MNG-AJM Games and Collectibles

Jul 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 Indoor Games You Can Play. Published by Guild Publishing. 1988. Book. Excellent. £4

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

Hardback with dustcover, 20x13cm, 283 pages. A collection of indoor games with many diagrams throughout. The games covered are categorised as follows: Card Games for 1 (13), Card Games for 2 (15), Card Games for 3 (5), Card Games for 4 (12), Card Games for 5+ (7), Party Card Games (7), Banking Card Games (10), Board & Tile Games (10), Dice Games (15), Roulette.

1500 Gold. Published by Ragnar Brothers. 1995. Box. Good. £7

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

Players start with a team of three runners each hoping to compete in the prestigious Olympic 1500m finals. In the first stage these athletes are trained by moving them around a special track with the objective of gaining useful tactics cards. Then mini qualifying races are run to see which of the athletes will get through the quarter and semi final rounds. This makes use of dice and cards and the underlying quality of the athletes. The final is run out in full on a race track and running cards and tactic cards are used along with risk taking to squeeze through gaps and positioning to gain from being in the pack.

2001. Published by Peter Pan. 1978. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good, but 2 corners taped. £5

2) Box quite battered & taped up but whole. One of the magnetic strips for the board is slightly misaligned - this does not affect play. Photocopied rules. £2.50

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

Players try to get four pieces of their colour in a row on a 5x5 grid. Each player only has 5 pieces, but each large plastic piece has a magnetic disk inside, with the players' colours on either side. The board is also magnetic, and when placed on the board the magnetic disk will flip to one side or the other. In addition the pieces of each player have the opposite polarity. The board is made up of magnetic strips and these can be arranged before each game to ensure a unique experience every time.

800 Metres. Published by Lambourne. 1992. Packet. Excellent. £10

Designer: Terry Goodchild. No. players: 1+. Country: British, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Includes the board (not all editions do)

Excellent race game, based on real athletes, and using a variation of the system the designer first developed for his classic Metric Mile. While the game is in some sense statistical (the characteristics of the athletes have been well researched), it is also designed as a multiplayer game rather than just a replay system. The idea is that athletes can push themselves to keep up with the pacesetter or push the pace faster, but won't know exactly what they have left for their final sprint until the time comes.

A Game Of Draughts Vol 1 No. 1. Published by D.E. Oldbury. 1946. Booklet. Good. £1.50

Author: D.E. Oldbury. Country: Britsh, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 21x14cm, 28 pages. First issue of a bi-monthly draughts magazine. The contents of this issue are: The Flora Temple, Cross; Samuel Cohen - World Champion - and his best games, The Problem of 'The Move', Draughts Problem to solve.

A Simpler Way To Better Bridge. Published by Halstead Press. 1968. Book.

Good, but dust cover slightly faded. Ex-library copy. £2

Author: Douglas Maxwell. Country: Australian, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback with dustcover, 22x14cm, 141 pages. This Contract Bridge book is intended to take the novice or casual player and go through the fundamentals in an easy to follow step by step way, describing an easy to learn bidding system, and improving hand assessment as well as many other important Bridge skills.

Aapep. Published by Cambridge Games Factory. 2007. Plastic Box. New. £4.50

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

Abstract game based on Egyptian mythology in which the snake demon Aapep would swallow Ra, the sun god at the end of each day. In this game the players try to either help Ra keep out of Aapep's clutches or help Aapep swallow Ra. This is done by placing pyramid counters with dark or light sides onto a grid. The visible sides facing the edge of the board determine Ra's fate.

Advance To Boardwalk. Published by Parker. 1985. Box. Good. £7

Designer: Charles Phillips. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

American version of Advance To Marble Arch - much rarer in the UK. Uses the Rich Uncle Moneybags character graphics as used on American Monopoly. Property development game. There are 4 regions on the board each with 6 property spaces and a title deed for each. On your turn you get some money to spend in a particular region and this can be split amongst the properties as you wish. Each time you buy a share in a property you place a stackable piece there, and whoever has the most pieces there gets the title deed. Thus you have to decide who to compete with and where. Special cards allow rule breaking moves which can swing things in your favour, but it often takes a turn to get a new one. A fun light business game.

Ahoy. Published by Cwali. 2005. Box. In shrink. £11

Designer: Corne Van Moorsel. No. players: 2-5. Country: Dutch, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Ocean bound race game in which the players receive help from dolphins, sharks, turtles and orca. In order to win you will need to play tactically and also use your memory in order to get the sea creatures' aid.

Alexandros. Published by Winning Moves. 2003. Box. In shrink. £11

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

Unusual board game in which players use cards to move Alexander the Great around a triangular gridded map of the Middle East. Wherever Alexander goes 'fences' are laid along his route, and these fences will divide up the board into various provinces which the players then use cards to control. Ownership of these provinces is rewarded with points when scoring occurs, but it is quite possible to take over control of other players' provinces. Lots of tactical play, and cunning moves are definitely rewarded.

American Football Card Game. Published by Waddingtons. 1986. Box. Box shows wear. £0.75

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

Card game, with 40 cards representing 5 of the top American Football teams. A variation of the traditional playing card game Sevens, in which a specific card in each suit must be laid first, then specific ones either higher or lower and so on. The card mix includes some wild cards, and the objective is to get rid of all your cards. Extra large cards.

Armoured Wargaming. Published by Patrick Stephens. 1988. Book. Excellent. £9

Author: Bruce Quarrie. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 22x13cm, 136 pages. Subtitled: A detailed guide to model tank warfare. There are many photographs throughout. The chapters cover: Tank design and evolution 1916-39; Tanks of WWII; Tanks since 1945; Tanks in Action; Playing Rules.

Artifact. Published by Metagaming. ca.1980. Box. Good. £6

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

MicroGame No.16. Conflict over an alien artifact on the surface of the Moon. Four 10-turn scenarios provided: 3 between American and Soviet "research teams" competing for control of the artifact, and 1 between the Americans and the alien race they've inadvertently summoned using the artifact.

