Aug 2008 Catalog
While I don’t publish my latest catalog on the internet, this older catalog is available for you to look through to get an idea of the sort of thing I generally have. Please be aware that many of the games in this catalog will have already sold, and if they haven’t then the prices are not necessarily still valid – the prices are only valid in the month the catalog comes out! However, if you do see something of interest email me and I’ll let you know if I still have it. Also getting the monthly catalog by email is free and without obligation, so why not just ask to be added to my subscription list, or ask me to send you the latest catalog by email?
5 Alive / Super
5. Various editions
available:
1)
5 Alive. Published by Mattel. 1994. Box. New. £4. Country: British. Second edition.
2) 5 Alive. Published by Waddingtons. 1993.
Box. Excellent. £5. Country: British. First edition, with plastic life-markers.
3) 5 Alive - Hebrew Edition. Published by
Waddingtons. 1993. Box. In shrink. £4. Country: Israel. This edition is in
Hebrew, but I can supply English rules, and the components are language free.
4) Super 5. Published by Waddingtons. 2003.
Box. In shrink. £5. Country: British. Includes plastic life-markers.
Designer: Eamon
Bloomfield. No. players: 3-6. Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game in which
players must get rid of their cards, but avoid taking a running total over 21.
Masses of wild cards cause good interaction throughout the game.
A House Divided. Published by GDW. 1981. Box. Good. £11.50
Designer: Frank Chadwick. No. players: 2.
Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
American Civil War
board wargame. Revolutionary in its design and started a new breed of war
games, which were easier for non-fanatics to grasp, and with more interactive
game play. This remains one of the best of the genre. The rules are simple and
use point to point movement, but there is a surprising amount of detail, given
the simplicity. It can be played to cover most of the American Civil War, or it
can be split up into one year chunks. In the large bookcase box.
A Line In The
Sand. Published by TSR.
1991. Box. 1 Box corner split. £7
Designer: Paul A Lidberg, Douglas Niles. No.
players: 2-6. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: 4 original
chits missing, but replacements have been marked up on spare blanks
Wargame set in the
Persian Gulf in the early 1990s. There
are two versions of the game, a basic game for less than 5 players in which
military might wins the day and players take sides in the war depending on the
number of players. The advanced game is
for 6 players and is a diplomatic game in which politics and persuasion come to
the fore as well as military might.
Various actions on the parts of the players can throw the region into
war, and diplomatic messages can be sent secretly. The board is large and
attractive, showing the various countries and important sites such as oil wells
and air bases. About 300 counters many
of which stand up in bases are included.
Airships At War:
Riesenflugzeugabteilungen.
Published by Sierra Madre Games. 2005. Packet. New. £1.75
Designer: Phil Eklund. No. players: 1-2.
Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Expansion set for
Airships At War, which you will need to make use of this. Solitaire or two
player game of zeppelins in WW1. This expansion introduces the giant aircraft
wing of the German Air Force, and the multi-engined bombers of the Great War.
American
Football Magazine No. 1.
Published by The Daily Telegraph. 1987. Magazine. Good. £1
Author: Various. Country: British, Desc. by
Andy.
Softback, 27x20cm,
32 pages. Covers: Football basics, John Elway profile, Class of '87 - new hall
of fame players, Inside the NFL, Position by Position Guide to Players, and
more...
Automobile Fur
Die Welt. Published by
Ravensburger. 1977. Box. Good. £17
Designer: Urs Waldvogel. No. players: 3-6.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Business game set
in the car industry. Players vie for sales in markets around the world,
producing cars, lorries, coaches and special vehicles. To do this players must
build factories, and also improve their service and quality so that their
products are attractive. Also importing
and exporting reduces margins, so trying to produce in the right countries is
also helpful. Mostly though players
need to manage their cash flow so that they can afford to produce when
lucrative contracts come up.
Avalon. Published by Kosmos. 2003. Box. In shrink.
£11
Designer: Leo Colovini. No. players: 2.
Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: I
will include colour printed and laminated crib sheets and English supply cards.
Card game in the
excellent small square box Kosmos 2-player range. The players vie for supremacy over a row of 11 regions, some of
which grant their controller advantages.
The cards depict knights and sorceresses in various colours, and these
can be placed next to the various terrains to reinforce, or to attack the
opposing forces there, and thus if successful gain control of the region. As usual with this designer, the mechanisms
are clever and a little unusual - the sorceresses are potentially powerful, but
if countered can give your opponent an advantage, whereas knights are needed in
order attack a region. Finally, winning
a battle is not all good news as there is a potentially a large cost in hand
cards to be paid by the victor.
Backgammon. Published by Victoria. ca.1974. Book.
Good. £8
Author: Prince Djoli Kansil. Country:
American, Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 23x15cm,
80 pages. Guide book on how to play and win at Backgammon. The book covers the history of the game,
basic rules, basic strategy, the running game, the back game, opening moves,
the doubling cube, backgammon variations. The author is also a games designer
and an accomplished player.
Backpacks And
Blisters. Published by
Ragnar. 1993. Box. 2 copies available:
1) In shrink.
£16 2) Good. £14
Designer: Steve
Kendall. No. players: 3-6. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Game about walking
in the Lake District, with the trademark cloth board favoured by this company.
Plan your route, take the bus, get the best views, buy cups of tea, eat
chocolate, wait for the ferry but, whatever you do, do not get left with the
Heavy Rucksack. Some neat ideas and you
won't find many games on this theme!
Baffles. Published by Cheiftain Products. 1986.
Box. Good. £7
Designer: Marcam Int. Ltd. No. players: 2-6.
Country: Canadian, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Party game for
those who enjoy solving word puzzles.
The game includes hundreds of cards showing various word puzzles, such
as anagrams to decrypt, famous people and phrases to fill in (with some letters
given as clues), and pictures to identify in a similar way. Movement on a board is the reward for
solving the puzzles, and the objective is to reach the centre. The box says there are 2100 word puzzlers
included.
Ballon Cup. Published by Kosmos. 2003. Box. Excellent.
£11
Designer: Stephen Glenn. No. players: 2.
Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Part of Kosmos'
excellent small square box two player series.
In this game the players play cards of five different colours next to
terrain cards either on their own side of the table or on their opponent's
side. Each piece of terrain represents
a part of the race and cubes are placed on it which are both the prize and also
indicate what colour cards must be played at that terrain. The cards are also
numbered, and low numbers do best over the plains while high numbers are needed
to traverse the mountains. As cubes are
won players get the chance to trade them in for victory cups, and the first to
claim three such cups wins the game.
Beginner's
Bridge. Published by Milton
Bradley. 1967. Box. Good. £7
Designer: Charles H Goren. No. players: 1.
Country: American, Desc. by Andy.
Interesting Bridge
tutorial system, obviously made to compete with Autobridge. This teaches the
Goren Point Count System. After reading
through a section of the book the Bridge Tutor is used to put into practice what
has just been learnt. The Bridge Tutor plays the other 3 players for you
allowing you to practice on your own.
The central device conceals the hands and bids and these are revealed
one at a time as the hand is played out. There are 49 deals to be worked
through.
Beim Zeus. Published by Kosmos. 1997. Box. Good. £10
Designer: Klaus Palesch. No. players: 3-6.
Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Intriguing game
about building temples. The player who builds the most valuable temples wins, but
it is very easy to over-stretch your finances and end up with egg on your face.
The twist is that you need to buy land to build on, by auction, but the amount
you pay has ramifications later, because this cost must be repeated when you
raise the height of your temples. Thus the lower ‘ground’ cost you can pay, the
more you save in the long run. As usual with this company, very nicely
produced, with wooden pieces, tiles, bidding dials and cards.
Bermuda Triangle. Published by Milton Bradley. 1975. Box. 2
copies available:
1) Good, 2 corners
taped. £6.50 2) Good, 2 corners
and one edge taped. £6
Designer: Unknown.
No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Business game with
a twist! Players run a freight ship
operation in the seas north of Bermuda, and try to get their ships from one
port to another delivering needed goods for profit. Prices for the various goods change throughout the game, so
ideally a delivery should be made when the price is highest. There is scope for blocking opposing ships,
but in addition there is a large rotating cloud which moves around the board
and has magnets on its underside, and should these swing above a ship as the
cloud moves the ship will most likely be moved or even sucked up and away and
destroyed! Good fun and a wonderful
mechanism.
Blazing Aces. Published by Convivium Publications. 2007.
Book. New. £8
Author: Reiner Knizia. Country: British,
Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 23x15cm,
173 pages. Translation of a German book titled Kartenspiele Im Wilden Westen.
This book presents a collection of games almost all previously unpublished in
English with a Wild West theme. The
games make use of the card combinations in Poker, but are intended for family
play rather than for gambling. As you
would expect from Herr Knizia there are plenty of new and good ideas here -
enough to keep you going for a very long time. More specifically there are 15
games presented here, many with variations for you to try as well.
Bridge For One. Published by MB Games. 1967. Box. Good. £8
Designer: Chas H. Goren. No. players: 1.
Country: American, Desc. by Andy.
Solitaire Bridge
variant which uses special decks. The standard game uses a deck that shows the
suits on the back of the cards. The advanced game uses a deck which also has a
dot on high cards. Bidding is much simplified, with the focus of the game being
on card play. A vinyl play mat is
provided to ease play.
Bucket Brigade. Published by Face2Face. 2007. Box. In
shrink. £12
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4.
Country: Austrian, Duration: 25 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Rethemed edition of
Honey Bears. Attractive and clever race game with wooden pieces. Players play
cards to move firemen close to a fire in a burning building. The twist is that
you score for the cards you keep unplayed, and these show the various
firemen. In order to score you need the
firemen shown on your cards to get close to the fire, which means playing those
same cards. Dilemma! Light, quick and clever.
Business. Published by Hexagames. 1983. Box. Good.
£12
Designer: Richard Fenwick. No. players: 3-6.
Country: German, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Previously
published as Fortune by Ariel. A good game of manufacturing, wholesale and
retail buying and selling. Received a
very good review in Games International and a German Spiele-Oscar award. Game
play involves buying machinery, fuel and computers, and producing goods, which
are then sold through various distribution channels. Advertising, insurance and consultancy can also be bought and
shares in various companies can be bought.
Players move around a track, but get plenty of choices as to what to do.
Cannes.
Published by Splotter Spellen. 2002. Box. In shrink. £11. Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Designer: Joris Wiersinga, Jeroen Doumen,
Tamara Jannink, Herman Haverkort. No. players: 2-4. Country: Dutch.
The theme is
producing films and this is done with people, computer chips and beer,
converting these to computers, actors, special effects and scripts and then
into various types of film. The way the
resources and conversion are done however is unusual - a network of connections
on a board of hex tiles is built up as the game goes on and this shows what
each player has access to.
Cards. Published by Hiron Games. ca.1990. Box. Good.
£4.50
Designer: Maureen Hiron. No. players: 2-4.
Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
This set consists
of two decks of cards. The first is a
traditional deck of playing cards. The
second is a deck of 54 cards split into 6 colours numbered 1-9, showing various
shapes on them. The rules describe how
to play a new game, Triumph, with the new deck of cards. Triumph is a game in which you first get to
exchange cards in order to score for holding long runs, flushes and sets of the
same number, and then with the same cards a trick taking game is played and
points are awarded for tricks won.
Cashword. Published by Spears. 1986. Box. Good. £8
Designer: Victor Serebriakoff. No. players:
2-6. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Considered by some
to be one of the greatest word games ever devised. One of 50 9x9 crossword
grids is used each game, and is initially fully hidden. Players take turns paying to expose a tile
while making a guess at what letter will be revealed. Getting it right earns a
payment or the option to continue for a greater profit, but getting it wrong
loses any gains so far this turn. In
addition there are bonuses available for completing words and a player can also
sell his turn to another player, adding to the tactical options considerably.
