1990s Games: Best Board, Card And Video Games

Magic and Pokemon cards, Articulate! and Catan on the table, and the PlayStation under the telly.

Below: the board games of the 1990s, 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.

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Shop greetings cards Look back to 1990 Look back to 1991 Look back to 1992

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 1990s

  • Articulate! (1992) - a British invention and a Christmas fixture ever since.
  • Jenga, launched in 1983 and a party standard by the 1990s.
  • The Settlers of Catan (1995) - the game that started modern board gaming.
  • Cranium (1998) and Taboo (1989), both talk-and-shout games.
  • Warhammer and Games Workshop in every large town.

Card games of the 1990s

  • Magic: The Gathering (1993) - the first collectable card game, and still the biggest.
  • Pokemon Trading Card Game - Japan 1996, and the UK from 1999.
  • Top Trumps and Uno, undisturbed.
  • Poker, still a pub and kitchen-table game rather than a televised one.
  • Snap, Cheat and Racing Demon for the younger table.

Video and arcade games

  • Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) and Street Fighter II (1991).
  • Doom (1993), shareware, and on every office PC within a month.
  • Sony PlayStation - Japan 1994, UK 1995 - and Tomb Raider (1996).
  • Nintendo 64 (1996), Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye 007 (1997).
  • Pokemon Red and Blue - Japan 1996, UK 1999.

How people played

  • Four controllers and a split screen: games became something you did with people in the room.
  • Collectable cards made playtime a trading floor, and several schools banned them.
  • Catan quietly started the hobby that filled the 2000s.

Years covered in the 1990s

  • 1990 - Thatcher resigned, Gazza cried, and the country spent a fortnight thinking England might actually win it. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1990
  • 1991 - Bryan Adams would not get off the top of the chart, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and Freddie Mercury died. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1991
  • 1992 - Black Wednesday, a general election nobody predicted correctly, and the Premier League arrived. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1992
  • 1993 - Mr Blobby was Christmas number one, which is somehow not the strangest thing about the year. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1993
  • 1994 - The Lottery started, the Channel Tunnel opened, and Wet Wet Wet would not leave the number one spot. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1994
  • 1995 - Blur against Oasis on the Six O'Clock News, and Toy Story changed films for good. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1995
  • 1996 - Football came home, nearly, and the Spice Girls arrived and took the entire decade with them. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1996
  • 1997 - A landslide in May, a death in August, and the best-selling single in British history. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1997
  • 1998 - The Good Friday Agreement, a World Cup sending off nobody forgave, and Furby. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1998
  • 1999 - An eclipse over Cornwall, a millennium everybody was quietly worried about, and boy bands everywhere. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1999
  • That is every 1990s year we have written up so far: 1990 to 1999.

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 1990 turns 50 in 2040, 60 in 2050 and 70 in 2060.

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Found your words? Now find the card

Shop greetings cards Look back to 1990 Look back to 1991 Look back to 1992

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 1990s?

Articulate! (1992) - a British invention and a Christmas fixture ever since. The full list above covers the rest of the decade's boards.

What card games did people play in the 1990s?

Magic: The Gathering (1993) - the first collectable card game, and still the biggest. The card games section above has the others.

What video games came out in the 1990s?

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) and Street Fighter II (1991). 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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