On a recent trip to Russia during the end of May and first part of June, I found that board games (besides Chess) do exist in Russia but are hard to find. I managed to buy five Russian board games from a toy store in Moscow plus some playing cards, but I had to search to find them.
Before going to Russia I already had two Russian Monopoly-type games, Monopoliya and Kooperativ. Monopoliya is easily the highest quality game of all since it was produced by Parker Brothers and is a Russian version of the standard Monopoly game as seen in the U.S. In this game players purchase properties such as Gorky Ave., Pushkin St., the Arbat, and railroads like the Kursk or Leningrad RR. If you want a Russian game, this is probably the best one to buy since it is well made and you probably already know the rules. I purchased my copy several years ago from Victor Kamkim's book store in Washington D.C. but I am not sure that they are still available. My second game, Kooperativ, was purchased in the U.S. from an importer of Russian gifts. This is also a monopoly-type game, but since it was produced in Russia it is not of the same quality as Monopoliya. In Kooperativ, players purchase products like paper, cars, metals, candy, pants, homes, televisions, and bread. Chance cards and "Lottery" cards spice up the action.
During my trip to Russia I picked up five more board games: Chance, Sud'ba (Fate), Chudovishche Dzhio-Dzhange (The Monster of Jio Jungle), Metzenat (Patron of the Arts), and Geopolitika. Chance, described as an "around the world travel... economic entertaining game" is the only one of the five with rules in English. It is a game in which players race across a map of the world with the winner being the first one to cross the map. Players need to avoid disasters on the map and raise money to cross the map by taking "chances." The rules seem to be a little incomplete and refer to a die with the word "chance" on one side which was not included with my game. However with a few house rules the game is playable. I loaned Sud'ba to some of my Russian friends who played it and liked it. I have not yet played it myself or finished translating the rules, but it appears to be a game of the move-around-the-board-and-get-the-most-money variety. Money is obtained by finding a good occupation and making investments. Money can be gained or lost according to instructions on the board's spaces or cards drawn upon landing on some spaces. In Chudovishche Dzhio-Dzhange players try to photograph (or possibly kill) various creatures including the fabled Monster of Jio Jungle, pictured on the cover as a giant King Kong-like ape. Players travel across the board raising money to buy weapons and equipment with which to photograph wild animals and kill the monster or other jungle creatures if attacked. Metzenat seems to be a standard art auction game. It appealed to me even though I've yet to finish the rules translation. The object is to collect sets of pictures, and the pictures included with the game are quite nice (at least, by Russian standards). Geopolitika is a political game in which up to eight countries (including, of course, the United States and Russia) try to become the strongest military and political powers. The Russians who examined my game purchases thought that this might be the best of the lot. These games were hard to find, implying that the Russian game market isn't very large. They weren't in the GUM department store but were in a section of a large toy store in Moscow. These games were very cheap, ranging from $2.00 to $4.00 each! On the other hand, their quality is not up to Western standards (although they're quite playable). At the moment there is a great interest in Russia for all things Western, which leads me to wonder how long it will be possible to sell board games like this without raising their quality. Despite what you may have read about the present crime rate in Russia, it's a good time to visit because prices are low. Personally, I felt safe in Moscow and St. Petersburg when I was there. You'll need a guide, though, unless you can speak or read Russian-- they haven't gotten around to internationalizing their signs yet! Slightly easier to find were decks of Russian playing cards-- check the numerous tabacco (tobak) kiosks and you're sure to come across some. The ones I bought all had 36 cards (6 through Ace) in the standard four suits. I still don't know what games the Russians play with them, but I hope to find out on a future trip. The Ace is denoted by a "T" (Tuz), the King by a "K" (Korol'), the Queen by a Russian "D" (Dama), and the Jack by a Russian "V" (Valet). The Russian letter "V" looks like an English "B". The Russian Jack thus looks similar to that used in German cards, which use the letter "B" for "Bübe". All in all I had a great time in Russian and would like to return in the future. I stayed with Russian families in Moscow and St. Petersburg and returned heavily laden with games, fur hats, watches, t-shirts, matroshka dolls, and little wooden boxes. The families I visited spoke English and were tremendously helpful when it came to finding things I was looking for. Anyone interested in information about traveling to Russia is welcome to contact me at (804)-973-7586.