Augsburg 1520. Published by Alea. 2006. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. 2 cards damaged, but replaced by manufacturer, but still needed correction by pen. Does not affect play. £14

2) Excellent. £15

Designer: Karsten Hartwig. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Jakob Fugger was so rich he loaned money to royalty, often receiving trade rights, and official positions of value to him instead of cash in payment. In this game the players take the roles of equally rich merchants who make loans to nobles in order to obtain further wealth and increase their social status. The game uses clever auctions for these benefits to drive the game. Often bidding can be very tactical, as the outcome may well affect you differently depending on which other player wins an auction. At the end of the game the player with most prestige wins.

Babylon 5: 2258 Core Set. Published by Component Game Systems. 1997. Box. Excellent - mostly unpunched. £9

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

Babylon 5 game in which up to four factions (Earth Alliance, Narn, Centauri and Minbari) vie for prominence. The playing area is constructed out of large hexes showing large areas of space which will be explored and conquered. Victory can be won by military or economic means, and diplomatic efforts on the Babylon 5 station are important too. The game uses colourful counters, and cards with various effects. Each faction also has a board detailing its special abilities etc. Starter packs were also produced to allow extra players to play using additional factions.

Bakschisch. Published by Gold Sieber. 1995. Box. Good. £14

Designer: Kara Ben Hering. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 25 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Tactical game of simultaneously choosing actions. Players attempt to bribe the city inhabitants, with a view to moving towards the palace and ultimately to become Sultan. Players bid for the right to go forwards or not go backwards or can play a thief token to claim money bid by other players. Once the game is underway it is possible to see when a player would really like to move forward and when they aren't so bothered so you can get an idea who will choose what. Works very well.

Bamboozle. Published by San Serif. 1989. Box. Good. £5

Designer: Webster & Danby. No. players: 4-8. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Variation on a classic parlour game. One player reads a question from a card, and the other players make up their own answers which are read out along with the real answer. Players then vote on which the real answer was. Points are awarded for guessing the correct answer and for getting other people to vote for your made up answer. There are 88 cards each with 6 questions.

Bewitched. Published by Waddingtons. 1989. Box. Several copies available:

1) Good. There is some brown tape extending onto the lid which was once used to seal the game. £2

2) Good but corners taped, edges show wear. £2.50

3) Good, 2 corners taped. £3.50

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

Fairy tale themed game with lovely bits including 12 magnetic frogs, magnetic snakes, 8 stand up plastic cats, and large witches' hats. The players have three frogs each and need to obtain a witch's spell book in order to be turned back into princes. There are four spell books, only one of which will do the job, and these are hidden under the witches' hats. There are also snakes and cats. The snakes must be hopped over, but some bite (making use of the magnets). Antidotes can be collected to cure snake bites. The players also get to move the cats and these bar the way to all frogs.

Bezique. Published by Waddingtons. 1979. Box. Good. £3

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

Card game, part of the company's Card Game Classics Series. Includes two 32 card decks and 2 plastic Bezique (and Rubicon Bezique) scorers. The Learn-To-Win Guide Book contains the rules to Bezique, Polish Bezique (or Fildinski), Five Hundreds Bezique (or Binocle) and Pinochle.

Black Monday. Published by Hexagames. 1988. Box. Excellent. £7

Designer: Sid Sackson. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, originally published in a book by Sid Sackson called Card Games Around The World. Includes 104 cards and play-money. Share dealing game in which the cards have a dual use - both as groups of shares and also as stock price cards. Thus the cards in one's hand must be used wisely to allow purchases to be made cheaply, prices modified and sales made to produce substantial gain.

Blitzkrieg. Published by Avalon Hill. 1965. Box. Good. £10

Designer: Larry Pinsky. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Fictional representation of the breakout of WWII, played on a map of a fictional continent, with fictional countries. Five minor countries start the conflict with two major countries then becoming involved. The basic rules are on just 4 sides, and a tournament game is also presented on a further 8 pages. Further optional rules can also be used if desired.

Bose Buben. Published by Schmidt Spiele. 2000. Box. Good. £4

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

Tactical card game with the age range noted as 12+. The cards depict pig-riding kobolds who enter slightly odd races for money. After four races the player whose kobolds earned the most money wins the game. The race consists of five lanes, and players take turns playing cards into these lanes. Once there are four cards in a lane then the kobolds fight and one is removed. When four kobolds have been evicted from the race the race ends, and the lanes are scored individually.

Breaking Away. Published by Fiendish Games. 1996. Box. New. £15

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

Second edition of this very good cycle racing game. Each player controls a team of four cyclists, and allocates each turn's movement allowances as best as possible as the cyclists jockey for position ready to sprint for the line in each of three sections of the race. No dice are used, instead a new movement allocation number is calculated each turn (to give a choice of 3) based on how many cyclists are ahead of him in the pack (with no gaps). There is also a special rule for attempting to break away from the pack. The winner is the team which accrues the most points from sprints and finishing positions. Good face to face or postally.

Bridge For Beginners. Published by Pan Books. 1958. Book. Good. £2

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

Softback, 18x11cm, 189 pages. An excellent book for the complete beginner wanting to learn to play bridge. The book takes you easily from knowing nothing at all about the game to being able to play comfortably and capably in social games. Each section has a selection of questions so you can check you have taken in what you just read.

Bud Vs Bud Light Checkers. Published by Budweiser. ca.1995. Box. Good. £8

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

Promotional version of draughts (checkers), featuring 10cm tall plastic beer bottles as the playing pieces. When one becomes a ‘King’, you place a cap on it. One player uses a set of Bud bottles while the other uses Bud Light bottles.

Bull Run. Published by Avalon Hill. 1983. Box. Good. £6

Designer: Richard Hamblen. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

The first battle of Bull Run, 21st July 1861. The first major battle of the American Civil War. Bull Run, a river running between the opposing troops, could be crossed by both sides at different points, meaning that both sides defended and attacked on different flanks. This is a low complexity tactical game. Units are infantry, cavalry and artillery. Each turn represents 30 minutes, and each hex represents 1000 ft. The Union side starts strong, but the Confederates get reinforcements as the battle develops.

Calamity. Published by Games Workshop. 1983. Box. Several copies available:

1) Good. £6 2) Good. Box shows wear, slightly indented. £4

3) Box shows wear. Box shows indentation due to stacking. Photocopied rules. £4

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

A game in which players take risks by selling insurance. The original idea was by the musical-meister himself, but was re-shaped and amended by Derek Carver and Ian Livingstone. Players use cards to move the one playing piece, with the intention of making opponents settle claims against their insurance policies, which come in various risk categories. Money seems easy while the going is good, but a couple of calamities in a row can be devastating! The game is played over two game years, and the player with most money then wins.

