MNG-AJM Games and Collectibles

 

Dec 2008 Catalog

 

While I don’t publish my latest catalog on the internet, this older catalog is available for you to look through to get an idea of the sort of thing I generally have.  Please be aware that many of the games in this catalog will have already sold, and if they haven’t then the prices are not necessarily still valid – the prices are only valid in the month the catalog comes out!  However, if you do see something of interest email me and I’ll let you know if I still have it.  Also getting the monthly catalog by email is free and without obligation, so why not just ask to be added to my subscription list, or ask me to send you the latest catalog by email? 

 

100 Other Games To Play On A Chessboard. Published by Peter Owen. 1983. Book. Excellent. £10

Author: Stephen Addison. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 23x15cm, 96 pages.  A collection of games (other than chess) which you can play on a chess board.  These games fall into the following categories: Chess Related Games (6), Pure Variants (34), Occupational Games (5), Positional Games (6), Draughts & Variations (17), Custodian Capture Games (4), Games Played On The Intersections (7), Misc (13).  There is also a section with puzzles for you to solve.

 

5 In A Row. Published by Spear's Games. 1975. Box. Box shows wear. £0.75

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players take turns placing pegs into a board trying to make a row of 5 of their pegs on a 14x14 board.

 

A Book On Casino Craps. Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold. 1981. Book. Good. £3.50

Author: C. Ionescu Tulcea. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 23x15cm, 149 pages.  As well as covering the dice game of Craps as played in casinos in great detail (covering how to play, and detailing and analysing all the possible bets), this book covers other gambling games played with dice, and also gives a grounding in probability and presents various commonly used gambling systems.

 

A Player's Guide To Table Games. Published by Stackpole Books. 1975. Book.

Good, but dustcover shows wear. £8. Author: John Jackson. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback with dustcover, 22x15cm, 285 pages. This book takes a look at a few popular playing card games, and gives hints on how to play well, and then moves on to proprietary board and card games, giving a short review and strategic tips for each - thus it is useful to see if a game is likely to be one you might like to play as well as improving your play at various games.  The chapters cover: Card Games (8), Quasi-Card Games (7), Stock Market & Business Games (9), Family Games (17), Race Games (8), Sports Games (13), Detection & Deduction (6), Word Games (12), Abstracts (14), Semiabstract War (8), Multiplayer War (7), Pure Wargames (~25).

 

After Dinner Origins. Published by Jordans Games. 1988. Box. Good,  but edges show wear. £1.75

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

Players take turns to read out three possible origins of well known phrases or customs (such as why we say "The Bee's Knees", or how saluting started), and the other players guess which is the correct one.  Points are scored for guessing the correct origin.  The game comes in a box which looks very much like a box of After Eight Mints, and the cards come in After Eight style wrappers!  There are 60 cards with 5 sets of origins on each card.

 

Alibi. Published by Mayfair. 1992. Box. Good. £7. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Jim Musser & Darwin P Bromley. No. players: 3-10. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins.

Card game, 78 colourful cards giving information about a murder. Deduction game in which players give and receive information based on cards in their hand. The cards move amongst the players as well, giving you more to consider. One neat idea is that complete sets can be ‘melded’ on to the table, scoring bonus points, but, in effect, telling everyone that the item in the set was not included in the crime. When you have worked out all the details of the crime you can make an accusation to gain bonus points and end the game.

 

Am Fuss Des Kilimandscharo. Published by Hans Im Gluck. 1995. Box. Box good, contents unused. £10

Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Light game in which players use their cards to form combinations of methods of transport, in their quest to reach Base Camp first. Each player has 3 cards laid in front of them indicating their current modes of transport.  Players can either play onto their own piles to improve their position or onto opponents' piles to mess them up.  In addition various events occur as the players get further up the mountain when certain spaces are landed on exactly, so aiming to hit or miss these is important.

 

A Question Of Sport - Rugby. Published by Games Team. 1992. Box. Good. £1

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

TV related trivia game, with all the questions based on rugby in one form or another. Some cards even include photographs so that you can play the ‘Picture Round’ as on the TV show.

 

Adlerauge. Published by Berliner Spielkarten. 1999. Box. Mint. £1

Designer: Reinhard Staupe. No. players: 2-8. Country: German, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, translated to Eagle Eye in English. Players need concentration as they try to quickly check a row of pictures on the cards for colour matches in order to determine if they can be played or not. There are four variants of the game to try. The cards are laid down in a row and the first player to lay all their cards into a row wins.

 

Angkor. Published by Schmidt Spiele. 2005. Box. Excellent. £11

Designer: Knut Happel. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Tile laying game in which each player has their own board.  Players play tiles showing jungle, temples, and water onto their own and others' boards with the objective of scoring well for connected areas.  Tokens can be played to block spaces and to enhance the score of an area.  The boards have a 3D plastic underlay and screens are used to hide each player's tiles.

 

Antike. Published by Eggert Spiele. 2005. Box. In shrink. £29

Designer: Mac Gerdts. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Ancient civilizations build cities, construct temples, sail the seas and make technological advances in the lands around the Mediterranean. Very well received at Spiel 2005 and afterwards, and plays relatively quickly.  The game uses an unusual and neat mechanism to limit your choice of actions each turn - the "rondel", and gives players a good selection of ways to gain victory points and while military goals are important they are not the sole focus.

 

Arkham Horror Kingsport Horror. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2008. Box. In shrink. £24

Designer: Rochard Launius. No. players: 1-8. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Expansion for Fantasy Flight's edition of Arkham Horror, which you will need to use this set. Kingsport is now included on an additional map, and there is plenty more new.  New concepts include wandering dimensional rifts, Epic Battle cards, Guardians, and elusive monsters.  Also included are new investigators, new Ancient Ones (if that isn't a contradiction), lots of new items, skills and encounter cards.  Over 300+ cards to add to keep the game fresh.

 

Arkham Horror The Black Goat Of The Woods. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2008. Box. In shrink. £17

Designer: Rochard Launius. No. players: 1-8. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Expansion for Fantasy Flight's edition of Arkham Horror, which you will need to make use of this set. This is a smaller expansion set than Dunwich or Kingsport, but still contains nearly 200 new cards to add to the base game.  This includes 88 more Ancient Ones, and 90 new cards for the investigators, including many items which present the dangerous lure of corruption.  Also included are more monster markers and a Herald sheet.

 

Assassin. Published by Avalon Hill. 1993. Box. Good. £7

Designer: Chris Baylis. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, based on Eurohit by the same designer. Players hunt each other across Europe. AH have added a board that helps the atmosphere and eases play. The cards represent methods of travelling around Europe, distances, and the various major cities. There are also special cards, and the objective is to use the cards to get to the same location as another player and attempt to assassinate them.

 

Balanx. Published by Fun Connection. 1993. Box. Good. £6

Designer: Kris Burm. No. players: 2. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Original rules missing, but a printout is supplied. The two large steel ball bearings rusted at some point (but have been cleaned).

Two player strategy game from this master of the genre. The game uses a board which can tilt like a see saw, and each turn the current player tilts it towards them and the balls which are the playing pieces will move in their grooves changing the game position. The objective is to get your balls to the opposite corner of the board, but leaving a ball behind to block is not permitted.  The balls are large glass marbles and two large steel ball bearings are also used.  Very stylish as you would expect from Kris.

 

Battle Of Britain. Published by TSR. 1990. Box. Excellent. £14. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Ken Sommerfield & Tom Hoffman. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs.

Only Britain stands against the German juggernaut.  The fate of the war rests on air superiority.  Will the sheer strength of the Luftwaffe be able to bring down the RAF with its radar towers and elaborate communications systems?  The game includes 21 aircraft figures on stands as well as counters and lots of cards and battle dice.  Approachable rules, the basic set being 6 pages long, with an advanced set of rules covering a further 5 pages.

 

Bells Of War. Published by Silly Space. ca.1995. Box. Good. £8.50. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Remi Duval,Marc Fournier,Philippe Lamontagne, Louis Nadeau.. No. players: 2. Country: Canadian.

Ambitious attempt to repeat the success of Axis and Allies. Stacks of counters and money, as you simulate WWII on a grand strategy scale. Major additions compared to Axis and Allies include more unit types, rail movement, petrol production, neutral armies and military leaders.  The rules come in 3 levels, the most basic being similar to Axis & Allies, and the most complex a great deal more complicated and will take a lot longer to play too.

 

Battle Quest: Caves Of Fury. Published by Hodder & Stoughton. 1992. Book. Excellent. £4.50

Author: Stephen Thraves. No. players: 1. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Solitaire adventure game book in the same style (using paragraphs) as Fighting Fantasy books.  However, this book comes in a packet with two special dice used to resolve combat, and a selection of extra items (treasure and strength counters), Book of Wisdom card, Password Scroll, and transparent spell sheets. 342 paragraphs.  You are a fearless warrior sent to the Caves of Fury by an old man who wants to know what happened to his sons who never returned.

 

Bean Trader. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2003. Box. Good. £14

Designer: Uwe Rosenberg. No. players: 3-5. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Board game with the theme taken from Bohnanza - so all about trading beans, with plenty of bean-puns thrown in.  The players move their wagons from city to city buying and selling beans to fulfil orders.  Players can also trade beans between each other when their wagons are in the same location.  The objective is to make as much money as possible from your bean trading.  The games uses quite different mechanisms to Bohnanza, so it isn't just a Bohnanza variant.

 

Beyond Tic Tac Toe. Published by Pantheon. 1975. Book. Good - unused. £7

Author: Sid Sackson. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 20x25cm, 78 pages. A collection of original games by Sid Sackson.  They are all inspired by modern art by various artists, and the games are named after those artists. The book includes many black and white sheets on which the games are played by colouring in sections with pencils (not supplied). The games are abstract, and as you would expect from Sid, have novel ideas.  The games are: Vasarely (2-4), Miro (2-4), Mondrian (2-4), Arp (2-4), Delauney (2-4), Klee (2), Springer (2-4).

 

Blast!. Published by Waddingtons. 1988. Box. Box shows wear. £2.50

Designer: Family Games. No. players: 2-7. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Dice and card game.  Players roll two dice (one normal, one special) and whoever has a card that matches the roll plays the card to the table.  Should the card already be on the table an action card is drawn and played which gives the current player choices generally involving taking down another player a peg or two. Note this is nothing like 'Blast Off!' by the same company.

 

Bridge. Published by Penguin. 1963. Book. Good. £2

Author: Terence Reese. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 18x11cm, 208 pages.  Intended for the reader who has an outline knowledge of the mechanics of Bridge, the book takes the reader through the fundamental principles of bidding and play up to quite advanced examples of strategy.

 

Cabale. Published by Gold Sieber. 1999. Box. Excellent. £12

Designer: Roland Siegers. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Abstract game with wooden pieces and a wooden board. Each player has one piece called a runner, and this moves around and across the board, leaving blocking pieces where it changes direction. The board gradually fills up with blocking pieces reducing the possibility for further movement.  Players also get to add walls to the board to further restrict movement. The pieces left on the board by the runner are what score at the end of the game. The game is easy to approach but has some clever ideas and feels pretty unique.

 

Camper Tour. Published by Ghenos Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £16.50

Designer: Spartaco Alberarelli. No. players: 2-4. Country: Italian, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Race game in which players roll dice to move along a track created by laying out tiles. However, there are several clever twists which make this worth investigating.  Firstly you say how much you want to move and then roll to see if you are allowed to - trying to move to fast is more likely to result in no movement at all.  Also, some of the tiles can give benefits, so you want to aim for the beneficial tiles, but the players in the lead can't see what lies ahead.  Finally, when a player thinks they have gone far enough they turn around and head back home.  The last player to get back has a major disadvantage, and your score depends on using up your fuel chips as precisely as possible.  Neat.

