Board games conjure up images of a bygone era, the annual Christmas Monopoly tournament or family holidays spent playing Snakes & Ladders. But in 2013 more money was raised on Kickstarter for tabletop games than video games. How has the digital world instigated nostalgia for the past?

Whether coffee or chocolate, pizza or pencils, connoisseurship has become a pastime for the masses. But if anyone can become a connoisseur of anything, will the concept lose its mystique?

Despite living in the digital era – with note-taking apps offering a high-tech alternative to regular notepads – manufacturers of writing tools and planners are experiencing a boom. So what’s behind the return of pen and paper? And is this revival anything more than a hipsterish fad?

Remember those early touchscreen phones that came with a stylus? Better yet, do you remember the classic pen (of pen-and-paper fame), which enabled us to write whatever we wanted outside of the available fonts? Don’t get too nostalgic; the humble pen could be set to make a comeback.