Caylus. Box. 2 editions available:
1) Published by Rio Grande Games. 2005.
Excellent. £14. Country: American
2) Published by Ystari Games. 2005. In
shrink. £16. Country: French. English
rules provided. Components are language free.
Designer: William Attia. No. players: 2-5.
Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Very highly
regarded gamers' game which won the 2006 International Gamers Award and
Deutsche Spiele Preis. It is 1289 in France and King Philip wants a new castle
built. The town of Caylus starts out small, but players build additional and
progressively more prestigious buildings.
The buildings are used to obtain goods, trade goods and obtain the
king's favour, which is also achieved by helping with the castle building
project. There are many different
buildings with different abilities, allowing for a variety of different
strategies.
Claim It!. Published by Wattsalpoag. 2006. Box. In
shrink. £16
Designer: Kris Gould. No. players: 2-5.
Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Push your luck type
game, in which players roll dice and claim spaces on a grid. Three dice are thrown, 1 must be used to
indicate one of six markers available each turn, and the other dice are used to
specify a space on the grid. However,
if you fail to place a marker after a throw you lose all progress that
turn. If a space is claimed for a
second time it becomes permanently yours.
When the game ends the player with the largest connected area of owned
spaces wins. Light, but provides some
interesting choices and plays well. Especially good with 3.
Class Struggle. Published by Class Struggle Inc. 1978.
Box. Good, but box base indented. £5
Designer: Dr Bertell Ollman. No. players:
2-6. Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Based on a famous
book by the designer, and it parodies the quite different social stratas of
American and Soviet life. First edition with wooden pieces. The box art is an
artist’s impression of Ronald Reagan arm-wrestling with Karl Marx. The Workers
move around a board while trying to survive against the Capitalist who controls
everything. As the Workers unite they take power from the Capitalist players
but if they do not succeed in uniting the Capitalist will win. The game is very
up front with its Marxist politics.
Combat. Published by Palan. ca.1978. Box. Good. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2 or 4.
Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Notes: The box is
made of flimsy cardboard and so pretty much inevitably is somewhat indented due
to stacking.
A very basic wargame
- each player has 4 infantry, 2 tanks and 1 general playing piece (standup
cardboard pieces), and the board is actually built into the box base and folds
out, with the lid used as a support.
Play involves introducing the units onto the board onto a series of
interconnected tracks, with different pieces having different movement
restrictions. The objective being to
eliminate enemy units by landing on them.
Some special spaces perform additional actions. Movement allowance is
determined by dice.
Contract Bridge
For Everyone. Published by
Faber & Faber. 1960. Book. Good, but dustcover grubby. £1.40
Author: Ely Culbertson. Country: British,
Desc. by Andy.
Hardback with
dustcover, 19x13cm, 118 pages. Intended for beginners, and also as a recap for
more experienced players. The book
gives a brief instruction on the fundamentals and advanced points, with a
digest of the official laws of the game. The book is divided as follows:
Bidding Valuations, The Opening Bid, Choice Between Biddable Suits, Responses
to Partner's Opening, Forcing Game, Rebids, How to Bid High, Opening No Trumps,
Forcing 2 Bids, Opening Shut Out Bids, Overcalls & Takeout Doubles, Penalty
Doubles, Slams, Conventional Leads, Declarer's Play of Suits, Bridge Laws.
Cubus. Published by Edition Perluhn. 1987. Box.
Good. £4.50
Designer: Reinhold Wittig. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: One
box lid tile is missing but a replacement has been made. To ease play little stickers have been put on
the tiles so you can see the tile type more easily.
Very unusual game
in which players construct 3-D looking boxes using 2D tiles. Points are scored for creating new boxes in
clever ways using as few new tiles as possible. The tiles represent the sides
and the lids of the boxes and the shading makes it clear which each piece
is. During play tiles can be
rearranged, so you will need to try to visualise how you could move the tiles
and add some to make a viable layout which if it were in 3-D would be larger in
volume than before!
Culbertson's New
And Complete Summary Of Contract Bridge. Published by Faber & Faber. 1941. Book. Good. £2.50. Author: Ely
Culbertson. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Hardback, 15x11cm,
64 pages. A pocket Bridge book with quick
reference thumbnail tabs. Intended as a
quick reference book for players using the Culbertson bidding system. The book
summarises the different situations during the bidding and considers what to
lead as well. It is intended that the
reader should have a fuller book on the Culbertson system also available for
detailed explanations and analysis.
D&D: Poor
Wizard's Almanac II.
Published by TSR. 1993. Book. Good. £3.50
Author: Ann Dupuis. Country: American, Desc.
by Andy.
Dungeons &
Dragons supplement. Softback, 23x16cm, 240 pages. The book is a guide to the
D&D campaign world Mystara, covering the Known world and the Hollow
World. It follows on from the 1st Poor
Wizard's Almanac. Some material covered
in the first book is abbreviated here, allowing for considerable new material,
but also making this book useful without the first. A large full colour pull out map is also provided. Chapters
cover: Atlas of Mystara, Misc Info, Current Events (for the year 1011- useful
campaign hook ideas).
Das Zepter Von
Zavandor. Published by
Lookout Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £20
Designer: Jens Drogemuller. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 2.5 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes:
English rules and crib sheets included.
Fantasy game which
reuses the excellent auction and development system in the now very sought
after game Outpost. Players take the roles of mages who develop their magic
powers by gaining magical gems, which in turn produce more magical power. Also
different areas of knowledge need to be developed to gain VPs and make further
options possible. Various artifacts can
be bought which give a selection of different special powers and victory points
and ultimately players will need to buy sentinels which are the key to
victory. The central mechanism is an
auction of the artifacts currently available, and knowing when to spend and
when to save is crucial. Highly
recommended, although there is quite a lot of German on the components.
Decathlon. Published by Avalon Hill. 1984. Box. Good.
£7. Desc. by Andy.
Designer: Elliott Denman, Richard Cohen,
Thomas N Shaw. No. players: 1-7. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs,
Statistical sports
game, using the Paydirt dice system, and originally made as Trackmeet (by
Sports Illustrated). Great Decathlon
stars compete against each other over 10 events, some requiring little more
than a dice roll, and some requiring decisions, such as whether to make a safe
attempt, or going all out for a personal best.
The rules also cover fatigue and injuries as well.
Devil, Devil! /
Teufel, Teufel! Several
editions available:
1)
Devil, Devil!. Published by Salagames. 1992. Box. Good. £4. English language
edition.
2) Devil, Devil!. Published by Salagames. 1992.
Box. Box shows wear, lid somewhat faded. £3. English language edition.
3) Teufel, Teufel!. Published by Salagames.
ca.1996. Box. Mint. £5
4) Teufel, Teufel!. Published by Salagames.
1992. Box. Good. £4
Designer: Andreas
Steiner & Hartmut Witt. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 45
mins, Desc. by Andy.
Unusual game in
which players have a wooden block with 7 holes, and they move around the board
collecting letter pegs, but also getting devil pegs, which all give you a
movement bonus. The devil pegs can be given away to an opponent by landing on
the same space as them, but get two devil pegs and you lose some of your letter
pegs. The objective is to collect one
of each letter without having a devil peg.
Devil’s Triangle. Published by Peter Pan. 1986. Box. Good.
£2.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2. Country:
British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: Box
lid slightly warped, and a small tear has been taped.
Part of this
publisher's Think series of games. Nice, solid plastic triangular pieces and
board. Each player has 9 triangles with numbers underneath which are placed on
the board or moved around in order to surround and thus capture opposing
pieces. The first player to capture 3 opposing pieces will be the winner unless
one of those triangles was nominated as the Devil's Triangle by his opponent
before the game began, in which case the player who captured the Devil's
Triangle loses.
Die Macher. Published by Valley Games Inc. 2006. Box.
In shrink. £26
Designer: Karl-Heinz Schmiel. No. players:
3-5. Country: American, Duration: 4 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Reprint of this
very highly regarded and involved election game based on the German electoral
process. Definitely a gamer's game with
many interconnected systems, and lots of important decisions to make. A must have for fans of political or
election games.
Die Maulwurf
Company. Published by
Ravensburger. 1995. Box. Good. £7
Designer: Virginia Charves. No. players: 2-4.
Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Very nice game with
an unusual mode of play. Players try to get to certain locations on the board,
because at the round's end, the board is literally lifted off the playing area.
It has holes in it and this is where you want your playing pieces to be because
the board will be lifted over them, leaving them on a new board. If you are not
in the special places, the board is lifted together with your piece, out of the
game. The bottom board has only one
hole, and the mole who gets into it is the winner. Very good family game or for
when your gaming group wants something a bit lighter. Published as Mole in the
Hole in the UK.
Drahtseilakt. Published by ASS. 1998. Box. Good. £6
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 3-5.
Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Neat card game in
which players use cards numbered 1-50, and try to end each hand with no penalty
sticks. Players play a series of tricks in which the highest card 'wins'
penalty sticks of one colour and the lowest card 'wins' penalty sticks of the
other colour. However, when a player
has both red and blue sticks an equal number of each can be handed in. Thus it is possible to do well by either
avoiding sticks altogether or getting quite a few, but cancelling them out with
more of the other colour - very clever idea.
Dungeon Twister. Published by Asmodee Editions. 2005. Box.
In shrink. £17
Designer: Christophe Boelinger. No. players:
2. Country: French, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Each player has a
team of adventurers with various powers, who are trapped in a dungeon. The
board is made up of 8 small maze-like boards which can be rotated during the
game, changing the layout. Action points are spent to move adventurers, pick up
and use items, fight opponents or perform special actions. The objective is to
gain victory points by escaping from the dungeon and killing opposing
adventurers. The game is card driven - the cards being selected each turn from
an open display. Very well received fantasy game.
Edison & Co. Published by Gold Sieber. 1998. Box. Good.
£10
Designer: Gunter Burkhardt. No. players: 2-4.
Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Race game. Players
race their odd vehicles around a track that is first laid out with discs which
ensure the game will play differently each time - they represent movement
bonuses and hazards. Each player has an
identical set of cards and players are given a secret target card which
indicates the order in which they want the vehicles to finish. Players play cards which indicate the amount
to move, a choice of vehicle to move and the direction in which to move. Once all are played they are used to move
one of the vehicles accordingly.
Ergo. Published by Invicta. 1977. Box. 2 copies
available:
1) Good, but 2
corners taped. £2 2) Good but 2
corners and edge taped. £1.50
Designer: Unknown.
No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Strategy game in
which the players try to get five pieces in a row. However, there is more to it than normal in such games as the
board has an inner area and an outer area, and pieces can be played into either
area, but once played they can also be moved, but in different ways according
to which area they were placed in.
Nicely made moulded board with storage compartments for the playing
pieces.
Escalation. Published by Z-Man Games. 2007. Box. In
shrink. £6
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-6.
Country: American, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game with a
theme of suburban rivalry and conflict.
Players play cards, starting low and play gets increasingly higher,
until someone goes a step too far resulting in the stack being taken when
someone can't play. The objective is to get rid of all your cards.
Eschnapur. Published by Schmidt. 2000. Box. Good.
£6.50
Designer: Reinhard Staupe. No. players: 3-5.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Players seek out
treasure in the golden temple of Eschnapur.
These treasures can only be found by obtaining magical keys showing the
right symbol. The treasures show two
different point values, the lower one going to the finder, the other gets
negotiated for with money, cards or movement points. Money gets you symbol cards, movement points allow movement within
the temple. Resources are few but every
player's turn allows for negotiation so there is always something to do.
Figaro. Published by Da Vinci Games. 2006. Box. 2
copies available:
1) In shrink.
£10 2) Excellent. £10
Designer: Reiner
Knizia. No. players: 3-6. Country: Italian, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game. Figaro
is the court idiot who can't seem to do anything right, and the cards represent
the various mess-ups he makes. Players
take turns playing a card on another player or playing a special event card, and
when a player has cards of a certain value played on him then the king gets mad
and penalises that player. Cards can be
played which can get you out of a corner, as well as getting another player
into trouble.