 

Captain Future. Published by ASS. 1980. Box. Good. £15

Designer: Wolfgang Kramer. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Space themed majorities type game. Players use cards to place their pieces on the gridded board.  The spaces represent bases on various planets.  Occupied spaces can only be taken over when a planet is fully occupied, and the cost of such an attack then depends on whether you have the majority on that planet or not. The combinations from your cards make the game highly tactical, as they are flexible enough to give a variety of options each turn.  The objective is to get all your ships on the board and gain control of planets.  This will certainly require attacking other players' positions.

 

Carcassonne Die Burg. Published by Hans Im Glück. 2003. Box. Excellent. £12

Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Carcassonne related game for two players only.  There are some interesting twists in this version introduced by Reiner.  Firstly the restrictions on placing tiles so they match is much reduced - only roads must match - this gives much more scope for tactical play.  An odd shaped frame showing the castle walls is laid out and tiles are placed within it.  Players claim tower buildings and residential buildings they think will grow large but which they can complete, and there is a good bonus for the largest residential building. Market areas score at the end of the game only, and if a player's scoring marker reaches certain spaces on the score track bonus tokens are gained which give various benefits.  Recommended. US edition is called The Castle.

 

Cartagena 2: Das Piratennest. Published by Winning Moves. 2006. Box. Excellent. £12

Designer: Leo Colovini. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

An updated and somewhat altered version of Cartagena. Each player tries to get his pirates across two islands to the pirate's safe town. Cards are used to move your pieces forwards, but to get new cards you must move your opponents' pieces forwards. There is also a boat between the two islands which needs to be used to cross from one to the other.  Movement is such that getting a string of pieces on successive spaces showing the same symbol allows a lot of movement, but in this version, the boat breaks up such sequences.  An interesting update.

 

Cats Mansion. Published by Spears. 1984. Box. Good. £10

Designer: Martin Davison, Judith Duffey & Michael Harding. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

One of the nicest looking games of the 80’s. The 5 cat pieces are quite delightful - all different, moulded and painted. Each player is secretly designated a cat and an object and must engineer the movement of all the pieces so that the two end up together somewhere in the mansion. Clever movement system and quite interactive with lots of bluffing. First made as Cats in Germany.

 

Chess And Draughts - How To Play Scientifically. Published by W. Foulsham & Co.. ca.1950. Book.

Good. £0.75. Author: Albert Belasco. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback with dustcover, 19x13cm, 64 pages. 38th edition of this popular book which gives the rules to both games as well as a discussion of how to play well.  Includes puzzles with solutions for both games. The print is small, so fits quite a lot into the limited space.

 

Ciao Ciao. Published by Drei Magier Spiele. 1997. Box. Good. £5

Designer: Alex Randolph. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Nicely produced small box game in which the box itself + a cardboard ladder make up the playing surface.  The inside of the game board depicts a dangerous jungle, and players try to get their playing pieces across the ladder to safety.  Players take it in turn to roll a dice in a special holder, and peek in.  They can then move their playing piece as much as they wish, but others can call their bluff, and if they moved a different amount to that rolled the playing piece moved falls from the bridge to its death.  If a challenge is made incorrectly then the challenger loses a man instead.  Points are scored for men who make it across.  Players must bluff sometimes as one face of the dice is an X which can always be challenged.

 

City Of Chaos. Published by Monocle Games. 1996. Box. Excellent. £42

Designer: Martyn Oliver, Colin Thornton. No. players: 1-6. Country: British, Duration: 4 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

An amazing text-paragraph based fantasy board game.  Players explore the city of Byronitar, with large square tiles being drawn and placed to form the board.  Players can encounter just about anything with choices being given using a special dice, loads of cards and the 700 paragraph Tome of Chaos.  The city hides a dozen or so sinister secrets and the objective is to uncover these and defeat the evil behind each of them. Your character can join guilds and advance in them to improve their skills. Wonderful sinister atmosphere. Some encounters can be very deadly, so I recommend you play with 3 'lives' each so you have a better chance of uncovering more of the fascinating city.

 

Compatibility. Published by Spear's Games. 1996. Box. Good, but box edges show wear. £6

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 3-6. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Social / party game which can either be played in teams of two or individually.  Each player has a deck of identical picture cards, and there is also a deck of word cards (eg. marriage). A word is chosen and everyone selects some cards from their deck which they think represent the word well, and order them face down from most to least important.  Teams score for choosing the same pictures and bonuses for having them in the same order.  The board keeps the score and indicates the number of pictures a team can select.

 

Contack. Published by Waddingtons. 1966. Box. Good. £7

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-7. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Photocopied rules from a Parker Bris edition.  House rules sheet included too.

A precursor to Triominoes, this game uses 36 triangular tiles each with three coloured sections with a number from 1-9 on it.  Players play tiles so that the colours match, and the numbers add up to multiples of 5 or match numbers exactly. Points are awarded for making multiples of 5, whereas just matching doesn't score but is a legal placement.

 

Der Blaumilch-Kanal. Published by Kosmos. 1999. Box. Excellent - unpunched. £2.50. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Ephraim Kishon, Jurgen P Grunau. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins.

Board game with wooden pieces, a large board and lots of tiles and cards. Satirical party game with lots of German on the cards, and really is only likely to be appreciated by fluent German speakers.  Therefore I am selling it without an English translation since you won't need one if this is any use to you. The game uses cards which require players to invent humorous captions to pictures, make up limericks given rhyming German words, give humorous solutions to problems and talk for a minute on a random theme.

 

Der Elefant Im Porzellanladen. Published by Amigo. 2006. Box. In shrink. £6.50

Designer: Michael Schacht. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game.  Players draw cards from a display, paying money for various valuable pieces of porcelain, but in order to get money elephant cards must be taken.  In German the title is equivalent to 'A bull in a china shop', so naturally taking an elephant card gets you money but also eliminates some of your valuable china!  During the game there are four scoring rounds, of different types, but each player can choose which of the remaining scoring types to use each round in order to best make use of their holdings.  Neat mechanisms and plays well.  Recommended as a light game for 3-4 players.

 

Der Plump Sack Geht Um. Published by Berliner Spielkarten. 1999. Box. Mint. £0.50

Designer: Reinhard Staupe. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game.  Essentially a memory game in which cards are placed face down in a circle and players guess what they are, and they are revealed after each guess.  If a player gets several guesses right in a row then a card can be kept.  First to collect 6 cards wins.

 

Derby. Published by db Spiele. 2000. Box. Excellent. £16

Designer: Dirk Henn. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Horse racing game, made in small numbers by the designer. Players use cards to advance the horses, and bet on the results. Movement of horses requires two cards to be played, and these can be played from face up or face down piles giving choices to consider.  Also during the race you get the chance to draft a better betting slip if the race isn't working out how you had hoped.

 

Die Dracheninsel. Published by Amigo Spiele. 2003. Box. Excellent. £14

Designer: Tom Schoeps. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Players try to collect more treasure than anyone else, however, they can only do so by cooperating with the other players. The board is laid out with terrain discs in a hexagonal shape, with the treasure at the centre.  Players use cards to  traverse the various terrains using a clever and flexible card playing mechanism.  Once at the centre, however, one must wait for a second player to arrive as the treasure is too heavy for just one player.  These two players will then return to one of their boats, where it can be distributed fairly or unfairly, with further card play resolving disputes. On the nominations list for the German Spiel Des Jahres 2003.

 

Die Leuchtturm Architekten. Published by Piatnik. 1995. Box. Good. £12

Designer: Thomas Wewers. No. players: 2-4. Country: Austrian, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players are given secret lighthouse cards, and there are some public cards too.  Each shows what is needed to build that lighthouse, which will be 4 wooden blocks in the colours red, white and black, but each lighthouse has a different combination.  Players then introduce the wooden blocks onto the board and move them around a track, according to stacking rules, and with the aim of forming lighthouses which either match those they have in their hand or those open on the table, as both will score points.

 

Disorderly Conduct The Game. Published by Western Publishing. 1993. Box. Good. £3

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

Special notes: Box slightly indented due to stacking, base has a tape removal mark, and 1 corner taped. 1 of 160 cards is missing, but this does not affect play.

Party game intended for young adults.  The players split into a team of girls and a team of boys and each team moves their playing piece around the board and acts on the spaces they land on.  These often require that a 'dare' card is drawn and so someone will have to perform an embarrassing dare, sometimes involving a player from their own team and sometimes with someone from the other team. Players can refuse a dare, but then they get a stamp - two stamps and that player becomes the other team's 'partyslave'.  The box and board feature snapshots of a group of male and female actors playing the game, giving a bit of the look of popular U.S. TV sitcoms (like 'Friends').

 

Dominator. Published by Capri. 1975. Box. Box shows wear. £1.50

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

Special notes: Two of the smallest craft missing, but replaced by alternative pieces which look different but still stack adequately.

Somewhat abstract space wargame.  The game is played on a square grid and the two forces start at opposite corners.  The various warcraft have different movement capabilities, and the ability to destroy other ships varies as well.  The two least powerful craft can also combine into one larger craft. and this craft can also combine with another large craft to form an extra powerful ship.  Game play is much more like chess than a wargame, with single craft on either side being moved alternately. The objective is to eliminate your opponent's flagship.

 

Distant Seas. Published by Distant Seas. 1992. Box. Good. £16

Designer: Vernon Paul Rood. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Privately made trading ship game. Three versions of the game cover the periods of sailing ships, steam ships and modern merchant ships. Player own ships and sail them on a map of the world to pick up cargo and deliver it for points to its required destination.

 

Dragonslayer. Published by SPI. 1981. Box. Good. £10. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Brad Hessel & Redmond Simonsen. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs.

Special notes: Box base and lid slightly indented due to stacking

Film related fantasy board game, based on the fantasy Disney film. Your quest is to rid the world of the last dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative. To do this your magician will need to travel the kingdom of Urland and gather companions, magic items, spells and weapons ready for the big fight.  There will be various hazards and events hindering you along with the King's Men who are out to stop you.

 

Dschunke. Published by Queen Games. 2002. Box. Excellent. £13

Designer: Michael Schacht. No. players: 3-4. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: For £1.50 extra I will colour print and laminate a set of special action cards in English.

Players try to become the most successful merchant on an asian floating market.  This is done by positioning your crates of goods on the various boats to best advantage and then obtaining goods cards and selling them.  In addition goods cards are used to bid for special cards which give various advantages or bonuses, and to obtain further money.

 

Dungeon Twister - 3-4 Player Expansion. Published by Asmodee Editions. 2006. Box. In shrink. £17

Designer: Christophe Boelinger. No. players: 3-4. Country: French, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Each player has a team of adventurers with various powers, who are trapped in a dungeon. The board is made up of small maze-like boards which can be rotated during the game, changing the layout. Action points are spent to move adventurers, pick up and use items, fight opponents or perform special actions. The objective is to gain victory points by escaping from the dungeon and killing opposing adventurers. The game is card driven - the cards being selected each turn from an open display. Very well received fantasy game. Together with the base set this expansion lets you play with 3 or 4 players.

 

Dungeons & Dragons: Dragon Quest. Published by TSR. 1992. Box. Several copies available:

1) Good. £7.50       2) Good, unpunched. £8

3) Good - mostly unpunched. 1 plastic figure substituted. £7.50

4) Good but 1 edge show wear. Some plastic figures substituted. £7

Special notes: All copies are missing the 6 metal figures (though it is perfectly playable with only the plastic figures).

Designer: Tom Lavely. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Fantasy adventure board game which uses a simplified version of the Dungeons & Dragons system for use in several adventures which can be played out on a board with figures.  One player runs the scenario and has the detailed setup of the current adventure which the other players take characters into and try to defeat the evil monsters and get the treasure. Comes with 180 colourful cards which represent monsters, traps, treasure, equipment, spells etc, as well as 6 plastic figures, 6 metal figures and around 90 standup cardboard figures.

 

Elric. Published by Avalon Hill. 1983. Box. Good. £18. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Greg Stafford & Charlie Krank. No. players: 1-4. Country: American, Duration: 2+ hrs.