Canaletto. Published by Hans Im Gluck. 1995. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £7.50 2) Excellent. £9

Designer: Gunter Cornett. No. players: 3-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Auction game, in which players bid for batches of antiques. They then try to ensure the whole set of the antique types they own gets bought so that they can be sold for a profit. However exactly when a set is sold will determine what it is worth, and if you wait too long it is possible that they may be worth nothing. Also money can get tight, and the amount bid indicates what will be sold next, making it all very tactical and involving some careful thought.

Canasta For All. Published by The Sunday Times. ca.1952. Book. 2 copies available:

1) Good, but cover shows wear. £1.50 2) Good. £3

Author: Colin Harding. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 18x12cm, 74 pages. This book gives the rules to Canasta as well as giving an introduction to the game for beginners, definitions of terms, and a large section on the Art of Canasta - intended to explain what makes Canasta such a good game, and to improve your play.

Card Games For All The Family. Published by Hodder & Stoughton. 1977. Book. Good. £2

Author: George Hervey. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 18x11cm, 100 pages. A collection of family card games split up as follows: Games For Two (5), Games For Three (2), Games For Four (5), Games For Five Or More (12), Lively Games.

Cards And Card Tricks. Published by F. Phillips. ca.1920. Book. Good but some damage inside the spine. £13

Author: H.E. Heather. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 21x13cm, 268 pages. The cover shows a gold-embossed pattern of cards as well as the book's title. The book gives a brief history of playing cards, instructions for playing quite a few card games (see below), directions for performing a number of card tricks and a brief guide to the art of Cartomancy. The games covered are: Whist, Loo, Irish Loo, Vingt-Et-Un, Rouge Et Noir, Faro, Tontine, Lansquenet, Forty Five, Blind Hookey, Albert Smith, Draw Poker, Newmarket, Quadrille, Boston, Reversis, Calabrasella, Cribbage, Bezique, Fildinsk, Zetema, Piquet, Ecarte, Euchre, Cassino, All Fours, Don Pedro, Quinze, Veto, Napoleon, Catch The Ten, Brag, Bluff, Put, Sift Smoke, Pope Joan, Matrimony and many more...

Celtic Quest. Published by JKLM Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £22

Designer: Nigel Buckle. No. players: 2-5. Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Attractively produced game of collecting goods and delivering them for profit. The game is played on a board made up of 24 large hexagons, and during the game these can be turned over altering the routes and the characteristics of the tile. Players each have a character who gains bonus victory points in different ways, thus giving each player a different focus. When goods are delivered the money earned can later be banked for VPs or spent on improving that player's movement / carrying / trading abilities. Also quests can be completed for the druids, and these give both victory points and additional special abilities. Plenty of variety in characters, quests, and board layout ensure each game will play differently.

Challenge Anneka. Published by Paul Lamond. 1990. Box. Good. £3

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

TV related, based on the BBC TV programme featuring Anneka Rice (where she is faced with a daunting challenge and she always comes up smiling). Players draw cards round the board telling them what they need (1,000 bricks, 2,000 yards of turf, etc.), and then they must get these items by making ‘telephone calls’, using an intriguing system - a yellow pages style telephone book with 4 digit dice combinations and the results. Players know what categories the first two digits indicate, and arrange the roll of 4 dice in order to try to get items which will help them complete their mission. Anneka Rice pictured on the lid and the rules.

Chess For Beginners. Published by T. Fisher Unwin. 1897. Book. Good. £10

Author: R.B. Swinton. Country: British, Desc. by Andy. Hardback, 18x13cm, 200 pages.

Antique chess book intended to instruct beginners in the game. The chapters are untitled, but the book is indexed.

Churchman's Cigarette Cards: Contract Bridge Set of 50. Published by Churchman's Cigarettes. 1935.

Card sheets. Excellent. £30. Designer: Slam. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

A complete set of 50 cigarette cards. They are colour printed, and each shows a different bridge hand and describes what happened in the bidding and play.

Citadel. Published by Jumbo. ca.1970. Box. Good. £6

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

Abstract game, with uneven sides, but the balance in the game lies in the method of movement and capturing. One player has two officers who must take on the other player’s 24 soldiers. The game is played on a cross shaped board with a square grid, with some diagonals marked, and others missing. The central spaces are considered the citadel, and the player with the soldiers must either occupy all these spaces or stop the officers from being able to move. The officers have to try to capture 16 of the 24 soldiers.

Comrade Koba. Published by Gottick. 2007. Box. In shrink. £8

Designer: Anders Fager. No. players: 2-4. Country: Swedish, Duration: 35 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Subtitled 'The Game of Stalinist Survival'. Card game in which the players back a number of soviet politicians and try to ensure that the ones they have backed survive the purges, while also managing to stay in Stalin's inner circle. Game play involves changing the position of one politician in a line, and then performing the special actions of the three politicians closest to Stalin. Finally the purges happen and how extensive they are is determined by dice roll.

Condottiere. Published by Euro Games. 1994. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Dominique Erhard. No. players: 2-6. Country: French, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Large box edition. Would be excellent, except there is a taped tear along top edge of the box lid.

Card game with a map showing provinces in Renaissance Italy. The object of the game is to control four connected provinces. Play involves using numbered cards to make the highest bid for a given territory. However, various special effect cards shake the contests up to add variety and keep the players guessing. This was voted French Game of the Year.

Contigo. Published by 3M. 1974. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £6 2) Good, but edges show wear. £5

Designer: Frank Thibault. No. players: 2 or 4. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Unusual cross between Mancala and Draughts. The 6x6 space board is surrounded by Mancala-like pits around which glass beads are moved, and the number of beads in the row or column of a playing piece determines its movement capabilities. There are two different games described. In the first players attempt to align four of their pieces in a row on the central board, and in the second game players attempt to capture their opponents' key men. Bookcase box.