Fireside
Amusements. Published by W
& R Chambers. ca.1890. Book. Good - spine slightly faded. £15
Author: Unknown. Country: British, Desc. by
Andy.
Special notes: Has
a signature in the inside cover dated 1/1/09, but suspect the book is older
than that.
Hardback, 18x13cm,
128 pages. Cloth cover printed with a
picture of two children reading books.
A collection of games and activities with many period
illustrations. About 110 games and
activities are described, and indexed alphabetically as well as being sectioned
by category. Attractive period item.
Freibeuter. Published by Hans Im Gluck. 1998. Box. In
shrink. £14
Designer: Reiner Stockhausen. No. players:
2-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Tile laying game
with a theme of piracy on the high seas. Each player has a fleet of 25 wooden
boats which are played onto the board using cards which indicate the row and
column. When the ships played encircle
treasure ships between the spaces the booty is distributed among the players
with surrounding ships, but in a way which means you often have to think about
where and when it is best to play.
Plenty of tactical decisions, but with the cards limiting what you can
actually do. Lots of wooden pieces.
Frogger. Published by Milton Bradley. 1982. Box.
Good, but one box corner faded. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Board game version
of the arcade game of the same name from the early 1980's. Each player tries to be the first player to
get their 3 frogs safely across the river.
Each turn a dice is rolled to give a number of movement points to use
that turn. Movement points can be spent either moving obstacles (logs on the
river or cars on the road) or your own frogs.
Thus a balance between hindering your opponent and helping yourself
needs to be achieved.
Fun For Your
Family. Published by
Hutchinson. 1955. Book. Good. £8
Author: Eileen Elias. Country: British, Desc.
by Andy.
Hardback, 22x16cm,
127 pages. A book full of ideas and advice on how to enjoy time with your
family. The chapters cover: Family Holidays,
Lets Give A Party, With Brush & Pencil, Outdoors With The Family, What
About A Play?, Going Places, Come & See My Collection, Fun With Music,
Crazy About Animals, What Can They Join?
Genesis. Published by Face2Face Games. 2006. Box.
In shrink. £17.50
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4.
Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Tile laying game in
which the players each have tiles showing a particular animal, but in several
different terrains. Each turn two dice
are rolled which indicate the type of terrain tile which must be played
(although they often give a free choice). The tiles form groups of animals of
the same terrain type, and players try to have the largest connected herd in
each group. The largest group on the
entire board scores extra points too.
While the game is easy to play, once some tiles are on the board there
can be some surprisingly tactical decisions to make.
Goldbrau. Published by Zoch. 2004. Box. In shrink.
£15
Designer: Franz Benno Delonge. No. players: 3-4.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Set in a Bavarian
village during a beer festival, the players invest in the various breweries and
beer gardens in order to make as much money as possible. During the three weeks
of the festival the players vie for influence and control of the various
companies as well as doing their best to expand the trade of the companies they
have invested in. At the end of each week profits are calculated and
distributed. Most money at the end of
the festival wins.
Golf Ace. Published by Bear Bear & Bear Ltd.
1992. Box. Good. £3
Designer: Dr Kenneth Miller. No. players:
1-4. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Golf card game,
using two decks of regular playing cards and 4 boards, which combine information
and have rules for the different suits so that a mixture of holes can be
played. You can even play a Golf Open, where your hand of cards is played
face-up! The game can be played solitaire or multi-player, trying to get as low
a number of strokes as possible over 9 or 18 holes. The game involves playing
cards ideally of the suit specified for the current hole to try to get the
correct distance so a 4+6+K would count as 460 yards. Playing cards of the
wrong suit incurs a penalty stroke.
Great Wall Of
China. Published by Fantasy
Flight Games. 2006. Box. In shrink. £13
Designer: Reiner
Knizia. No. players: 2-5. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game in which
each player has their own deck of cards (all identical sets) from which they
draw cards. There are always several
sections of the Great Wall which the players are helping to build. Cards can be played singly or in sets
against the various wall segments, and if a player still controls that wall
segment when it is next their turn they claim VPs, but this reduces their
influence at that wall, making the play interesting and fluid. Some cards also have special abilities which
need to be watched out for. An interesting game which reuses some ideas from
other Reiner games, but feels different. Recommended.
Green Thumb
Cards. Published by Playful
Minds. 1996. Box. In shrink. £6.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-5. Country:
American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Players are competing
gardeners trying to collect sets of plants.
However, incomplete sets can be affected by event cards and can be
attacked by other players using suitable cards. Once complete a set is secure
and is put into a scoring pile.
Grosse Geschafte. Published by Bewitched Spiele. 2004. Box.
2 copies available:
1) In shrink.
£11.50 2) Excellent. £10
Designer: Andrea
Meyer. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
German version of
Mall World. A giant mall is to be built and the players are supervising the
planning. Players obtain contracts to
get certain types of buildings placed in groups by the end of the game, and
will score for each such occurrence. In addition the players auction up cards
which allow the play of the buildings to the board, and so players must try to
obtain contracts and building placement cards which go together well. The game also gives incentives to play
contracts both early and late in the game, so making the choice of when to do
what quite tricky.
Haithabu. Published by Hexagames. 1990. Box. Good,
but box edges show wear. £10
Designer: Rudolf Ross. No. players: 2-4.
Country: German, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.
An unusual race
game in which the players move their pieces along intersecting paths, and over
bridges. Each time a piece goes across
a bridge the bridge is destroyed, and that player gets more movement points for
future turns. These extra movement
points can also be spent fixing bridges at the start of your turn. Unusual mechanism resulting in a unique
feeling to what is essentially a race from one side of the board to the other.
Hats Off. Published by Peter Pan. ca.1968. Box.
Good. £6
Designer: Kohner Bros. No. players: 2-4.
Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Players flip cone
shaped pieces into a grid, and score points for getting their cones into their
section of the grid. The cones are plastic, with metal weights to make them fly
a bit like shuttlecocks. The flippers are lovely items, made with metal springs,
and really sturdy, with a scoring dial on the base of each one (called
Slide-O-Matic scorekeepers!). Silly but
fun and an amazing item.
Hekla. Published by Holzinsel Spiele. 2001. Box.
Good. £17
Designer: Martin Schlegel. No. players: 2-4.
Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Abstract game with
a volcano theme. The board shows a
square grid of spaces each with two fields in, offset to each other. Players introduce their vulcanist tokens and
when there are sufficient in proximity there is an eruption, and points are
scored by the owners of all pieces involved.
However, the central ones are removed from the board in the process and
a lava piece (which makes the space dead) is placed instead. There are clever movement and placement
rules which ensure you have plenty to think about and give many tactical
options to both cooperate with and hinder the other players. Chunky wooden pieces.
Hornochsen!. Published by Amigo. 1998. Box. Mint. £4.50
Designer: Wolfgang Kramer. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
An update of 6
Nimmt (Take 6) to make it into a more strategic game. The deck is numbered from
1 to 98, with some of the cards having green bullheads and others having red
bullheads. In this game greens are positive points and reds are negative
points. Players play onto sets of cards, with the fifth card in a set taking
the whole thing, but unlike 6 Nimmt players take their turns sequentially and
can play one to three cards from their hands.
How To Play
Bridge. Published by
Ptarmigan Books. 1945. Book. Good but discreetly stapled. £1.25
Author: Hubert Phillips, Terence Reese.
Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 18x11cm,
128 pages. Intended for beginners this
book takes you through the rules of the game and what to consider when bidding
and playing. The book uses the
'Approach-Forcing' system of bidding.
How To Play
Mah-Jong. Published by
Cathay Lace Co.. 1923. Book. Good - slight browning of the paper. £4.50
Author: Unknown. Country: Chinese, Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 20x14cm,
24 pages. Printed in Shanghai by a
company which manufactured and exported hand made lace and embroidery etc. All in English. A nice period item as well
as being useful in instructing how to play Mah-Jong. Includes rules for use
with and without the flower tiles.
Ice Flow. Published by Ludorum Games. 2008. Box. In
shrink. £23
Designer: Dean Conrad, John Streets. No.
players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Tactical game in
which the players try to get their three explorers to cross the Bering Strait
between Alaska and Siberia. Wonderful clear plastic ice flow pieces are placed
in the straits, and will move according to the currents marked on the board.
The explorers can hop between ice flows, sometimes needing to use rope, and can
also swim, though this uses up food resources.
Polar bears get in the way, but can be distracted with food. Players
choose when to move and rotate the ice flows to their advantage. Very nicely produced with plenty of scope
for clever play.
I'm The Boss. Published by Face2Face Games. 2003. Box.
In shrink. £17.50
Designer: Sid Sackson. No. players: 3-6.
Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Reprint of Sid
Sackson's classic 'Kohle Kies & Knete'.
Players start off controlling an investor each, and as the game
progresses various deals get offered up, with the current player being the
Boss, and arranging how to divide the profits from the current deal amongst the
investors required to complete it.
However, cards can be played by anyone which can send investors on
holiday, provide alternative family members who can step in to close a deal,
steal an investor from another player, or even change who is the Boss! Clever game in which being too greedy will
result in lots of people opposing you, whereas if you aren't greedy enough, you
won't win! I have a few house rules which improve it slightly. Recommended, especially for 5 or 6.
Imperial. Published by Eggert Spiele. 2006. Box. In
shrink. £32
Designer: Mac Gerdts. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Europe is in the
age of Imperialism. The players act as
theoretical internationally operating investors who try to gain influence in
all the key countries. The six main nations build factories, troops, and fleets
and expand their influence over initially neutral regions. Taxes are collected from such regions which
is fed back to their 'investors'. Players will need to keep alliances, but also
know when force is the best route to success. Very well received game from
Spiel 2006.
Inns &
Taverns. Published by
Oxford Games. 1995. Box. Good, but mark where label removed. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
The board shows a
track of 25 British pub signs, and players advance along these, claiming a mini
beer mat for each space they reach first. The game can be played by 2 players
or four as a partnership. Two players
at a time play a token numbered 1-6 simultaneously and the current player moves
the difference between the numbers played. These numbered tokens are then out
of play until all have been used. The
first player to get to the end of the track claims all unclaimed beer mats. The
player or team with the most beer mats then wins.
Jactus. Published by Past Times. 1994. Box. In
shrink. £4
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Dice game played
with 5 dice marked with Roman numerals. The game is based on a Roman game, in
which the objective is to win an image of Venus the goddess of love, an image
of Jactus Canicula (a little dog) and a Roman coin. The set includes 4 replica
Roman coins.
Jockey. Published by Ravensburger. 1977. Box. 2
copies available:
1) Good. £11. This edition has plastic
horses. Box lid has a 2cm cut, and one edge of the base is taped.
2) Good. £14. Metal
horses.
Designer: S.
Spencer. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Classic horse
racing game. 4 horses are moved by card play. Players predict the finishing order,
but this is not easy to do. Your hand of cards helps you calculate which horses
you can influence during the race. Some cards are colour coded, affecting a
particular horse but others move the horse in a particular position a certain
amount, possibly with a limitation, eg. move the horse in 3rd place up to 18
spaces, but not more than one space ahead of the leader. Thus many cards have to be played at just
the right time to be properly effective. Betting is done before the race and
both win and place bets may be made. Most money after 3 races wins.
Journey Through
Britain. Published by
Ravensburger. 1988. Box. Good. £1.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Travel game which
includes 143 attractive cards for major towns and cities around Britain. Players race using dice rolls to a randomly
drawn target town, and the first to get there gets some points and the chance
to answer a question about the town to score a bonus point. Players then head for a different town. After the twelfth town players race back to
the starting point for another bonus.
Jurassic Park
III Island Survival Game.