Fantasy game based on the world and characters in Michael Moorcock's Elric sagas. Each player controls several Kingdoms in the Elric's world and must hire and fire various personalities on the path to victory whilst carefully maintaining the balance between Chaos and Order. Each action moves the Balance marker one way or the other, threatening all players if it goes too far in one direction.  There are several different scenarios for different numbers of players and of different lengths, and I can supply some of my own.  All in all a very faithful rendition of the world of Elric which focuses on both characters and armies - which of these more depends on the scenario being played.

 

Empire Campaign System. Published by Empire Games. 1984. Box. Good. £4

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

Unusual item, a board game designed with the miniatures gamer in mind. This is a grand strategy game, played on a large hex map of Saxony and the surrounding areas. When you force the enemy to battle, the idea is to then use miniatures rules for the battle itself.  The rules suggest that you will want to use the Empire 3 operational-tactical miniatures rules to play out the miniatures battles.  The rules include sections on resolving the combats but I am not at all sure if they will work without using the Empire 3 rules as well.

 

Express. Published by Mayfair. 1990. Box. Excellent. £8.50

Designer: Darwin P Bromley. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, with 132 cards featuring very nice illustrations of railway rolling stock. The game is a set collecting game, kind of like Rummy, with sets being complete trains.  However, there are also some cards which let you steal sections of other players' trains, etc.  When a player plays all their cards to the table the hand ends and the trains played are scored.

 

Fantasy Business. Published by Descartes Editeur. 2002. Box. Excellent. £6

Designer: Christophe Boelinger. No. players: 3-8. Country: French, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Economic game with a fantasy theme.  Players must buy various bits of adventuring gear (eg. weapons, armour, horses, etc) at auction and then after a set number of auctions there is a selling round.  After discussions players secretly set their prices for the items they have on offer.  Lowest price sells with a bonus, middle prices sell with no bonus and highest prices don't sell at all.  There are also some action cards to make things interesting and keep people on their toes.

 

Fast Flowing Forest Fellers. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2008. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £22       2) In shrink. £24

Designer: Friedemann Friese. No. players: 2-5. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Race game in which the players must get both of their log riders downstream as fast as possible.  However in the way there are lots of logs as well as the other log riders, and unhelpful eddy currents which the log riders can get pushed into. Players play cards from a hand to determine their movement allowance and which log rider they can move each turn.  There is plenty of scope for hindering your opponents as well as clever moves where one of your log riders can help the other one.

 

Fun On Wheels. Published by Frederick Muller. 1967. Book. Good. £2

Author: Dave Garroway. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 18x12cm, 117 pages. 150 games, puzzles and brain teasers ideal for keeping the kids entertained in the car.  They are categorised as follows: Games Of Travel, Fun For Just A Few, Word Games, Chestnuts Old & New, Test Your Brain Power, Its In The Cards, Numerals And Coins, Novelty Draughts And Puzzles, Drawing Games & Simple Crafts, Stunts & Tricks, Car Fun For Younger Children, Car Safety Hints.

 

Funny Bones. Published by Parker. 1968. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £5      2) Good, but corners taped. £4.50

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

Card game. Very funny in the right company. 23 attractive cards, each thicker than usual playing cards. Players divide into couples and they must follow the instructions and place the card drawn between the two ‘bones’ indicated, eg. 'Nose bone connected to back bone'  means one player holds the card with their nose against their partner's back. By the time a couple is holding several of these cards in place it can get very tricky to comply with the next card!  The game also has a tactical element as once each game a couple can reject a card and force another couple to perform it instead.

 

Gambler. Published by Parker. 1975. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good but 1 box corner split. £1

2) Box shows wear, corners & 1 edge taped. £0.75

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

Players move around the board participating in various games of chance (horse racing, lottery, lucky number, sweepstakes etc.) in order to win money. The first person to get $1000 wins the game. The centerpiece of the game is a unique dice shaker that randomizes the dice and has them fall into the handle so that players can bet on the order that the dice fall in (eg. where the highest die will be located).

 

Games (And How To Play Them). Published by Thomas Y Crowell. 1973. Book. Good. £2.50

Author: Anne F Rockwell. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 26x26cm, 44 pages. A colourfully illustrated book of children's party games - some traditional, and some less well known. There are 43 games detailed.  A very useful book for anyone intending to host a children's party or activity session.

 

Games And Sports In The Army 1933-34. Published by War Office. 1933. Book. Good. £12

Author: The Army Sport Control Board. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 18x13cm, 691 pages. An amazing period item with many advertisements from the time.  The book includes details and specifications of courts, and equipment, and for most sports laws of the game too.  The sports covered include: Association Football, Athletics, Badminton, Billiards, Boxing, Bowls, Cricket, Fencing, Golf, Hockey, Lawn Tennis, Pentathlon, Pass Ball, Polo, Rackets, Rugby, Swimming, Tug Of War, Wrestling.  There are also fascinating chapters about the effect of sport on the morale of one's unit etc.

 

Games Funstation. Published by Design Eye Ltd. 1995. Book. Good. £0.50

Author: Godfrey Hall. No. players: 1+. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

48 page hardback book which originally came with some game components such as tiddlywinks, and possibly dice, cards, paper and pencils etc. However, these are now missing, though some components were provided on card and bound into the book - these are all still present. The games can all be played by collecting suitable components from other games.  The games covered include many obscure traditional games from around the world, some classics, and some invented specifically for this book.  The games include: Jumpers, Tiddlywinks, Bulls Nose, Clown Game, Track games, Race game, Circle games, Hyena, Wet & Dry, Card games, Mystery Island, Funny Families, Dominoes, Pen & Paper games, Dice games, Word games ...

 

Garten-Zwerge e.B. Published by Argentum Verlag. 2004. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £11.50      2) In shrink. £12.50

Designer: Roman Mathar. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Amusingly themed game in which the players are members of a Garden Gnome breeding society!  Garden Gnomes come in different ranks, from the worthless and lazy greys up to the highly coveted gold gnome!  Each turn players choose what to do with their gnomes: send them to work in the garden for a little money; look for a breeding partner for them, with money being paid by the player who will get the resulting offspring to the other parent's owner; or sending them into the club's competitions to win prize money.  The first player to either breed a coveted golden gnome or accumulate 4000 money wins the game.

 

Gizeh. Published by Pegasus Spiele. 2006. Box. Excellent. £10

Designer: Nikki Lim. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players build pyramids using tiles.  However, particular sets of tiles are required in order to complete a pyramid, but with various options allowing for the use of superior or inferior stone.  Players can also scare away opposing workers and otherwise hinder their opponents.  The objective is to be the first to complete three pyramids.

 

Gold Und Rum. Published by Asmodee Editions. 2003. Box. In shrink. £10

Designer: Alan Moon & Bruno Faidutti. No. players: 4-7. Country: French, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Unusual card game with a fantasy army theme.  The cards depict dwarves, undead, goblins, barbarians etc, with some cards being very powerful but either needing a weak goblin to man them (goblin war machine) or not allowing two to be held by the same player (giants).  The first half of each hand involves one player dealing out the cards face up onto a number of piles and the other players then claim piles and play cards to damage piles other players have claimed.  The dealer chooses a player to side with that turn and then four battles are played in which players commit their cards to the battle in two phases, with the winner gaining victory points.

 

Greyhound Race Game. Published by Bob Edes Board Games. 1985. Box. Good. £4

Designer: Bob Edes. No. players: 2-8. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Greyhound racing and betting game.  Includes 8 plastic greyhound tokens and an oval board.  When betting a variety of bets can be made, including combination bets.  Movement is by dice and cards being drawn on certain spaces.  2 d8s and a d20 are used by the game.

 

Happy Days. Published by Parker Bros. 1976. Box. Good. £3

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

TV tie in game, subtitled Fonzie's Real Cool Game. Players try to be the first to collect 16 Cool Points and then to play their song on Arnold's juke box.  The game is driven by dice, and card play, but also includes a subgame where players challenge each other to a race on the drag strip, with the winner gaining a Cool Point and the loser being deemed a Nerd.

 

Heart Of Africa. Published by Phalanx. 2004. Box. New. £17

Designer: Andreas Steding. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Beautifully produced game in which players expand their mercantile control ever further across Africa.  The board shows a very attractive and interesting elongated period style map of Africa divided into regions.  Players introduce their traders into these regions, wresting control of valuable resources such as diamonds and gold from those currently there.  The game uses several unusual mechanisms such as players having to bid for the privilege of getting a turn at all, but each time you don't get a turn you get more influence with which to bid for a future turn.  Also conflict with players and neutral traders uses two different and interesting mechanisms giving the option to choose to retreat, and gain from the encounter if you wish.

 

High Roller SuperSkins Casino. Published by High Roller Games Ltd. 1992. Box.

Box good, contents unused. £6.50. Designer: J.P.McKeon. No. players: 2-8. Country: Ireland, Desc. by Andy.

Gambling game in which two players at a time take the role of dealer and player, who must bet for themselves to win.  Other people can also participate and are able to make bets on who they think will win the hand or even bet on a stand-off. The game itself is a card game with some similarities to Pontoon / Blackjack, but with a special deck of cards and the player and dealer try to make their cards add up to 25 rather than 21, but a few points over are allowed (up to 28), but are lower rated hands.  There are also a couple of special high scoring hands: Super Five and Super Skins. Finally there are a couple of extra options during play: Drive (forcing your opponent to stick or take an extra card) and Exchange (rejecting a card drawn).

 

Highway. Published by BMI. ca.1990. Box. Good. £3

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

Children's board game designed to teach about crossing the road safely.  The board incorporates two lanes of traffic on cardboard rings which are rotated during the game.  They show various cars and changing traffic signals at the various crossings. The graphics all show bears and are quite cute.  The objective is to be the first player to move their bear token from home to the playground, school and the ice cream van and get back home again.  When crossing the road the traffic rings are rotated and the traffic moves on and the player must decide if it is safe to cross or not.

 

History Of The World. Published by Gibsons. 1993. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good but box shows a little wear. £13      2) Good. £15

Designer: Steve Kendall. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 2-5 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Classic game, as easy as Risk, but far more subtle, and working through from the dawn of history to the 20th century. In each of 7 rounds every player controls a different civilisation that appeared in that time period. With the counters for your civilisation you build cities, capture towns, construct monuments and occupy as much land as possible. Very well regarded game.  The duration ranges from 2-5 hrs - the game is longer with more players.

 

Horoscope. Published by Ariel. ca.1960. Box. Box lid indented by stacking. £3

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

Players try to complete their board of twelve spaces, one for each sign of the zodiac.  The cards that go in these spaces both have to match the space they are to go into, and the sum of values on all the cards on your board also have to add up to one of several special numbers to achieve victory.  The cards also have a prediction on each one, allowing the players to read the winning horoscope and determine what awaits each of them in the future!

 

How-Do-You-Do Party Games. Published by Nelson. ca.1970. Book. Good, but spine taped in 1 place. £2

Author: Audrey Fawley. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 24x17, 29 pages.  A collection of games to play at children's parties, with additional information for planning such a party.  Very much an item of its time, with lots of illustrations and far too much pink ink for its own good.  The party games are pretty standard, but still good for such events.

 

Indoor Pastimes For All Ages. Published by A.W. Gamage Ltd. ca.1910. Book. Cover fair, inside good.. £5

Author: Will Goldston. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: The cover has a small section torn, revealing the card underneath, and the spine has been repaired with masking tape

Hardback, 18x13cm, 104 pages. A wonderful period item with great adverts at the back.  The author was a noted magician, and in this book presents a selection of amusing party pieces, minor tricks and fun stunts which are sure to amuse. Interesting period illustrations too.

 

Insider Dealing. Published by Fantasy Games. 1988. Box. Good. £9.50

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

Special notes: The calculator needs a new battery.