Corruption. Published by Descartes Editeur. 1999. Box. 2 copies available:

1) In shrink. £4.50 2) Excellent. £4

Designer: Bruno Faidutti. No. players: 3-7. Country: French, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game. 112 cards in an entertaining, interactive game of bribery. Players use their cards to obtain lucrative construction contracts by furnishing bribes, but focusing too much on one contract will earn too little profit, while spreading your bribes too thin will likely get you nothing at all. As well as standard bribes, reduced (but secure) payments can be made into Swiss bank accounts. There are special cards which can significantly affect the outcome, such as journalists to expose others' bribes, judges to investigate dubious goings on and hit men, but these are all one use, whereas the bribery cards can be reused from round to round.

Count Down. Published by Mind Movers. 1974. Box. Good. £4

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

Essentially a numerical version of master mind given a space theme. Very nicely made single unit, with 7 rows of dials each with 5 number dials (0-9) and two scoring dials (showing the number of black and white 'pegs). In addition there is a master number dial, with a flap to keep this hidden during play. The dials are rotated in order to make guesses and score these guesses. The 'theme' is that the guessing player must find the Blast Off combination, and the box shows four rockets and four missiles intercepting each other.

Cover Up. Published by Parker Bros. ca.1970. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. Some brown tape has been used at some point to seal the box, and some extends onto the lid. £2.50

2) Good. Box lid is in very good condition, but the base has been used to record the scores of a game! £2.50

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

The board shows a 16x16 grid of spaces, many blank, but some numbered and some blacked out. Players each have a selection of square and rectangular transparent coloured plastic shapes which they take it in turns to place on the board, connected to other pieces already there. However no piece may cover a blacked out space and each space covered scores 1 point unless it is numbered in which case that is its score. A few of each player's pieces are marked with a D, and these score double, so need to be used carefully.

Der Wahre Walter. Published by Fata Morgana. 1987. Box. Good. £5

Designer: Urs Hostettler. No. players: 4+. Country: Swiss, Desc. by Andy.

Obscure game by the designer of Kremlin. Game play involves reading out three sentences in German, with 'Walter' in each. All players write down what they think would be appropriate words for the reader, as does the reader himself. These all then get read out, and players guess which were the reader's words, getting points for guessing right, or having their words guessed. Note that the rules and cards are all in German only, so this is one only for German speakers or collectors!

Die Eisernen Manner. Published by Lionel Games. 1993. Tube. Good. £12

Designer: Paul Jefferies. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Despite its title (translated as Men of Iron) this is a British race game based on the triathlon. A triathlon race consists of three races within a race, swimming, cycling and running. Players each have an athlete with differing abilities in the three sections, and a poor ability gets you extra stamina chips and vice versa. Game play is card driven, with the cards having different movement scores for the different phases. Each turn a card is played and stamina chips may be used to push on further. In addition, cars and pleasure boats can get in the way of athletes, and these are also moved by the players. Lionel Games was formed by Mike Siggins and Mike Clifford.

Die Magische 7. Published by Piatnik. 1990. Box. Excellent. £4.50

Designer: Leo Colovini. No. players: 2 or 4. Country: Austrian, Desc. by Andy.

Trick taking game for 2 or 4 players. The twist is that the cards come in +ve and -ve values and a trick always consists of just two cards. To win a trick the 2nd player must make the sum of the cards add up to 7, otherwise the first player wins the trick. There are also some special cards and 4 player rules.

Dimension Demons. Published by Metagaming. 1980. Box. Box good, contents unpunched. £6

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

MicroGame No. 17. One player represents the humans of Ishom, while the other takes the Dimension Demons. The objective is to defeat the enemy, but this will involve controlling Trans-Dimensional Projection. The novel idea is that at various times in the game the board can flip over, with each hex mapping to a different location, so changing the positions considerably.

Disney's Super Game Book. Published by Tormont Publications. 1995. Book. Good. £3.50

Author: Diane Mineau. No. players: 2+. Country: Canadian, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 33x24cm, 10 pages. This book folds flat to reveal five different games: The Lion King, Beauty & The Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Snow White. The game book also includes some playing pieces and an electronic dice - you press the button and lights flicker and stop on a number 1-6. The games themselves are roll and move type games, but with attractive Disney graphics from the films.

Doctor Who Puzzle Book. Published by Magnet. 1985. Book. Good, cover shows some wear. £4

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

Softback, 18x11cm, 95 pages. Puzzle book written as a series of mini Doctor Who adventures in which the Doctor and his assistant, Peri come across lots of puzzles which the reader can solve. Answers are included at the back. The cover features Colin Baker. Very nice item for Doctor Who fans, especially those who like word puzzles, codes and logic puzzles etc. The book is intended for older children.

Dominos. Published by Estrela. Box. Good. £2

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

A well made set of standard wooden black and white dominoes 0-0 up to 6-6. No rules included.

Double Or Nothing. Published by Uberplay. 2005. Box. 2 copies available:

1) In shrink. £10 2) Excellent. £9

Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Push your luck style card game which uses cards showing Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades (but not standard playing cards). Each card shows 1-4 of these symbols and points are awarded for matching up the suits shown on a series of cards. You can stop at any point, but draw a card which breaks your sequences and you bust, scoring nothing that turn. The last player in each round gets to play a double or nothing mini-game, resulting in big scores or nothing at all.

Downfall. Published by Milton Bradley. 1977. Box. Good. £4

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

The players have between them a vertical playing board with slots for the playing pieces to slip down into gaps in wheels which can be rotated by either player. The players take it in turns to turn a wheel as much as they wish in order to get their playing pieces to the bottom of the contraption so they fall out. The first to do this with all of their playing pieces wins. However, you can only see your side of the board, so you don't know how much you will be helping your opponent while helping yourself.

Drueke's Solitaire. Published by W.M. Drueke & Sons. Box. Good. £1.50

Designer: W.M. Drueke. No. players: 1. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

A very nice wooden solitaire board with pegs which are kept in a compartment in the back of the board. As well as the standard well known centre-hole solitaire problem this set also sets 6 other challenges which it says can be done.

ESP. Published by Paradigm. 1989. Box. Good. £1

Designer: Ray Braithwaite. No. players: 3-6. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

Gambling game. Players use secret wheel-devices to pick a coloured shape, and then bet on how many colours and shapes were chosen amongst the group playing. The only help you get is knowing your own choice, and watching where others place their bets.