Published by MB Games. 2001. Box. Good. £7.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Based on the
blockbuster film. The board shows an
island with various different regions and divided into spaces - there are cards
to draw while in each region. The game
comes with an impressive selection of plastic dinosaurs which start out in their
own regions. The players must cross the island to the safety of an awaiting
rescue team. One player runs the
dinosaurs and tries to ensure noone manages to escape.
Kap Hoorn. Published by Kosmos. 1999. Box. In shrink.
£13
Designer: Thorsten Gimmler. No. players: 3-5.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
A race game about
sailing clippers ‘rounding the Horn’ in a race from New York to San
Francisco. This is a tile laying game
in which you have a limited number of action points each turn, which can be
used to buy tiles, or perform special moves. The basic idea is to play tiles
with movement arrows onto the board in such a way as to help the movement of
your ship and hinder other ships. There
are some clever placement restrictions and alternative ways to win as
well. Very good game. Recommended. I also have a couple of rules tweaks to
reduce the luck of the tile draw.
Katzenjammer
Blues. Published by Rio
Grande Games. 1998. Box. 2 copies available:
1) Excellent.
£4.50 2) In shrink. £5.50
Designer: Reiner
Knizia. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game in which
players bid for selections of cards using more cards. Bids consist of melds of
1-4 cards, with larger melds outbidding smaller melds. Jokers are also in the mix, but using them
is dangerous as the player who uses the most gets penalised. As well as getting more cards the winner of
the cards also claims some mice which are VPs.
Plays quickly with some interesting decisions to be made.
Kingdoms. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2002. Box.
Good. £10
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4.
Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes:
There is a crease across one corner of the lid, and a slightly crumpled area
near one corner of the base. Overall
still 'Good' though.
Excellent game in
which players fill the board with tiles representing monsters and resources in
a land of fantasy. The players also set up their castles in the land, and the
idea is to get your castles in position to score for the valuable resources
while avoiding the monsters. Each castle scores for everything in its row and
column. Thus placement is difficult as you would like to set up a great
position for your castle, but if you do you can be very sure that another
player will get there first. There are some other clever aspects to the game
too, making it one I can highly recommend.
Previously released as Auf Heller & Pfennig in Germany.
King's Gate. Published by Fantasy Flight Games. 2002.
Box. In shrink. £10
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4.
Country: American, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Neat tile laying
game with a medieval theme. A double size tile is placed which shows whether
that place is friendly, and what the benefits are in terms of VPs and special
abilities to players who have the most influence over that location when it has
been surrounded by tiles. Each player
has their own set of tiles of varying strengths and some specials. Players place tiles around the current
location and then it is resolved and prizes are awarded before moving on to the
next location where some tiles already played will have further influence. Recommended. This is a rethemed version of
Derr Herr Der RInge - Die Gefahten - Das Kartenspiel, but the use of tiles
means it takes up less table space.
Kings Progress. Published by JKLM Games. 2005. Box.
Excellent. £18
Designer: Steve Kingsbury. No. players: 3-5.
Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Players collect courtier
cards in various different colours and play them in order to gain influence
over that courtier. In addition the
King visits a stately home each round and the players try to get there before
the king in order to gain prestige. Each courtier also grants the controlling
player a special action. A well
designed game with interesting interlocking mechanics, and plenty of decision
making.
Koalition 2nd
Edition. Published by
Hexagames. 1995. Box. Excellent. £9
Designer: Hartmut Witt. No. players: 3-10.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Card game in which
a series of elections across Europe take place. There are a number of Europe-wide political parties and a
selection of politicians in each represented on the cards. To resolve an election players play two
politicians who will stand. If a party has a majority it gets in and points are
split between the players who played politicians of that party, otherwise a
coalition must be negotiated and all parties in the coalition score points. There are some other clever twists as well
which make this an unusual and absorbing card game.
Kontor. Published by Gold Sieber. 1999. Box.
Excellent. £18
Designer: Michael Schacht. No. players: 2 or
4. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes:
Includes rare 3-4 player expansion and Das Exportlager expansion
Interesting tile
laying majorities game set on the harbourside with players competing to manage
warehouses. These warehouses are 'built' as the game progresses by laying tiles
to form the board. What gets done is
decided by card play, with cards having different actions and priorities. There are a great number of variant setups
in the rules. Recommended as a 2 player
game (or with more with the rare 3-4 player expansion).
Kontor: Das
Exportlager. Published by
Gold Sieber. 2000. Packet. Excellent. £0.50
Designer: Michael Schacht. Country: German,
Desc. by Eamon.
Small expansion for
Kontor. Well worth having if you own the main game.
Lemming. Published by Spielfreaks. 1990. 2 copies
available:
1) Box. Good. £12 2) Ziplock. Good. £8. Unboxed - comes in a large ziplock, but
all components present.
Designer: Eamon
Bloomfield & Jamie Campbell. No. players: 2-4.
Country: British,
Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Each player controls
several lemmings who are all rushing inexorably towards a cliff. However, you want yours to be the last to
jump! The game uses a random turn order
mechanism to ensure unpredictability but allows cards to be played to divert
lemmings from the fastest route, and when a lemming bumps into another, the
bumped one moves on, and in such a way that this can cause further lemmings to
move too. In addition there is the
occasional Mad Lemming Dash, and this all ensures a fun and unusual game which
should not be taken too seriously.
Liftoff!. Published by Task Force. 1990. Box.
Excellent. £23
Designer: Fritz Bronner. No. players: 1-4.
Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Excellent
simulation of the space race. You are in charge at your country's space agency.
Do you skimp on safety to reach a target first? Do you lobby the government for
more money? Do you go for a big and prestigious mission which could go horribly
wrong or go for a less impressive but more certain mission. There are rewards
for being the first country to achieve various goals, and the equipment for
each mission has to be carefully selected and paid for, and enough safety
testing done to give it a good chance to succeed. Great solitaire game as well.
Lucca Citta. Published by Da Vinci Games. 2005. Box.
Excellent. £7
Designer: Alessandro Zucchini. No. players:
3-5. Country: Italian, Duration: 25 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game. Players
draft cards which they must use to build towers, walls and palaces. The palaces score points when completed
according to the number of windows they have, and can then be used to host a
party which will accrue points depending on other players' palace cards of the
same colour. Walls and towers score at
the end of the game, but only if there are sufficient shields on your
incomplete towers. Won an Italian Game
Award in 2004.
Magic: The
Gathering: Betrayers Of Kamigawa. Published by Wizards Of The Coast. 2005. Box / Boosters.
New. £1.67.
Designer: Richard Garfield. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 30
mins, Desc. by Andy.
CCG. These boosters are from set 2 of the
Kamigawa Block. The set includes patron
kami, ninjas, and a selection of brand new pitch spells and other new
mechanics. There are 165 cards in the set, and each booster holds 15 randomised
cards. The price above is per booster, but I will give 10% off if you buy 10 or
more boosters, and 20% off if you buy a box of 36 boosters. So you know, the
fulll RRP is £2.49.
Mamma Mia!. Published by Abacus. 1998. Box. In shrink.
£5.50
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg. No. players: 2-5.
Country: American, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game, over 100
cards featuring pizza toppings and orders. Players aim to complete their eight
pizza orders. Players take turns to
place some ingredient cards on to a communal pile of ingredients and then may
opt to place one of their order cards on top.
This continues until the whole deck is in this pile. The pile is then turned over and each time
an order card comes up the ingredients revealed are looked at to see if the
order can be completed, and then the relevant ingredients are removed. Light game in which some memory skill helps,
though players get the chance to make up missing ingredients from their hand as
well.
Sole Mio!. Published by Abacus. 2004. Box. In shrink.
£5.50
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg. No. players: 2-5.
Country: American, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.
This is a followup
to Mamma Mia! (see above), and can either be used as an expansion to that game
or on its own. The mix of orders is
slightly odder, making the memory element a bit harder, but there is now the
opportunity for other players to help fulfil your orders.
Mediterranee. Published by Euro Games. 1997. Box.
Excellent. £24
Designer: Dominique Ehrhard & Duccio
Vitale. No. players: 2-4. Country: French, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Wonderful game of
trading and / or piracy in the Med. Called Serenissima originally. Players
represent a merchant family during the Renaissance. Players attempt to balance
the need of trading and open commerce versus piracy. Players create and send
out a fleet of ships to trade various commodities around the Mediterranean
while also keeping well manned ships to attack and defend against other
player's fleets. Very good game with wonderful pieces - it looks fantastic
during the game. Recommended.
Mini Wasgij 3. Published by Falcon. ca.1995. Box. In
shrink. £2
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
54 piece jigsaw
puzzle with a difference. The picture
on the front is not the picture you are trying to make - instead there is a
bird in part of the picture on the front cover, and the picture you are making
up will be what the bird can see! The picture shows a cartoon style scene of a
family in a car being harassed by monkeys at a safari park.
Monkeys On The
Moon. Published by Eight
Foot Llama. 2002. Box. Excellent. £12
Designer: Jim Doherty. No. players: 2-4.
Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Unusually themed
game with a clever money and bidding system.
6 tribes of monkeys are living on the moon, and want to return to
Earth. The players provide spaceships,
but bid for the right to transport the important tribal leaders. At the end of the game VPs are gained for
transporting the most important contingents from each tribe. Each round players play a (humorous)
civilization card which wins favour (coloured money tokens) from a tribe but
requires payment to the rival tribe. These money tokens are then used to
persuade monkeys into your ship.
Considerable care is required as running out of money tokens will gain
the scorn of the tribes, which has definite disadvantages.
Multiplay. Published by Multiplay. Box. 2 copies
available:
1) Box shows wear.
£7 2) Good. £8
Designer: F.Rafidi.
No. players: 2-5. Country: Philippines, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Unusual numerical
game played on an 11x11 grid with dice of sorts on each space. The general idea is that each of these dice
has a number from 1 to 144 on it in 6 colours.
On your turn you roll a d12 and choose a dice to flip to your colour
which shows a multiple of the number you rolled. You try to form lines to score points and take points away from
opponents. The rules come with lots of
variants and I have worked out a set of rules which I find works excellently
for a cerebral but enjoyable, strategic and tense game. I will supply this set of rules. Recommended.
Mummy Rummy. Published by Gamewright. 1994. Box. Good.
£2.50
Designer: Monty Stambler. No. players: 2-5.
Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game, with 45
cards representing Egyptian treasures. These cards have part images on them,
and the aim is to collect whole images. Very attractive cards and an
interesting Rummy variant. Received
Parents Choice Award 1995. One neat idea is that some cards have parts of two
different treasure pictures on them, so by using the card in one way, you are
blocking the other treasure from being completed, although it is also possible
to steal treasures from other players by using the other half of the card from
their treasures.
Murphy. Published by Flying Turtle. 1989. Box.
Good. £12
Designer: Rik van Even. No. players: 2-6.
Country: Belgian, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Detective themed
game in which the players have to work out which possible relations to a dead
millionaire are genuine and which are pretenders. This is done by moving around a track on a map of the world and
meeting up with the various candidates and finding out information about
them. Using deduction it is possible to
determine which must be real, and the first player to do so wins the game. Money is also needed to make moves and get
the desired information, so sometimes players will have to go for a cheap move
rather than one which will get the most information. Good game, but very much better with only 2-3 players.
Nimm's Leich!. Published by Goldsieber. 1997. Box. Good.
£5.50
Designer: Wolfgang Ludtke. No. players: 3-6.
Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game, with a
truly strange subject matter - guessing how many body parts appear on the cards
in play! 42 cards and 12 Body Inspector counters. Actually a card variation of games like Liar's Dice / Perudo,
which are great games. The main twist in this one being that when under
pressure you can use a Body Inspector to peek at two opponents' cards, and so
get a better idea whether to challenge or raise the bid. In addition when a
challenge is made all players have to say whether they agree or disagree with
the challenge, and so get the chance to get rid of a card. First player to
discard all their cards wins.
