Dec 2007 Catalog

MNG-AJM Games and Collectibles

Dec 2007 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?

21, published by Waddingtons. 1964. Box. Good but 2 corners taped. £2

Numerical strategy game in which players place numbered tiles on to a board with a view to forming lines of numbers totaling 21 exactly. Includes 4 sets of 29 number tiles, and the board has some bonus spaces as well.

50 Of The Finest Adult Party Games, published by Lagoon Books. 1999. Book. Excellent. £2

Special notes: Hardback edition

Full colour book containing 50 party games. These include lots of great ideas for party icebreakers, as well as a few which require a bit of a broader mind. The book generally suggests a 'normal' version of the game and then options to spice it up for the rowdier or raunchier groups!

6 Billion, published by Board Not Bored Games. 1999. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £7.50 2) Good, 1 corner shows wear. £6.50

Unusual game, based on the premise that Earth will soon increase its population above a satisfactory survival level. Each player represents a faction of the population as at 1999, around 6 billion divided evenly, with the excess being run by the game as neutral factions. Throughout the game you have to control your population expansion and find new places to colonise throughout the solar system.

A Mighty Fortress, published by SPI. 1977. Box. Good. £25

Special notes: The plastic case shows its age, with the edges discoloured and starting to crack.

Well known wargame for precisely six players. The game simulates the religious fervour of the 16th century when the Lutheran Reformation fought head-to-head with the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Played on a map of Europe, and featuring all the great Empires and Dynasties of the period. As well as moving around counters on the board you will also need some diplomacy. Rules also cover sieges, missionaries, taxes, excommunication, and Henry VIII. Each faction has its own goals and starts with different forces.

Aces High, published by 3W. 1993. Box. Good. £7

First World War dogfight wargame. The rules are quite complex, covering 23 pages, and there is a separate book of scenarios and another with the data charts for 72 different aircraft you can fly against each other. The rules cover stalls, spins, unreliable engines, spotting, anti aircraft fire, etc. There are a variety of scenarios from recon missions to balloon busting to bombing, and some are solitaire and others multi-player.

AD&D: Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas, published by TSR. 1999. CD Case. Good. £50

Designer Unknown. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: No manual included, though it is easy to use with good help built in.

This is an amazing item for players of AD&D who use the very popular Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The CD contains over 500 maps from a vast number of Forgotten Realms supplements. The maps range from overviews of the entire world down to individual building floorplans. They are presented in a very clever linked way, so you can click from one to another linked map. Highly detailed and a great resource - highly recommended. You will need a Windows PC to use this, and it should work with pretty much any Windows OS (Win 95 onwards). There is also a free update on the internet with 300 further maps. If you also have Campaign Cartographer you can edit the maps too!

Age Of Empires III, published by Tropical Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £33

Very well regarded board game version of the hit PC game. This game allows you to revisit the age of exploration and discovery. Each player takes the role of a colonial power seeking glory and riches in the New World. The game proceeds through three 'ages' and players launch expeditions, colonise regions, expand their merchant fleets, and build unique buildings giving their civilization advantages. The game includes both economical development and the scope for war to break out. The mechanics are very much those of a euro-game, but has hundreds of plastic figures inc. ships, colonists, merchants, soldiers and more.

Age of Steam - America + Europe, published by Bezier Games. 2007. None. In shrink. £16

Age of Steam expansion map. This double sided mounted mapboard provides the following new maps: America (there is a low availability and high demand for goods, and a limitation of one delivery per turn); Europe (express links can be built which cost double to build but provide double income when used).

Age of Steam - Barbados + St Lucia, published by Bezier Games. 2007. Packet. New. £8

Age of Steam expansion map. Double sided two part cardstock map with rules for two new scenarios: Barbados (Solo scenario in which all cities initially only want pineapples - you have to work out a way to make money from this!); St Lucia (2 player only scenario with special turn order rules and a new way for goods to enter the game).

Age of Steam - Disco Inferno + Soul Train, published by Bezier Games. 2007. Packet. New. £11

Age of Steam expansion map. Double sided two part cardstock map with rules for two new scenarios: Disco Inferno (this features two new ideas: once a location no longer has cubes on it the location vanishes and can no longer be delivered to; and several cubes can be delivered using a single action as long as they are chained together and don't exceed the link length maximum); Soul Train (uses a two stage three part board where part way through half the board is no longer used but a new section becomes available).

Age of Steam - Jamaica + Puerto Rico, published by Bezier Games. 2007. Packet. New. £8

Age of Steam expansion map. Double sided two part cardstock map with rules for two new scenarios: Puerto Rico (Solo scenario in which you have 10 turns to secretly deliver weapons along with regular cattle deliveries - several levels of difficulty); Jamaica (2 player only scenario with special turn order rules which ends when there are no goods left to deliver).

Age of Steam - London + The Sun, published by Bezier Games. 2007. Packet. New. £11

Age of Steam expansion map. Double sided two part cardstock map with rules for two new scenarios: London (building a rail network in London is very expensive adding a new challenge for the experienced AoS player); The Sun (in this scenario the players are mining solar flares! The 'cities' can be moved during the game and the towns can be developed anywhere. Lots of new ideas to challenge your standard AoS strategies).

Age of Steam - Mississippi Steamboats + Golden Spike, published by Bezier Games. 2007. None. In shrink. £16

Age of Steam expansion map. This double sided mounted mapboard provides the following new maps: Mississippi River (steamboats are built and controlled by the players and are used in conjunction with railroads to deliver goods quickly and efficiently throughout the Midwest); 1860s Western USA: Golden Spike (the Union Pacific and Cabtral Pacific raced to complete a transcontinental railroad system. This map is for team play - each player being assigned to one of the two major companies, and when one team completes the transcontinental link the other team cannot win the individual victory).

Age of Steam - Northern California + Pennsylvania, published by Bezier Games. 2007. None. New. £12

Age of Steam expansion map. This double sided cardstock map provides the following new maps: Northern California (features two bridges across the bay, goods lining up for delivery in Santa Cruz, and the 3 tile city of San Jose); 1830s Pennsylvania (the industrial revolution is creating a huge demand for coal, and additional profits for delivering it).

Aloha, published by Cwali. 2005. Box. In shrink. £13

Nicely produced tile laying game. The 66 tiles show sections of a tropical island which join up to make a different archipelago each time. On their turn a player positions their man on a tile on the main island and then draws a tile. If it can be fitted onto the tile their man is on then it is played, and they get to add a sun lounger onto a beach on that tile, and they may then continue their turn by drawing another tile. However, if a tile is drawn which cannot be placed next to their man then their turn ends and they lose all sun loungers placed that turn. At the end of the game points are awarded according to the lengths of beaches to the player with the most sun loungers on those beaches.

Alphabet Race, published by Ravensburger. 1986. Box. Good. £1

Childrens' game (age 7+) in which a card is revealed showing various things which fit a theme, eg. a selection of toys, and the current player must say a word which fits the theme and which starts with their current letter. If they manage to do this quickly then they advance their letter marker to the next letter. First player to get past W wins. 20 very thick theme cards are provided and are attractively illustrated. 4 variants are also included.

Anno 1452, published by Piatnik. 1999. Box. Excellent. £8.50

Game set in the Holy Roman Empire in 1452. Players earn victory points in various ways. Players have a limited number of actions each turn to place pieces into territories on the map. There are several types of resources to manage and there are also several ways to challenge other players' positions. One element which stands out is that the weakest player each turn is made king and is given some powerful benefits, which gives them an excellent opportunity to get back into the game. Once this is done another player will then become king.

Anno 1503, published by Kosmos. 2003. Box. Excellent. £15

Spin off game from both the German PC game of the same name and also from the Settlers franchise. However, while the game does draw ideas from the Settlers family, it has new ideas too. Players are both exploring new lands by ship, and gaining trading posts and colonies there, as well as improving their own town. To win a player must complete three out of five development targets, allowing for different strategies. Players gather goods of various types and trade them for profit and also use them to build new ships and develop their town. Highly recommended - especially for three players.

Apache, published by Abacus Spiele. 2007. Box. In shrink. £9

American Indian themed card game. The deck consists of Indians, and various artifacts which these Indians desire (eg. warriors want tomahawks, maidens necklaces etc). Each player also has a set of Indian cards. Cards are turned over one at a time, and once there is an Indian of your colour and an item that Indian wants you can claim it - this is done by slapping the card onto a special board - if several players want to claim simultaneously then the underneath card gets it. Several extra types of card add variety and the scope for making mistakes.

Baffled, published by Spear's Games. 1991. Box. Good. £3.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Memory game. Twelve symbols are hidden underneath 12 pyramids. These are shown to everyone at the start of the game and then covered. Players all start with several lives - those with poor memories can be given extra lives to give them more of a chance. Players move around the board and the spaces direct them to either locate a symbol (or lose a life), find 3 of a set of 4 symbols (lose a life if you fail, but gain one if you succeed), or challenge another player to locate a symbol. Last player with lives left wins. Certainly a real memory testing game. Nice bits.

Baker Street, published by Ravensburger. 2003. Box. Excellent. £8.50

Card game given a Sherlock Holmes theme. Players try to collect evidence cards with letters on, and the first to have 7 consecutive letters wins the game. Game play involves playing numbered cards of your colours against face down piles of evidence cards. After each placement and drawing a new card the current player must estimate the total of the cards in both players' hands, and this must be higher than the estimate given by the previous player on their turn. Alternatively a player can forego playing a card and challenge their opponent's estimate. Doing so correctly gives the chance to evaluate a pile of cards, the winner of which gets to take an evidence card of their choice from that pile. Unusual mix of mechanics.

Balderdash, published by Action GT. 1984. Box. Goodish - box edges show wear. £3

Special notes: One side of the base has had its printing ripped off. A previous owner has also used the inside of the box as a score sheet. Replacement definition sheets provided (original used up).