Evolutions. Published by Spear's Games. 1996. Box. Good, but 1 corner taped. £2

Designer: Top Drawer Publishing. No. players: 2+. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Trivia game playable individually or in teams. There are 300 double sided cards each side of which describes a particular object, concept or person. The objective is for the current player to work out what is being described and name it. If that player fails to do so then other players get a chance to answer. The first player to move their playing piece around the board wins the game.

Explore!. Published by Living & Learning. 1995. Box. Good. £6

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

Family game in which players try to be the first to visit 8 different types of terrain and see an animal in each, before climbing the mountain to see a rare eagle. The game uses a roll and move mechanism but also uses cards which show a variety of animals and which terrains they can be found in. Each time a new terrain is entered a suitable animal card must be played or the move is not permitted.

Fettnapf. Published by Amigo. 2005. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £3 2) In shrink. £4

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

Card game in which players play number cards which add to or reduce the current 'count'. Players also hold cards which show the numbers 10-30 which the 'count' can land on, and if it does so then the current player loses a life. Thus players need to remember which of these cards are out and so try to avoid playing a card which will land them on a such a number. In addition if you can force the next player to go out of the 10-30 range then you gain an extra card. Fast paced and fun memory bender.

Flusspiraten. Published by Walter Muller. ca.1988. Box. Good. £15

Designer: Walter Muller. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players try to get their men to the end of the river in boats which initially must have two players' pirates in them. Different players will want to get their pirates to arrive at different times, causing friction amongst those sharing a boat. When deciding to move a boat the players can cooperate and both row and make good progress or try to kick out their partner instead, which will make the rowing much harder, but will ensure only they get points. A clever prisoners' dilemma type system. Attractively produced with wooden boats.

Fortune Hunter. Published by Parker. 1973. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £4 2) Good but slight 'bubbling' on the lid. £3

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

Also published as Billionaire. Business game in which the players try to be the first to accumulate £1000,000,000. Players move around a track and action the spaces they land on. The actions these permit include: a sealed bid auction for a company - only the current player knows what is being bid for; A sealed bid for three companies at once; Analyse another player's company - a special spinner is spun which results in possible exchange of money and/or the company; Obtaining and playing Power Play cards to break the normal rules and gain an advantage.

From The Mana Born Issue 1. Published by Mons's Goblin Writers. 1994. Magazine. Good. £0.25

Author: Julian Snape. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 21x15cm, 23 pages. Magic The Gathering magazine produced by Magic: The Gathering (MtG) players for MtG players. This issue covers: Rule clarifications, Card listings, Three Player Rules, Theme Decks, MtG at GenCon report, and more.

Game Of Trivia. Published by Avalon Hill. ca.1981. Box. Box shows wear - edges & corners taped. £5

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

Trivia game which is quite uncommon in the UK as Avalon Hill refused to export it outside America. The game includes 1100 cards each with one question in each of 6 categories, making a whopping 6600 questions in all. If you want a great source of reasonably tricky trivia questions this is it! The game itself sets the players as students trying to get a degree in Trivia! As each player makes progress, more movement options around the board become available, making it easier to land on the spaces for subjects you have chosen to specialise in.

Games & Puzzles - Batch of 26. Published by AHC. Magazine. Good. £55

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

The doyen of all games magazines. Founded by Graeme Levin in 1972. Its quality is now mythical. Virtually every issue covers the classic games, has game reviews, stacks of puzzles and competitions. Very collectable and an excellent read. This is a batch of 26 issues (unmarked unless stated): 1-3, 6,7, 11 (some writing on crosswords), 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 25-29, 33, 37, 39-41, 52, 53, 70, 71 (coupon cut out), 73. I will split up this batch if you want particular issues, but will give preference to larger requests.

Games Review Monthly - Batch of 13. Published by Eden Publications. ca.1989. Magazine. Good. £17

Author: Julian Musgrave. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Issues 1-10, 12, 14, 15. This magazine covers board wargames, board games and some RPGs and computer games. Lots of well written reviews and articles. Each issue is typically 52 pages. Here are some of the front cover listed features: Reviews (many), Mike Grey Interview, Battletech, Sports Games, SF RPGs, Business Games, Tresham on Civ & 1829, Chadwick Interview, RQ, Solo Games, Pocket Games, Andrew Neil on Kingmaker, GURPS, Cthulu, Titan, Modern Tactical Games, Paranoia, Talisman, The Templars, Squad Leader, Ars Magica, Shadowrun, and loads more... I will split the batch if you only want some issues.

Gettysburg. Published by Avalon Hill. 1977. Box. Good but 2 corners taped. £8

Designer: Mick Uhl. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Different to the same named earlier ACW game by the same company. The introductory game is an excellent way to try out war gaming. The introductory rules cover just two sides, with intermediate, advanced, optional rules and charts taking up the rest of the 32 page booklet. A hex represents 700 feet and a unit represents a leader, brigade or division.

Giganten. Published by Kosmos. 1999. Box. Good. £15

Designer: Wilko Manz. No. players: 3-4. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Oil discovery, production and selling game. The board is big and there are lots of substantial components. The game has lots of clever mechanisms which combine very well. These include a map board on which to send your oil truck out to find suitable sites to drill, a card choosing mechanism to drive what you can do in your turn, bidding for the right to sell oil and an interesting fluctuating oil price mechanism. A very good business game which I can certainly recommend.

Ginny-O. Published by Peter Pan. 1981. Box. Good. £2.50

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

Special notes: Photocopied rules

Tile variation of Gin Rummy, with 108 thick plastic tiles representing two packs of cards plus their jokers. Players place their tiles, forming runs and sequences, and joining them crossword fashion to existing sequences on the board. Of course you can use the tile decks for any other playing card games as well - useful for players with either very small or very old hands which find cards hard to hold.

Go West. Published by Phalanx. 2005. Box. Excellent. £11

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

The players represent enterprising merchants who profit from the steady stream of movement west by immigrants to the US around 1800. Players must manoeuver their merchants to control the markets of the various regions, while also ensuring the wagons move to where their merchants are. In order to score you have to forfeit your normal turn and pay for the privilege too, but double turn chits can be handed in to set up a good scoring position and then score it. As usual with this designer the mechanisms are unusual and clever.