Number Ten. Published by Linden Products. ca.1990.
Box. 2 copies available:
1) Excellent.
£4 2) In shrink. £6
Designer: Unknown.
No. players: 3-7. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Political game in
which the players vie for the office of Prime Minister in order to gain a
variety of special powers. However, in
order to do this it will almost certainly be necessary to make some alliances
and give and promise favours. Dice are used to move around the board, and
various spaces give players votes, cause event cards to be drawn or make
players debate a political topic. This
debate can either be resolved by dice rolling or by the players actually giving
a brief talk on the topic and the other players voting on whose speech was
best! At various times players will need to vote for who should become the new
Prime Minister, and here the players' negotiation skills come to the fore.
Oasis / Oase. Box. 2004. 2 editions available:
1) Oase. Published by Schmidt. Excellent.
£12.50. Country: German.
2) Oasis. Published
by Uberplay. In shrink. £14. Country: American.
Designer: Alan
Moon, Aaron Weissblum. No. players: 3-5. Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Players bid for the
right to use a variety of cards to place tiles and camels onto a board showing
an area of desert, stony land, oases and sand dunes. The bidding mechanism is
unusual, and involves players putting out selections of cards for the other
players to choose from, and the earlier your cards are picked the better choice
you will have next round, though the cards you have to put out are a limited
resource. Also players try to claim
large areas of land and build large camel trains but also need the corresponding
scoring tiles for these to do well, thus the game pulls you in many directions
at once. Recommended.
Ohne Furcht Und
Adel. Published by Hans Im
Gluck. 2000. Box. 2 copies available:
1) Excellent. £5.50. This set includes extensive player aids in English. 2) Good. £5.50.
Designer: Bruno
Faidutti. No. players: 2-7. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Card game. Each
turn, every player chooses a 'job', such as soldier, priest, merchant, thief
etc, each of which gives certain special abilities for that round. The object
is to collect gold in order to construct buildings in your town. These
buildings also have attributes which make selection of particular jobs more
profitable thereafter, and a few give special abilities. Lots of clever ideas,
and good interaction. Unusually it
plays very well with 6-7 players. Highly recommended.
Okolopoly. Published by Ravensburger. 1984. Box. 1
Box corner split. £11
Designer: Frederic Vester. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Ecological game
with an incredible board that would never be made today (it would be deemed too
expensive). It is extra thick so that dials could be placed 'inside' the board.
Each player is a member of the ruling party, and there are two scenarios to try
- an industrial nation or a developing nation. Players change the numbers on
the various dials, but this can have knock on effects, eg. upping Production
increases Waste which in turn decreases Standard Of Living, which then reduces
the number of action points available next round. The game can also be played
with event cards if you wish. Sometimes
the game ends in an environmental disaster.
Oltre Mare. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2005. Box.
In shrink. £19
Designer: Emanuele Ornella. No. players: 2-5.
Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Card driven board
game in which the players sail their merchant ships around the Mediterranean.
The cards are used for many purposes: each shows a type of goods which are
collected and when placed in a sold goods pile will score according to the
number of adjacent cards of the same type (bigger collections being more
valuable). In addition the cards
indicate the actions which a player will perform in their turn: the number of
cards drawn, money earned, pirates encountered, distance sailed and hold
capacity. Game play involves card
management and trading goods cards between players. Various bonuses are acquired by sailing to previously unvisited
ports. An interesting and unusual game.
Large boxed American edition.
Opening Leads. Published by Robert Hale. 1993. Book.
Good. £5
Author: Robert E Ewen. Country: British,
Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 21x13cm,
220 pages. A comprehensive treatment of this very important aspect of Bridge
play, which should prove invaluable to beginners and experts alike. The
contents cover: Rate Your Opening Leads, Trouble Over Tables, Gathering The
Evidence, Leads Against No Trumps, Leads Against Suit Contracts, Leads Against
Slams, Lead-Directing Doubles, Lead-Directing & Lead-Inhibiting Bids, Lead
Expertise, An Opening Lead Hall Of Fame, Modern Lead Conventions.
Pazazz. Published by Spear's Games. 1992. Box.
Good. £7
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Party game in which
each player gets a board with spaces for each letter of the alphabet. Category cards are drawn (which have 6
categories per card), and players have a short time to name as many things as
possible which fit the current category, each time placing a token on one of
their letter spaces for that word (so place over 'A' if you say 'Apple').
Sometimes a negative round is played where you get the chance to remove tokens
from other players for words said. The game uses a neat timer which only starts
when placed on the table and lets you know dramatically when you run out of
time.
Play And Defend
Bridge. Published by MB
Games. 1965. Box. Good. £9
Designer: Chas H. Goren. No. players: 4. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.
Bridge tutorial
system. This game provides two decks of cards with special backs which indicate
how to deal them out to form 48 different hands. The players then go through the bidding for that hand, if desired
with the aid of special rotating guides which explain why Goren would make the
bid suggested. Contract can then played
as per the suggested contract and the booklet can be read to give advice on how
Goren would have played the hand.
Ponte Vecchio. Published by EG Spiele. 1996. Box. In
shrink. £14
Designer: Spartaco Albertarelli. No. players:
2-5. Country: Italian, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Beautifully
produced auction game. Players purchase shops on the Ponte Vecchio in auctions,
with the aim of tempting a rich gentleman to spend his fortune in their shops.
Control of the rich gentleman is also auctioned, and players may negotiate with
his controller for mutual benefit. Includes attractive cards, and a plastic
'bridge' board with chunky shop pieces.
Punct. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2005. Box.
In shrink. £16
Designer: Kris Burm. No. players: 2. Country:
American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Sixth and final
game in the GIPF series of games, which will be familiar to fans of abstract
games, as Kris Burm is a master designer, and the games in this series are very
highly regarded. Punct is a connection
game in which you have to create a connection from one side to the other. Each turn you can either bring a new piece
into play or move one already in play. The pieces are very attractively
produced, and as you would expect, while the basic of the idea is not new the
actual game play is.
Qumero. Published by Spears. 1985. Box. 2 copies
available:
1) Good but 2
corners taped. £3.50
2) Good but box
edges show wear. £2.50. 4 out of 400 transparent tiles missing - this does not
affect play
Designer: Sheldon J
Dubow. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Game uses four
dice, two with numbers on and two with letters. Each player has a personal
board to play on which records their progress as they try to cover complete
lines, columns and diagonals. You can
choose how to combine the dice you roll to form coordinates on your board, so
as to maximise the chance of completing a line. Special cards are awarded when
rolling doubles which allow flexibility when rolling poorly later in the game.
Points are awarded only to the first player to complete each line. Substantial
individual boards and well made transparent markers which slot into the boards.
Race Around
Britain. Published by
Ravensburger. 1992. Box. In shrink. £6
Designer: McLeod Warner. No. players: 2-6.
Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Players move around
their playing piece on a map of Britain and answer questions to collect cards
and tokens with the aim of being the first to get home. Eamon Bloomfield set many of the questions.
Rage. Published by Amigo. 2000. Box. In shrink.
£5.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 3-8. Country:
German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Trick-taking card
game. A variation of the playing card game Knockout Whist, but with lots of
wild cards that change game play quite a bit. The game uses cards numbered 0-15
in six suits. The special cards do things such as select a suit for trumps,
make a particular trick be played no trumps, count as any suit etc. Well
regarded.
Rapid Delivery. Published by London Game Company. ca.1995.
Box. Good. £7
Designer: Kevin Rolph. No. players: 2-16.
Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
A courier themed
family game in which the players or teams of players deploy their vans and
motorbikes to make efficient collections and deliveries of goods. Dice are
used, but the map ensures that clever use of the blockage pieces can delay your
opponents letting you make the collection first. The game uses cards to determine pick-up and drop-off points and
to see if any mishaps occur on the way. Kevin also developed a diceless variant
intended for gamers, and I can supply a copy of the rules for this.
Rat Hot. Published by Queen Games. 2005. Box. In
shrink. £9
Designer: Michael Schacht. No. players: 2.
Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Tactical tile
laying game in which the players are spice merchants. Tiles are 3 squares long, with each square showing a spice, a rat
or nothing. Tiles are played on top of
each other horizontally and vertically, but with no gaps formed, and not
exactly on top of another tile. Points
are scored for forming groups of your spices and you also try to keep your
opponent's rats exposed. It is possible to make your opponent lose by having
too many of their rats exposed at the end of their turn. Very tactical.
Reboot Mainframe
Game. Published by Crown
Games. 1995. Box. Good. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Based on a popular
computer animated cartoon series from the 1990s. Players are either sprites
(good) or viruses (bad), who try to protect or infect the CPU in which they all
live. The board is circular and shows lots of paths around which the standup
playing pieces move. Players need to collect chips to win. Everything in the game fits in with the
computer theme, down to a rules flow chart on the back page. The game itself is a roll and move type
game, but you can collect items to help yourself or hinder others.
Reibach & Co. Published by FX Schmid. 1996. Box.
Excellent. £7
Designer: Alan R Moon. No. players: 2-5.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Card game which
uses 90 commodity cards and 10 scoring cards and 10 special cards. Players try
to collect most of 10 types of commodity, as at three points in the game
payouts are made to the players with most and second most of each type. In
their turn a player can do three things, which include drawing a new card from
those on display, playing a card to the table in front of them (where it counts
towards scoring), or placing a special card which can double the number of
other cards played of that type, but means that no more may be played. In many ways a cut down to the basics
version of Airlines by the same designer.
Published as Get The Goods in America.
Saint Petersburg. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2004. Box.
In shrink. £19
Designer: Michael Tummelhofer. No. players:
2-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
On the nomination
list for Spiel des Jahres 2004, 1st place in the Deutsche Spiele Preis 2004,
Austrian game of the year 2004. An excellent business game in which players
must invest in peasants early in the game in order to build up their income,
but as the game goes on aristocrats need to be recruited to your cause for VPs
and more income, buildings built for VPs, and upgrades obtained to maximise
both income and VPs. The game is very
tactical, and deciding exactly when to switch your focus from income to VPs is
key. Highly recommended.
San
Francisco. Published by Amigo. 2000. Box. In shrink. £14. Desc. by Andy.
Designer: Andreas Wetter, Thorston Lopmann.
No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 75 mins.
San Francisco needs
to be rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1906. The players represent various factions who
want to be involved in the rebuilding.
As buildings are constructed players vie for the right to place them and
ownership of the streets using auctions involving money and influence. Ultimately the player who proves the most
successful rebuilder will win. The game
involves a selection of mechanics from other games, but they blend well to form
a good game not like any of the games it derives from.
Scarab Lords /
Minotaur Lords. Box.
Published by Fantasy Flight Games. Several available:
1) Scarab Lords. 2002. In shrink. £13.
Country: American
2) Scarab Lords - German Edition. 2002.
Excellent - unused. £5. Country: German. I can provide English rules, but the
cards all have German text.
3) Minotaur Lords. 2004. In shrink. £12.
Country: American.
4) Minotaur Lords - German Edition. 2004. In
shrink. £5. Country: German. I can provide English rules, but the cards all
have German text.
Designer: Reiner
Knizia. No. players: 2. Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Scarab Lords: Card game for two in which the
players vie for dominance over upper and lower ancient Egypt. In each region
players can attempt to gain supremacy in economic, religious and military
spheres, with the objective being to gain two out of three supremacies in both
regions and then hold them for one turn. The cards are attractive and come in
various types: minions and leaders who are sent to battle for supremacy against
those of your opponent, one off cards, and gods which give an advantage each
turn. Players can 'curse' the opponent's cards which makes them inactive and
the game can also end if a player's deck runs out. Additional cards are supplied which you can use to vary the
standard decks. Recommended.
Minotaur Lords:
Standalone expansion to Scarab Lords, set in a different land. You can play the decks from the two sets
against each other or even mix the cards between sets to some extent.
