We’ve all been there. You’re having a quiet night in with your friends and family, when somebody has the wild idea to pull out a board game. Cut to three hours later and pieces are being thrown, tears are being shed, and you’ve only just gotten past turn one. Well, if you want to take the drama out of the room and put it back on the table you’ll be glad to know that The Sims is coming to tabletop with its own board game!
This new release is coming courtesy of a fresh licencing agreement between The Sims and Goliath Games, who’re set to showcase a sneak-peek of the board game at the New York Toy Fair in the coming days. As part of the (still ongoing!) 25th anniversary celebrations for the franchise, it’s definitely an attention-grabbing announcement.
The Game of (Sim) life
Bringing the Sims to tabletop has been a long time coming, especially when you consider how popular it’s been on PC. But, at the same time I reckon that Goliath will be quickly sinking or swimming with this adaption – and I don’t mean as if somebody removed the pool ladder. Something akin to The Game of Life would be a safe bet, but I doubt it’d really bring in the Sims fanatics out there who like the freeform, customisable content of the videogames.
An actual tabletop RPG such Dungeons & Dragons would be a bold choice but potent – allowing players to take control of their own individual Sims and their actions, for example – but given Goliath Games has not dipped into that specialist genre I doubt they would now. Especially if they want to grab an all-ages or family audience who might be put off by anything that looks too different to Monopoly.
Dice-y
I’ve no doubt there are many of you excited to see The Sims coming to the table top. But I for one am a little bit sceptical about it; this is a franchise that is practically inseparable from PC, so unless there’s something very bold and innovative in the works from Goliath Games it may simply be a neat piece of merchandise.
But if it isn’t…? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. As for a release date I’d hazard a guess for sometime late in 2025, depending on how complete the prototype we get a glimpse of at the New York Toy Fair ends up being. Stay tuned to find out more.