Greentown. Published by Bambus Spieleverlag. 2006. Box. New. £20

Designer: Gunter Cornett, Michael Uhlemann. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Number 346 / 350

Board game involving building attractions in a city with a limited road network laid out on hex tiles. New hexes are added to expand the city and buildings are added. Playing pieces are moved around the road network to the attractions, and the winner is the player who does all this most profitably. Plenty to think about. Limited edition of 350.

Hacker. Published by FanFor Verlag. 1990. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Valentin Herman. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Desc. by Eamon.

Entertaining game set in a computer company and the players are different departments within the company trying to discover the other department’s secrets. Each department is continually pushing to get terminal time and it becomes a battle just to get time at the computer. Wooden pieces.

Hedgehog. Published by Spears. 1983. Box. 1 box corner taped. £2.50

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

Special notes: Missing 1 spine. The game is still playable though.

Children's memory game (age 4+). The board shows different coloured areas of a garden in which a large 3D hedgehog lives. He has holes for 20 spines which are inserted at the start of the game. This hides coloured ends of the spines. The hedgehog moves around the board and players take a spine from the big hedgehog and if its colour matches the hedgehog's current space the spine is kept, otherwise it is replaced. Each player also has a small hedgehog into which spines which are won are placed. Very attractive game.

Hive. Published by Gen:Four.Two. 2001. Box. Mint - still in shrink. £12.50

Designer: John Yianni. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Highly regarded strategic game for two players consisting of twenty two chunky pieces: eleven blue and eleven silver, resembling a variety of creatures each with a unique way of moving. As the pieces are placed they form a shape that becomes the board. The pieces are never eliminated and not all have to be played. The object of the game is to totally surround your opponent's queen, whilst at the same time trying to block your opponent from doing the same to your queen.

Hollywood. Published by Waddingtons. 1990. Box. Good. £6

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

Special notes: Box slightly indented due to stacking

Be a film mogul and win the Academy Award. Beautifully presented, with three dimensional parts to put on the board, forming places such as a cinema, a studio and the Awards Ceremony location. Players must finance, cast and produce one of six films. A finished film requires a writer, director, star actress, star actor, sufficient money from backers, a location, studio, and good editing and production, and finally a good review. All these are gathered on various 'loops' on the board, which the players' pieces move around.

How To Host A Murder: Archaeologically Speaking. Published by Decipher Inc. 1991. Box. Excellent. £7

Designer: Anne & Robert Johnson. No. players: 8. Country: American, Duration: 2-3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Murder mystery evening set designed for 8 people. The players take the roles of participants at an archaeological dig in 1895 in Mesopotamia. Rumours of the discovery of an important artifact are heard, but then a murder is discovered, and everything points to one of the players. The game includes a cassette tape which is played at various stages during the game, clue booklets, guest invites, and a map of the dig site. Costume suggestions and dinner menu (inc. recipes) also included, but both optional.

Hundred Days Battles. Published by Avalon Hill. 1983. Box. Excellent. £7

Designer: Kevin Zucker & Thomas Walczyk. No. players: 2-3. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Small box game but which was extremely influential in its rules of step reduction of troops and command related to the quality of leaders on the field of battle. Simulation of Napoleon's Waterloo campaign in 1815, at the divisional level. It can also be used as an introduction to the game system also used in Struggle of Nations. The rules cover 16 half-pages.

Imagine No. 16 July 1984. Published by TSR UK Ltd. 1984. Magazine. Good. £0.20

Author: Don Turnbull. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Adventure games magazine which is mainly targetted at players of Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy RPGs. Articles this issue include: Unusual mounts, Goroghhwen (short adventure), Introducing Pelinore (Imagine Magazine's Campaign World), The Priests of Aphor (fiction), Ancient Egypt Special Feature inc. the Magic and Mythos focussing on Sobek, Mitra (Persian goddess), Sethotep (Egyptian adventure), RPG product reviews, Book, film and video reviews, RPG rules questions answers.

Indonesia. Published by Splotter. 2005. Box. New. £42

Designer: Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga. No. players: 2-5. Country: Dutch, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Very slight scratches on front cover (which would be negligible if this weren't brand new)

Substantial and very highly regarded business game. The board shows the Indonesian archipelago, and players run a number of companies, which either run factories and produce goods or develop shipping routes and gain money by transporting other companies' goods. Players get to expand and develop these companies and merge similar companies in order to form conglomerates. Ultimately the player who best manages their money and makes the best business decisions will win, though doing so is sure to be far from easy.

Investor. Published by ScaMaTra. 1984. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Box good - contents unpunched. £4

2) Good. 6 cyan money tokens are missing - I will replace these with colour copies mounted on card - this does not affect play. £2

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

Promotional board game, a direct result of the growth of private ownership of shares in Thatcher’s Britain. Sponsored by various share dealing companies and the Daily Telegraph, you wheel and deal in 40 companies actually quoted on the UK Stock Exchange. The game play is driven by movement around a track and actioning spaces - Monopoly style.

Jagd Der Vampire. Published by Ravensberger. 1991. Box. Good. £9.50. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Alex Randolph, Walter Obert, Dario De Toffoli. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins.

Special notes: Original German rules missing (translation supplied). This set also includes a promotional photo and the negative.

Race game with a daft theme - the vampires have given up drinking blood and now prefer ketchup. They race through the evil forest to the castle where the Great Tomato has been hidden in one of the towers. First to get there and find it will rule the vampires! The bits are wonderful: large board, large heavy vampire tokens, big towers for the castle, big plastic bridges etc. The game itself involves moving along a track, landing on different coloured spaces to draw special cards. Moves have to be paid for with miniature ketchup bottles. Also vampires can duel, and cast spells, and special rules cover dangers within the castle. Nice item.

Junk. Published by Eliot. 1980. Box. Excellent. £8

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

Card game, designed and published by the inventor. 104 coloured cards featuring antique items, which are traded by the players. Most interaction is at the Auction, where players try to sell their junk amongst the genuine items. The game has some nice ideas, with players having to cash in pairs of genuine cards for cash before being able to attempt to sell their cards at auction. There is also an incentive for putting up genuine items for auction as if noone bids the auctioneer keeps the card, shows it, and receives an additional payment.

