Canada is a nation of gameplayers and in fact, the ways in which we play can tell us a lot about ourselves. From the country as a collective to regional typecasts; to our relationships, personality traits and attitudes to technology – can our gaming behaviors be a giveaway into who we really are?
New research has returned to the origins of our gaming fascination: traditional, tabletop games. A survey was conducted of 1,002 people, asking Canadians about their favourite traditional games and why they love them, as well as what their gaming behaviours say about Canadians as a whole.
Monopoly tops Canada’s top 10 traditional games
- Monopoly
- Scrabble
- UNO
- Yahtzee
- Chess
- Trivial Pursuit
- Battleship
- Cribbage
- Jenga
- Risk
The survey found that the nation’s favourite game is Monopoly (49%). This is followed by Scrabble (39%), UNO (23%), Canadian-invented Yahtzee (22%), Chess (21%), Canada’s Trivial Pursuit (20%), Battleship (18%), Cribbage (17%), Jenga (14%) and Risk (14%).
Out of nine provinces surveyed, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia crowned the money-making Monopoly their favourite game. Manitoba and Newfoundland & Labrador chose Scrabble, with New Brunswickers being the only ones to back a Canadian-made game with Trivial Pursuit. Saskatchewanites chose the traditional card game of Cribbage as their winner.
- Almost half of Canadians chose American-made Monopoly as their most loved game (49%).
- The true Scrabble superfans were shown to be Newfoundlanders, where 75% of respondents chose this as their favourite game.
- Two out of ten of Canada’s most-loved games are Canadian-made (Yahtzee and Trivial Pursuit), but only New Brunswickers backed one of them as their favourite.
Traditional games are making a comeback and we are reaping the rewards
64% of Canadians play traditional games at least once a month. Interestingly, there’s a significant age difference in the way this is split out:
- 71% of 18-24-year olds play once a month in comparison to just 57% of over 65s.
- 35% of 25-44-year olds play once a week compared to 13% of over 65s.
- 72% of 25-34-year olds play at least once a month compared to just 57% of over 65s.
In fact, the younger generation are shattering their stereotype as they step away from the digital space and make a conscious choice to return to the gaming table.
71% of young respondents still play traditional games regularly (only 5 percentage points lower than those that also play video games). Far from moving away from “old-school” pastimes, it’s clear this young demographic still have enthusiasm for more traditional ways of playing.
In a world where people are prioritizing their mental wellbeing more than ever, could this be why new generations are bringing tabletop games back? After all, the survey found that the highest levels of emotion evoked during tabletop games were satisfaction (82%), friendliness (81%) and enthusiasm (76%).
We also found that 92% of those who play tabletop games also participate in a range of other leisure activities such as baking and cooking (58%), playing video games (48%) and going to the gym (29%). Perhaps the enjoyment these players seek from traditional games is leading them to pursue other opportunities that enhance wellbeing and happiness.
We play for a social connection, but men and women play for different purposes
The survey found that over half of Canadians play to connect with their family and friends, with many taking the chance to play during holidays such as Thanksgiving.
- 54% of Canadians play to connect with family and friends.
- 39% of us play because of the social aspect of games.
- 24% of us use special holidays as an excuse to play.
It also seems that women (44%) have a stronger preference toward collaboration than men (36%), while more men enjoy the problem-solving and strategizing (35%) part of gaming than women (28%). So, what are some of the other key differences in the way they play?
- More women than men play to distract themselves from the outside world (15% versus 12%)
- More men (11%) relish winning than women (8%).
- More men (19%) prefer card games than women (15%).
- Women (27%) were far fonder of word games than men (16%).
You can view the full study here.
