1980s Games: Best Board, Card And Video Games

Trivial Pursuit on the table, a Spectrum on the kitchen TV, and Pac-Man everywhere.

Below: the board games of the 1980s, the card games people played, the video and arcade games of the era, and how games actually got played at home.

Handy for a themed party, a quiz round, a reminiscence session or working out what someone played growing up.

Shop the cards that go with these

Shop greetings cards Look back to 1980 Look back to 1981 Look back to 1982

Cards, prints and badges, made by us

Funny and warm greeting cards, art prints and pin badges, printed in the UK. We do not sell games - this guide is free to read, print and copy.

Congratulations greeting card for a boss promoted to police inspector, with text Congrats Boss Promotion to Inspector. Congrats, Boss! Promotion to Inspector Card £3.87 Minimalist white greeting card featuring bold 'World's Best Boss' typography in a clean black font. World's Best Boss Greetings Card £3.87 See You Later, Alligator (Funny Good Luck Card) See You Later, Alligator (Funny Good Luck Card) £3.75 'Rock On' hand gesture good luck card, ideal for a new job or congratulations. "Rock On" Good Luck Card £3.87

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Board games of the 1980s

  • Trivial Pursuit (1981), which sold in enormous numbers in Britain from the mid-1980s.
  • Pictionary (1985) - drawing badly, competitively.
  • Guess Who? (1979, and a UK fixture through the 1980s).
  • HeroQuest (1989), Games Workshop and MB together.
  • Scruples (1984) and Balderdash (1984), the argue-with-your-family games.

Card games of the 1980s

  • Top Trumps, still the playground currency.
  • Uno, now in most houses.
  • Cheat, Chase the Ace and Newmarket at Christmas.
  • Trump card game spin-offs of every film and cartoon going.
  • Pontoon and cribbage carrying on quietly.

Video and arcade games

  • Pac-Man (1980) and Donkey Kong (1981) in the arcades.
  • ZX Spectrum (1982) and Commodore 64 (1982) - British bedroom coding starts here.
  • Tetris (1984), written by Alexey Pajitnov in Moscow.
  • NES (1983 in Japan, 1986-87 in Europe) - Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.
  • Game Boy (1989), which put Tetris in a coat pocket.

How people played

  • Games loaded from cassette, took five minutes, and sometimes failed at the last block.
  • The board game boom and the video game boom happened at the same time, not instead of each other.
  • Trivial Pursuit made general knowledge a party skill.

Years covered in the 1980s

  • 1980 - The decade opened with the SAS on live television and John Lennon's death in December. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1980
  • 1981 - A royal wedding, riots in several cities and the first London Marathon. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1981
  • 1982 - The Falklands, the launch of Channel 4 and the arrival of the Spectrum. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1982
  • 1983 - Breakfast television, the pound coin and a general election landslide. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1983
  • 1984 - The miners' strike, the Brighton bombing and Band Aid at Christmas. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1984
  • 1985 - Live Aid, the first EastEnders and a very bad year in football. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1985
  • 1986 - The Hand of God, Chernobyl and Neighbours arriving on daytime television. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1986
  • 1987 - The great storm, Black Monday and a third election win. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1987
  • 1988 - Acid house, Kylie's first number one and a grim run of disasters. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1988
  • 1989 - Hillsborough, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the decade. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1989
  • That is every 1980s year we have written up so far: 1980 to 1989.

How to use this

  • Themed party: pick one board game and one card game from the list and have both out on the table.
  • Quiz round: read a game and ask for the decade, or read the year and ask for the game.
  • Reminiscence: ask what was under the tree one Christmas. Games get remembered better than clothes.
  • Anyone born in 1980 turns 50 in 2030, 60 in 2040 and 70 in 2050.

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Found your words? Now find the card

Shop greetings cards Look back to 1980 Look back to 1981 Look back to 1982

How to write it so it lands

  • Release years matter: a game can be invented in one decade and only reach British shops in the next.
  • For a party, pick a game people can join halfway through. Nobody wants to start Monopoly at ten o'clock.
  • Boot sales and charity shops still turn up the original boxes, usually with one piece missing.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

What board games were popular in the 1980s?

Trivial Pursuit (1981), which sold in enormous numbers in Britain from the mid-1980s. The full list above covers the rest of the decade's boards.

What card games did people play in the 1980s?

Top Trumps, still the playground currency. The card games section above has the others.

What video games came out in the 1980s?

Pac-Man (1980) and Donkey Kong (1981) in the arcades. The section above lists the arcade, console and computer games of the era.

Do you sell games?

No. We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. This guide is free to read and free to copy - charity shops and second-hand sites are the best place to find the older games.

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