Scats. Published by UPL. ca.1935. Box. Good.
£1.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 4-100.
Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Described as
"Beetle's Big Brother", this is a game like Beetle Drive, where
players roll dice to complete their animals in the fastest time. The game is
primarily designed for large groups, where it will be played on multiple
tables, and each table plays as fast as possible to increase the chance that
someone at that table will win. After
someone completes a whole row of 'Scats' (actually cats!) players score for
completed scats only and then winners at each table swap tables. The
rules-sheet shows the following wartime message: 'Entertainment is Vital to the
Spirit of the Nation'. Nice period item.
Schnuff. Published by Ravensburger. 1983. Box.
Good. £7
Designer: Jim Seko. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Desc. by Andy.
Card game, with
players trying to get rid of the cards in their hand by playing to a discard
pile. Wild cards add to the fun. Cards
add / subtract to the current total, and the idea is to avoid being the one who
breaks through the 30, 60 or 90 barriers. Thus hand management is important, as
is deciding when to play the various wild cards.
Scotland Yard. Published by Ravensburger. 1983. Box. 2
copies available:
1) Good. £6 2) Excellent. £7
Designer: The
Design Team No. 3. No. players: 3-6. Country: British, Duration: 45 mins, Desc.
by Andy.
Clever tactical
game of deduction set on a map of London. One player is Mr. X, who is hiding and
the others are detectives hunting him down. All players move around by either
bus, taxis, underground or boat. The
detectives get to see the type of transport Mr. X uses at all points, but his
precise location is only revealed occasionally. The detectives need to work together to increase the chance that
one of them will catch Mr. X before the game ends and he escapes. Either Mr. X wins or all the detectives win
as a team.
Seega. Published by Wicor. ca.1975. Box. Good. £2
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2. Country:
German, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Strategy game
played on a 5x5 grid. Players take
turns placing marbles onto the indented board, and then take turns moving a
marble. If a marble is moved so as to
surround an enemy marble then the enemy marble is captured and removed and the
marble can be moved again if a further capture is possible. The winner is the player who eliminates all
their opponent's marbles or if a stalemate occurs then the player with the most
marbles remaining.
Set!. Published by Ravensburger. 2001. Box. In
shrink. £9
Designer: Marsha & Robert Falco. No.
players: 2-8. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game. The cards feature symbols that are used in
an original way. 12 of the cards are
laid face up on the table and everyone simultaneously looks for a 'set' of
three cards, and when they spot one call "SET!" However, this is not as simple as it seems
as sets are not always obvious because the symbols on each card have 4
characteristics (shape, colour, number and shading), and 3 cards form a set
only if: for all four features, the cards either have all the same feature or
none have the same feature. As you can imagine it takes a while to get your
mind around it, but it can become addictive.
The game has won various awards from all sorts of organisations. Highly
recommended.
Snow White. Published by Russell. 1965. Box.
Excellent. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
American, Desc. by Eamon.
Card game, film
related, licensed by Disney. 40 cards feature the main characters from the film
in full colour. Unusual in that the game mixes elements of Rummy and Hearts in
one game! Unusual item.
Source Of The
Nile. Published by Avalon
Hill. 1979. Box. Box shows wear and lid heavily taped. Contents fine. £33
Designer: Ross Maker & Dave Wesely. No.
players: 1+. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Second edition of
this game. Uses Fast-Action cards for generating random factors. Wonderful
idea, each player sets off to explore Africa, filling in the hex map as they
go. If they get back alive, they publish their discoveries, which become part
of the map board. Initially players need to equip their expedition which will
take quite a few turns, and when ready they set off. During the expedition
there will be many decisions to be made and the players must make their own
decisions on the basis of the perceived risks.
Space Faces. Published by Spears Games. 1983. Box. 2
copies available:
1) Box shows wear.
£4 2) Good. £3.50. Box shows wear
and corners and some edges taped
Designer: Unknown.
No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Unusual item. The board shows the faces of 120 different
species of alien. Each has a different combination
of coloured face, eye colour, nose and mouth.
A chunky device containing 5 circular coloured blocks is shaken and then
shows the face, nose, mouth and eye colour combination of the alien to be
found. Players then peer at the board
and the first to find it wins! This is
harder than it might at first seem, and makes for an intense game. The board comes with 4 places to put your
point chips, but other than that it could be played with any number of players.
Speed Chess
Challenge: Kasparov vs Short.
Published by B.T. Batsford. 1987. Book. Excellent. £2
Author: Raymond Keene. Country: British,
Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 25x19cm,
96 pages. This book takes you through
the speed chess challenge between these grand masters in 1987. The event was
televised, and so there are pictures from key points in the series as well as
discussion of the games and how they developed, and the implications of this
being a speed chess match.
Speed Circuit. Box. Several versions available:
1)
Speed Circuit. Published by 3M. 1973. Good. £30. Some differences to the later
Avalon Hill version. The wrap around board shows 3 race-tracks (this edition is
generally considered better).
2) Speed Circuit. Published by Avalon Hill.
1977. Box. Good. £12. Original metal cars replaced with a slightly nicer
set. Also includes the Belgian and
South African circuits.
3) Speed Circuit. Published by Avalon Hill.
1977. Box. Box shows wear, corners taped. £6. 1 of the original metal cars is
missing, one is slightly damaged, but 3 extra non matching car pieces provided.
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Well regarded motor
racing game with miniature metal racing cars and three courses to race on. Each
player has a customised car with different start speed, top speed, wear
characteristics etc. Cars accelerate or
brake as desired each turn, within the car's capabilities, and only when these
or cornering speeds are exceeded are wear points taken. The game includes many features in much more
modern motor racing games, with some nice ideas of its own.
Spellfire
Reference Guide. Published
by TSR. 1995. Book. Excellent. £3
Author: Bruce Nesmith, Tim Beach. Country:
American, Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 21x14cm,
384 pages. Invaluable reference book for Spellfire card game fans. It includes
the rules with strategy tips, nearly 800 full-colour reproductions of the
cards, strategy and tactics articles and a complete index of all the Spellfire
cards up to the publishing date.
Spin To Win. Published by Spear's Games. 1977. Box. Box
shows wear. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Top spinning game.
The board sits in the box and shows a grid of colourful scoring spaces with
higher numbers near the centre and the corners. Over this there is a transparent layer with holes. Players take it in turn to spin a top,
trying to get it into a valuable hole.
Tops not in holes are removed from the board. Once one player has all three of their tops in holes all tops are
scored and the highest scorer wins that round.
Star Wars -
Escape From The Death Star.
Published by Kenner. 1977. Box. 2 copies available:
1)
Good but edges show wear, 1 corner taped. £2.50. 3 of the stands for the
playing pieces have been replaced with different (but entirely functional)
stands.
2) Good but box edges show wear. £3
Designer: General
Mills Fun Group. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.
Each player races his
characters (Luke + Leia or Han + Chewbacca) through the Death Star, picking up
good or bad 'Force' cards on certain spaces. Once at the Millenium Falcon they
must fight their way through some Tie Fighters to win the game. This was released at the same time as the
first Star Wars film.
Stranded. Published by Spears. 1981. Box. Good. £1
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2. Country:
British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Attractively
produced strategy game. The plastic board has slots, into which you fit plastic
walls. Players move 'along' these walls, but always removing from the game the
first wall passed over. There are also rules to keep you away from your
opponent. The first player unable to move (ie. no walls adjacent to him any
more) loses. Note this is not the same
game as Isolation, which was also published as Stranded.
Sushi Express. Published by Abacus Spiele. 2005. Box. 2
copies available:
1) Excellent.
£6 2) In shrink. £7
Designer: Michael
Schacht. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Dice game in which
players try to move around a ring of location tiles delivering sushi, and
collecting customer cards. At the end
of the game the customer cards collected score points depending on the number
of different ones. Also the player who
has received the least tip cards will be penalised. Game play itself involves placing a dobber on a number from 2-12,
and effectively betting that either you, or someone who has placed on a number
higher than you, will roll at least that number. If you bet wrongly you don't
move that turn. Guess right and you
move as many spaces as the number you had chosen.
Take It Easy. 2 editions available:
1)
Take It Easy. Published by F X Schmid. 1994. Box. Good. £11. No. players: 1-4.
The 4 player, small box version.
2) Take It Easy. Published by Ravensburger.
2005. Box. In shrink. £19. No. players: 1-6. 6 player, roughly bookcase sized
box version.
Designer: Peter
Burley. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Each player has
their own board showing a hexagonal grid with spaces for 19 hex tiles to be
placed. Each player also has their own
identical set of 27 tiles which each have three coloured and numbered lines on
them. The objective is to make lines
all of one colour all the way across your board in as many of the rows and
columns as you can. Tiles are drawn
from a face down set at random and players choose where to place this piece on
each of their boards - plenty of hard decisions as the game goes on. It works as a sort of thinking man's
Bingo! One of my favourite games -
highly recommended.
Take The Test. Published by Peter Pan. 1967. Box. Good.
£5
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: 1
out of 42 road sign cards is missing - this does not affect play. The box shows
some wear and there is a quite large label removal mark.
Very nice
sixties-looking game, with 6 plastic vehicles and a large working set of
traffic lights that sits in the middle of the board (you press a button and the
'lights' change in each direction - really neat). Players drive around the board earning points by answering
questions about the Highway Code in three categories: road signs, picture
puzzles and regular questions. Of course it is out-of-date now but a nice item
from that time.
Tarot Deck. Published by Waddingtons. ca.1965. Box.
Good. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes:
Comes in a black felt covered box.
56 card tarot deck
(14 cards in each of the suits: batons, epees, denier and coupes). There are 4 picture cards in each suit
(valet, chevalier, reine, roi) as well as the numbers 1-10. The cards are a reproduction of an antique
French tarot deck. On a couple of the cards are the inscriptions: Fabrique de
Cartes a Schaffhouse, and Fabrique de Cartes I.Muller & Cie. This set comes
with no rules, but you can find rules for games with a tarot deck in many card
game books.
Terminator 2
Judgement Day. Published by
Parker. 1992. Box. Good. £1.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
American, Desc. by Andy.
Film tie-in, with
lots of pictures from the film on the box and cards etc. The players must collect three special items
and then do battle with the T-1000 in the steel mill until it is finally
destroyed and the game won. Movement is
by card play and special cards can be retained to improve your chances in
battle or move the T-1000 around the board to your advantage and others' woe.
The Arab-Israeli
Wars. Published by Avalon
Hill. 1977. Box. Good. £6
Designer: Seth Carus & Russell Vane. No.
players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon.
Allows you to
replay twenty four different situations at a tactical level on a customizable
map. The military forces of Egypt,
Israel, Jordan, and Syria are represented in the various scenarios. Rules
include (but are not limited to) roadblocks, minefields, electronic warfare,
bore-sighting, and firing while moving.
Basic game rules cover 5 pages, standard game rules a further 6 pages,
and advanced rules 5 more. Contains
about 500 counters.
The Artifact. Published by Sierra Madre Games. 2001.
Packet. New. £15
Designer: Phil Eklund. No. players: 4-8.
Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Most unusual
item. This set includes 4 copies of Fat
Messiah Games' solitaire Last Frontier game system. The players take the roles
of various characters in a Space Opera, with the players not knowing each
others motives and objectives. The system is '4-way blind', so not knowing what
else is going on is sure to keep you on your toes. The story starts with an alien artifact having been found and
accidentally activated. However, there
are various interested parties, and what happens next is up to you.
The Artless
Gambler. Published by
Pelham Books. 1964. Book. Good. £6
Author: Roger Longrigg. Country: British,
Desc. by Andy.
Hardback with
dustcover, 20x14cm, 114 pages. An amusingly written book about gambling - read
it for a laugh not to get any serious information! In its amusing way it covers: backing a horse, picking a horse,
getting a tip, going racing, racing off the course, going to the dogs, winning
on the pools, playing bingo, gambling in a club, playing cards, playing dice,
gambling when you can't, gambling abroad, premium bonds.