Katamino. Published by Gigamic. 2002. Box. In shrink. £17

Designer: DJ Games. No. players: 1-2. Country: French, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Essentially a very nice wooden pentominoes set, with a framed and gridded wooden board which can be sectioned off into various sizes. The rules provide a large number of puzzles for you to attempt with the pentominoes, including 'progressive' puzzles: you start with 3 pieces and make a 5x3 rectangle, then add a piece and rearrange to make a 5x4 rectangle and so on all the way up to 12 pieces - this gets hard fast! There is also the rules to a 2 player game using these pieces. Recommended if you like wooden puzzles - this is an enjoyable one with a game as a bonus. Many more puzzles for this set are available on the internet too.

Kings & Things. Published by Pegasus Press. 1997. Box. Excellent. £16

Designer: Tom Wham & Doug Kaufman. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 2.5 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

German edition of this fantasy war game with a board assembled from tiles, making it different each game. Usual quirky Tom Wham graphics. The 'Things' in the title refer to 70+ creatures in the game which can be recruited and formed into very peculiar armies. Different creatures are best in the different terrains, and the armies are kept hidden most of the time so you will find the armies' strengths vary considerably depending on where they are.

Knightmare Chess. Published by Steve Jackson. 1996. Box. Excellent. £5

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

Cards used in conjunction with a chess set. Based on the original French idea, a hand of cards is dealt to each player, and the cards can be played after making a move. The sheer quantity of cards makes each game different. The card graphics are very nice. The effects are too numerous to list but they might, for instance, create a teleporting square, or a black hole square. Certainly livens up chess!

Koala. Published by Red Glove Edizioni. 2006. Box. Excellent. £5.50

Designer: Serpentium Games. No. players: 3-10. Country: Italian, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game. Players represent Koalas, who strangely want to eat as much pizza and spaghetti and as many hamburgers as possible. During the game there are a certain number of seats at the table, and other players must stand behind those who are seated. During play players will physically move around the table, sometimes sitting down, and sometimes standing up. When sitting at the table you are able to collect more food cards, but when standing behind someone you are allowed to see their cards! Also includes a team version of the game.

Kommissar X. Published by Amigo. 1992. Box. Good. £9

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

Card game, with 48 special cards that are printed on both sides, giving only a clue as to what is on the other side. The cards indicate possible routes the thieves employed in their getaway. In the first phase the players build the stack of cards representing the escape route, announcing what they are playing, so the next player can play a legal card next. When all cards in use are played the deck is turned face down and players take turns recalling what happened next, using the clueson the backs of the cards to help them recall. Players can lose if they make too many mistakes or win by successfully recovering dropped loot when they recall cards correctly.

Learn Chess With Nigel Short. Published by Paul Stanley. 1993. Book. Good - Ex Library copy. £3.50

Author: Nigel Short. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback with dustcover, 22x14cm, 96 pages. Britain's best chess player of the time introduces Chess, teaching the basics in a straight forward and easy to approach way.

Lenz On Bridge. Published by George Allen & Unwin. 1930. Book. Good, but spine shows a little wear. £3

Author: Sidney S. Lenz. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 19x13cm, 372 pages. Includes the 1929 Laws of Auction Bridge as an appendix, as well as the rules of Contract Bridge. The book has 62 chapters covering all aspects of Bridge bidding and play, making this a useful read for any Bridge player.

Lord of the Rings Risk. Published by Hasbro. 2002. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £4.50 2) Excellent. £6

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

Lord of the Rings themed Risk variant. The board shows the northern part of Middle Earth - essentially the part used in the first book / film. The game comes with 15mm figures in 4 colours and different designs for each army - several hundred figures in all. The rules included allow standard Risk to be played as well as the LotR themed variant, which adds leaders, sea ports, completing missions for rewards. The One Ring also moves in this variant and this determines when the game ends.

Magic: The Gathering: Champions Of Kamigawa. Published by Wizards Of The Coast. 2004. Box / Boosters. New. £1.60.

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

CCG. These boosters are from set 1 of the Kamigawa Block, which is based on Japanese legend. The set includes several new mechanics: Arcane, Heroes, Soulshift and Spiritcraft. There are 306 cards in the set, and each booster holds 15 randomised cards. The price above is per booster, but I will give 10% off if you buy 10 or more boosters, and 20% off if you buy a box of 36 boosters. So you know, the fulll RRP is £2.49.

Manchester United Monopoly. Published by Hasbro. 1999. Box. Good. £7

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

This is a Manchester United themed edition of Monopoly. The game play itself is pretty much unchanged, but the board and components all have a Manchester United theme. Thus Mayfair is now Alex Ferguson, Old Kent Rd is John Curtis etc. The metal playing pieces include several footballers, a goal, a whistle, and The Red Devil. The event cards are all football related and the dice are special d12s (1-6 twice on each) made to look like footballs!

Master Golf. Published by Master Golf Ltd. 1982. Box. Good. £3

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Golf game with a huge board, neat little plastic 'clubs' and scoring sheets. Dice are used, but you get the choice of which club, and you know how this will affect the 'shot' before you roll. There are rules to cover bunkers, water, trees, and trying to get back into a central lie after a poor initial shot.

Maxi Bourse. Published by TSR. 1989. Box. Good. £1.50

Designer: Marc Eric Gervais, Pascale Loiseau & Georges Daniel Volphilac. No. players: 2-6.

Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Stock market game with 40 different companies to invest in. Not only do you have this array of investments open to you, but you have to take note of several rumours at a time, and look out for events which might affect share values. Stock prices go up and down according to supply and demand, as well as the events and rumours. Players can win either by gaining control of the majority of shares in one industry or building a conglomerate holding the majority of shares in 5 companies in different industries. Unusual game for TSR to make, but it had been a huge success in France and TSR were anxious to extend their range beyond fantasy games.

Merchant Of Venus. Published by Avalon Hill. 1988. Box. Good. £40

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

Excellent space trading game. The players are traders starting off in a small ship with minimal money. Players discover new races, and buy goods and pick up passengers and take them to other planets to make a good profit. As the game goes on players can buy bigger and better ships, build space stations, and factories for increased profit, and make use of trade circuits which have been discovered. The objective is to get to a monetary target first. Highly recommended especially for 2-3 players.

