Auctions in board games: a short history, from Babylon to the property table
Auctions in board games: a short history, from Babylon to the property table
An auction does one job that dice cannot: it lets the people at the table set a price. That is why auctions in board games keep turning up, in property games and in games made of nothing but bidding. The idea is far older than any board. This short history runs from ancient Babylon to the property table and ends with what an auction costs a game. I build a property game, Property Rush, so I have a stake in that last part.## The history of auctions starts long before games