Stocks and shares game. Players deal in the shares of six companies on the Stock Exchange. Stock prices are affected by event cards of two types - market news (which everyone gets to see) and insider information which only the current player gets to see. In addition players move around three sections of the board, one in which it is possible to buy shares, one in which it is possible to sell shares and a special area which must be passed through in between.  Players can decide how long they wish to stay in an area before leaving it. Nicely produced and includes an electronic calculator as well.

 

IQuest. Published by San Serif. 1987. Box. Good but corners taped. £2.50

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

Special notes: 1 'i' token and one 'q' token are missing.  This means the game is playable only with 2-5 players. Quiz type game, but rather than general knowledge questions, simple IQ test style questions are provided.  There are 6 categories: Twixers, Rangles, Numbles, Oonies, Werdles and finally IQuests which are only used when a player has collected tokens for all the other categories in order to win the game.  The game board shows a circular lattice of connections and the players work their way into the centre to win.  Unusually, it is not just the active player who must try to answer the current question, but all other players too, and they have to indicate if they agree with the active player by secretly playing a card.  Thus all players are kept involved all the time. Includes 2200 questions.

 

Jericho. Published by Abacus Spiele. 2005. Box. In shrink. £5.50

Designer: Tom Lehmann. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players build up long walls in different colours. When scoring happens the longest walls in each colour win their owner extra cards.  However, players can use trumpets to tear down sections of their opponents' walls, but there are restrictions on this so you have to wait for just the right moment. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Some clever ideas - a good light game.

 

Jet Set. Published by Wattsalpoag. 2008. Box. In shrink. £18

Designer: Kris Gould. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Clever game in which the players build flight networks, while managing their very limited supply of money.  Players buy the rights to route segments and pay for planes on them, and then use these planes to claim route cards which give VPs at the end of the game and allow income (very needed) to be obtained during the game.  Players are also given a couple of final flight cards, and aiming to complete one of these at the end of the game is vital.  A game with simple rules, but clever ideas, and fast and interesting game play.  Well received at Spiel 08. Recommended.

Jigsaw Puzzles: An Illustrated History And Price Guide. Published by Wallace-Homestead. 1990. Book.

Excellent. £10. Author: Anne D. Williams. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 25x18cm, 362 pages. An essential book for the jigsaw collector. The first half of the book covers: The history of the Jigsaw Puzzle, Major Jigsaw Manufacturers, Developing a Jigsaw collection, Jigsaw Values.  The second half of the book gives a detailed description of jigsaw puzzles by type.  There are many photographs in colour and black and white throughout.

 

Junkyard Races. Published by JKLM Games. 2003. Box. In shrink. £22

Designer: John Yianni. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Players control carts which race around a junkyard.  The junkyard is littered with all sorts of useful bits of equipment and traps you can set for other players.  There is a dangerous shortcut you can choose to take too.  Movement is by rolling 1-3 dice and moving over hex spaces, while keeping on the track.  An amusingly chaotic race over multiple laps.   Pitstops can be made to change around your cart's goodies.  The box is packed full of stuff: the board, hex tiles, lots of cards, 4 resin cast carts, and dice.

 

Junta. Published by West End. 1985. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £18      2) Good. £16

Designer: Vincent Tsao. No. players: 2-7. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Well regarded political game. Players vie for jobs in a Third World government. One player is elected President and he appoints other players jobs. This can involve offers of high wages, bribes or threats, but at the end of the day he hopes to pocket as much money as he can in his Swiss bank account. Coups regularly take place as players distrust each other. The winner is not the one with the most power or money, but the one who has stashed more money in Switzerland than any other player.

 

Justinian. Published by Phalanx Games. 2006. Box. Excellent. £19. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Alessandro Saragosa, Leo Colovini. No. players: 2-4. Country: Dutch, Duration: 45 mins.

Very nicely produced game in which the players influence 12 Byzantine advisers to the Emperor. Each player has a pool of influence markers which can be used to enhance or reduce the power of the various advisers at court.  The influence tokens are also used to help determine just when Justinian will call upon the advisers and about what topic he will ask.  Each player holds the strings behind two different advisers for each of the four possible topics, and manipulating the situation and using clever timing is what it is all about.  The main mechanism ensures in an extremely clever way that all advisers have roughly the same potential.

 

Kapitän Wackelpudding. Published by Peri Spiele. 1994. Box. Excellent. £12

Designer: McGuire Brothers. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Daft game - the title translates to Captain Wobbly-pudding!  Players take it in turns to add a wooden goods piece to a wooden ship and then carefully move it to the next port as indicated by a dice roll.  This must be done without any of the goods falling off!  If goods do fall off the player collects the lost cargo which count against the player at the end of the game.  At one port a special card is drawn and acted upon rather than just loading another good onto the ship.

 

Keytown. Published by R&D Games. 2000. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good, but box shows a little wear. No. 29/500. £37

2) Good. 472/500. £40.

Designer: Richard Breese. No. players: 2-5. Country: British, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Each player controls a group of townsfolk who they want to promote as the new leaders of Keytown. In order to do so they will first need to gather resource cubes working in the brewery, farm, forest, harbour or the mines. They can also reproduce, resulting in a new townsperson, distract opposing townsfolk or gain prestige by working in the church, market or chambers.  At the end of the game the player who has most successfully improved the lot of their townsfolk is the winner.  Limited edition of 500, and very collectable.

 

Leader 1. Published by Ghenos Games. 2008. Box. In shrink. £32

Designer: Alain Ollier, Christophe Leclercq. No. players: 2-10. Country: Italian, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Very nicely produced cycle racing game which uses large hex tiles to form a different board each game, and 15 cyclist miniatures.  Each cyclist has a speciality, and base movement is determined by the large hex movement is started from, and can be adjusted by using energy.  Slipstreaming is naturally also important, as are other real tactics such as and breaking away from the pack with a team-mate or two to form a new group.

 

Lords Of The Spanish Main. Published by Sierra Madre Games. 2006. Packet. New. £13

Designer: Phil Eklund. No. players: 2-8. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

A game full of the flavour of 17th century colonization and piracy. The game uses cards to give a great deal of variety to play and to give a real feel of the period. One player is the Spanish governor who is quite happy to deal in contraband goods. The other players run the fleets of other European powers. Each year the players bid on property and slaves, establish colonies and manoeuver ships. Treasure fleets sail and the contents end up either in the hands of pirates or divided amongst the players who organised the sailing.  Ultimately the player with the most gold and treasure wins. Very highly regarded.

 

Mandarin. Published by Mattel. 1990. Box. Good. £14

Designer: Tom Kremer. No. players: 3-5. Country: British, Duration: 50 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Family game designed around the theme of the Chinese Zodiac.  The game uses a clever gadget: a plastic Chinese house that dispenses tiles when a lever is pressed. Players attempt to collect one tile of each symbol or 6 of a particular type.  Players move around a track and activate spaces, often getting the chance to claim a single tile or push their luck to try to get more, but if this fails then all the tiles are auctioned instead.  Everything has been attractively produced with a Chinese theme.

 

Manitou. Published by Gold Sieber. 1997. Box. Good. £6

Designer: Gunter Burkhardt. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game, 110 cards featuring Red Indians in four tribes. Each player hopes to trap the most Buffalo cards in each of three rounds of play. In each round you play with a number of your tribe members, some chosen, some drawn randomly. These cards interact as you vie for control of the Happy Hunting Grounds.  Essentially a majorities game with some twists.

 

Master Builder. Published by Valley Games. 2008. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £25      2) In shrink. £27

Designer: Wolfgang Kramer, Hartmut Witt. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Very attractively produced game in which the players employ craftsmen with different levels of skill but also different quirks.  Each turn an event means that some craftsmen with particular foibles may not be able to work that turn.  Players bid for contracts to construct buildings. When won, that player takes all the parts of the building concerned - chunky cardboard sections which slot together and use their craftsmen to build what they can, with the restriction that it must stand up - so no building the roof before the walls.  Ultimately the objective is to end up with the most money at the end of 6 turns of building.

 

Mastergame. Published by Invicta. 1982. Box. Good but some stacking indentation. £2

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

Each player has 8 pieces, showing either a heart, diamond, club or spade, and the board is an 8x8 grid also showing these symbols.  Players take it in turns to move a piece one space, but may not move a piece onto a space showing that piece's symbol.  The objective is to get four of your pieces in a row.  Attractive plastic board & pieces.

 

Memoir '44 Winter / Desert Board Map. Published by Days Of Wonder. 2005. . In shrink. £8

Designer: Richard Borg. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Double sided expansion map board for Memoir '44. As well as the map this includes campaign rules to link scenarios together and blitz rules for early war battles.  You will need the base game to make use of this.

 

Mercante In Fiera. Published by Dal Negro. ca.1975. Box. Excellent. £2.50

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 4-8. Country: Italian, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Traditional Italian gambling card game.  Cards are auctioned off in sets by the auctioneer. A second identical deck is then used (this set includes both decks) and three cards are winners, with the prizes for the corresponding card owners set by the auctioneer.  One by one losing cards are revealed, and players may buy and sell their remaining cards, which become increasingly likely to be winners as more losers are revealed.  The cards are numbered and have very attractive pictures.

 

Meteo. Published by Jumbo. 1989. Box. Good. £13

Designer: Dijkstra & Van Dijk. No. players: 2-4. Country: Dutch, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Very attractive weather themed game in which the players try to ensure their cruise ships and hotels get the best weather possible as they then get a better income.  The weather is represented by transparent tiles showing a weather symbol.  These are moved around the board by the players, in a clever but restricted way, with the wind only changing a little at a time.  The game comes with loads of plastic components.

 

Metro. Published by Uberplay. 2000. Box. In shrink. £14

Designer: Dirk Henn. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Railway game in which players lay tiles showing tracks.  The objective is to score points by having your railway lines score as highly as possible. A railway line scores well if it is long, and its score is doubled if it reaches one of the city centre stops at the centre of the board.  Tracks can be laid to help your own lines or hinder other people's. Previously published as Iron Horse by DB Spiele, but this edition has nicer components and was on the nominations list for German Spiel des Jahres 2000.

 

Mhing. Published by Spears. 1984. Box. Good. £9

Designer: Robert Sun. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

This is a conversion of Mah-Jong into cards. Essentially a rummy style game but with some special cards and special combinations of cards.  Comes with clear rules and summary sheets.

 

Mikado. Published by Origineering. 1976. Box. Good. £5

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

Abstract game, a Westernised version of Shogi (Japanese chess), with some twists (I think, but I am not a Shogi expert). Nicely presented.

 

Modern Bidding Systems In Bridge. Published by Penguin Books. 1973. Book. Good. £3

Author: G.C.H. Fox. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 23x14cm, 424 pages. A collection and analysis of a large number of Contract Bridge bidding systems and conventions within those systems.  The book is divided as follows: English Systems, Modern Conventions In General Use In England, American Systems, Italian Systems, A System From Nationalist China, Illustrative Hands.

 

Mutiny. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2003. Box. In shrink. £7.50

Designer: Kevin Wilson. No. players: 2-5. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Pirate themed game in which the players represent different factions of the crew on a pirate ship, on which the captain is no longer capable.  However, his officers are still loyal.  Players vie for the favour of these officers to gain various privileges in order to be the first faction to organise an armed mutiny. This is done by bidding with money and rum.  The various favours include: getting more money or rum, getting weapons (needed for a mutiny), controlling the spyglass (to break ties as you wish) and deciding where to sail next - different places favour different officers.

 

Mythology. Published by Yaquinto. 1980. Box. Good. £45

Designer: J Stephen Peek. No. players: 2-8. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Each player takes the role of a major Greek god, and attempts to control the actions of the many Greek heroes and monsters.  Events throw spanners into the works as will your opponents.  The objective is to get the heroes under your control to complete quests for legendary items such as the Golden Fleece, in order to give glory to their patron god - ie. the player controlling them.

