If there was a bit of treachery at work inside your home, would you spot it? Parlour games that involve an element of domestic detection, or even barefaced fibbing, have been popular since well before Cluedo was invented in 1943. But in the wake of television hit The Traitors – now back for a second run – the sleuthing instinct has taken over, elbowing out traditional board games based simply on strategising to accumulate power and wealth, such as Monopoly or Risk.
This weekend, on the heels of the release of a spin-off card game and a board game based on the reality gameshow, the BBC is launching an online version of The Traitors. It is a fitting commercial acknowledgement of a programme that has quickly joined the corporation’s mainstream crown jewels, with healthy viewing figures holding up against the darts final on Wednesday night. The first episode of season two was watched by a peak of 3.1 million viewers, according to Barb ratings. This is almost up there with the 3.3 million who watched the tense final in November 2022, once the phenomenon had attracted a wide fanbase.
