Erin Sherbert at The Examiner wins the clueless award for being the first reporter this year to title an article “Board Games Are Making a Comeback”, a title or phrase which has been used at least once every year since 1990 (aka when video games started making inroads). (source) Runners up: Elissa Doherty in the Herald Sun. (source) Staff reporter in the Daily Mail. (source)

What else was making a comeback in the last few weeks (via Google news)?

  • 70s
  • A host of 80s legends
  • A once depressed [downtown] area
  • al-Shabaab fighters
  • Alternative justice systems
  • Amateur boxing
  • American Idol
  • Andy Griggs
  • Antoine Walker
  • Aprons
  • Arctic gray wolf
  • Art of the face
  • Asbury Park
  • Ashok Dinda
  • Aurela Gace
  • Baby Alive
  • Back to the Future
  • Backwardation
  • Bald eagles
  • Barbara Walters
  • Barber shops
  • Barter culture of our forefathers
  • Beatles
  • Ben Harris’ brother Daniel
  • Benji
  • Bernard Callebaut
  • Bernard DeVoto
  • Bishwanath Basu
  • Bipul Sharma
  • Blowout salons
  • BOGO event
  • Boxing
  • Boxy tuxedo jacket with slim pants and a leather clutch
  • Brandon Backe
  • Brandon Webb
  • Brendon Hughes
  • Brendon McCullum
  • Broncos [team]
  • Bruce Irons
  • Bulk deals
  • Burlesque
  • Burma’s black market in petrol
  • Bush’s reputation
  • Business in Mystic
  • Buying with cash
  • Buzz cuts
  • Canned beer
  • Car industry
  • Cardigans
  • Carefree
  • Cascades predators
  • Cattle rustling
  • ‘Chhoti Bahu’
  • Chiricahua leopard frog
  • Chris Baryla
  • Chris Tucker
  • Churches
  • Clara Hughes
  • Classic cocktails
  • CLEAR
  • Clog dancing
  • Clutter
  • Colgate women’s hockey team
  • Companies offering adverts based on deep packet inspection tracking technology
  • Companies like JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, and American Express
  • Compound pharmacies
  • Copper
  • Corktown and Briggs neighborhoods
  • Crafts
  • Cuba [at India trade fair]
  • Customers
  • Cycling Open
  • Darts
  • Daryl Hurley
  • Democrats
  • Dining out
  • Discretionary spending
  • Diversified names
  • Dividends
  • DJ Drastik
  • Do-it-yourself ethos
  • E-mail
  • Eastern Oregon University
  • Economy
  • Edmonton tourism industry
  • Electric cars
  • Eminem
  • Endangered monkeys
  • English Longhorn cattle
  • Erik Morales
  • Esoteric bonds
  • Fairy-tale castle at the Land of Christmas
  • Fake delivery package scam
  • Fake eyelashes and personalized nail extensions
  • Falcons [team]
  • Fatal1ty branded motherboards
  • Faux fur
  • Feminism
  • Fiat
  • Film
  • Flintstones
  • Flip-flop hot money
  • Floyd Jr.
  • Former Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit
  • Fountain Powerboats
  • French roll hairstyle
  • “Free Your Mind” song
  • Fully automatic soft folding roof
  • G8
  • Gautham, son of popular comedian Brahmanandam
  • Geauga Lyric Theater Guild
  • General Musharraf
  • Giant sturgeon
  • Gift cards
  • Glaciers
  • GM
  • Glamorous stewardess lifestyle
  • Good old-fashioned rabbit ears
  • Google Docs ‘offline’ feature
  • Gooseberry
  • Gould’s Turkeys
  • Grand Truck Nano-7 Hammock Hammocks
  • Grass-fed beef
  • Great spotted kiwi
  • Greek letter sororities and flats
  • Growth
  • Guinevere book series
  • Gunners’ stopper
  • Half of Milli Vanilli
  • Hairy armpits
  • Hampton Holiday Parade
  • Hanoi’s finest park
  • Heritage breed animals
  • High heels in boots of all kinds
  • High tech and natural resources
  • High-yield bonds
  • High-yield markets
  • Holiday company/office parties
  • Home bar
  • Hookworks
  • Hope
  • House flipping
  • Housing market
  • Houston radio
  • Humility
  • Idea of whole-animal cuisine
  • Ideas of liberty
  • Import beers
  • In-game photography
  • India hockey team
  • Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines-conducted National Open
  • Invertebrates
  • Jam making
  • Jamie Birrell
  • Jennifer Grey
  • Jimmy Choo’s line of men’s shoes
  • Joel Robertson
  • John Birch Society
  • Jon vanDyk silk ties
  • Josh Brown
  • Jr. C hockey
  • Juami Rocha
  • Katie Arnott’s nickname “Little Arnott”
  • KC Lekha of Kerala
  • Kemp’s turtle
  • Kenmore Cardinals
  • Kickball
  • Kieron Dyer
  • Kim Clijsters
  • Khanolkar
  • Knitted and crochet items
  • Lake County
  • Layaway
  • Lee Jung Hyun
  • Leon Spinks
  • Likes of opening batsmen Adrian Barath and Devon Smith and the wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh
  • Lily Savage
  • Limited
  • Lincoln Park bees
  • Lionel electric trains
  • Little Caesar’s
  • Local and organic foods
  • Long-beleaguered American consumer
  • Low Ngai Yuen