This is a professionally produced version of the parlour game which can be played with just a dictionary, pencil and paper. There are 2500 word definitions provided, and one player selects a (very obscure) word and everyone else writes a definition for it. The player made definitions are then read out along with the real one and players vote on which is the real one. Points are scored for having other people chose your definition and for guessing the real definition. This set comes with a two player variant and of course 2500 preselected definitions.

Banque Fatale, published by Blatz. 1997. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £8.50 2) Good, but box very slightly indented. £8

A sort of stockmarket game dressed up as a casino game. The game involves bidding for cards which will have value at the end of the game, and the tokens bid with affect the prices of the various colour cards. Whenever the value of a colour hits a maximum there is a payout. Richest player at the end of the game wins.

Battle Masters - Chaos Warband + Imperial Lords, published by Milton Bradley. 1992. Box. Good. £30

Special notes: The figures have been used, with some spears a little bent etc, but generally pretty good.

Two expansions for Battle Masters in a single box. The box is the Chaos Warlord box, but it contains the contents of a Chaos Warlord set and an Imperial Lords set as well as rules for both. Thus it contains about 50 miniatures and group bases for use with the Battle Masters game (which you will need to make use of this). These expansions are quite rare.

Battlelords, published by New Millennium. 1995. Box. Mint. £1

Designed by M Alexander Jurkat, Jin Lee, Eric Leslie, Bernard C Trombley & George Vasilakos. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon. Special notes: 1 starter pack

Collectible card game, 120 cards making a complete game for two (although the mixture will be different every time). Each player is the Commander of a mercenary troop of futuristic warriors, in a world not too dissimilar to the universe created for the Battletech range of products. First edition. Cards are illustrated in full colour.

Booby-Trap, published by Parker. 1965. Box. Box Worn. £2

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Dexterity game. Unusually for a manufacturer like this, it comes with a wooden frame, into which are wedged the plastic pieces. They are held in place by a bar on a spring. The object is to remove pieces one by one, without setting off the spring. Good fun and nicely made.

Boomtown, published by Face2Face Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £12.50. Desc. by Andy.

Designed by Bruno Cathala & Bruno Faidutti. No. players: 3-5. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins. Card game in which the players purchase mines in the wild west heyday, in order to make a good profit and become mayor of one or more towns, which in turn will generate more money. The central mechanism is an auction for first choice of cards for the round, but with the twist that the money is paid to other players, with most going to the player who gets the worst card. Between rounds dice are rolled to see which mines produce and income is collected, though some of it may get spent in another player's saloon. The deck also includes cards for holdups, dynamite and dangerous mines etc. The game includes mini poker chips and large wooden mayor markers for the 5 towns. Good fun game which I can recommend.

Cartagena, published by Venice Connection. 2000. Box. In shrink. £14

Each player tries to get his pirates through a secret escape passage. You use cards to move, but to get new cards you must move backwards. A fine balance must be struck between these options in order to make good progress. For a shorter game you can simply play with a reduced number of pirates. Nice simple but tactical game which I highly recommend when played with the cards kept secret option. On the German Spiel des Jahres nomination list for 2001.

Cash-A-Catch, published by Queen Games. 2007. Box. 2 copies available: 1) Excellent. £13 2) In shrink. £14

Dutch auction based game in which the players bid for batches of fish. The auction uses a neat idea - the price is fixed but the amount of fish in the batch goes up until someone accepts the batch using the efficient metal push-bell. Fish come in 6 types, but only 3 types can be stored in your catch trays. Players take turn being the auctioneer, which is when you get a chance to sell your fish (the more of a type you have the more profitable the batch), as well as getting a commission on the fish sold. Any fish you can't store go into your rubbish bin and will score negatively. A few special cards throw extra twists into the mix.

Castle Risk, published by Parker Bros. 1986. Box. Box shows wear, 1 corner taped. £6.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: 1 castle piece missing, but supplied with an entirely useable homemade replacement

Risk type game played on a board of Europe. Each player represents a major Empire and starts with one castle. The objective is to capture other players' castles. Doing so knocks them out of the game even if they have forces elsewhere. Combat is dice based, with an advantage for the attacker, except when attacking a castle. Reinforcements are gained each turn according to the values of areas occupied and bonuses for entire empires, and a variety of cards add to the possibilities: additional reinforcements, an admiral for sea attacks, general for an attack bonus, marshall for defensive bonus etc.

Caveman, published by JKLM Games. 2007. Box. Desc. by Andy. 2 copies available:

1) In shrink. £24. 2) Excellent £20

The players try to make their caveman tribe the dominant one on Volcano Island. This is a harsh world with marauding dinosaurs, and where rival tribes may attack, and children are far from certain to make it to adulthood. The tribes grow and gather resources to help them survive. The winner is the player whose tribe reaches eight people first or who collects one of each of the resource types or has made most progress when the action deck is finished.

Chainsaw Warrior, published by Games Workshop. 1987. Box. Good. £16

Solitaire game set in the fictional world of the Judge Dredd character. The Judge himself is not in this game, but similar characters are. Can you save New York before the game time runs out? Bizarre creatures are pouring through a dimensional warp in the heart of old Manhattan. Behind them an evil force intends to drag the whole of New York into his own dimension. Only you, equipped with the latest high tech armaments can stop it!

Chang Cheng, published by Tenki Games. 2007. Box. 2 copies available: 1) Excellent. £26 2) In shrink. £28

The players are rival nobles who have been given the task of building the Great Wall of China to keep the Mongol hordes out. The players vie for prominence by trying to build more wall sections in each of the provinces. The player who achieves this will gain VPs for that province, but may well also bear the brunt of the blame (and thus lose VPs) when the Mongols attack that wall section. However, each player has a number of 'sneaky trick' tiles which can be used throughout the game to try to gain advantage or neutralise the Mongols about to attack them.

Chess Informant 31 1981, published by Centar Za Unapredivanje. 1981. Book. Good. £3

Softback, 24x17cm, 336 pages. Chess journal which collected together all the top level games played at that time which were worthy of being recorded for posterity in order to advance the understanding of chess theory worldwide. Thus there are a huge number of matches recorded with important positions pictured.

Chess Thirteenth Volume, published by Chess. 1947. Book. Good. £2.50

Hardback, 24x18cm, 292 pages. Chess 'magazine' for the period Oct 1947 - Sep 1948. International, national and county level chess matches are covered with the matches listed and commented on. There are also quite a few columns such as the Analytical corner, Problem corner, and many more.

Chessmen, published by Octopus Books. 1967. Book. Excellent. £1

Hardback with dustcover, 24x21cm, 97 pages. This book gives a history of the game of chess and then shows pictures of and discusses chess pieces from Europe, Russia, The Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Countries, and then moves on to examine modern chess pieces. There are 123 illustrations. An essential book for the collector of chess related items.

Chronology, published by Gibsons Games. 2001. Box. Good. £13

An excellent game for the family or as an end of evening game with gamers, and in my opinion the very best 'trivia' game there is. The game consists of a large number of cards each with an event on it eg. 'The CD was invented by Philips & Sony'. and a year (1983 in this case). Players take turns having an event read out to them, but rather than trying to guess the year, instead they simply have to place it in the correct gap between other events they have collected so far! Thus one event could be hard for one player to place while very easy for another. The first player to have 10 correctly positioned cards wins. Great fun and highly recommended.

Clue, published by Parker. 1992. Box. Good. £3. Photocopied rules.

American version of Cluedo. Surprise the family and play this classic again - actually quite a decent game of deduction, in which you have to move your piece around the board according to dice rolls in order to gain clues, and deduce the details of the murder through a process of elimination.

Composition, published by Megaprint. ca.1980. Box. Good. £3

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1. Country: Dutch, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: There is some writing on the (blank) base, and 1 tile was missing, but a good replacement has been made up.

An unusual geometric pattern puzzle. It is not a jigsaw, but rather a set of 108 double sided tiles showing 12 different patterns: crosses, curves, lines etc, which can be put together to form an enormous number of different attractive patterns in a 6x6 grid. A booklet shows 80 different 6x6 target patterns, which you can work out how to make up. There are thousands more possibilities though, and no reason to limit yourself to just 6x6 either. Unusual item.

Connect 4 Advanced, published by MB Games. 2002. Box. Good, but tear in lid has been taped. £5

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Three dimensional Connect Four with neat and attractive stacking playing pieces in two colours. The game is played on a 4x4 grid where pieces can be stacked up to 4 high. The playing pieces are mostly transparent so you can see into the depths of the playing area as the games goes on. The objective is to get 4 playing pieces of your colour in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Conquest Of The Empire, published by Eagle Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £25

Epic game of conquest set during the Roman empire. The players take the roles of Roman generals and attempt to conquer as much of the world as possible and become the next Emperor. This is a remake of the 1984 MB Gamemasters game of the same name. The game uses over 260 plastic miniatures on a very large attractive board. The game also comes with an alternate set of rules which use the same components for a game with the mechanics based on Martin Wallace's Struggle of Empires. As with all Eagle games you can be sure the components are fantastic.

Container, published by Valley Games Inc. 2007. Box. Desc. by Andy. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £29. 2) In shrink. £31

Designed by Franz-Benno Delonge, Thomas Ewert. No. players: 3-5. Country: American, Duration: 90 mins. Business game with extremely impressive large ship playing pieces, and wooden cargo pieces. Players each run a port with factories, warehouses and docks, as well as owning a ship. Each turn a player can perform two actions such as producing goods in their factories, buying goods from other players’ factories for storage in their own warehouses, buying goods to make available in their docks or shipping goods. Players also decide when and how many factories and warehouses to build. There is also a novel method of gaining victory points from the final sale of shipped goods.

Cosmic Eidex, published by Abacus Spiele. 1998. Box. In shrink. £2.75

A card game which is loosely based on the Swiss card game Jass, with some similarities to the German game Skat. Essentially it is a trick taking game, but with the twist that each player will have a special power they can use once per hand.

