Josef Kollar

Rummikub tournament has an authority person who is a 62-year-old accountant and is a self-confessed games obsessive called Josef Kollar. He became hooked on Monopoly at 14 and now has a collection of 800 board games. He is world Cluedo champion and Scottish Monopoly champion. His perception is that board games let you escape your dull life. He feels the game if Clue is a wonderful fantasy. Kollar, who also plays poker, cribbage, Rummikub and Scrabble is convinced that traditional games are fighting back. He is happy that now people have got used to computers and are going back to board games."

Kollar's view that games are staging a fight back across the board, in every sense, is a little optimistic. The recovery is patchy. Scrabble is on a route that’s thriving, whereas Monopoly and Cluedo are indestructible and will remain permanent without any change. Chess is struggling to recreate its calm age. But something may be creating a realization that old-fashioned games can be challenging, humanizing and fun. The unanswered question is whether a new generation of games aficionados will be satisfied with online play or, following the Scrabble example, will seek out opportunities to play face to face. This view that Kollar captures about the world of board games.