 

Nature Trail Game. Published by Early Learning Centre. ca.1990. Box. Good, but box corners taped. £2

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

Children's nature themed game for ages 4-7. Players try to collect a set of 8 friendly animal tiles, while avoiding danger tiles. When a danger tile is drawn, a person tile must be discarded to eliminate the danger. The tiles are attractively illustrated. The players do not need to be able to read to play this game.

 

Nefertiti. Published by Editions Du Matagot. 2008. Box. In shrink. £28. Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Jacques Bariot, Thomas Cauet, Guillaume Montiage. No. players: 3-4. Country: American.

Essentially a set collecting auction game, but with some very clever and innovative ideas.  There are 4 market towns each with two different markets, but only 3 of these 8 possible markets are open at any time.  Players take turns to place bidding tokens into the markets, and each market has a different condition which closes the market, and causes treasures on sale their to be sold.  Players collect sets of these treasures throughout the game, and the player who presents the best collection to Nefertiti at the end wins.

 

New Faces Game. Published by Parker Palitoy. 1975. Box. Box corners taped. £0.75

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

TV related, based on a television talent show. Players are acts looking for stardom. Playing pieces are moved first around the outer 'audition' track, and when the cards for a suitable act have been obtained then the player advances to the New Faces track where the reaction from the audience is gauged and then hopefully the act will make it to stardom, possibly even making it big in Las Vegas.  Derek Hobson, the show's host, pictured on the cover.

 

Noteability. Published by Spear's Games. 1991. Box. Several copies available:

1) Good but 1 corner taped. £5      2) Good. £7      3) Good but box edges show wear. Photocopied rules. £4

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

Essentially a game of 'Name That Tune'. In the classic parlour game a player either sings or plays on the piano the first few notes / bars of a song and the others have to recognise it.  This is essentially the same, but the game comes with a miniature working electronic grand piano (17 numbered keys), and the cards showing the tunes to play list the keys to press to play the tune with dots to indicate pauses.  One of the most amazing game components you will see.  You don't need to be musical to play, but it helps if you know the tune you are playing so you can get the rhythm at least approximately right.  Great fun watching other people mangle the tunes nearly as badly as you do!

 

Nur Peanuts. Published by Gold Sieber. 2001. Box. Excellent. £11

Designer: Heinz Meister. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 35 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players attempt to gain money from the other players by choosing the number of dice to roll in order to move around a circular board and to land on a high value space.  At the end of a round the player on the highest value space gets paid by the other players and gets to purchase an extra space.  The game can end in a couple of ways, and so the winner can be the player who owns the most spaces or the player with the most money.

 

Octagram. Published by Guardsman Games. ca.1975. Box. Good. £2

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

Word game which uses 40 octagonal tiles.  Players draw and play a tile at a time, but as well as forming words by adding to the existing layout, one or more lines of letters can be removed and replaced to form a word, although each word may only be scored once throughout the game. Can also be played as a solo challenge.

 

One More Barrel. Published by Giochix.it. 2008. Box. In shrink. £33

Designer: Michele Quondam. No. players: 3-5. Country: Italian, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Cynical game in which the players attempt to ward off global terrorism by eliminating weapons of mass destruction hidden in a country which has a huge oil reserve.  Players send in the troops and invade the the hostile state, and grab and sell as much oil as possible while doing so, ideally to companies from your own country.  While achieving objectives is good for your position in the media, it is money which wins the game. Now of course such a scenario is clearly far fetched!

 

Parcheesi. Published by Milton Bradley. 1989. Box. Good. £2

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

Special notes: Box lid shows slight indentation due to stacking

This is the American equivalent of Ludo.  This edition comes with wooden playing pieces and a wooden dice cup.

 

Pastimes For Children. Published by Butterick Publishing Co.. 1890. Book. Fair. £7

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

Special notes: The cover is worn and somewhat discoloured, and two pages have been taped.

Softback, 28x21cm, 96 pages. A book of games and activities for children such as: pictures to copy / enlarge, making shadow pictures, making a boomerang, ring catchers, windmills, hand signals, make your own menagerie, make your own doll's house, making dolls clothes, mental pastimes (charades, puzzles, anagrams, riddles etc).

 

Pico 2. Published by Doris & Frank. 1996. Packet. Excellent. £1.50

Designer: Dorris Matthaus, Frank Nestel. No. players: 2. Country: German, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game with just 13 cards.  The cards are dealt and the one remaining is set aside.  Players play cards simultaneously, with the higher card being set aside for points at the end of the hand.  However, if the higher card is more than double the value of the lower card then the lower card wins instead.  Also the loser takes their card back into their hand.  The round stops when one player has just one card left.  Points are tallied and the hands swapped and replayed.  Best score over both rounds wins. To play well you will need to out think your opponent - working out when they will play low and when high.

 

PitchCar. Published by Ferti. 2003. Box. In shrink. £35

Designer: Jean du Poel. No. players: 2+. Country: French, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

New edition of Carabande. A motor racing themed game with the mechanics of Carrom. You can design the course using the chunky wooden track segments, and your ‘cars’ are wooden discs, which you flick around the track. The track segments have a barrier on one side, off which the cars can bounce. There are penalties for knocking other cars off the track or ending up with your car flipped upside down.  This set comes with 16 track pieces and the circuits can be up to 3.7m long. Highly recommended.

 

Play Winning Checkers. Published by Consolidated Litho Corp. 1940. Book. Good. £5

Author: Millard Hopper. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 16x12cm, 32 pages. The author calls himself "The Checker King", the World's Unrestricted Checker Champion. The subtitle says it all really: A complete guide to the game of Checkers; giving its history, rules and rudiments of play, also exposing for the first time the leading trick plays and winning moves used by the checker expert.”

 

Pool Position. Published by FX Schmid. 1999. Box. Good. £9.50

Designer: Thorsten Gimmler. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

At a plush hotel in a hot country players vie for the best placed sunbeds near the pool. Players have identical sets of numbered cards which they play to determine placement points each round, but using an unusual mechanism which involves some second guessing of what the others will do. These points can then be spent to add towels to empty sunbeds or throw off those of other players, but this attracts the attention of the attendants, who after several towel tussles will come and stop any further tussles in that row or column. Unusual and amusing theme for a pleasantly cutthroat game.

 

Power Grid: Benelux/Central Europe Maps. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2006. . In shrink. £9

Designer: Friedemann Friese. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Additional maps for the excellent game Power Grid. The maps are Benelux and Central Europe, and there are slight variant rules to be used on each of these maps, to reflect the power production history of these countries.  Recommended, though you need the base game to make use of this.

 

Practise Your Crowhurst 2 Clubs. Published by Bridge Plus. 1997. Booklet. Excellent. £2.50

Author: Eric Crowhurst. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback booklet, 21x15cm, 16 pages. Bridge booklet which details the Crowhurst 2 Clubs convention, and gives plenty of hands for you to practice bidding using it with your partner, with recommended bids given at the back of the book.

Probe. Published by Parker. 1964. Box. Good. £3

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Vastly underrated word game which didn't sell well in the UK but which was a huge success in the U.S. Players try to guess each other's hidden words. A deck of cards adds variety  eg. by revealing additional letters. All players continue to score by working out their opponents' words even after their word has been revealed.

 

Railroader. Published by Waddingtons. 1963. Box. Good. £35

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.

A classic train game, mainly because it just looks so wonderful. 100 pieces of train-set like track slot into the board as you advance your railroad across the west. Plastic trains complete with carriages and caboose travel along the tracks, and follow the railroad builders. Players race each other across the board, but on the way, players are ambushed, and get the chance to dynamite each others' lines, derail trains and so on.  The main decisions involve choosing when to build track and when to move your train - you need enough track ahead of you to ensure your train won't go off the end, but too much makes you very vulnerable to dynamite attacks.

 

Reese On Canasta. Published by Edward Arnold & Co.. 1951. Book. Good. £9

Author: Terence Reese. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 19x13cm, 96 pages.  Covers the following: How The Game Is Played, The Four Main Tactical Positions, The Finer Points, Canasta for 2/3/4, The Sunday Times Lawas of Canasta.

 

Ritter Ohne Furcht Und Tadel. Published by Euro Games. ca.1997. Box. In shrink. £9.50

Designer: Hartmutt Witt. No. players: 2-10. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Game of medieval knights participating in a jousting tournament, with wooden pieces, masses of dice, and colourful counters. The title translates as Knights of Honour without Fear. Knights have differing defence and attack ratings and prefer different attributes in their ladies (hair colour, thin or well rounded etc), and this will affect which lady each knight seeks the favour of. The game plays as a series of challenges between pairs of knights, and between bouts the knights need to recover. Resolving challenges involves the roll of many dice, but a knight who fares badly can yield to save further injury.

 

Rodney Matthews Fantasy Jigsaw 3477. Published by Falcon. 1994. Box. Good. £3.50

Designer: Rodney Matthews. No. players: 1. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

625 piece jigsaw puzzle.  The picture is titled The Four Horsemen, and was originally record sleeve artwork  for the British band Full Moon.  Rodney Matthews is a well known and very skillful fantasy and S.F. artist. The picture shows the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding over a desolated land with a huge blood red moon in the background.

 

Rodney Matthews Fantasy Jigsaw 3478. Published by Falcon. 1994. Box. Good. £3.50

Designer: Rodney Matthews. No. players: 1. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

625 piece jigsaw puzzle.  The picture is titled On A Storytellers Night, and was originally record sleeve artwork for the British band Magnum.  Rodney Matthews is a well known and very skillful fantasy and S.F. artist. The picture shows a storyteller relating a tale to an odd group of fantasy characters in a tavern next to a roaring fire.

 

Royal Comette. Published by Oxford Games. 1996. Box. Excellent. £3

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

Facsimile of a very old card game, with a deck of cards that looks like a copy of a 19th century deck (or older). The board is sectioned into compartments into which players place their stakes (plastic betting 'sticks' are included), and the game mechanics are very similar to playing card games like Newmarket and Pope Joan.

 

Royalty. Published by US Games Systems. 1996. Box. Excellent. £4

Designer: S J Miller. No. players: 1+. Country: American, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game, 106 cards featuring a mixture of colours and letters. You can play with one deck of 53 cards or both decks. Lots of interaction as you can steal each other’s words, but interestingly you must rearrange the letters you are stealing and add to them to make a brand new word, completely unrelated to the one you stole. Variations include Coalitions (for partnership play) and Monarchy (for solitaire play). Nominated in the Games magazine Top 100 for 1995.

 

Ruse And Bruise. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2006. Box. Good. £11.50

Designer: Lutz Stepponat. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game played in rounds.  Each round there are several prizes with a value and a particular symbol.  Players place cards in rows against these prizes hoping to win them using their character cards.  The cards have varying values and many have interesting powers which can affect the other cards, or how you win the prize card.  In a neat twist cards are played face down, but then the previous card played against the same prize is revealed and if it has a special ability it is actioned then. After several rounds of play there is a bonus for anyone getting one prize with each symbol.

Scorpion. Published by Spears. 1983. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. 1 scorpion token has been replaced with a similar sized wooden disc. The scorpion tokens show wear. £4

2) Good, but box edges show wear. £5

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

An elegantly produced game of the parcheesi family, but with sufficient twists to make it unique and to add considerable strategy to the game.  The board is a large 3-D moulded plastic track in an S shape, with yellow spaces on the way out and black spaces on the way back. Each player has 4 scorpion tokens which are moved according to dice rolls, but each of the two dice must be rolled either on the yellow felt mat or the black felt mat to indicate the colour of space on which a scorpion must be for it to be moved by that dice.  Also landing on or adjacent to (on the other track) another scorpion lets you sting that scorpion and gain an advantage yourself or disadvantage the other scorpion.  Well worth investigating for players of Backgammon.

 

Scrabble Dice. Published by Spears. 1990. Box. Good. £7

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Word game in which seven dice are rolled and all players work out what they can best do with them and enter their word on their score sheet.  This is repeated 12 times.  However, there are 12 different slots on the score sheet and choosing which word should go in the right slot is the key to high scoring (a la Yahtzee).  There are simple slots for words of length 2-7 which score fixed amounts, and also a mini Scrabble board with double / triple letter / word score spaces into which 6 words must also be placed. Nice combination game for word games players.