Countdown, published by Britannia Games. 2005. Box. Excellent. £4

Based on the popular TV game show featuring Carol Vordermann. The game uses vowel and consonant cards which players have to put together in 30 seconds to find the longest word possible. Also includes the numbers game in which players have to combine several small numbers using arithmetical operations to form a target number - again within 30 seconds. There is an authentic sounding 30 second electronic countdown timer which plays the countdown music while players think.

Coup D’Etat, published by Parker. 1966. Box. Good. £9

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-4. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Special notes: One of the 6 daggers has been replaced by a smaller one from another game.

Card game, an exceptionally good game using ordinary playing cards. Basically there are 6 different games within one, with a player deciding which of the six will be played (after looking at his cards). In addition, a player can choose to try for a ‘Coup’, and thus unseat the current Director. Players win money based on their play, and the winner is the one with the most money at the end of the game.

Crazy Eights, published by Western Publishing. ca.1951. Box. Excellent. £1.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, 44 cards featuring colourful circus acts, numbers and suits. Dated 1951, but I would guess that it was more recent than that, and this is an original copyright date. The game is similar to Uno - players play cards from their hands trying to be the first to get rid of all their cards by following number or suit or playing various special cards.

Crazy Rally The Card Game, published by Red Omega Studio. 2003. Box. Excellent. £6

Car rally card game in which players first select cards to tune their cars, then test them out, and finally race them. In the race each section of the track (represented by cards) must be traversed as fast as possible without crashing. There is a memory element as you get to observe the track layout ahead of time, and then it is hidden. This memory aspect can be reduced if you wish by revealing the next one or two track sections ahead of time.

Crossword Challenge, published by Crown & Andrews. 1991. Box. Good. £7

Competitive crossword game. Each player has a copy of a crossword grid, and a clue for a word is read out and the players compete to get that word correct. Points are awarded for correct guesses and lost for incorrect guesses. If noone gets a clue players come back to it later. There are over 40 crosswords to do in this set and they are categorised as Standard Crosswords levels 1-3, Double Clue Crosswords levels 2-3, Number Key level 2, Story Crosswords levels 1-2, Word Search level 1-3, Word Games level 2. One player needs to act as the games master. A great item for crossword lovers.

Darjeeling, published by Abacus Spiele. 2007. Box. In shrink. £26

Set in the time of the British East India Company. Players search for the best teas found in the Darjeeling region, crossing the region selecting cargoes to ship. The quantity, freshness, and popularity of the type of tea will determine the players' success. The game uses a display of tiles around which the players move their tea pickers to collect good tea for sale.

Deus Vult, published by Rose & Poison. 2005. Box. In shrink. £14. Desc. by Andy.

Designed by Giacomo Sottocasa, Sergio Giovannini. No. players: 2. Country: Italian, Duration: 45 mins. Board game in which one player takes the Moors and the other the Crusaders. The Crusaders try to take the gates of Jerusalem, while the Moors try to push the Crusaders back where they came from. Game play involves using cards to your best advantage, and can allow surprise moves.

Dino, published by Fun Connection. ca.1995. Box. Good. £9

A dinosaur game with very nice components, 5 large plastic dinosaurs, wooden counters, and a meteorite. Originally published as Iridium in 1987. The players attempt to collect dinosaur eggs, but the adult dinosaurs are used to block the paths to stop your opponents getting to the eggs. The most successful egg collector wins.

Dots, published by Adlung Spiele. 1998. Box. Excellent. £1.50

The cards have a variety of shapes, cubes, rods, cones and spheres floating in space. Cards are dealt to the table and the players must quickly count the number of spheres shown on all cards and then use their number cards to produce this total. First to do this wins the round.

Downtown, published by Abacus. 1996. Box. Good. £6

Special notes: Some components show slight staining on the rear, but gameplay is not affected

City development game in which there are three different types of neighbourhood. Each turn one or two blocks will be developed, based on the players' votes. Once all four properties in a block have been bought and the type of the block has been determined, its base score is the number of completed blocks adjoining it. However, there are serious bonuses and penalties for locating certain types of development next to each other. The voting is key to the game, and it is not permitted to abstain. Once a game it is possible to use a double vote, and the current player gets a casting vote in case of ties.

Dragonriders Of Pern, published by Mayfair Games. 1989. Box. Excellent. £13.50

Fantasy game, based on the series of novels by Anne McCaffrey. Players compete to unite the world of Pern, and fight aerial battles to fight off the deadly Thread. The game is semi cooperative, as if the lands of Pern become too poisoned by Thread all players lose, but if that doesn't happen then the player who is allied with the most holdings is the winner. The game comes with basic and advanced rules

Duel In The Dark, published by Z-Man Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £26

WW2 air combat game dealing with nighttime air raid of British bombers on German cities. One player takes the role of the British Bomber Commander and the other a General in the Luftwaffe to defend the cities. The gameboard can be set up in many ways, and each night will take about 45 mins to resolve. There are basic rules for easy entry to the game, with advanced rules for additional realism and complexity. The game uses a neat element to represent the fog of war aspect - the Germans don't know the British target until they get there. If played solo the game controls the British, and the player the German defenders.

Election L-Game, published by De Bono Games. 1979. Box. Excellent. £8.50

A political game based on the mechanics in de Bono’s L-Game. As players move over a special board printed on the packaging, various squares are left uncovered. These squares give or take percentage points from the main political parties. After a set period of time, an election is called and seats won are added to find the winner.

Elixir, Box. several copies available:

1) Published by 3 Wishes. 1987. Good. £9

2) Published by 3 Wishes. 1987. Good but 1 box corner taped. £8.50

3) Published by TSR. 1990. Good. £10. A separate side board has been made up for this set to hold the potions to enhance game play – house rules for this supplied.

Each player tries to be the first to discover the formula for all three parts of the Elixir of Life. To do this each wizard needs to gather ingredients and gems from around the board and combine them to produce potions. Initially noone knows which ingredients produce which potions, 3 of which are the parts of the Elixir of Life, and the others highly useful potions which speed you up, or get you more gold etc. There are strangers to encounter around the board and some deduction required to work out what combinations of ingredients must produce what. Good fun game.

Euro Touring, published by Jumbo. ca.1968. Box. Good. £2.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-6. Country: Dutch, Desc. by Andy.

Family board game in which the players move their playing piece around a large map of Europe. Spaces landed on can either let you try to identify a town from a picture, try to answer a question set by the 'Euro-Disk', which reveals the answer to only one question out of about 100 questions about the various countries, or have to pay money at other spaces. Correct answers get you money and postcards, and enough postcards will get you maps, which are what you need to win the game, along with money at the end.

Ever Green, published by Rio Grande. 1999. Box. Excellent. £6. Desc. by Andy.

Players put on concerts and use cards to take control of the singers. The singers are represented by discs made to look like 45rpm records, which can be rotated to indicate a number from 5-12. Each time another player claims a singer the score for the singer goes up a notch, but from 12 it goes back to 5. At the end of a player's turn they may choose to put on a concert and thus score points, and one gala show can be done per player as well with a double scoring. A sand-timer is used to put pressure on decision making.

Fagin's Gang, published by Ludorum Games. 2006. Box. In shrink. £25

Strategic and economic game set in Charles' Dickens London of Oliver Twist fame. Each player is a senior street urchin, and part of Fagin's gang, with control of 5 junior urchins who you must direct to scour the city for easy pickings. This is done by avoiding police constables, and liberating valuables such as books, jewellery, pocket watches and the like. These must then be converted to shillings at Smithfield Market. Unusual game, with some interesting mechanics and a novel theme.

Fairway, published by HFN Games. ca.1969. Box. 1 Box corner split. £2.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

Golf board game, with a nine-hole course superimposed by a grid. Players choose their clubs, and there are special dice that are used for each club so that yardage is roughly correct.

Fairy Tale, published by What's Your Game. 2005. Box. In shrink. £9.50

Card game in which players draw cards in a similar way to Magic The Gathering Booster Drafts. When a selection of cards have been drafted players simultaneously play some of their cards and discard others. The cards played will affect the 'stories' other people are playing - turning some cards over (negating them), and also contribute to their own player's story. Thus it is good to collect cards which add to each others' values in your own 'story'.

Unusual idea, with attractive graphics - the game originated in Japan. 2nd edition.

Family Telly Addicts, published by Waddingtons. 1992. Box. Mint. £1.25

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Board game version of the UK TV Trivia programme starring Noel Edmunds. Players answer questions on the following TV related subjects: Soaps & Sagas, Top of the Pops, Guess Who, Comedy, Children's TV, Comedy, News and Sci-Fi. Once a player has their 'star tokens' they race back and answer a Star Challenge question to win the game.

Famo, published by Alf Cook Ltd. ca.1950. Box. Box poor, contents good. £1.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Card game. Subtitled the Historical Card Game. The cards show a number of famous characters eg. Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Admiral Nelson etc along with cards showing things associated with each. The game itself is essentially a simple set collecting game.

Fantasy Master: The Convert, published by New Infinites. 1987. Booklet. Excellent. £3

Fantasy role playing adventure suitable for use with any FRPG, inc. AD&D, Runequest etc. 48 page adventure for mid level adventurers. The king's son has returned from an adventure strangely changed, and with belief in a new god. He passes repressive laws and sends the land into chaos. The party must escape the repressive regime and then investigate what it is that has changed the prince, and hopefully restore him to his usual self. Eight different areas are detailed including city, town and dungeon settings.

Finstere Flure, published by 2F Spiele. 2003. Box. In shrink. £15

Fun game in which each player has 3 or 4 people who need to escape from the dungeons. However, also in the dungeons is a monster, which will kill anyone it encounters. First the players take it in turns to move their people around the dungeon floor, going around, over or behind various obstacles such as pools of blood, stone blocks, teleporters; and then the monster moves. Each round he moves a different amount, and he follows fixed rules which depend on what he can see to guide him, and woe betide anyone in his way. It is possible by clever play to manipulate the monster into finding another player's man, which is especially satisfying if they were about to escape... Unusually it plays especially well with 5-7 players.