The Beginner's
Book Of Chess. Published by
K & C. ca.1955. Book. Good. £1.50
Author: F. Hollings. Country: British, Desc.
by Andy.
Note: 13th edition.
A stain on the spine discolours all pages, but only very close to the spine -
legibility is unaffected.
Softback, 18x12cm,
64 pages. A very well regarded book (with many glowing reviews from newspapers
etc) which teaches the basics of chess.
The book includes a walkthrough of some 'brilliant games' as well as
giving a dozen problems for the reader to solve.
The Complete
Guide To Electronic Games.
Published by Sphere Books. 1982. Book. Excellent. £6
Author: Howard J. Blumenthal. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 18x11cm,
214 pages. Book on electronic games of
the time - obviously now very dated, but still interesting as a memento of
those times, and quite sought after as such.
The book is split over the following chapters: Sports Games, Games of
Logic Strategy & Memory, Action Games, Learning Aids, Multi-game Systems,
Video Games and more.
The English
Defence. Published by B.T.
Batsford. 1987. Book. Excellent. £8.50
Author: Raymond Keene, James Plaskett, Jon
Tisdall. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 21x14cm,
100 pages. Chess book for tournament players. Part of a series titled: The Tournament
Player's Repertoire of Openings. This book introduces the English Defence, and
then goes through a selection of possible counter moves, and also discusses the
Accelerated Queen's Indian.
The English
Jigsaw Puzzle 1760-1890.
Published by Wayland. 1972. Book. Excellent. £18
Author: Linda Hannas. Country: British, Desc.
by Andy.
Hardback with
dustcover, 26x19cm, 164 pages. Book
detailing the history of the English Jigsaw Puzzle, and an essential work on
the subject. About half the book is
historical information with many pictures (mostly black and white, but a few
colour) and covers the inventor of the Jigsaw (John Spilsbury), 18th and 19th
century dissections, principal publishers, the jigsaw trade, foreign puzzles,
and more. The second half is a very
comprehensive looking listing of jigsaws from the covered period in museums and
private collections with quite a bit of detailed information on each (but no
pictures).
The Famous Five
Adventures. Published by
Pepys. ca.1970. Box. Box taped, a few cards creased. £1.50
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
Card game, 44 cards
with colourful pictures of the Famous Five in action. For those of you who have
never heard of the Famous Five, they were a group of older schoolchildren who
found adventures to solve on every holiday they took. They were created by Enid
Blyton, Britain's premier author of children’s fiction. The cards in this set
are based on an animated television series of the time. Cards are played in
sequence onto 4 adventures, and the player who first manages to complete an
adventure wins the game.
The Fine Art
Game. Published by Piatnik.
1996. Box. Good. £2
Designer: Gerhard Kodys. No. players: 2-4.
Country: Austrian, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Game set in an art
gallery, where players move the guide around and when he lands on a player's
piece a picture is examined, and points awarded. Extra points are earned by answering questions about the painting
(and lost if you choose to give an answer but get it wrong). 36 very attractive
2 inch square tiles feature the art from many of the world's best artists,
which are laid out around the board to form the gallery.
The Hobbit. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2001. Box.
Excellent. £8
Designer: Michael Stern, Keith Meyers. No.
players: 2-6. Country: German, Desc. by Andy.
Tolkien themed game
in which the players advance their hobbits along a track towards Smaug the
dragon's lair, steadily improving their weaponry and skills and gaining
treasures. Event, item and monster
cards all add to the theme.
The INWO Book. Published by Steve Jackson Games. 1995.
Book. Excellent. £6
Author: Steve Jackson. Country: American,
Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 21x14cm,
152 pages. Book all about INWO
(Illuminati The New World Order) the CCG.
The book covers: Intro & Game Support, Designer's Schemes, World
Domination Handbook (Full rules, Strategy etc), Variants, Optional Rules,
Tournaments, Strategy Articles, The Cards - Text and Pictures.
The New Eleusis. Published by Robert Abbott. 1977. Booklet.
Excellent. £2.50
Author: Robert Abbott. No. players: 4-8.
Country: American, Desc. by Andy.
Booklet, 20 pages,
22x14cm. This booklet explains the
rules and history of the author's game Eleusis, which is an inductive logic
game. The basic idea is that one player
selects a rule, and the other players play playing cards which the rule maker
either accepts or refuses as part of a sequence. Players try to get rid of their cards and also to work out what
the rule must be. One player can also
announce themselves as a prophet which means they think they know the rule and
must predict whether every card played will be accepted or not. Very clever game - recommended.
The
Republic Of Rome. Published by Avalon Hill. 1990. Box. Good. £40. Desc. by Eamon.
Designer: Richard Berthold & Robert
Haines. No. players: 1-6. Country: American, Duration: 4-6 hrs.
Special notes: Only
a few marks near the corners away from Excellent
Very ambitious attempt
to create a Roman political game. The Campaign game is long but brilliant when
played with players who know the rule book inside-out (no easy task, I have to
say). One inventor is an academic historian and the other is a gamer, both
being involved ensured an accurate simulation as well as a game. Unusual in
that as well as each player trying to become the most powerful family in Rome,
the players must also cooperate enough to keep Rome stable against internal and
external forces, as if Rome falls all the players lose.
The Sport Of
Kings. Published by
Lambourne. 1992. Packet. Excellent. £14
Designer: Terry Goodchild. No. players: 1+.
Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Classic horse
racing game, allowing you to run a stable of horses. You must pick the races to
enter, best suited to the class of your horses, with the aim of winning prize
money and making winning bets. A very clever race system, with the opportunity
for the top horses to underperform, and for outsiders to win, but with the
horses generally following their form. Works well solitaire too.
The Willow Game. Published by Tor Books. 1988. Box. Good.
£2.50
Designer: Greg Costikyan. No. players: 2-6.
Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Game based on the
fantasy film, Willow. The players play
the characters from the film, both Good and Evil. The Good players try to
protect Elora Danan out of Evil Bavmorda's clutches, and get her to safety,
while the Evil players try to find and capture her and then get her to Nockmar
Castle. Good characters start weak, but get stronger as the game goes on by
searching places of power and gaining treasures. The Good characters can win by either taking Elora Danan to
safety or by defeating Bavmorda in combat. Bookcase Box.
Third World Debt. Published by JKLM Games. 2005. Box. In
shrink. £21
Designer: Dave Thorby. No. players: 2-6.
Country: British, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.
Economic game in
which each player runs their own third world country, and has to manage its
economy. This will involve obtaining
money from international banks to build factories, and thus get income, but the
banks need interest payments, and money can also be siphoned off for military
purposes. Getting the balance just
right is what will win the game.
Thurn And Taxis. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2006. Box.
In shrink. £19
Designer: Karen & Andreas Seyfarth. No.
players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
German Spiel des
Jahres winner for 2006. The board shows
a map of southern Germany with a little of Switzerland and Austria. There are 22 cities shown and a network of
roads between them. Players draft city cards into their hand and must play them
out in a row forming a legitimate route.
At a point of the player's choosing a route can be claimed and a clever
choice of how to place post offices on the board made. The objective is to gain VPs through
building post offices, playing ever longer routes, and claiming bonuses for
sets of post offices. The game plays very smoothly and is good for only
occasional games players too. Highly recommended.
Tiere Im Wald. Published by Hans-Im-Gluck. ca.1985. Box.
Good. £20
Designer: A. Trieb, K.H. Schmiel, B.
Brunnhofer. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Desc. by Andy.
One of the first
two Hans-Im-Gluck games. Each player is a woodland creature, and each creature
has a special move that is unique to it, and can be used at the player's
discretion. The creatures are trying to collect food and water discs to win the
game. The movement has a clever twist in that whenever a square is traversed by
a creature, it is marked, and if another creature traverses it, it is marked
again and becomes a no-go area for all creatures because with two 'tracks' on
it, it would be too easy for a hunter to find you. In effect, this means the
board 'shrinks' during play as more squares become out-of-bounds.
Tinner's Trail. Published by Warfrog. 2008. Box. In
shrink. £23
Designer: Martin Wallace. No. players: 3-4.
Country: British, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Clever economic
game based on the Cornish tin mining industry with straight forward mechanics
and which plays very well, presenting a selection of tricky choices. Players buy areas of Cornwall which they
then mine for tin and copper. However,
the cost of getting out ore is increased as mines fill with water, which
happens every time ore is removed.
Various improvements can be bought to remove water, discover more seams
of ore, and increase production efficiency. However, each round players have a
limited amount of time points to spend, so actions must be chosen wisely. Highly recommended.
Title Bout. Published by Avalon Hill. 1979. Box.
Several copies available:
1) Box shows wear.
£1.50 2) Good. £2.50
3) Good. £4. In two
boxes. Includes cards from 1979, 1981
& 1984 sets.
Designer: Jim
Trunzo. No. players: 1-2. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Statistical boxing
game, and very well suited to solitaire play.
Uses a Fast-Action card system that enables you to replay fights very
quickly (20 mins using basic rules and 40 mins using advanced rules). Hundreds
of boxers are rated, so you can replay famous bouts or your own favourite 'what
if' bouts.
Tombouctou. Published by Queen Games. 2006. Box. In
shrink. £17.50
Designer: Dirk Henn. No. players: 3-5.
Country: German, Duration: 60 mins, Desc. by Andy.
An unusual game in
which players start with a caravan of camels loaded with various goods, and
these camels move across the board towards Timbuktu. However, along the way there are thieves. Each player has part of the information
about what the thieves want and in which part of the board they will appear,
and more information is gained as the game goes on. Thus through logical deduction and tactical movement of your
camels you aim to have the most valuable goods when the caravans reach
Timbuktu. Previously self published by
the author.
Toppo. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2005. Box.
Excellent. £10
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4.
Country: American, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Card game. The cards show five different shapes in five
different colours. Three are dealt into
the centre of the table and each player has their own stack of cards. Players all simultaneously deal out three
cards for themselves and compare them with those in the centre. Any identical cards can be discarded to the
centre, and if all three cards 'top' those in the centre then they are
discarded onto the cards in the centre thus changing the cards to be
matched. 'Topping' means matching in
either colour or shape. Players
repeatedly deal themselves 3 cards, compare with the centre and redeal three
cards trying to get rid of their cards as fast as possible. As soon as you have less than 10 cards in
your stack you call 'Toppo' and win the hand.
Tribune. Published by Fantasy Flight Games. 2007.
Box. In shrink. £31
Designer: Karl Heinz Schmiel. No. players:
2-5. Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Players represent
major families in Rome, each trying to rise to prominence amongst the Roman
elite. In order to do this the players
use their playing pieces each round in order to purchase cards, earn money,
attend auctions or the temple, and vie for control of various important Roman
factions. In order to control a faction
a suitable set of cards needs to be collected to oust the current controller,
but the benefits of doing so are great.
The objective is to accumulate VPs in a variety of ways. The game ends when a player achieves a set
number of objectives, but the player with most VPs is the winner. Clever systems, and extremely well received
- highly recommended.
Triomph. Published by Anderson. 1987. Box. Good.
£6.50
Designer: Sven Anderson. No. players: 2.
Country: German, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: Box
lid slightly discoloured in one area, but contents fine.
Abstract game
played on a hex board with hexagonal wooden pieces. Players move to obtain
supremacy in the centre of the board, using cards in their hand to best effect
and using groups of pieces to strengthen the attack. There are also special spaces which add to the strength of
certain pieces. When a player gains
control of the centre the opponent gets one last chance to break their
supremacy.
Trivial Pursuit. Box. 1983. 2 editions available:
1)
Published by Horn Abbot. Good. £5. Early edition, made before the game went
global. Amazingly, the box did not change once the big companies got hold of
it.
