffin. In the economic strategy game, you create your own businesses in a multiverse. Moreover, play-to-earn mechanisms are used in the game to reward active players as they advance in their entrepreneurial journey.

This offers a ton of chances for gamers worldwide, especially those with a background in monopoly and other games with comparable concepts/ideas. For most players, finally having a method to make some money while they play is essentially a prayer answered.