 

Shadows Over Camelot. Published by Days Of Wonder. 2005. Box. In shrink. £32. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Serge Laget, Bruno Cathala. No. players: 3-7. Country: American, Duration: 75 mins.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table themed cooperative board game.  The players take the role of valiant knights and together must hold off a variety of threats to peace and prosperity, such as Saxons raiders, Morgan le Fey's evil schemes, finding Sir Lancelot, and ensuring the Holy Grail doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Players must use their actions effectively to complete the quests. Some failures are acceptable, but too many and the kingdom will fall.  In a neat twist, there may be one knight who is actually a traitor, and who will subtly work to ensure the kingdom falls.  However, if the traitor is too obvious he can be unhooded and his evil deeds stopped.

 

Shit!. Published by Adlung Spiele. 1996. Box. Good. £1.50

Designer: Reinhard Staupe. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, 50 colourful cards in suits and 6 Shit! cards. Cards are played into a circle and the suit order is circular! Each round players play a card simultaneously, and this can either be a card which will get you more cards (the only way to get more cards) or a number card, which depending on the cards on the table and the cards other players have played will score you points.  There is a slight similarity to '6 Nimmt'. Eamon asked why they called it such a name, and was told that they thought they were using an English word equivalent to "Damn" or "Bother".

 

Sid Meier's Civilization. Published by Eagle Games. 2002. Box. In shrink. £27

Designer: Glenn Drover. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Board game version of Sid Meier's award winning PC strategy game of the same name. Players start with two villages in 4000BC and develop right the way through to the modern day.  Play involves exploring the world to discover resources and the natives; expanding by creating new cities; researching new technology to gain advantage over the other players; increasing production and developing military units for defence and / or attack.  The game comes with 784 miniatures, and a huge 46" x 36" board.

 

Sink The Bismarck!. Published by 3W. 1992. Box. Good. £9

Designer: Michael Smith. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Wargame in which the Bismarck attempts to disrupt the Allied shipping convoys supplying Britain, while the Royal Navy hunts it down in order to eliminate this last major threat.  This is an operational simulation but retains tactical ship to ship elements of the encounter.  The rules allow for fog of war using both dummy task forces and pre-plotted German movement. Includes various what-if scenarios. Each hex represents 75 nautical miles, and turns represent 8 hours of real time. Rules including scenarios cover 7 pages.

 

Smog. Published by Urban Systems. 1970. Box. Good but box is grubby. £16

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

Special notes: Birthday message written on front cover in biro

This company specialised in games about real environmental concerns. The amount of plastic in this game might have worried some of their supporters! Players are civil servants responsible for 'Clean Air'. The board holds factory pegs which have smoke trails which trail over the board polluting other spaces.  Players make decisions on how to expand their city, and how to provide transport and waste disposal services, and these decisions affect each player's popularity (votes), finances and air quality, and in turn these cause victory points to be gained and lost at various points in the game.  Some unusual mechanisms, and definitely collectable.

Soccer Manager. Published by Capri. 1976. Box. 2 Box corners split. £4

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

The players take the job of a football team's manager trying to lead their team to victory over the season. The teams start at the bottom and players put together a team and purchase star players. The matches are resolved and teams build amenities for their club. All this must be done without going bankrupt of course. The rulebook incorrectly states the number of cards. Very colourful board.

 

Society Today. Published by Dynamic. 1971. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Box shows wear. £2      2) Box worn 2 edges split. £1.50

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-8. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Part of Dynamic's Psychology Today Series, Number V. The game is intended to be a reflection of modern times (in 1970). Box features such icons as a Black Power salute and a lady holding up her bra. Game play involves moving along a track and actioning the spaces, which may require one of various types of card to be drawn and played or a question to be answered, with a prestige bonus / penalty for a right / wrong answer.  These questions are all sociology based, and quite interesting. First to gain 60 prestige points wins. At the end of the track is a Nuclear War space, which means everyone loses - so hopefully someone will have won before anyone gets there.

 

Sovereign Of The Seas. Published by Excalibre. ca.1978. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Box shows wear. £6.50      2) Good. £7

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

Players sail merchant ships in the 17th/18th century picking up and delivering cargo for profit.  Tariffs must be paid when stopping in each port, and it is possible to purchase ports in order to get the tariffs when others land on them.  The board shows the whole world, and 32 different ports, with 9 different cargoes available from them.  Play is determined by cards to determine your next contract and dice used for movement, but you choose which appropriate port to pick up from and which shipping lanes to use, and whether to buy ports.  Event cards can also be used to add uncertainty too.  First player to amass 150000 gold pieces wins.

 

Sports And Games. Published by John G. Eccles. 1977. Book. Excellent. £5

Author: Brian Jewell. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 25x19cm, 148 pages.  A presentation of sports and pastimes prior to 1900.  This includes medieval 'sports' as well as many no longer popular or even completely lost sports, including the light hearted, serious, brutal, deadly, and distasteful. Chapters cover: Combat Contests, Racing & Endeavour, Ball Games, Aiming Games, Using The Beasts, Games For Fun.

 

Stack Market. Published by Z-Man Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £13

Designer: Susumu Kawasaki. No. players: 3-4. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Originally a Japanese game, this is a combination of dexterity game and betting game.  The players invest in companies represented by stacked cubes which look like skyscrapers when stacked.  Players roll these cubes and get to add them to existing companies, earning money for cubes added.  However, should building take a tumble then the investors have to pay out.  What a fun idea!

 

Stadens Nyckel. Published by Casper. 1998. Box. Good. £20

Designer: Dan Glimne. No. players: 3-6. Country: Swedish, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Cards have been pasted up in English to ease play.

Players represent noble families trying to build up their neighbourhoods and get their family members into the important official positions at the right times. The game play is driven by cards, and events also take place giving advantages to the various positions, but the order these will come up in is partly revealed so you have an idea what is coming up.  One very nice aspect of the game is that as sections of the city get developed card overlays are placed over the board.

 

Steel Driver. Published by Treefrog. 2008. Box. In shrink. £24

Designer: Martin Wallace. No. players: 3-6. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

New Martin Wallce train game, at the simpler end of the spectrum.  The map shows the USA with rail links marked on the board ready for construction. There are six companies, which the players use investment cubes to control.  The companies can then build track using the revenue they have raised.  The companies earn profits by comnnecting to new cities.  A clever twist ensures the control of the companies is fluid.  Profits distributed to the players is not reinvested, but is kept and determines victory.

 

Stirling Moss Rally. Published by Whittlecraft. ca.1965. Box. Good. £5

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Motor racing rally game played on a course with snow and ice, rocky canyons, and deserts. Players buy equipment to help them through certain terrains, and without these the cars will have to stop for repairs.  The game uses 3 dice: fast (1-6), slow (1-3), and a traffic light control (red/green). Hazard spaces do different things depending on your speed and equipment. Board graphics and box art by the newspaper cartoonist Brockbank.

 

Stock Ticker. Published by Copp Clark Games. ca.1970. Box. Good. £5

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

Stock trading game in which players buy and sell stock and roll dice to change the prices.  3 special dice are used, one to determine which stock is affected, one to determine whether the price rises or falls or if dividends are paid, and one to determine the extent. Only stocks which have gone up from the starting price pay out dividends, and when a stock rises sufficiently it can split, and stocks falling to 0 become worthless.  The game bears a copyright date of 1937, but this edition was clearly much later than that. Rules are in English and French.

 

Streamlined Bridge Or Bidding Without Tears. Published by David Marlowe. 1947. Book. Good. £2.50

Author: Victor Mollo. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 25x16cm, 264 pages.  A book targeted at the mediocre player wishing to improve their bidding.  Chapters cover: How Good Is Your Hand, Be Prepared For The Worst, Responses, The NT Philosophy, Rebids Good & Bad, Over The Demarcation Line, The Reverse Mystery, Parliamentary Interlude, We Visit The Inferno, The Informatory Double, Enter The Ultimatum & Protection, Two Bids, Strength Through Fear, Forcing Slamwards, Per Ardua Ad Septum, Psychic Bidding, On Doubling Old George, Do You Cheat?

 

Supersell. Published by Condor. ca.1970. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Seven Towns Ltd. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Business game in which players buy cars from the bank and sell them again at a profit in various countries.  A single buyer marker movers around the board according to throws of the dice, and all cars for sale in the country landed on are sold. Between moves of the buyer all players get the chance to place cars into markets, but if they want to place in a country where another player is already selling cars then they must oust them by employing more (expensive) salesmen! The first player to a set total of money wins.

 

Sutter's Mill. Published by Phalanx Games. 2008. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £26     2) In shrink. £28

Designer: Marco Teubner. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

The players control groups of workers in the Californian gold rush of 1849.  Each turn workers can either be sent to the gold seeking locations, and the village to use the building there, or to seek for gold and return to the village.  Players must weigh how much to spend on actions (the more actions the higher the cost per action) and when the gold will run out in the various locations. In the town players play influence cards to gain abilities granted by the various buildings.  Cleverly, before all the gold runs out players must get all their men and influence cards out of the village, or suffer potentially major VP penalties. Thus deciding when to start getting out is quite a tricky decision.

 

Tabula Rasa. Published by Spiel Spass. 1999. Box. Excellent. £13

Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

One of Reiner Knizia's trio of card games, the others in the series being Lost Cities and Schotten Totten.  Players play cards to via for control of different regions which are represented by cards and placed between the players. Players play cards to influence the various regions with the objective of getting more matching cards played against as many regions as possible.  Not all regions score the same though so care needs to be taken in deciding how to play your cards in both strategic and tactical ways.

 

Tac-Tickle. Published by WFF 'N Proof. 1967. Packet. Good. £3

Designer: Prof. Harry Rudermann. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Abstract game with several variations.  The basic idea is that the players each have 4 pieces which they move one at a time alternately to try to make a line of three in a row of their colour.  The game can either be played using a 4 x 5 foam grid or on a hex gridded board. The pieces are dice which have a letter embossed on them to help the colour blind or even the partially sighted as the game is entirely tactile when using the foam grid.

 

Tarbart On Patience. Published by Thos. De La Rue & Co.. 1901. Book. Good (excellent for its age). £25

Author: Tarbart. No. players: 1. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 17x11cm, 118 pages. Gold edged pages and embossed cover.  Very rare, and collectible. Very nicely produced book of nearly 50 games of patience, which are divided between one and two pack games.  Printed very finely in black and red throughout with many diagrams. This is a first edition produced for hospitals (it has Hospital Copy embossed in gold on the front cover).  Very nice item.

 

Tennis. Published by Parker Bros. 1975. Box. Good. £3

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2 or 4. Country: Canadian, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Photocopied rules

Tennis card game.  Two decks of cards are provided, one for serving and one for play in a rally.  Each player is dealt 10 rally cards to see them through a tennis 'game'.  A player needs to win 6 'games' to win a set, and victory. The cards show various types of shot which can be played, including smashes and kills.  The skill is in managing your hand of cards to best effect to see you through a whole game (when you will get new cards) and thus sometimes letting your opponent win a point you could have fought over.

Test Your Communications. Published by Victor Gollancz. 1989. Book. Good. £6

Author: Hugh Kelsey. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 19x13cm, 80 pages. Contract Bridge book. The author presents 36 hands and asks the reader how they would solve a particular problem that hand poses.  The solution is then given on the following page.  Thus you can test yourself to see

how good your Bridge skills are, and also improve them where they were wanting.  Hard to find book.

 

The Battles Of Bull Run. Published by SPI. 1973. Box. Good - mostly unpunched. £5

Designer: James F Dunnigan. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: The plastic case lid is brittle and has cracked around the edge.  The box has a built in counter storage tray.

