Background Music

I have gone through different phases over the years regarding background music when I host boardgaming. In the '90s, I just played the radio, because there was still pretty good music on the radio much of the time, at least until the last or year or so of the '90s. When I first started hanging out at the original F:AT site, I arbitrarily decided that surf rock was the perfect background for AmeriTrash boardgames, but surf rock is a relatively small genre. After that, I went through a phase where I was playing quieter background music so people could focus more on the game. That quiet phase also passed, when a friend's teenage son commented that all my music sounded slow and sad, and I realized that he wasn't totally wrong. Then I started burning thematic mixes for favorite games.

20 years ago, I was doing the accounting for a big, fancy day spa in a famous shopping mall. Though not in retail, I learned some about retail by walking around and talking to some of the other business managers and owners. One interesting insight came from an Old Navy manager, who told me that they played faster-paced music because they believed that it moved customers through the store more quickly and possibly put people in more of a mood to buy. A couple of years later, I did a brief stint working in the FFG warehouse, and they let employees bring in music to listen on a CD boombox in the warehouse. Warehouse workers were good about taking turns picking the music, but soon enforced a No Sleepy Music policy. We noticed that sad, slow, or boring music made us feel more tired and also slowed down our output of games ready to ship.

So in the last couple of years, I have still been playing my game-specific mixes for those games, but I have been playing faster-paced mixes for the games that don't have dedicated mixes yet. My theory is that faster-paced music encourages faster play and discourages analysis-paralysis, and I think that it has been working. If nothing else, the more upbeat music seems to keep the mood lighter and happier. I tend to focus on funk, punk, dance music, and other energetic music, though I keep the volume just low enough that nobody needs to raise their voice to be heard at the table. And it does seem to help the pace of play.

What kind of background music does your group play, if any?

Movie scores, leaning more towards action-y and less blockbuster-y.

Borderlands (yeah, the vidya gaem) soundtracks also get pretty frequent streams.

punk covers of pop-hits.

The sweet sound of grown-ups crying as I crush their hopes and dreams on my way to victory.

I lean toward foreign language music. I think that songs in a language that people can understand can draw their attention (purely speculation). If I can't understand the language being used, the artist's voice becomes another instrument in the score.


I'm particularly fond of the Afrocentric Spotify genre along with French language artists like Charles Aznavour, Canailles, and Adamo.

I always loved enya in Gaelic and The sugarcubes in thier native language.

the_jake_1973 wrote: I lean toward foreign language music. I think that songs in a language that people can understand can draw their attention (purely speculation). If I can't understand the language being used, the artist's voice becomes another instrument in the score.


I'm particularly fond of the Afrocentric Spotify genre along with French language artists like Charles Aznavour, Canailles, and Adamo.

Have you checked out Serge Gainsbourg? His "Histoire de Melody Nelson" came up on Spotify the other day & totally surprised me.

That bass line is fantastique!

I was surprised that the 'Fans also like...' tab in spotify did not include Aznavour or Adamo. I'll be checking out more from Serge. I dig that 60s French style.