Flintstones, published by Edu-Cards. 1961. Box. Good. £2

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game, TV related. Very nice example of early TV merchandising. 32 cards, plus two jokers and a rules card. Cards illustrated in colour, featuring most of the principal characters of the show. Box features Fred Flintstone. The game is a Rummy variant.

Formula One, published by Waddingtons. Box. 2 editions available:

1) 1962. Good but 1 corner taped. £11.50

2) 1978. Good, but box base indented. £10. 1 wheel of the black car is missing. The car still stands just fine though. This is the jigboard edition.

Old but good motor racing game. Players keep records of their speed, brake-wear and tyre-wear on their personal car dashboards. Dice are only used for testing if corners have been successfully negotiated should they decide to drive too fast around them, and thus take a risk. Tactics cards can be used to good advantage, and the rules also cover pitting.

Freya's Folly, published by Sagacity Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £24

The players represent different tribes of dwarven miners and craftsmen. The dwarves are sent down the mines to collect gems - the best gems are in the deeper areas which will take longer to reach and haul out. Movement is quite tactical as you can move through occupied spaces in the mines but only through two other dwarves. Also special ability cards can be obtained which allow the dwarves extra movement, greater carrying capacity etc. Once the gems are out of the mine they can be mounted and made into various pieces of jewelry or turned into extra special pieces which the goddess Freya has commissioned. Plays well - recommended.

Gambling, published by Aldus Books. 1964. Book. Excellent. £4

Hardback, 25x17cm, 352 pages. This book on gambling covers the motives behind gambling, a history of gambling through the ages, the games people currently play, games people watch, an analysis of odds, gambling with dice, gambling with cards, horse racing, roulette, lotteries, bingo & keno, professional gambling, famous gambling centres, and famous gamblers.

Gespenster, published by Hexagames. 1990. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £4 2) Excellent. £5.50

Card game, 60 cards in 5 unequal suits. A re-issue of Black Spy (by Avalon Hill), but here given a better theme. The game is essentially similar to Hearts, but with the twist that there are 5 suits and that you can follow both colour or number in a trick with some additional optional variants. Also the cards are printed with a luminous ink, so they will reveal themselves in the dark, which is highly appropriate since the cards all show pictures of ghosts.

Ghost Castle, published by MB Games. 1985. Box. Good but 1 corner taped. £2

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: The coffin lid is missing - this does not affect play

3D children's board game in which you have to be the first to go through all the rooms of a haunted keep and climb the stairs to close the coffin and lay the ghost to rest. Great bits though the game looks to be mostly luck.

Ghost For $ale, published by What's Your Game. 2007. Box. In shrink. £14

Auction game in which various castles and manors are sold off. However, before a property is sold it is not fully known just how haunted it is. A property with no ghosts resident will be unattractive to the tourist, just as one which is too haunted will be unpopular. Players can pay the expert Mrs Truelight to check the properties before purchase, but this will seriously reduce your profit margins.

Giganten Der Lüfte, published by Queen Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £17

Dice based game but with lots of interesting decisions to make. Players are builders of giant airships, and start off with a basic facility. Each turn a player can choose one laboratory enhancement or one airship or later on in the game a section of the Hindenburg they wish to try to construct. Certain dice rolls will be needed in order to achieve this. There are three levels of special dice and many improvements give additional dice or access to better dice which will in turn allow you a chance to obtain better upgrades etc next turn. When the game ends VPs are counted. Plays well - recommended.

Gipsy King, published by Cwali. 2007. Box. In shrink. £16

An area of land tiles with several lakes of different sizes is created afresh at the start of each game. Players then take it in turns to place their gipsy caravans around the lakes on the land tiles. A clever mechanism gives the players a limited choice, but if they don't like the choice they can pass in order to get a better option around the next lake tile. The objective is get your caravans into large connected groups as these score highly. Once the round is complete and caravans are scored a second round is played on the same layout but with placement around the lakes in reverse order. Neat idea, and nice components.

Globe Trotting, published by Gosling Games. 1992. Box. Good. £4.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: Ireland, Desc. by Andy.

A famous globetrotter has made a secret journey and the players try to find out which famous sites around the world it included. This is done by removing some cards from a deck at the start and hiding them. The rest are distributed, and as a player reaches one of their destination cards they reveal it, but also get to see one of an opponent's cards as well. The idea being that once you have seen all the cards except those hidden you will know the secret destinations and win. Attractive large board showing available routes.

Grab!, published by Winning Moves. 1998. Box. In shrink. £4

The deck consists of cards, some good, some bad. The dealer lays them down one at a time and when a player decides he wants them he claims them. However, someone else may also want them and claim them first. Whoever claimed the batch becomes the new dealer and there is a limit to the number of stacks each player may claim. The cards claimed are evaluated and the most valuable batch wins the hand. Fast, fun and nerve wracking.

Great Board Games, Book. Several copies available:

1) Published by Bookclub Associates Ltd. 1979. Good. £12. The counter sheets are still in their wrapper, and are mostly unpunched, but there a few missing, though the book contains a checklist.

2) Published by Ebury & Michael Joseph. 1979. Book. Good. £15. The counter sheets are unpunched and still in their packet.

3) Published by Macmillan. 1979. Book. Good - countersheets unpunched. £15.

An amazing hardback book nearly A3 in size. After an introduction about board games published from 1890 onwards, over 40 board games from many publishers from around 1895 to 1955 have been reprinted in full colour in this book, along with rules and even several sheets of counters you can separate in order to play these games yourself. The games have titles such as: Game of the Man in the Moon; Sky Raiders (an early Stratego family game); Radio Game for Little Folks; Pank-a-Squith and The Amusing Game of Innocence. Wonderful item.

Guatemala Cafe, published by Eggert Spiele. 2007. Box. In shrink. £23

Coffee planting and selling game set in Guatemala. One board shows the overview of the country and gives players the option of which type of coffee, workers, huts or ships can be bought, while a second board shows the plantations where the purchased items are then deployed. Coffee must be planted and workers used in the plantations and then ships sent to sell the coffee before money (which decides the winner) is made. This game won 2nd Place in the 2006 Hippodice competition.

Hamburgum, published by Eggert Spiele. 2007. Box. In shrink. £29

In this game, players are merchants, trading their cloth, beer and sugar for cash, with which they can buy wood, bricks, and even a miniature metal bell! These can be used for erecting buildings, or for donating to the church. The buildings provide various benefits, such as increasing the supply of goods, providing ships (needed to sell goods for cash), or providing instant cash or VPs. Donating to the church gets the player a multiplier which increases the VP value of their ships, buildings and/or donations, and more VPs can be gained by making the final donation and thus building the church (including its little bell). Players have to plot their turns on a rondel, so they have to plan carefully to have the right stuff at the right time.

Hannibal: Rome Vs. Carthage, published by Valley Games Inc. 2007. Box. In shrink. £36

2nd edition of this ground breaking and award winning card driven wargame. Based on the 2nd Punic War. Hannibal descends upon the Roman Empire for a second time, having approached from the Pyrenees. There are a variety of strategies open to Hannibal to defeat Rome, and Rome is certain to respond strongly. Two sets of cards are used - one for strategic decision making, and one for battle resolution. Very highly regarded game - recommended.

Harry Potter Sculpture Puzzle, published by Character Games Ltd. 1995. Box. Good. £4

Special notes: 1 corner of the box is damaged, but repaired. One puzzle layer is slightly torn, but is still entirely usable (it won't be seen when complete). This is an unusual jigsaw. Rather than regular pieces you get 360 layers of cardboard which you have to put one on top of the other (with a rod in the middle to hold it all together. These form a 3-D bust of Harry Potter! The makers say it is equivalent in difficulty to a 1000 piece jigsaw. It comes with a substantial base which is used to build the puzzle on and also acts as as an attractive display stand.

Heritage, published by Industrial Art. ca.1970. Box. Box shows wear. £3.75

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Set collection game using cards with very attractive full colour pictures of various stately homes, cathedrals etc around England. In addition players must move their car around the board to get to these various places. The game also has lots of information about the sites mentioned on the cards.

Illusions, published by Y & B Associates. 1996. Box. Good. £3.75

Special notes: There is one missing 'prize' piece - I will make up a suitable replacement so the game is entirely playable.

Players move around a maze-like board which is constructed out of hexagonal and odd L-shaped sections so it is different each game. On the boards players get to look at optical illusions of several types: reflected images, impossible figures and mixed images. One nice feature is that all players get to look at the illusion and answer a multiple choice question about it. Players move on or move backwards according to their answers. The objective is to collect one each of the three types of prize.

Industria, published by Queen Games. 2003. Box. 2 copies available:

1) In shrink. £12.50 2) Excellent. £11

Excellent business game in which players use very limited money to bid for various technologies and factories. Each epoch new types of resource become available and there are definite benefits for having suitably connected factories, and making the best of your opportunities while you are the auctioneer is also vital. In addition the order in which factories, resources and technologies come up can be crucial and ensure that the game poses different challenges each time. Best with 3 players, and highly recommended.

Jungle Jam, published by Flitzebogen. ca.1990. Box. Excellent. £5

Designer Unknown. No. players: 4-10. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Speed game in which the centrepiece is a large wooden totem which during the game players will want to be the first to grab at various points. Players flip up cards from their own piles, and the idea is to get rid of your cards. If you flip over a card and the symbol matches someone else's, then those two players must go for the totem, and the player who is slowest gets extra cards instead. Some special cards vary the game a little, but with the same basic principle.

Kate Greenaway's Book Of Games, published by Chancellor Press. ca.1990. Book. Excellent. £3

Hardback, 24x19cm. 64 pages. Reprint of a book from Victorian times. The book details roughly 50 Victorian style parlour games and activities, and also has many colour illustrations from the Victorian era. A very attractive book,

but also a useful one to bring out for children's partys or at Christmas with the family.

