Research Review: Article Investigating Factors That Impact Appeal of Board Games

By Jeremiah Dwyer

This is a review of an article published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing (2007). It is entitled, “An inquiry into the factors that impact on consumer appreciation of a board game.” It was authored by Alain d’Astous and Karine Gagnon, both of Montreal, Canada. Normally I review articles that have more direct relevance to psychology, specifically clinical or forensic (which I post on my blog). However, I also have an interest in blogging about other things (when I blog at all!), and that includes games. I figured I’d see what kind of research was out there about board games, rather than the usual things, such as examining whether video games lead to violence. Thus, one literature search later, I was able to identify a few articles addressing various aspects of board games that I thought might be interesting, including this one. However, this article is much more of a business analysis of board games and board game preferences, rather than a straight examination of the psychology of board games, so to the extent my understanding of particular business terms and concepts is lacking, I apologize.