3M and later Avalon Hill had a very distinctive house style which very often fell in the atmospheric range of box designs. Typically, this amounted to an illustration painted in a very particular style. Often the board was rendered in a landscape or setting with characters of some sort at the table. While these could be People-Like-Me options, the fact that they are stylized illustrations, seems to be more about mood than about endorsement. Enclosed are some typical examples for examination.                      We start here with Feudal and the dramatic vantage point of the artwork. The choice to render an ant’s eye view of this board adds tremendous drama to this composition and allows characters to break the landscape's horizon line — also adding to the drama. This combined with long cast shadows and a background castle, turn the board into a heroic battlefield. This done with no alterations to the actual plastic, mono toned playing pieces. Breakthough is an interesting example of the People-Like-Me execution with the addition of all the drama they could muster in the background. Now, instead of the pawns of Feudal set in the landscape, the two players sit emerged in the game as if controlling the surreal adventure behind.                      On Acquire’s box, the player is the businessman. Poised in front of the board wearing his suit and reading glasses, one can imagine that we've interrupted him in midst of signing some big contracts. Again, we have the 3M illustration style which I find very attractive. Fresh for the time, the look still holds up today. I've always assumed the blue green look refers to money, but it also could be interpreted as corporate blue with sophisticated pallets of the 60s.                      I love Ploy’s art. We’ve got the dramatic board again, with a “ futuristic” man in the midst of a “futuristic” city. A little heavy handed, but who cares — it looks nice. I don’t suppose the artist was a trekky? I can just picture him sitting under an original Trek poster in his studio with the word “futuristic” highlighted on the brief as he thinks with a grin, “Cool. I’m gonna nail this one!”