Kensington, published by Whale. 1979. LP Pouch. Good. £1

Good abstract game that won a Game of the Year award in Britain, and was on the German Spiel des Jahres nomination list for 1982. Unusual packaging, rather like an LP record, helped make it stand-out. The board consists of 7 hexes (one central and six surrounding). The hexes are joined by squares and triangles. Pieces are played on the various intersections. Players play one piece at a time and then they are moved one at a time between intersections. To win a player 's pieces must fill all 6 corners of a hex, but filling all the corners of a triangle or square lets you move around opposing pieces to your advantage.

King Lui, published by Abacus Spiele. 2003. Box. In shrink. £5.50

Card game in which the players are at King Lui's banquet. The players all try to get as much food as possible of the types the King likes best, but without ending up having eaten more than the King. The player who does this most successfully is the winner.

Konig Laurin, published by Piatnik. 2002. Box. In shrink. £12

Unusual combination of tile laying, card placement and auctioning. The players try to gain most influence over King Laurin by presenting him with gifts as he wanders through the garden. Treasure cards are used to pay for always useful magic cards and also to bid for the right to direct the King around the garden (hopefully to where you have located your dwarves). Movement cards are played and have several different symbols indicating the number and distance dwarves can be moved as well as where the king would move if that player's card were chosen for the king's movement. Tactical game which requires careful thought.

Let's Buy Hollywood, published by Henmead Enterprises. 1991. Box. Good. £9

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Business game in which the objective is to control 1 each of the 4 types of entertainment businesses available. Buying shares is done when landing on the appropriate space (using the movement around a track mechanic), but you can either buy one cheap share or two at a higher per-share cost. In order to make money players buy talent cards so they can put on a film. The film once released will hopefully provide income - there is a separate track on which film tokens are moved - and this money can be fed into producing more films and buying more shares to gain control of companies.

Liardice, published by Campus Martius. 1980. Box. Excellent. £3.25

Pocketable set which is just a little larger than a deck of cards. Players secretly roll the dice in the box and close the lid, and then say what they have got (eg. a pair of sixes), and then pass the box to the next player, who either accepts the box, gets one reroll and then says a higher combination he has now achieved, or refuses the box and calls the previous player a liar! A neat mini set with very small dice and its own dice rolling compartment and life tokens.

London's Burning, published by Cast Games. ca.1995. Box. Still shrinkwrapped. £2

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

TV related, based on the London Weekend Television drama series set in Blackwall Fire Station. Each player is a member of Blue Watch, one of the main characters in the series, and race against time to rescue Nurse Nightingale from the inferno at St Mary's General Hospital.

Lord Of The Rings, published by Parker. 2000. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £13 2) Good. £11

Great game based on the Tolkien novel. The players must cooperate with the others to get the ring to the Crack of Doom. Some may well fall by the wayside. If all fail, then the game is lost. If successful, the game is won by all players (even those who sacrificed themselves for the greater good). Game play involves card play and deciding how to focus the group's resources. Players can discuss options but not actually show each other their cards. It is possible to play with different difficulty levels to ensure that your group will have a tense time as Sauron tries to get his hand on the One Ring. Illustrations by celebrated Tolkien artist, John Howe. Recommended.

Lost Cities, published by Rio Grande. 1999. Box. Good. £11

Card game, 60 colourful cards, representing the preparation and exploration parts of an expedition to find 5 Lost Cities. Players take turns in adding to existing expeditions, starting new ones, or discarding and replacing unwanted cards. Cards have to be played in a specific order for each expedition: preparation cards then the numbered cards from lowest to highest. The game poses many tricky decisions as you rarely get the cards you need at the right time, and have to decide how best to manage your hand bearing in mind the clever scoring system which rewards playing many cards on one expedition and penalises expeditions which get nowhere. Highly recommended, and one of the best of Kosmos' fascinating 2 player range.

Ludoviel, published by Bewitched Spiele. 2003. Short Fat Tube. New. £10

Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

A collection of eight games designed specifically to appeal to games collectors! This set includes wooden cubes, dice, an egg timer and 119 cards (in English and German). The cards each have a property that a game might have eg. 'At least one animal is involved' or 'Bridges, ships or rafts are included'. Play revolves around being able to think of games which have these properties. For example in one version of the game a player states the name of a game and the others knock if they have a card which fits that game. In another players must deduce what game a player is thinking about when playing a series of cards.

Make 'N' Break, published by Ravensburger. Box. Excellent. £14

Action game in which there are 10 large coloured building blocks. On each player's turn a timer is started and a card turned over. The blocks must be positioned as shown on the card. Sometimes this is relatively easy, but sometimes it can be quite tricky. Once done to the satisfaction of the other players a new card is turned. All cards completed before the timer goes off are scored.

Mamoonia, published by Giochi Rari. 2003. Box. Excellent - unpunched. £20

Special notes: Signed by the designer

Fantasy adventure board game in which the players are the sons of King Joseph and have been sent out to seek the amulets of power - there are many of these in existence, but each game different mission cards are used and different amulets will need to be sought out. Players battle monsters and increase their power (in combat and magic) as the game goes on. Game play involves a degree of cooperation to keep evil at bay as well as competition in completing missions.

Montanara, published by Abacus Spiele. 2005. Box. Excellent. £8.50

The players vie to be the first to unearth 4 valuable crystals. In this card game players play dwarves onto the table and then can use them to delve into the piles of cards looking for crystals - one card for each dwarf available to dig. In addition action cards can be played which can manipulate the order of the cards in the piles to be dug up and allow the cards to be examined. Cave-ins remove all dwarves on the table from play, and quakes can undo your opponent's cunning plans.

Morgenland, published by Hans Im Gluck. 2000. Box. In shrink. £11

Special notes: I will include a set of laminated English spell cards with this set.

Also published as Aladdin's Dragons in America. This is a revised and improved version of Richard Breese's rare Keydom. Players vie for resources by placing some of their workers into the caves to gather gems using a clever mechanism which allows a little bluffing. Other workers can also be placed in various locations in the city, which permit the player with the most senior worker to trade resources, gain magic spells for later use, improve their position in the turn order sequence, and most importantly enter the palace, where they can buy artifacts using their hard won resources. These artifacts give additional abilities and also count towards victory. Very good game - recommended.

Napoleon's Last Battles, published by SPI. 1976. Box. Box excellent, contents mostly unpunched. £12

Wargame quad which simulates four late Napoleonic battles: Ligny, Quatre Bras, Wavre, and La Belle Alliance. All these battles use a base set of rules with different maps, setups and counters for each battle. Also included is a set of campaign rules. The system is an operational level game and each hex represents 480m, each strength point around 500 men, and a game turn 1 hour.

Neuroshima Hex, published by Portal. 2006. Box. In shrink. £15

Simple but tactical wargame set in the post-apocalyptic world of Neuroshima (a Polish RPG). Each player leads one of four armies, each of which receives a deck of tiles depicting soldiers, support units and special actions. Victory is achieved by destroying all enemy H.Q.s or if your H.Q. is the least damaged at the end of the game. Very well regarded game.

Never A Dull Moment, published by Walker Books. 1983. Book. Good. £2

Hardback, 27x22cm, 93 pages. An activity and games book for children. The activities include Juggling, Knots, Making Masks, Puzzles, Riddles, Magic Tricks etc. There are a few fairly basic board games included too (of the roll and move variety).

Noah's Ark Race Game, published by Falcon. ca.1990. Box. Box corners taped. £1.25

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Children's game (age 5+ I would guess). Players use dice, but get a choice of where to move on the board. The objective is to track down animals for your ark, and the first to collect 6 gets a bonus. Played over several rounds. There is a simplified version for younger children and a scoring version for older children.

Oh-Wah-Ree, published by 3M. 1962. Box. Excellent. £8.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Extremely attractive Mancala variant in a bookcase box. Contoured plastic board, pebbles and cloth bags to store them in. One of the rarer 3M games.

One Page Bulge, published by Steve Jackson Games. 1980. Box. Good. £6

A game that started as a bet that you couldn't design a game about the Battle of the Bulge, and limit the rules to one page of text. It is a big page, and printed on both sides, but the game is historical and relatively easy to play. Housed in the microgame box that was often used by this company. The map is roughly A3 in size, but only on paper, with design notes on the reverse. There are slightly more than 100 counters and the rules cover isolation of German forces, general movement and combat, Allied air superiority, and there are optional rules for bridges and supply depots.

Origins - How We Became Human, published by Sierra Madre Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £27

Game which follows the development of the human species from the end of the ice age to the near modern era. Players take the roles of various sub-species of human (cro-magnon man, neanderthals etc) and tries to develop into the dominant species. Through time various intellectual advances are made and populations expand and collide. Eventually society and culture come into being. The winning species is the one which has developed most as measured by VPs for population, culture, intellectual advances etc.

Party Games Funbook, published by Murrays. 1960. Book. Good. £1.50

Designer Unknown. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 80 pages, 24x18cm. Book of roughly 80 party games and activities, each one on a separate page, and most have an illustration. The illustrations are very 1960's, but the games and activities are good parlour games, and so just as much fun for kids now as they were then.

Patrizier, published by Amigo. 2007. Box. In shrink. £20

This game is set in the middle ages when wealthy men built magnificent towers to show their prosperity - the taller the tower the more influential the family. Players are master builders who profit from these vain families, and build towers for them floor by floor, shrewdly accepting the patrician families' orders. The game uses cards in play and comes with 149 wooden stacking tower pieces and a double sided game board.

Penalty, published by Edition Spielbox. 1993. Pouch. Good. £2

A colour folded A3 sheet which acts as gameboard as well as having the rules on the back. You will also need twenty money chips, and three counters. Ice hockey themed game split into three periods. In each period the players have some chips which are used in a series of sealed bid auctions. The winner of each auction advances the puck one area towards the goal. However if a player uses 3 or more chips more than his opponent then he has committed a foul and his opponent gets to advance the puck. More chips are given out at the start of each period. Most goals wins.

Pirates Of The Spanish Main - Promo Pack, published by WizKids. 2004. Packet. In shrink. £0.25

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

This is a promotional mini pack given out at Spiel 2004. It contains two die-cut plastic coated cards which can be made into a 3D ship, HMS Walpole, which can be used in Pirates of The Spanish Main, which you will need to own to make use of this.

