At work today they were playing The Animals on the radio, their famous “House of the Rising Sun” and that reminded me of Betrayal at House on the Hill for some reason.
Later on, Boney M was on, with "Rivers of Babylon’, and I thought of Tigris and Euphrates straight away. By then I thought, what other famous songs bring up a famous board game? “Immigrant Song” from Led Zeppelin brings up Raiders of the North Sea, or Feast for Odin. “Maracaibo” is the name of a song by a Spanish band from the 80s, La Union, but I cannot think of anything else.
So, I thought I’d bring it up to the Wise collective, what other songs make you think of board game titles?? Any connection will do (I admit my first one was just the concept of “the House” in itself, while the name is linked more directly with the Rising Sun boardgame, but just by the name, not theme really)
3 Likes
I always sing Indian Summer by the Doors whenever I play Patchwork Indian Summer.
2 Likes
I associate Betrayal at House on the Hill more with Hotel California.
1 Like
Yes, that song is about a fairy trap, isn’t it? Makes sense. Although I think the House of Rising Sun sounds more ominous, maybe that’s why I related them that way.
They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is an obvious one.
2 Likes
One of my gaming groups loves to sing during games. One of them made a Spotify playlist of the most common songs:
A gold star for anyone who can guess how any of those are even vaguely related to board games.
2 Likes
Both eminently sensible guesses, but no.
2 Likes
I would have guessed Brick House <> Concordia as well.
But more importantly, I am now looking forward to the inevitable Snow-themed boardgame: A Licky Boom Boom Down – The Board Game, a hidden role game about trying to find The Informer.
2 Likes
This has now made me think of the alternate question: What songs would make good games?
My first thought was Waterloo - Fog of Love meets Battle Line.
3 Likes
Turning songs into board games is a nice idea, but based on previous attempts I’m not sure how well it works… The only songs I can think of that have been turned into games are Ticket to Ride and 7 Wonders, and successful though the games are, neither is a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material.
3 Likes
There’s Call of Cthulhu by Metallica, but I think their inspiration wasn’t any of the boardgames…
Before the Doubleclicks (sibling geek folk band) were on Wil Wheaton’s old tabletop show, they wrote a song about games. It’s basically just a laundry list of all the games played on the show before and far from one of their best songs.
I have Elaine’s Board Game Song Album (from NPI):
- Board Games Are Good
- Pipeline to my Heart (Inspired by Pipeline)
- Seaman Gags (Inspired by Captain Sonar)
- Jersey Girl (Inspired by Great Western Trail)
- Huddersfield (Inspired by Brass)
- All I Want for Christmas (is a Board Game)
- I Will Find You (Inspired by Treasure Island)
- Sheep Are All the Friends You’ll Ever Need (Inspired by Clans of Caledonia)
- Garden Hose (Inspired by Dead of Winter)
- Survive (Inspired by Lowlands)
- Amnesiac Fish (Inspired by Madeira)
- Thanks for Flying (Inspired by Now Boarding)
- Hail Robonia (Inspired by SeaFall)
- Crystal Daze (Inspired by The Networks)
but I don’t tend to listen to them casually.
2 Likes
