What is a sugoroku game?

Have you ever wondered why so many of the virtual board games coming out of Japan seem to all have the same sort of feel to them? You go around a colorful board, throwing dice to move your avatar forward. Different notable locations can appear, with there being rewards for reaching certain places. These tend to always have a theme, perhaps involving Final Fantasy or Super Mario character. Plus, they all come down to chance. Well, the similarities aren’t a coincidence. All of these are sugoroku games.