Pivot, published by Merit. 1960. Box. Box battered but taped up. £3

Special notes: Original claim rings missing, but replaced with better claim 'frames'.

Tactical game in which players attempt to claim the more valuable spaces on a 7x6 grid. Each space is numbered 2-12 and these are the values if claimed - the easier to claim spaces being worth less. Players take turns rolling 2d6 and placing a special piece on a space of that number, but the piece will also cover one orthogonally adjacent space as well. If a single space is left with no empty neighbours then it can be claimed. The four player game is played as a partnership game.

Power & Weakness, published by MoD Games. 2007. Box. New. £17

Set in 5th century Britain the Saxons and Celts are vying for control over the land. Each side uses both knights and magicians. Knights move overland from one province to the next in a predictable way, whereas magicians use places of power to appear just where their enemy thought was secure, and thus the struggle flows back and forth until one side gains the upper hand. Unusual in that two subgames are really being played at the same time, and deciding which to focus on more can be difficult.

Premium, published by Theydon Games. ca.1950. Box. Good. £8

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Business game in which a single playing piece is moved around a Monopoly style track, and the current player deals with the space landed on. If it is an unpurchased property this gives that player the option to purchase it, and then either insure it, partly insure it or leave it uninsured. When landed on in future all players have to make a payment to the owner, but there is also a chance that something bad will happen to the property, in which case the owner had better have some insurance! The objective is to stay solvent longer than anyone else.

Professional Poker Set, published by Rösner Importtrend. ca.2006. Tin Box. New. £18

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Desc. by Andy.

This Poker set comes in a sturdy foldout metal briefcase style case, and includes: 300 11.5g professional suited but unnumbered poker chips in 5 colours, two decks of playing cards, 5 casino dice, a dealer chip and rules for Texas Hold'em. A very useful item for players of all business games even if Poker is of no interest, as using good quality poker chips speeds up any game which involves lots of monetary transactions - they are all also very much nicer to hold than paper money too.

Puerto Rico PC Game, published by Eagle Games. 2004. Box. New. £12

Computer game version of the best selling gamer's game Puerto Rico. This allows you to play Puerto Rico on your own or with others on your PC. You can choose the number of computer players, and you can adjust their intelligence level. Multiplayer option available using a LAN or over the internet. Optional advanced rules allow the use of new buildings, and the graphics can be 2D or 3D.

Push Over, published by Parker. 1981. Box. Good. £5.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 25 mins, Desc. by Andy.

An interesting dice game in which you may roll up to three special dice. Rolling more dice without exceeding a limit is very valuable, but also potentially risky. The board is also unusual as it has grooves for your pieces to go in, and you can be pushed along by other players, but also at certain spots you can be pushed off the board as well. Each time your piece makes it around the board you will collect some chips. There is some risk assessment involved as sometimes busting will be much more of a setback than at other times, and sometimes pushing your luck is worth the risk.

Railway Rivals, published by Rostherne. 1984. Tube. Good. £11

Special notes: You can choose any two laminated A2 paper maps (or equivalent pricewise) which I will include in the game's price.

'wipeoffable' pens and wooden train markers. Recommended.

Railway Rivals Packet 1, published by Rostherne - Sort Of. ca.1984. Packet. Excellent. £6

A classic railway game, in which players mark on the laminated board track they have built. Every so many rounds some races are run and whoever has the best network for that route should be in for a payout. Recommended. This is not an official set, but a mounted laminated double sided board, train playing pieces, the dice needed to play and a set of rules. It does not include 'wipeoffable' pens, but these can be bought at any stationery shop. I am selling this because I have lots of the components originally from Rostherne. You can choose which mounted map is included.

Railway Rivals Packet 2, published by Rostherne - Sort Of. ca.1984. Packet. Excellent. £4

A classic railway game, in which players mark on the laminated board track they have built. Every so many rounds some races are run and whoever has the best network for that route should be in for a payout. Recommended. This is not an official set, but a laminated paper map, train playing pieces, the dice needed to play and a set of rules. It does not include 'wipeoffable' pens / crayons, but these can be bought at any stationery shop. I am selling this because I have lots of the components originally from Rostherne. You can choose which map is included.

I have the following Railway Rivals maps available:

Railway Rivals - Map B (London & Liverpool) A2, Good. £1.75, laminated paper, so reusable.

Railway Rivals - Map B (London & Liverpool) A3, Excellent. £0.50, unlaminated, so single use only.

Railway Rivals - Map E (Atlantic & Lake Erie - USA), Good. £1.75, A2 size, laminated paper, so reusable.

Railway Rivals - Map FR (France), Good. £1.75, A2 size, laminated paper, so reusable.

Railway Rivals - Map I (Ireland), Excellent. £1, A2 size, colour, but not laminated paper, so may not be reusable.

Railway Rivals - Map IN (India), Good. £2.50, A2 size, laminated paper, so reusable.

Railway Rivals - Map M (London & Midlands), Good. £1.75, A2 size, laminated paper, so reusable.

Railway Rivals - Map ND (North Germany), Good. £2, A2 size, laminated paper, so reusable.

Railway Rivals - Western USA / London & Liverpool, Excellent. £3.75, Double sided professionally mounted map in full colour and matt laminated for reuse.

Dampfross 2 - Mapboard N. Italy + Austria, Good. £3.50, Mounted double sided colour map board for use with R.R. or Dampfross. Matt laminated for reuse.

Dampfross 2 - Mapboard S. Italy + Switzerland, Excellent. £4. Mounted double sided colour map board for use with R.R. or Dampfross. Matt laminated for reuse.

Red Star/White Star, published by SPI. 1972. Box. Good - mostly unpunched. £5

Special notes: The plastic case is showing its age, with the edges cracking, and one side is flaking badly.

This wargame covers hypothetical combat in the 1970's, between US + West German forces against Soviet troops. The map depicts a generic part of Southern West Germany. The one strength point represents one US Platoon / one Soviet company. Each hex represents 300m and a game turn around 6 minutes of real time. The rules cover 10 pages.

Risk, Box. Various editions available:

1) Published by Palitoy. ca.1980. Good, but 1 corner taped. £4. White boxed version. Includes 'a new 2 player game' in the rulebook. Has plastic 'star' playing pieces and does not include the mission cards.

2) Published by Parker. 1963. Good but 2 corners taped. £4. There are marks on the box where some tape has been removed. In the large red box edition, with plastic pieces.

3) Published by Parker. 1992. Good. £11. Large pink box featuring a cavalry charge on the cover. This edition uses over 300 plastic miniatures of infantry, cavalry and artillery as the playing peices. It includes the mission cards.

4) Published by Waddingtons. ca.1960. Good. £8. The white box is somewhat grubby (but it doesn't wipe off), and the base is slightly indented due to stacking. I believe this is a first British edition of this famous game, with wooden pieces. In a large white box. patent no. 765037.

Classic simple wargame of world domination.

Robot Wars - The Game, published by BBC / FEVA UK Ltd. 1998. Box. Good. £13. Photocopied rules

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Board game based on the very popular TV series, Robot Wars, in which powerful remote controlled fighting machines battle it out in the arena. The game includes an impressively large arena with side walls, pit and corner patrol zones, 6 solid metal robot miniatures, 6 large robot status displays, damage tokens, cards for weapons and special dice. The game involves choosing how to customise your robot and then fighting in the arena, which is done by spending movement points each turn to move and attack other robots. Wonderfully produced game.

Roller Coaster Hippo, published by Ravensburger. 1990. Box. Good. £4

Players each have a wooden hippo playing piece which they race around the board which shows a roller coaster track with various spaces. Movement is by use of a special dice. Various spaces are special and involve the player performing an activity in order to move extra spaces. These activities include describing an object so other players guess it, miming an object, modelling an object (clay provided), make the sounds of an object, or perform the action on a card eg. tell a joke.

Scandaroon, published by Surprised Stare. 2007. Box. In shrink. £16

Interactive card game with some elements from trick taking games and some from set collecting games. Players play cards from hand one at a time, and these will have a suit and value, but also many have a special power which can either be used (and the card generally discarded) or ignored. Players try to achieve the best card collection each round, with various bonuses awarded for other achievements as well.

Scarne's Encyclopedia Of Games, published by Constable. 1983. Book. Good. £9

Hardback with dustcover, 26x18cm, 628 pages. Comprehensive guide to games by one of the foremost figures in the business. Has nearly 1,000 games explained, plus variations. This includes at least 300 games which had not previously been published in a book. Has about 20 chapters on different families of multi-player card games, as well as chapters on tile games, chess, checkers, Teeko, dice games, lottery games and parlour games. Includes rules to his own game Skarney, which he considers probably his best game invention.

Schoko & Co, published by Schmidt. 1989. Box. Good, but box shows wear, 1 corner taped. £18

Highly rated business game as players manage their chocolate factory. They must hire staff, buy cocoa, make the chocolate, and then sell it. An unusual item for this company who usually make family games, and not gamer's games of this calibre. Game play involves bidding for cocoa beans, deciding how many staff to take on, deciding whether to pay for advance industry news, and bidding for chocolate contracts. The game can be played for different durations - the number of turns to be played is decided at the start. I also have a set of house rules I will supply which for me improve the game even further. Recommended. For £2 extra I can print and laminate a set of English event and Action cards.

Sea Hunt, published by Merit. 1960. Box. Box Poor, Contents Good. £10

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

Very rare TV related game, based on the underwater adventure series that made a star of Lloyd Bridges. Each player is a skin diver attempting to recover treasure from a sunken ship.

Seelowe, published by SPI. 1974. Box. Good, counter unpunched. £5.50

Special notes: May have once been in a box, but is now in an A3 ziplock bag.

