Twilight Struggle
"Twilight Struggle" was the highest-ranked game on BoardGameGeek from December 2010 to January 2016. As of August 2018, the board game occupies a fifth spot. Being released in 2005 it is the oldest board game in the overall top 10 ranking.
History of games
One of the oldest known ball games in history is the Mesoamerican ballgame ("Ōllamaliztli" in Nahuatl). "Ōllamaliztli" was played as far back as 1,400 BC and had important religious significance for the mesoamerican peoples such as the Maya and Aztec. The game evolved over time but the main goal was to keep a solid rubber ball in play by striking it with various parts of the body or with tools such as rackets. The game may have served as a proxy for warfare and also had a major religious function. Formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice, though it was also played for leisure by children and even women.