Old school never goes out of style. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that we’re still playing classic games like chess, mahjong, bridge, risk, poker and blackjack. Some of these games are older than video games, computers and even electricity.
The Digital Era
As kids, we sunk a lot of money into arcade machines to play Pacman and Streetfighter; We spent even more time at home or with friends who had a TV and console capable of running games like Tetris, Super Mario Bros. and Contra.
Later on, games like Resident Evil, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto and Medal of Honor, all games on thePlayStation, would claim our time.
Owners of a PC may remember playing casual games like Desktop Destroyer and Peggle, or demos of Age of Empires, The Sims and Lego Star Wars from the latest gaming magazine’s promo CD. This was all possible on the family PC running Windows XP with a CRT monitor, a dial-up internet connection and a ball mouse with no scroll-wheel.
Mobile Platforms
Who could forget playing Pokemon or The Legend of Zelda on a Nintendo GameBoy handheld for hours at a time on road trips? When Sony released their PSP, games like SSX and Daxter followed us everywhere we went.
Asking your older sibling to let you play on their phone meant getting to try Snake II or Space Impact on a Nokia 3310. When smartphones emerged, like iPhone and Android, games like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush became mainstays.
The Information Age
The emergence of the internet resulted in a new age of gaming. Instead of sharing a screen on a single console or getting together in a room at a LAN party, you could now play with millions of players from the comfort of your computer (or smartphone).
MMORPGs like World of Warcraft laid the groundwork for the genre; Players soon had avatars and unique usernames on their Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 consoles. They spent hours playing Wii Sports, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Left 4 Dead and Mortal Kombat with friends and strangers alike.
Additionally, games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Kingdom Hearts, God of War, Assassin’s Creed and Skyrim dominated the sphere of single-player experiences.
Access to the internet meant that you could research retro games and find emulators for your PC or smartphone to play defunct titles. Platforms like Steam now have tens of thousands of titles available. With a single Google search, you can find one of the best online casinos in the world without leaving your home.
Conclusion
Many of these classic games are still with us today, either as a continuing series or remaster, and those that aren’t (Guitar Hero and Contra) still live on in our memories.