Wargame covering the hypothetical invasion of SE England by German forces in 1940 had the Luftwaffe been victorious in the Battle of Britain. The map shows SE England and the English Channel and the game covers several different scenarios, such as a narrow front attack, a broad front attack, and an attack in an unexpected area. Each game turn represents two days, each hex 8km. The rules are 10 pages long including scenarios.

Snoopy Come Home, published by Arrow. ca.1970. Box. Good. £0.75

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Family game using the characters from the Peanuts comic strip. Players need to first get Snoopy out of hospital. Then everyone tries to take control of Snoopy and return him to his kennel. Players may use telephone booths as shortcuts and place a "No Dogs Allowed" sign to block Snoopy's path.

Solotaire, published by Milton Bradley. 1973. Box. Good. £6.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1-2. Country: American, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Excellent game based on Poker Patience, with a nice plastic board on which to lay the cards. Lucille Ball pictured on cover warning "Caution! This game may be habit forming". Includes a variety of games for 1 or 2 players, Honeymoon, Quick-draw, Mayhem 1 & 2.

Spelling Bee, published by Waddy Productions. ca.1920. Box. Box shows wear. Good condition for its age.

£1. Designer Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Card game. Two decks of cards provided. Each card shows one, two or three letters, or a prefix, suffix or affix. Some cards are exposed and players try to spot words which can be made up from the part words shown, and these are then collected.

Spielzeit 1/95, published by Redaktion Spielzeit. 1995. Magazine. Good. £0.25

Designer Unknown. Country: German, Desc. by Andy.

German language games magazine. You need to be fluent in German for this to be of interest. Games reviewed include: Buzzle, Tribalance, Falsche Fuffziger, Waldmeister, Das Magische Hexagon, Category, Autorennen, Neue Spiele Im Alten Rom, Arkanum, Cubus Collection, Tashkent Domino, Brummi, Kapt'n Jan, Husch Husch Kleine Hexe. Additional articles cover: Rheingold, Dice games, Axis & Allies, Magic The Gathering, Computer games.

Spy, published by Kosmos. 2004. Box. Excellent. £8

Card game in which players start with a pile of spy tokens and try to be the first to get them all into play. This is done by collecting cards which each show a symbol (eg. hat, black sunglasses etc) and a continent. Players draw cards and play them to the table revealing some of the cards they have, until they wish to place spies, which is done by discarding a number of cards showing the same symbol / continent and placing spy tokens on the central card showing that feature. However, the more spies already there, the harder it is to deploy more. Essentially a game of deciding how long you can afford to wait before playing a set - the longer you wait the better the reward unless someone beats you to it.

Star Trek The Next Generation, published by BMI. 1992. Box. Box poor. £1

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

TV related, featuring the main characters (plus Whoopi Goldberg) on the lid. Simple dice game but with rather an unusual looking board.

Street Soccer, published by Cwali. 2002. Box. In shrink. £11

Five a side soccer game played on a 10x6 gridded board with little wooden men. On your turn you roll a dice to determine your movement points which you can then use to move your players and kick the ball. While getting good dice rolls helps, making good use of your movement points to make the correct passes and position players appropriately is also important. The game plays quickly and moves are quick, keeping the action level high.

Table Soccer, published by Waddingtons. 1965. Box. Good. £5

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

First edition of this Tiddlywinks variant, i.e. a soccer game where you flick the ball (a counter) from player to player across a football pitch board. In later editions, Waddingtons just used counters for the men, but in this edition there are 24 actual footballers (plastic figures mounted on counters), two referees and two plastic goals.

Take 12, published by Phillips Publishers. 1959. Box. Box worn. £4

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2+. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon.

Nice item, a variation of Shut The Box, with a felt board on which two dice are rolled. The number thrown can be used in a variety of ways to 'close off' numbers on the board (which go from 1 to 12). These numbers are represented by 12 unique dice, each with its own number on three sides, 2 blank sides and one with a single dot.

Tarot Fortune Telling Game, published by U.S. Games Systems. 1970. Box. Good. £1.75

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country: Switzerland, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: The book is complete, but some pages are coming loose.

78 card tarot deck (14 cards in each of the suits: batons, epees, denier and coupes) + an additional suit known as Triumphs or the Major Arcana, numbered 1-21, and one Fool. The cards are a reproduction of an antique French tarot deck from the 14th century. This set comes with a book giving an introduction to tarot cards, and also giving information about their use in fortune telling. There are no game rules included, but there are many card games

books available which describe games which use tarot cards (I may have one available - just ask!).

Teraforming, published by Mr. B Games. 2006. Box. Excellent. £7

Players teraform a planet, creating land masses and oceans using a deck of cards. The game is part puzzle and part card laying game. Points are scored at the end of the game for having most cubes in the completed land masses. Reuses some ideas from the very popular Carcassonne series of games.

Terrible Swift Sword, published by SPI. 1976. Boxes. Good. £40

Monster wargame covering the three days of the Battle of Gettysbury 1863. It is a complex grand tactical regimental-level simulation. There are scenarios covering each of the three days and the Battle for the Little Round Top, as well as the masterpiece: The full campaign, a 125 turn 60 hour monster. The rules cover 31 pages (though that includes optional rules and scenario information too). There are three large mapsheets which are placed together to form the board, and 2000 counters.

The Action Man Game, published by Parker Palitoy. ca.1978. Box. Box battered but whole. £2.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Game based on the exploits of the famous toy soldier. The game involves moving around the outside of the board and landing on an opponent means the two players have a battle. Battles are fought on land, air or sea as determined by a card draw, and battle dice are rolled. These are special dice showing a missile, an infantryman, a submarine, a tank, a bomber and a ship. Players also get to exchange prisoners of war as well.

The Amazing Book Of Bridge, published by Bramley Books. 1999. Book. Excellent. £6

Hardback, 27x24cm, 125 pages. An introduction to Bridge with many full colour photographs throughout. The book covers: Preliminaries, Declarer Play, Bidding, and Defence. The book has a systematic approach, introducing a little at a time in order to make the learning process more approachable.

The Battle Of The Bulge, published by Avalon Hill. 1965. Box. Box a bit grubby and 2 corners taped. £6

First edition, in the thicker flat box preferred by the company at that time. The famous WWII encounter in the Ardennes in December 1944, when the American Commander responded “Nuts!” to the German order to surrender. The basic game rules are only 4 pages long, but a supplementary book adds to this for tournament games and extra optional rules. The German player has to get 20 units to the Meuse River by Dec 23rd, or failing that eliminate all American forces. The U.S. player has to ensure neither of these happen.

The Book Of Games, published by Chancellor Press. 1992. Book. Excellent. £9

Hardback, 30x22cm, 207 pages. There are over 400 diagrams and photographs mostly in colour. The games covered include Table Games (Backgammon, Chess, Domino Games, Halma, Chinese Chess, Mancala, Draughts, 9 Mens Morris, Go, Dice Games, Mah Jong, Shogi, Reversi), Cards Games (17 inc. Patiences, Bridge, Black Maria, Canasta, Crib, Ecarte, Euchre, Skat and Tarot), Gambling Games (16 inc. Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Poker, and Brag), Physical Games (Snooker, Pool, Billiards, Darts, Table Tennis). The descriptions are detailed and the illustrations and diagrams make this book a pleasure to read or refer to.

The Canadian Wargames Journal Vol 6 No 3 Spring 1992, published by Canadian Wargamers Group. 1992.

Magazine. Good. £0.50. Country: Canadian, Desc. by Andy.

Wargaming magazine which this issue covers: World In Flames (discussion, errata, variants), Barren Victory (review & analysis), Trajan (S&T 145), Columbia Block Games, Battles For Empire (Napoleonic Miniatures, analysis and review), Attack Sub (review and scenarios), South Africa: The Death of Colonialism (variants), The Great Battles of Alexander (review), 48th Panzerkorps, Kasserine Pass, Wargaming Magazine article index, B-17, Letters, Observation Post, Best of 1991.

The Complete Book Of Card Games, published by Octopus Books. 1989. Book. Excellent. £3.50

Hardback with dustcover, 256 pages, 24x17cm. This book gives the rules to a large number of card games including all the classics, as well as a variety of lesser known games. The book covers: Games for Two (19), Games for Three (11), Games For Four (13), Games for Five or More (11), Party Games (9), Banking Games (11), Patience Games (18). This book is based on the works of George F. Hervey (Hamlyn Illustrated Book of Card Games), though there are many additions.

The Elfquest Boardgame, published by Mayfair. 1988. Box. Good. £6. Desc. by Eamon.

Based on the comic book characters created by Wendy and Richard Pini. The board is made up of tiles, making it different every game, and in the full game, the tile placement is crucial to your strategy. One player is Guttlekraw the Troll King, and the others are leaders of various elf tribes looking for their Elf Home. Movement costs between tiles depends on the numbers printed on them, so some routes will be prohibitively expensive. There are a number of potential sites for Troll Home, which need to be investigated.

The Hellgame, published by Udo Grebe Gamedesign. 2003. Box. Good. £24

Board game of diplomacy and intrigue set in Hell! Each player takes the role of a triumvirate of daemons who seek power. The winner is the first player to claim control of one of the circles of Hell, and have Lucifer ratify the claim. The game uses a board and counters to show the current state of the infernal struggle, while cards with special powers and abilities are played to perform spells and dirty tricks. The cards have suitably sinister artwork. The game is rated for 15+ years of age due to the subject matter.

The Omega Virus, published by Milton Bradley. 1992. Box. Good, but corners taped. £17

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1-4. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Computer controlled science fiction board game. A military satellite has been taken over by the Omega Virus and will soon rain down destruction on Earth unless an elite commando from one of the superpowers is able to destroy the virus first. Players must explore the space station, initially having limited access to rooms and none of the vital items of equipment, but gain these as the game goes on, with the ultimate goal of finding and destroying the Omega Virus. The game is controlled by a speaking computer unit, and there is only a limited time before the virus will win the game, so play must be fast, creating a great deal of tension. Very nice item. Can be played solitaire too - you against the computer!