  • Luxury goods
  • M&A
  • Madhoo Shah
  • Madhu Bangarappa
  • Madhuri Dixit
  • Marc Savard
  • Marcos Baghdatis
  • Margaret Mountford
  • Mark Philippoussis
  • Mel Gibson
  • Men who support feminist politics
  • Michael Leighton
  • Michael Owen
  • Michael Schumacher
  • Michael Vick
  • Michaella Krajicek
  • Mickey Mouse
  • Microsoft’s failed Kin
  • Minimal, emotionally driven dance music
  • Minivan
  • Model trains
  • Mohammad Ashraful
  • “Money” Mayweather
  • More traditional toys and entertainment forms
  • Motorola’s handset unit
  • Mountain gorillas
  • Music games
  • Mustache
  • Nate Robinson
  • National Open Cycling Championships
  • Native grasses with names such as eastern gamagrass, switchgrass, big bluestem, little bluestem and Indiangrass
  • Nevada tourism
  • New Toyota models
  • Niche products
  • NOC
  • Nokia
  • Nostalgia
  • Notepads
  • Notion of “media convergence”
  • Old classic toys
  • Old man winter
  • Old motor vehicle brands that left the Kenyan market several years ago
  • Old-fashioned gangster movie
  • Old favorite Korean cars
  • Old-school Disney
  • Old-school lockets
  • Olden times in the medical field
  • Older Irish breeds such as Irish Maol, Dexter and Kerry
  • One of the “stripes” on Jupiter
  • One-piece swimsuit
  • Organic and sustainable fabrics
  • Otters
  • Outsourced call centers
  • Passenger trains
  • Paul Brinkmann
  • PCP
  • Peng Shuai
  • Phone deregulation
  • Photo radar
  • Picture story
  • Pierce Bronsan
  • PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) problems
  • Pine marten
  • Pirelli
  • Playboy clubs
  • Polaroid instant photography
  • Porches
  • Porsche
  • Preppy style
  • Primus Financial Holdings Ltd
  • Private brands
  • Promise rings
  • Promotions that appeared in WMMA 2
  • Public’s faith in a “culture of poverty”
  • Publicizing luxury skin care
  • Quake 3
  • R&B duo Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey and Joel “JoJo” Hailey
  • Radio Flyer wagons and peach crate scooters
  • Ransomware
  • Reading’s Franklin Street Station
  • Real trees
  • Real-estate stocks
  • Red and green holiday ribbons
  • Redskins
  • Renault
  • Renee Martel
  • Retro, cheap, non-PC toys
  • Retro names like Betty, Don and Roger
  • Retro technology
  • Retro updos
  • Revisionist Westerns
  • Rickets
  • Ricky Hollis
  • Robert Campbell
  • Robert Menzies
  • Robert Thornton
  • Rodeo
  • Role of the Chief Digital Officer
  • Roller derby
  • Root cellar
  • Rug hooking
  • Rurouni Kenshin
  • RV trailers
  • Saif and Vidya
  • Santa Claus
  • Scarlet fever
  • Scott Styris
  • Scottsdale Saguaro’s defense
  • Sequins
  • Services that were quick to get the ax in previous years, due to budgetary constraints
  • “Shake and Bake” attitude that drove Ricky Bobby to a successful NASCAR career
  • Shameless extravagance
  • Shelley Kitchen
  • Simple
  • Simple “piece and jam” enjoyed by generations of Scots children
  • Sitcoms
  • Small business loans
  • Smoking nutmeg
  • Smurfs
  • Some hundred-year-old ideas (such as wheel-mounted pancake motors)
  • Space heaters
  • Spending on small luxuries
  • Split level homes
  • Steve Harris from Churchill
  • Stockings
  • Student activism
  • Supply side economics
  • Swaps
  • Swine flu
  • Syphilis
  • Tailored shirts
  • Tech jobs
  • Thanksgiving travel
  • Theatre of the Ridiculous
  • “the riddle”
  • Throwback to old-school icons like Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck
  • Titanic
  • Todd Thomson
  • Tracey’s hair
  • Traditional automobile markets
  • Traditional dress
  • Traditional media in general
  • Traditional pubs
  • Traditional skills
  • Traditional styling
  • Travel agents
  • Treasure Valley manufactured housing market
  • Trees
  • ‘Tuba Man’
  • Twitter
  • U biology professor Dale Clayton’s LouseBuster
  • Understated brown cardboard
  • Unsecured bonds
  • Vespa scooter
  • Village Shopping Center at 902 W. Kimberly Road
  • Vinod Anand
  • Vinyl [records]
  • Vole
  • Wahlberg
  • Warm temperatures
  • Warren Joubert
  • Welcome wagon
  • Wheatridge Lady Mustangs
  • Whoopie pies
  • Whooping cough
  • Wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel
  • Wigs
  • Wild turkeys
  • Wilson Philips
  • Winged eyeliner, bold, red lips and beautiful, flowing waves
  • Wool
  • Word “helpmeet”
  • World Premiere of local playwright Marcy Rodenborn’s tale of middle aged punkstresses
  • Yar’s Revenge
  • Z28
  • Zaheer Khan
  • Zombies
  • Zhu Zhu Pets

If you suddenly heard that people still enjoy it, or that it happened once, or that you wish it were true, it doesn’t mean it’s “making a comeback”.