2) Published by Parker Brothers. 1983. Box.
Good. £5. This is the Genus edition of the game.
Designer: Horn
& Abbot. No. players: 2-6. Country: Canadian, Desc. by Eamon.
The immensely
popular trivia game. The set includes
1000 question and answer cards, each with a question in 6 categories.
Trivial Pursuit
Subsidiary Card Set. Published
by Horn Abbot International Ltd. 1986. Box. Good. £2
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-36.
Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
This is an extra
1000 question and answer cards (6 questions per card, so 6000 total) for those
who have overused the standard Trivial Pursuit questions. It says it is the Genus II Edition for age
15 to Adult.
Trivial Pursuit:
Baby Boomer Edition Extra Cards. Published by Parker Brothers. 1985. Box. Good. £3
Designer: Horn & Abbot. No. players: 2-6.
Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
This set includes 2
boxes of cards for use with Trivial Pursuit.
There are 1000 Q&A cards, and in this Baby Boomer edition the
categories are: Broadcasting, Stage & Screen, Nightly News, Publishing,
Lives & Times, R.P.M. (Music).
Extra Trivia. Published by Paul Lamond Games. 1986. Box.
In shrink. £4
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country:
British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Trivia game /
expansion set. This set of trivia question
cards has six numbered questions per card, in the categories: Living World,
People & Places, Words & Phrases, Titles & Portrayals, All Our
Yesterdays, Misc. On the back of the
box are rules for a standalone Trivia game, or you can use it as an expansion
set for other trivia games.
Turf Horse
Racing. Published by
Gibsons. 1995. Box. Excellent. £10
Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 3-6.
Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
A great race game,
and quite different to any other. 7 horses are in each race, and you bet on the
result. However, the novelty is that each horse has ratings according to 4
different symbols, and in your turn you roll a dice to see which symbol you can
use this turn. Sometimes you can move
your own horse forward well, sometimes there is an obvious opponent to
'nobble', but other times it is hard to decide the best use of the symbol you
rolled. One of the best 'end-of-evening' games you will find in my
opinion. I also have some house rules
which I find improve the game. It was
reissued (and changed somewhat in the process) as Royal Turf. Recommended.
TurfMaster. Published by AZA-Spiele. 1999. Box. In
shrink. £50
Designer: Albrecht Nolte. No. players: 2-8.
Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Fabulously produced
horse-racing game, with a large board and very nice painted racehorse
miniatures. The movement system uses a mixture of cards for individual horses
and dice, which is the same throw for all the horses. There are clever rules
for lane changing, limitations on the leaders and obtaining extra cards which
make the game a good tactical challenge as well as fun to play. Highly regarded
for game play as well as for the production quality.
Twentieth
Century Standard Puzzle Book.
Published by George Routledge & Sons. 1907. Book.
Good - especially
for its age. £13. Author: A Cyril. Pearson. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Hardback, 19x13cm,
571 pages. The book comes in three sections each separately page numbered. The
parts are: 1) Magic Squares, Picture Puzzles, Enigmas, Charades, Riddles,
Conundrums, Nuts To Crack; 2) Optical Illusions, Freaks of Figures, Chess
Cameos, Science At Play, Curious Calculations, Word & Letter Puzzles; 3)
Word Puzzles, Missing Words, Letter Puzzles, Anagrams, Picture Puzzles,
Palindromes. Plenty to keep you
occupied with lots of diagrams throughout. Nice period item.
UFO's Fritten
Aus Dem All. Published by
Argentum Verlag. 2004. Box. Good. £12.50
Designer: Petra Brandenburger. No. players:
2-5. Country: German, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Amusingly themed
science fiction game. Aliens want to
earn the love of humankind, and have decided to do this by setting up fast food
businesses all over the world. These can
be used to distribute mind affecting drugs to the unsuspecting population of
the world - the player whose aliens do this best wins! Flying saucers are moved around a map of the
world and can be used to set up new restaurants, take over other aliens' restaurants
and 'bump' away opposing alien ships. This 'bump attack' causes a UFO to spin
wildly out of control across the world's skies and causes panic amongst the
humans - which is sure to make it harder for the owner of that craft to set up
restaurants in affected cities.
Ulcers. Published by Waddingtons. 1973. Box.
Several copies available:
1) Good. £4 2) Good, but box base indented. £3 3) Good, base slightly indented and
taped. £2
Designer: Unknown.
No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Players try to
assemble a full set of personnel to run their company. However, there aren't
enough available for everyone to do this, so players must compete for the right
staff. The first player to have a
complete company and end a fiscal year wins. Players move their pieces around a
circular track and get the chance to hire staff and headhunt other companies'
staff. Money management is also
important as paying your staff too little will get them headhunted, but paying
them too much will bankrupt your company. One of the better Waddingtons games,
and particularly good for 4 players.
Um Kopf Und
Kragen. Published by
Berliner Spielkarten. 1996. Box. Good. £2.50
Designer: Stefan Dorra. No. players: 3-7.
Country: German, Desc. by Andy.
Card game, 33
cards, 6 dice and counters. Dice rolling game in which you get the option to
reroll poor rolls but only if you are willing to pay for them.
Up & Down. Published by Adlung. 1996. Box. Excellent.
£1.75
Designer: Karsten Adlung. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Eamon.
Card game, each
player trying to score points by following on, playing onto a stack of cards. A
plus card can only be played on a minus card and vice versa. If you don't manage an exact match then you
must draw extra cards, one for each point by which you missed the match.
Venture. Published by 3M. 1970. Box. Excellent. £12
Designer: Sid Sackson. No. players: 2-6.
Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Gamette edition.
Card game. Business game in which
players collect money cards and form them into sets to increase their value and
then spend them on company cards. Each company card shows some of the letters
A-F, and by combining companies from different business sectors with compatible
letters the values of the resulting conglomerates increases. Scoring occurs regularly throughout the
game, and the player with the most points at the end wins. Clever game, and one that really should have
been kept in print. Recommended.
Vive La Difference!. Published by Ravensburger. 1992. Box. 2
copies available:
1) Mint. £7 2) Good. £5.50
Designer: Unknown.
No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Desc. by Andy.
Promotional game
for Remy Martin, the champagne people. As you would expect, a really
beautifully produced product. Players race to make a tour around Europe using a
special dice. On the city spaces a
trivia question is asked and a correct answer gives the chance to jump ahead. The cards show gourmet meals, the dice are
black and gold and the box is inlaid with black velvet. Also includes 20 metal
coins in a leather pouch. If you are going to use a game to advertise yourself,
this is certainly a classy way to do it.
Volldampf. Published by TM Spiele. 2001. Box.
Excellent. £13
Designer: Martin Wallace. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: This
set includes laminated colour English special action cards and crib sheets to
ease play.
Part of Martin
Wallace's rail game series which started with Lancashire Rails and culminated
in the Age of Steam. This game plays
rather more like Lancashire Rails than Age of Steam, but has very nice
components. However, it has a few ideas
of its own which make it different to the others in the series, and worth exploring
for the train game fan. All the games
in this series are very good, and this is no exception.
Weigh It Up. Published by Spear's Games. 1975. Box.
Good. £2
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.
The board shows a
grid of triangles each with a number in - some positive, some negative. Each vertex has a hole for a peg. Players take it in turns to add a peg to the
board, and if a peg is the last one around a triangle that players scores the
number in the triangle, be that good or bad.
Highest scorer when all the pegs are in wins.
Whickers World. Published by Paul Lamond Games. 1989. Box.
Good. £4
Designer: Terry Miller Associates. No.
players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.
Geographical trivia
game, but with attractive cards each with a picture of something unusual. The reverse of the card gets the current
player to identify the picture and then has a selection of related questions. Players move along a track with some
ludo-like mechanisms included as well.
Wild Life. Published by Clementoni. 2002. Box. Good.
£14
Designer: Wolfgang Kramer. No. players: 2-6.
Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes:
German edition, but the ability and event cards which have text on have been
pasted up with English translations.
Each player takes
the role of a different species, each of which is best suited to a different
environment. During the game
populations expand and the creatures come into conflict. Each species can develop, however, and
become able to operate more effectively in other terrains as the game goes
on. Special ability cards can also be
obtained and used to good effect.
Naturally each player wants their own species to dominate.
Word Games. Published by Merit. Box. 2 Box corners
split. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1-4. Country:
British, Desc. by Andy.
A set of 8 word
games played with tiles on a table. The
games are called: Crossword, Anagrams, Word Rummy, Word Dominoes, Word Ghost,
Snatch Words, Word Solitaire & Passwords. A nice collection for word game
fans.
World Traveller. Published by Intelligames. 1980. Box.
Good. £3
Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country:
American, Desc. by Andy.
Players race their
playing pieces across the board which shows a map of the world divided up into
squares. Landing on some spaces results
in being asked a question from one of the cards, and answering correctly will
earn extra movement points. There are
easy and difficult questions so the game can be played by adults and children
together. There are also some adventure spaces which will send the player to a
random location as determined by the adventure card drawn. The first player to get to the far side of
the board wins the game.
World's Best
Card Games For One.
Published by Sterling Publishing Co.. 1993. Book. Excellent. £2
Author: Sheila Anne Barry. Country: American,
Desc. by Andy.
Softback, 21x13cm,
128 pages. Collection of patience games split into 1 Deck (57) and 2 Deck
(47). Each game is described with diagrams,
and there is also a table of all the games showing how much space the game
requires, how many decks, and how hard it is to finish.
Wortelboer. Published by Th!nk-Games. 1999. Box. Good.
£5
Designer: Gerard Mulder, Johan Schuyl. No.
players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Special notes: No.
103/179
Unusual game in
which players play cards to try to form food pyramids consisting of 3 carrots,
2 rabbits and a fox. If at any point there
are too many rabbits or foxes in a player's display then some cards are
removed, with some being given to the owner of the display and others going to
the 'attacking' player. There are also
a few special cards to add in some extra twists.
Wucherer. Published by Spiele-Bau-Stelle. 1994. Box.
2 copies available:
1) Good. £2 2) Excellent. £4. 3rd printing - blue
box + includes extension set of 36 extra cards.
Designer:
Friedemann Friese. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by
Andy.
Card game, later
reprinted as Landlord. Players play
apartment cards and rent them to tenants, collecting rent each turn. Wealthy
tenants can be placed in your own properties, but squatters and deadbeats into
your opponents' apartments. You can even play a bomb card on your opponents'
building, but make sure you have an alibi card as the police may catch you
otherwise.
Zankapfel. Published by VSK. 1994. Box. Good, 1
corner split. £7
Designer: Ralf zur Linde. No. players: 3-6.
Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
Players buy and
sell apples for profit. The board shows a price grid around which a marker is
moved and this lets players buy and sell four different types of apple, as well
as changing the prices of these apple types. Players bid secretly when selling
or buying apples and the game uses a card system to resolve conflict in these
'Apple Wars'. Has a giant apple playing piece as the turn marker.
Zoo Sim. Published by Cwali. ca.2002. Tube. New.
£15
Designer: Corne Van Moorsel. No. players:
2-4. Country: Dutch, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.
Very attractive
game in which the players each develop a zoo which all compete for
customers. Customers go to the most
impressive displays of different animals groups and also like circular paths
around a zoo, and plenty of trees. It
is essentially a bidding game for clever domino-like tiles with lovely
illustrations of elements of a zoo. The way the tiles with the paths and
exhibits fit together (or don't) really makes the game work wonderfully.
Recommended.
Zooloretto
Expansions. Published by
Rio Grande Games. 2007. Packet. In shrink. £3.50
Designer: Michael Schacht. No. players: 2-5.
Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.
This is a set of 5
expansions for Zooloretto, which can individually or together be added to the
base game. The expansions are:
Construction Sites, The Polar Bear, Three Extra Enclosures, Three New Buildings
and The Petting Zoo. You will need the base game to make use of this.
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