The Only Game In Town, published by Thomas Y Crowell. 1976. Book. Good. £2.50

Hardback with dustcover, 26x20cm, 213 pages. Subtitled 'An Illustrated History Of Gambling', this book is just that - it does not describe gambling games in detail, or offer advice on how to gamble, but instead details gambling history. The chapters cover early days of gambling, 19th century gambling and gamblers, the business of casinos (legal and illegal), mechanical devices (slots etc), bookies.

The Penguin Book Of Card Games, published by Penguin. 1991. Book. Excellent. £9

One of the great general card game books, if not the very best, as David is a real expert. 474 pages. The book includes chapters on: Whist (including David's own excellent 3 player game 99), Solo, Five-Card games, Hearts, All Fours, Italian Games, Skat, Jass, Bezique / Pinochle, Piquet, Rummy, Cribbage, Cassino, Poker / Brag, Banking Games, Stops Family, Patience, Odds & Ends. There are so many variants and subgames, this book alone could keep you busy for a lifetime! Highly recommended.

The Small Furry Creatures Press - Issue 60, published by SFCP. ca.1992. Magazine. Good. £0.40

Designer Unknown. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

This is the British games magazine which was later renamed Games Games Games. Issues are generally 24 pages long, and cover industry news, roleplaying games, PBM games, classic games (eg. Draughts and Chess), as well as having well written reviews of board games of various sorts (family, strategy and wargames). This issue covers: News, Letters, S.F. Games, Raid on Richmond review, Grand Prix Manager review, Developing an RPG, Bluff My Call, En Garde!, Draughts, Scrabble.

The World Of Games, published by Facts On File. 1989. Book. Good. £5

Hardback with dust cover, 27x23cm, 240 pages. This colour illustrated book details over 150 games from around the world. The chapters cover: Ancient Board Games, Dice Games (Standard Dice, Nonstandard Dice, Indian Games), Card Games (32 card deck, 52 card deck, 104 card deck, solitaire), Domino Games (Chinese Dominoes, European Dominoes), Modern Board Games (Alighnment & Configuration, War Games, Hunt Games, Race Games, Mancala), Activity Games (Bowling, Darts, American Indian Games, Cats Cradle, Ball Games, Children's Games, Kites, Puzzles).

Those Incredible Puzzles, published by Lippincrot & Crowell. 1980. Book. Good - shows a little wear. £1.25

Softback, 96 pages, 27x21cm. A visual puzzle book with 36 puzzles. Here are some examples of the types of puzzle: identifying pictograms, matching Esperanto & English words, deciphering multiple exposure pictures, symbolic division, spotting filmstars from their negative images etc.

Tile Poker, published by Peter Pan. 1983. Box. Good. £4.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Tile placement game played on a felt mat with plastic tiles which represent standard playing cards. Tiles are played Scrabble style onto the board to form Poker combinations in order to score points. There are bonus squares for extra points too.

Torres, published by Rio Grande. 1999. Box. Excellent. £16. Desc. by Andy.

Designed by Wolfgang Kramer and M Kiesling. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 75 mins. German Game of the Year Award winner for 2000. Players use chunky plastic pieces to build towers all over the board, and use action points to move their knights into commanding positions, and special action cards to break the normal rules to gain an advantage. Requires considerable thought to make the most effective use of your action points and cards.

Trolls, published by BMI. 1992. Box. Good. £1

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Fantasy children's game subtitled 'The Treasure Hunt Game in the Land of the Giants'. Simple mechanics - roll the dice and move the dobber and see what the space you land on says. Comes with a free Trolls Wall Plaque. My guess is that the 'Trolls' must have been a children's programme on TV and that this was a tie in.

Trust Me, published by Parker. 1981. Box. Shrinkwrapped. £7

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Wheeler-dealer business game. Players claim properties around the board and cajole other players to invest in them. The value of the properties is random, and hidden away in little briefcases. As the game goes on you find out which ones are really worth having.

Tune Din, published by Marino Games. 1988. Box. Good. £2

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon.

Fun trivia type game, based on music. Has the unusual feature that you can 'play' tunes on a Kazoo for the others to guess the title.

Unholy Tricks, published by Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1988. Book. Good. £6

The second Bridge book in the Monks of St Titus series. Very amusingly written and yet also has a great deal to teach to the Bridge player. There is no need to own the previous book to appreciate this one. Very well written, and a must for any Bridge player with a sense of humour.

Utopia, published by Matagot. 2007. Box. In shrink. £32

Set in a fictional land in which the king has invited princes from far off lands (the players) to build exotic temples, palaces and other buildings throughout the island kingdom. Players build these structures by placing workers throughout the islands and when there are sufficient of their own people a monument can be built, and the workers go home. However, each region can only have one monument so players must race to complete theirs first. In addition popular opinion holds the different cultures in high or low esteem, and this can be influenced by card play, though the cards can also be used to move and recruit more workers. To win you must successfully build monuments and keep those you have built in high regard. 40+ amazing monument pieces.

Venedig, published by Amigo. 2007. Box. In shrink. £28

Players are founding the city of Venice, and start with a swampland. Individual areas are dried out and then buildings can be built on this new land. The game uses cards to indicate the buildings which can be built, and the shape of dry land (and / or water spaces) needed to build it. There are plenty of tactical subtleties, and players can collaborate on a builidng site if they wish.

Vikings, published by Rio Grande Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £19

Each player is a viking chief, and must scout and settle islands off the homeland. This is done using a clever drafting system in which you can get something cheap or pay more for something you really want. Each time one viking and one piece of land are purchased. The land tiles must be placed in a personal area which forms your settled lands, and the vikings have different professions: warrior, fisherman, scout, nobel or goldsmith, and each can be settled only on particular islands. Raiding ships also need to be seen off (with warriors). There are three scoring rounds throughout the game to determine who is the greatest viking chief. Plays best with 2-3 players, and highly recommended with either of those numbers.

VOC!, published by Splotter Spellen. 2002. Box. Excellent. £12

In this game the players take the roles of Dutch merchants founding the Dutch East India Company at the end of the 16th century. They send out ships to trade in the East. However outfitting a ship was expensive and the journey dangerous so merchants would generally cooperate in small groups, all trying to make the most money. The game has simple and advanced rule sets. The most unusual mechanic is that sailing is done by the captain player attempting to draw his route on the wipe-off map with his eyes closed, but other players with a stake in that ship can call out a direction while he draws!

Voltron, published by Parker Bros. 1984. Box. Good. £3

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-5. Country: Canada, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Box edges show some wear, and one corner taped. Some of the standup cardboard pieces are creased, but still usable.

Based on a US Children's TV program in which the Voltron Force of good guys in space suits have to find the keys to form Voltron, who is powerful enough to best the Robeast! There are two versions of the game, one for beginners and one more advanced. The game involves some memory work as a board of face down tokens gets explored, and nasty surprises get turned face down after discovery, but useful weapons and the all important keys can be found too. Loads of standup cardboard pieces, including two huge ones which are used on the separate battlefield board.

Wadi, published by Emma Games. 2007. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £15 2) In shrink. £16

Players place shadoufs (water pumps) in an arid landscape through which seasonal rivers (wadis) occasionally flow. When the water briefly comes the shadoufs are used to irrigate the landscape. Each turn the water which hasn't yet been pumped out of the wadi moves on, and when it leaves the board or has all been pumped, players score for the irrigated land around their shadoufs. Placement restrictions and pumping rules mean that many areas will score for several shadoufs and using this to your advantage is the key to winning.

Wie Waldi, published by Abacus Spiele. 2005. Box. In shrink. £9

Simultaneous play card game in which the cards depict the head, tail and middle of a dachsund. The middles are all covered with a multicoloured blanket, and many sections can be added before the tail needs to be added, so long as the cards match (dominoes style). Each completed dog will either be claimed by the player who owns the head or the tail - depending on whether the tail is being bitten by a cat or not.

X-Bugs Set 1: Flyborgs vs US Arthropods, published by Steve Jackson Games. 2001. Box. Excellent. £8

Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Two armies of enemy bugs face each other and fight for dominance. The bugs are represented by tiddlywinks with picture stickers, and are flipped to attack or defend! The players try to capture each other's bases to win. Each bug also has a special ability to add extra fun to the proceedings. Further sets are required for 3/4 player games. Dice are used to determine which type of bug may be moved each turn.

Zauber Cocktail, published by Kosmos. 2001. Box. In shrink. £7

Card trading and collecting game in the same family as Pit. Players collect sets of potion ingredient cards - the more ingredients of a type played together the more each card in that set is worth. The game is played over a number of rounds and each round the players are given some extra cards to add to their cards left over from the previous round and then everyone attempts to trade cards with each other by calling out what they want to trade. This is pretty frantic in the same way as Pit. Once a player is happy with their cards they place their token on the board. Once there are 3 tokens placed the trading stops. Players then simultaneously play one or two sets of ingredients and they are revealed - best sets gain VPs, worst lose VPs.

Ziplock Bags (100): 15.7cm (14.0cm) x 10.3cm, Bag. New. £6. Desc. by Andy.

Ziplocks bags are always useful for bagging up counters / wooden cubes / piles of dice etc. These medium sized ones are 15.7cm long, with the section below the closure 14.0cm long, and are 10.3cm wide. This is a batch of 100.

Ziplock Bags (100): 34.4cm (32.3cm) x 23.1cm, Bag. New. £13. Desc. by Andy.

Ziplocks bags are always useful for bagging up counters / wooden cubes / piles of dice etc. These very big ones are 34.4cm long, with the section below the closure 32.3cm long, and are 23.1cm wide. The enclosure is a little larger than A4, making them ideal for protecting valuable magazines or booklets (US Letter size fits nicely too). This is a batch of 100.

Ziplock Bags (100): 9.4cm (7.6cm) x 5.9cm, Bag. New. £3. Desc. by Andy.

Ziplocks bags are always useful for bagging up counters / wooden cubes / piles of dice etc. These small ones are 9.4cm long, with the section below the closure 7.6cm long, and are 5.9cm wide. This is a batch of 100.

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