The Battles of Manassas, June 1861 and August 1862, in the American Civil War. Tactical wargame in which each turn represents 90 minutes, and a simultaneous movement system is employed. There are 5 scenarios covering the two battles.

 

The Brotherhood. Published by GDW. 1983. Box. Good. £9

Designer: John Hill. No. players: 3-5. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Gangster game that requires considerable planning. Players write down their moves each turn, deciding which rackets to enter, which part of the town to infiltrate, where to spend bribes, and so on. Players must decide whether to concentrate their efforts on a few places or whether to spread them around, and whether or not to go for the most lucrative, but no doubt most highly contested rackets.  Once any politicking is done thugs fight it out, using a dice based combat system. Unusual theme for this company and this designer to use.

 

The Card Player's Companion. Published by Treasure Press. 1990. Book. Excellent. £7

Author: Gyles Brandreth. Country: Britidh, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 24x19cm, 192 pages.  This book covers the history of playing cards, and gives the rules to some of the earliest European games (Piquet, Ombre, Primero) before moving onto various families of games: Euchre, All-Fours, Whist, Bezique, Cribbage, Banking Games, Poker, Rummy, Hearts, Stops, Patience.  The book also has chapters on Gambling and Cheating, as well as having a detailed glossary. An attractively presented useful reference book.

 

The End. Published by Scapegoat Games. 1995. Book. Excellent. £3.50

Author: Joseph E. Donker. No. players: 2+. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Roleplaying world and rules set in a world after Judgement Day in which 'The Meek' were rejected by both Heaven and Hell, and forced to live back on Earth.  A fascinating introductory story introduces this world and makes you want to read on.

 

The Guinness Encyclopedia Of Games Puzzles & Pastimes. Published by Guinness Publishing. 1988.

Book. Good. £5. Author: Honor Head. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 25x19cm, 256 pages. An excellent resource to keep your children amused in the holidays, with a vast array of puzzles, activities and games to keep them occupied.  Everything is sorted alphabetically rather than by category, but with an index as well.

 

The Hobbit Two Sided Jigsaw. Published by International Polygonics Ltd. 1971. Box.

Box indented, 1 piece missing. £1

Designer: J.R.R. Tolkien / Pauline Baynes. No. players: 1. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: I don't normally sell incomplete items, but this is so nice it seems a great shame to throw it away...

Two sided 500+ piece jigsaw puzzle based on Tolkien's The Hobbit. One side shows a map of the portion of Middle Earth involved in the book The Hobbit from The Shire to The Lonely Mountain, and the other shows Bilbo floating down the river on a barrel. Very nice item.

 

The Midas Touch. Published by Spears. 1991. Box. Good. £5.50

Designer: Peter Quigley. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Dice game, where players stake cards on making the best dice rolls. Chances can be increased by keeping dice and re-rolling others, but stakes are increased accordingly. However, what makes this interesting is that all the cards start off on their 'plain' side and are valueless.  However, if at any time a player has three dice the same in front of them they get The Midas Touch, and any cards they stake or win get turned to the gold side, and these are what score points at the end of the game.  One or two other twists add to the game as well giving additional choices.  8 dice provided, 4 of which are gold coloured.

 

The Nacho Incident. Published by Eight Foot Llama. 2005. Box. Excellent. £10

Designer: Jom Doherty. No. players: 2-4. Country: Canadian, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players smuggle Mexican food supplies over the border to Canada, and then try to set up the best cantina, in four provinces. Players secretly choose which smuggler they will use each round, with the better ones being fastest, and so likely to get better prices, but also being more likely to be caught as well, which is bad news as this will ensure the Mounties hassle your cantina, which can prove costly.  The game is won by making the most money, which requires a balance between supplying the most profitable demands and setting up the most profitable cantinas while also avoiding the Mounties.

 

The New Games Book. Published by Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. 1976. Book. Good. £4.50

Author: New Games Foundation. No. players: 2+. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 23x21cm, 192 pages. A book full of unusual and interesting outdoor games and activities.  There are many photographs which come straight out of the hippy era, but many of the games themselves look great fun - fantastic if you have a large group of children and adults and a park, or even just for active families to enjoy on a summer's day.  Activities range from boffing (dueling with polyethylene swords), tug of war, and Hunker Hawser (two players balance on poles holding a rope - last still on wins) to Stand-off (a sort of aikido balancing wrestle). Some great ideas, and some just truly bizarre!

 

The Palladium RPG - Book II: Old Ones. Published by Palladium. 1990. Book. Good. £1.75

Author: Kevin Siembieda. No. players: 2+. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

212 page Palladium role playing game supplement which includes monk and illusionist character class rules, descriptions of 21 forts, 34 towns and cities, half a dozen adventures and details of the dreaded Old Ones.

 

The Penguin Book Of Word Games. Published by Penguin. 1982. Book. Excellent. £3

Author: David Parlett. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 18x11cm, 235 pages. A book full of word games ranging from the cerebral to the daft, with plenty of humour in between. The games are categorised: Pundemonium (10), Performances (13), Proverbials (4), Alphabeticals (7), Sequentials (10), Ghostiles (4), Deductives (10), Compilations (13), In-words (3), Sequentials (7), Narratives (6), Cross Words (11), Fictionaries (7), Written Deductives (10).

 

The Rixi Markus Book Of Bridge. Published by Willow Books. 1985. Book. Good. £2.50

Author: Rixi Markus. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback with dustcover, 208 pages, 26x18cm. This book on Bridge is by the leading female Bridge player of her time. The book is intended to improve the intermediate to advanced reader's game.  The book covers: Bidding (Doing What Comes Naturally, Countering Artificiality, Getting Into The Act, Some Passing Thoughts, Two Different Worlds), Play (Stop, Look, Listen; A Walk On The Embankment), Defence (A Leading Question, Getting The Message, A Switch In Time).

 

The Scrabble Puzzle Book. Published by Queen Anne Press. 1981. Book. Excellent. £4

Author: Gyles Brandreth. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 25x17cm, 128 pages. This book includes 200 Scrabble puzzles with solutions (which give the best options along with several less good options).  Also included are  the rules to Scrabble, a description of allowed words, and a listing of unusual words used in the puzzles along with brief definitions (eg. filmic = pertaining to the cinema).

 

The Tables Of Magic. Published by Wordware Publishing. 1996. Book. Excellent. £2

Author: George H.Baxter. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 23x15cm, 184 pages.  Book on Magic: The Gathering intended to improve your deck building and as act as a useful reference guide.  The book covers: The Turn Sequence, The Attack Phase, Probability & Statistics (for good deckbuilding), Deck Construction Procedure & Worksheet, The Sideboard, Banned & Restricted Lists, Top Eight Pro Tour Decks,  Card List.

 

The Traditional African Game Of Wari. Published by Unknown. Box. Good. £3

Designer: Rules by R.C.Bell. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Classic African game of moving stones between hollowed out spaces around the board.  The 'stones' are wooden in this set, and the board made out of sturdy black plastic.

 

The Vienna System Of Contract Bridge. Published by Contract Bridge Equipment Ltd. 1947. Book. Good. £5

Author: Dr. P. Stern, N. de V.Hart, A.J. Smith. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback with dustcover, 18x13cm, 243 pages. The official textbook of Dr. Paul Stern's Vienna System. The chapters cover all the usual aspects of bidding.  The Vienna System was key in the Austrian National team winning various European and World championships in the late 1930s.

 

The Wine Connoisseur. Published by BDJ Enterprises. ca.1995. Box. New. £1.50

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-12. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

A quiz game about wine. The game includes 1000 questions for the wine connoisseur, and players advance around the attractively produced large score board as they correctly answer questions.

 

Thurn And Taxis: Power And Glory. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £10

Designer: Karen & Andreas Seyfarth. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Expansion for Thurn and Taxis (you need the base game to play).  A new map is provided which shows North Germany and the surrounding countries.  Game play is similar to the original, but the carriage cards are gone, and instead the city cards all show 1-3 horseshoes.  In order to run a route one must also set aside cards with sufficient horseshoes.  This has the effect of allowing you to draw one or two extra cards speculatively, and if things don't work out you can always use them for the horseshoes rather than the city.  Recommended.

 

Ticket To Ride: The Dice Expansion. Published by Days Of Wonder. 2008. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £11     2) In shrink. £12

Designer: Alan R. Moon. No. players: 2-5. Country: American, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Expansion for Ticket To Ride - you will require one of the base sets in order to make use of this.  The game provides dice which replace the train cards from the base set.  Each turn the current player rolls the track dice and gets the chance to reroll some.  The dice show single tracks, double tracks, a person (wild) and a city.  One type of symbol can be used each turn - track to complete either a single or double link, or cities to obtain more ticket cards.  There are special rules (and special dice) to allow for tunnels, and other special features on the various boards.

 

Tightline. Published by Splash Games. 1982. Box. Good. £1

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

"As Mayfair is to property, Tightline is to fishing", so says the box. Also described as the 'World's premier fishing game'. You travel round the board collecting pieces of equipment and catching some fish. The first to the cafe, with a com plete set of tackle and 4 fish, wins the game.

 

Titan: The Arena. Published by Avalon Hill. 1997. Box. Good. £20

Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 2-5. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game with 110 very attractive cards featuring the various monsters from Avalon Hill's epic game Titan. However, that is just about the only connection to that game.  This is an enhanced version of Grand National Derby, and was later developed further into Galaxy: The Dark Ages.  The players are gamblers, betting on and also influencing which of the creatures will survive the longest as the day's battles progress.  Each round one of the creatures will fall, until only 3 remain standing, and bets on these creatures pay out.  Combat is decided by playing cards on the creatures, and also by using special abilities for each of the creatures if you are its main backer.  Recommended.

 

Touring Scotland. Published by Geographia Ltd. ca.1955. Box and Board. Fair. £5

Designer: P.H. Thorpe. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: The box appears a bit 'moth eaten', with some of the cardboard showing through the paper covering.  Also the original dice shaker is missing.

Period game with an attractive map of Scotland showing many towns and the roads between them.  Players are dealt a set of 8 cards, 2 from each of 4 areas and must then travel the board and visit the towns before returning to the starting point as quickly as possible.  Some spaces cause delays or provide shortcuts. Metal car playing pieces and separate board and box.

 

Treasure Quest. Published by Ravensburger. 1996. Box. Excellent. £5

Designer: Christine Welz. No. players: 2. Country: German, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

One player seeks gold and the other rubies.  Each player starts off with ten 5x5 cardboard grids showing their opponent's type of treasure, but they all have some spaces cut away.  There are two areas in the box where these can be stacked on each other, and players take it in turns to do so, adding a ruby layer on top of a gold layer and vice versa, with the objective being to reveal as many of your type of treasure as possible after each of your plays. Each such treasure scores you a point, and most points at the end of the game wins. The scoring tracks have Egyptian hieroglyphs decorating them.  Attractive game with well made in-box playing area.

 

Trekkie Trivia. Published by Paul Lamond Games. ca.2000. Box. Excellent. £3

Designer: Terry Miller & Associates. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Trivia game with 2400 questions on 400 cards in 6 categories.  All the questions are on the Star Trek universe, and goes from the original series through TNG, DS9 to Voyager and the various films made up till then.  The game has its own rules, but this set can also be used as a Star Trek expansion for other games (such as Trivial Pursuit).

 

Trespass. Published by Palitoy Bradgate. ca.1974. Box. 2 copies available:

1) 1 box corner taped. £2      2) Good. £2.50

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

This is not the Alex Randolph game of the same name. Each player has pegs numbered 0-9, one of which is secretly chosen at the start of the game as the victory peg.  The objective is then to manoeuver this victory peg into your opponent's home area.  Movement of pegs is like a chess rook, except with up to one change of direction and jumping as in draughts.  It is also allowed to move one of your opponent's pieces as well, though never backwards.  The idea is to mislead your opponent about which your victory peg is, and then sneak an unexpected victory.

 

Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2004. Box. In shrink. £37

Designer: Christian T Petersen. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 3.5 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: One side is very slightly dented, hence the much reduced price compared to the RRP.

Gigantic science fiction themed epic empire building game.  The set includes over 300 plastic miniatures for the various forces (ground forces, cruisers, dreadnoughts, carriers, fighters and more). The players represent ancient galactic civilizations and play involves trade and political struggle as well as conflict. The board is made up from large geomorphic sections. The game also uses cards, of which there are over 400, and the rules have been substantially revised and enhanced over previous editions, so the game involves less downtime.

 

Tumblin' Monkeys. Published by Tomy. 2001. Box. Mint. £2.50

Designer: Roger Ford. No. players: 2+. Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Family game, based on the principles in Kerplunk. Players must remove poles from the tree, and beware of dropping the monkeys out of the tree. Would make a perfect gift for a young relative or friend.

 

Tweedledum. Published by Gibsons. 1990. Box. Good. £12

Designer: Alex Randolph & Johann Ruttinger. No. players: 2-5. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Very attractive game using, where possible, original drawings from the classic edition (drawn by Tenniel). Players compete to collect 'photographs' (scenes) from the book. Each of the 7 scenes has an excellent photograph, a good photograph and a bad one.  The players move around a track and take opportunities to take photographs and gain photo cards.  When a player has photos of all the locations they can end the game, but the player with the best collection wins, not necessarily the player who ended the game.

 

U.F.O.'s. Published by Salagames. 1992. Box. Excellent. £5.50

Designer: Alan R Moon. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game, 60 playing cards and 42 bidding cards. A trick-taking game, with trumps being determined by the person who bids the most points to win that privilege. The name of the game seems to have no explanation other than being an excuse to draw sci-fi type cartoons on the cards.

 

Ubongo. Published by Z-Man Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £21

Designer: Grzegorz Rejchtman. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

A captivating and surprisingly addictive game of making polyominoes into shapes shown on the challenge boards. Each player has a set of polyominoes, and is dealt a challenge card with 6 challenges on it.  A dice is rolled to indicate which challenge the players attempt, and a timer is turned.  As players complete their challenge they claim jewels as their prize - the objective being to collect as many jewels as possible of the same colour.  The challenge cards are double sided with an easy side and a hard side making it good to play with children and adults together. I have house rules I can provide which allow the game to be played with upto 5 players. Recommended.

 

UK Militaria Directory & Sourcebook. Published by Windrow & Greene's. 1992. Book. Excellent. £2

Author: Alan Greene, Windrow. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 30x21cm, 94 pages.  Reference book for Militaria collectors and hobbyists.  This book gives details of: Model Shops & Suppliers, Model Societies, Toy Soldier Makers & Suppliers, Museums, Antiques & Prints, Auction Houses, Uniforms Armour & Insignia, Medals, Re-enactors, Wargames Groups & Suppliers, Publishers, Magazines, Books & Videos, Libraries, Travel, Military Vehicles, and more.

 

Undercover. Published by Klee. 1999. Box. Good. £7

Designer: Geni Wyss. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Secret agent themed tile based game.  60 tiles are laid out face down in a 6x10 grid, and these tiles represent secret agents of varying strengths, and a few with special abilities.  At the end of each row and column a top secret item is placed - 4 each of 4 types.  Players take turns revealing a secret agent and facing him or her towards themselves, and sometimes performing a special action such as killing an opposing agent.  Choice of available agents is limited to the row or column of the one previously chosen.  When a row or column is all revealed influence is tallied and the highest gets the top secret item and retires one agent.  At the end points are scored for sets of top secret items and also for successfully retired secret agents.

 

Upthrust. Published by Lagoon Games. 1995. Box. Excellent. £10

Designer: Sid Sackson. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

An approachable abstract game from this master designer.  Players move their pegs according to simple rules towards a scoring zone, trying not to give great opportunities to their rivals while taking any opportunities presented to them.  The board is wooden with coloured wooden pegs.  Some clever ideas as you would expect from Sid.

 

Vexation. Published by Winning Moves. 2007. Packet. New. £2.25

Designer: Manfred Keller. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

This is a mini expansion for TransAmerica and/or TransEuropa. The idea is that as well as communal black track you can also play a very limited number of coloured tracks.  These coloured tracks cannot be used by other players.  Therefore it now becomes possible to develop track in ways which is much less likely to be of great benefit to other players.

 

VI Sup. Published by Dolumont. ca.1979. Box. Good. £7

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1-6. Country: French, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Mountaineering game featuring a map of the Mont Blanc Massif and the main climbs possible there.  The components include a miniature ice pick for each player.  The game is driven by several types of cards, and players start on easier climbs and as they get experience advance on to the more difficult climbs, and finally attempt Mont Blanc via the Grand Pilier d'Angle to win.

 

War Of The Ring: Battles Of The Third Age. Published by Fantasy Flight. 2006. Box. In shrink. £30

Designer: R. Di Meglio, M. Maggi, F. Nepitello. No. players: 2-4.

Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Expansion for the excellent War of the Ring, which you will need to play this. This expansion includes 77 more figures and provides a selection of new options to add to your games of War of the Ring, such as the Ents, Corsair Ships, the Dunlendings, Siege Engines, Half-orcs, the Southron Cavalry, Galadriel, the Balrog, Smeagol and more.  There is also a separate board and rules to allow you to recreate the Battle of Helm's Deep and the Battle for Minas Tirith at Pelennor Fields using components from the original game as well as new cards etc included here.

 

Wargamer Magazine. Published by World Wide Wargamers.

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

Wargames magazine. Earlier issues came with a game as well. A useful source of articles on many wargames. Main features listed by issue.

Issue 4. 1977. Excellent - counters unpunched. £7. Games of Waterloo, Musket And Pike, Reviews (15 games); Scenarios for Fast Carriers, Musket & Pike, CA, Frigate; Staff introductions, Letters, Convention report, Bleinheim - information + game (with map and countersheet), Caesar's Legions Replay, News, Club News, Float Like A Battleship Sink Like A Bomber, Bias in Wargaming.

Issue 12. 1980. Good. £1. The whole Aces High central section has been removed. Had a game originally, but no longer.  Even without the game still a good read, and a useful source of articles on other games. Articles this issue: Aces High (game for this issue), History Behind Aces High, Principles of War, Panzerblitz, Fortress Europa, Sense Style & Simulation, Comparison of Tactical Carrier Games, Ultimatum, Games Reviews.

Issue 59. 1986. Good. £1. The central section with the Bloody Karen rules etc is missing. Had a game originally, but no longer.  Historical Background to Bloody Karen (which is the game for this issue), Malaya & Burma, A Hitchhiker's Guide to Computer Wargames, Korean War, Clarifications and Errata, Battle Hymn Review, Aegean Strike Review.

Vol 2 No. 4. 1988. Good. £1. The Civil War On Water, Shot & Shell Scenarios, Design Forum - Shot & Shell, Patton's Best, Computer Wargames, World Boardgame Team Championships, The South Mountain System, War To End All Wars, Kanev, Pleasant Hill, Manchu, North German Plain, Games For All, Central America, Russian Front Variant, Berg's Review of Games, Shot & Shell Errata.

 

Why. Published by Milton Bradley / Chad Valley. 1961. Box. Good. £6

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

Subtitled: Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Game of Why.  Each player is a private eye and must try to solve a murder case.  This is done by moving around a board and collecting cards, accusing players of holding particular cards and claiming other cards stored face down off the board by recalling what type of card was placed there.  To win you need to collect either a set of cards for a victim, motive and weapon, or the whole set of Alfred Hitchcock cards.

 

Winter Olympics. Published by Ocean. 1987. Box. Good - contents unpunched. £5. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Kelly Jones, Garry Hare, Tom Volotta. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr.

Winter sports themed board game which is driven by a video cassette. Players compete in nine events, and on their turn watch a 10-15 second video clip of one of these sports.  At the end there are fast changing numbers shown, and when paused the number showing is used as the number of points scored, and this also determines movement on the board.  Medals are won by accumulating points in the various events, with gold silver and bronze all available. Some spaces on the board result in a card draw - some of which are good, some bad. The VCR system makes the game very replayable. Includes board, cards, plastic medals, video cassette (for UK VCR), and playing pieces.

 

Wizard. Published by Amigo. 1995. Box. Excellent. £5

Designer: Ken Fisher. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Trick taking card game which uses a 60 card deck in four suits, every card having its own very attractive colourful fantasy picture by renowned artist Franz Vohwinkel.  The game play is essentially nomination whist, but with four supertrumps (the wizards).  Points are scored for each trick won, as well as getting the number you said you would get, and penalties are greater the more wrong you were.

 

Wordsworth. Published by Spear's Games. 1989. Box. Good, but 1 box corner taped. £3.50

Designer: Horswoggle Games Inc. No. players: 1-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Word game. The board is a wipeable crossword grid with numbers 1-6 in the corners of each white square, some blanked out squares and some bonus point squares.  In their turn players roll the dice and add that many letters to the board.  There are no letter tiles - you can add whatever letters you like, but exactly the number rolled and you score the points on the spaces for all new words so created.

 

Worm Up. Published by Abacus Spiele. 2008. Box. In shrink. £14

Designer: Alex Randolph. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Reprint of Würmeln. Excellent, silly and fun race game as you bid for the right to move your worm (made up of separate parts which are moved from the back to the front as it advances) up the table towards the finishing line. This edition uses cards rather than dice for the bidding,

 

World Of Sport Action Quiz. Published by Chad Valley. ca.1965. Box. Box shows wear. £2.50

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

Special notes: The 'special pencil' is missing, but any similar object (eg. sharp pencil) will do instead.  Quiz cards unpunched.

One of the weirdest 'games' I have ever seen.  In the box there is a set of sports quiz cards one of which is placed onto a special 'machine'.  The machine is set up with ball bearings at the top and one is 'fired' into the machine.  It bounces around and goes down a path.  The path it goes down indicates which question you must answer.  You then put a special pen into a hole under the answer.  If you were quick enough and got the answer right you will divert the ball and score points.  I'm not entirely convinced it works consistently, but it is still an amazing item.

 

Wu Hsing. Published by Franjos. 1992. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Sid Sackson. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

An attractively made version of Sid Sackson's Domino Bead Game from his book A Gamut of Games.  The set of thick card dominoes is marked with coloured patterns rather than numbers.  The game involves playing the dominoes, with various restrictions, in order to form patterns which will score highly.  I will include some suggestions to make it easier to spot when spaces are 'dead' and also allow a simultaneous play variant.

 

Yari. Published by Dallah Heyari. 1989. Box. Good. £3

Designer:  Salem Heyari. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: The box edges show wear, and one corner is badly damaged but has been repaired very neatly.

Very nicely produced parcheesi (ludo) variant in which players cast 6 special shells rather than using dice.  The shells are moulded plastic, but still somehow feel like shells, and have definite 'up' and 'down' sides.  Movement allowances depend on what is thrown with certain combinations considered special.  The playing pieces are large gold and copper coloured Egyptian style figurines.

 

Zargos. Published by Euro Games. ca.1990. Box. In shrink. £14

Designer: Duccio Vitale. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Board game with loads of counters which is of the same style as Risk, but with lots of extra ideas added in.  These include: random distribution of initial territories followed by a negotiation and swapping period; boats and sea attacks; magic cards can be obtained as well as reinforcements; each country has a capital which while held gives extra resources, and each player has a special ability their forces can use. Finally, the objective of the game is to sail to, and attack the Forbidden City and hold it along with the three surrounding territories.

 

Zundstoff. Published by 1x1. 1995. Box. Excellent. £11

Designer: Michael Kiesling. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players use their cards to manoeuvre planets and the sun in an attempt to increase the movement potential of their spaceships (!)  The objective is to win two races to the sun, called the 'Al Capone Cup'.  The game uses a layout of large circular tiles which indicate which adjacent tiles can be flown to next, and can be rotated to alter the possible course options.

 

 

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