Meutre A L'Abbaye. Published by MultiSim. 1996. Box. Good. £30

Designer: Bruno Faidutti, Serge Laget. No. players: 3-6. Country: French, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Original edition of this medieval mystery game. One of the monks has been killed, and the players must discover which monk is to blame. The monks have different attributes: dominican, franciscan, fat, thin, novice, father etc, and the murderer's card is set aside. Players move around the monastery trying to work out what is going on, which is mainly done with the help of confessionals, searching other monk's quarters, asking other players questions (unless they take a vow of silence) and the gossip which happens at every mass! Great game if you like deduction games. For an extra £4 I will print out and laminate a set of home printed cards and summary sheets, which I use in my own copy.

Monastery. Published by Ragnar Brothers. 2008. Box. Excellent. £21. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Gary Dicken, Steve Kendall, Phil Kendall. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr.

During the game the players lay tiles representing new parts of a large monastery complex. The tiles are initially played undeveloped side up. Players also move their monks to tiles where they wish to work, pray or construct. Points are awarded for each of these activities, and are used to claim letter tiles which form phrases from the Lord's Prayer in latin (no it isn't a latin word game!), and ultimately it is these letter tiles which will win you the game. When constructed, tiles are flipped over and may then offer special abilities to monks on those tiles. There is the opportunity to both cooperate with other players and to hinder them.

Monopoly. Published by Waddingtons. ca.1960. Box. Box damaged, contents excellent. £6

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

Special notes: Long black box edition. The box has been extensively taped up and a small section of one side is missing. The contents however are excellent.

1960s Monopoly set - board is inside the box. Metal playing pieces and wooden houses and hotels.

Monopoly Deluxe. Published by Waddingtons. ca.1961. Box. Good. £4.50

Designer: Charles Darrow. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 2.5 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: There are tape removal marks on the box sides, 1 corner taped, and one playing piece has been replaced with a non matching piece from another set.

1960s Monopoly set - board is inside the dark red box. Metal playing pieces and plastic houses and hotels. This set comes with a special rotating stand in which to display the property deeds while they are unpurchased.

Mosby's Raiders. Published by Victory. 1985. Box. Good. £14

Designer: Eric Lee Smith. No. players: 1. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

A really nice solitaire game, quite complex, but rewards time invested in playing it. The game puts you in command of the Partisan Rangers, and you try to infiltrate enemy lines to disrupt the Union war effort. As your notoriety grows the Union puts out more troops to try to hinder your operations. You decide on which missions to attempt. In how many wargames can you get invited to a wedding and dance gallantly with the ladies - as one of the strategic decisions you might have to face? Other more expected features are train hold-ups, skirmishes and shoot-outs.

Mrs Pottleton's Bridge Parties. Published by Geoffrey Bles. 1926. Book. Good, but dust cover worn. £6

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

Special notes: A previous owner has stuck various bridge related newspaper clippings onto the inside covers.

Hardback with dustcover, 19x13cm, 156 pages. This book shows samples of the magnificent and boneheaded play of the people who visit Mr. and Mrs. Pottleton. In this way the author gently teaches bridge using his characters as the players of various hands.

Murder A La Carte - Bullets 'N' Barbecue. Published by Bepuzzled. 1994. Box. Excellent. £7

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 6. Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Murder mystery dinner party kit for 6 players. Includes invitations, place cards, cassette tape, character booklets, rules and secret clues. This mystery is set in Dry Gulch in the Old West. Gunfire rings out and the townsfolk discover the Sheriff has been shot dead. The players meet up in the Paradise Saloon to sort out who was responsible - plenty of people had good reason!

Mysteries Of Old Peking. Published by Milton Bradley. 1987. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £4. Box corners taped and box base has a water stain.

2) Good, but corners taped. £5

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

Very nicely designed light detective game. 50 different cases to solve. Players move around the board visiting witnesses to gather information and may have to decode information using a mirror or a special red plastic sheet, or the Spy's decoder. Once a player has enough information they head to the appropriate Chinese dragon parading the streets and reveal the culprit. Very attractive and a fun light game too.

Neolithibum. Published by Fun Connection. 1992. Box. In shrink. £11

Designer: Harald Bilz & Peter Gutbrod. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Balancing + strategy game in which the building pieces are assorted stones and pebbles! As with the other games in this series there is a reasonable amount of silliness, but some good game mechanics as well. Players are cavemen, trying to build an altar in honour of their God Bottiburp. This is done by playing cards and collecting / stealing food tokens and constructing the altar with stones. However when a stone is about to be placed other players may play a card which imposes a handicap (eg. add the stone to the altar while touching your nose to the table). Other games in the series are Pfusch and Burp.

Neuland 2nd Edition. Published by Eggert Spiele. 2008. Box. In shrink. £24

Designer: Tobias Stapelfeldt, Peter Eggert. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Reprint of this previously very sought after resource management game. Players start with basic buildings which they can use to produce basic resources. These buildings produce more valuable resources which can be used to build more valuable production buildings and/or produce yet more valuable resources. Players must carefully plan their production and also keep control of buildings they consider important. VPs are won by building various top level developments, and the first to build sufficient of these wins. One to get you really thinking, planning ahead and optimizing what you do. Recommended.

Ogre Pocket Edition. Published by Steve Jackson Games. 1977. Box. Excellent, unpunched. £6

Designer: Steve Jackson. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Pocket edition of Metagaming's MicroGame No. 1. Very well regarded game pitching lots of little units against one huge robotic death machine. Can you make the hoard do enough damage before sufficient losses are taken that they can no longer be effective. Comes in a small black plastic SJG box.

Onslaught. Published by TSR / SPI. 1987. Box. Good. £5

Designer: Douglas Niles. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 4 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Divisional scale campaign game of the last months of WWII, from D-Day to the crossing of the Rhine. Some interesting and unusual mechanics (unpredictable turn order and the use of limited supply points to activate stacks of counters) mean you always have to focus on the area you consider the highest priority. As well as movement and attacks extra supply points can be spent to force a 'breakthrough' with movement and attack. Supply locations are critical and fought over hard as they give the owner more supply points to use on their turn.

Oswald Jacoby On Poker. Published by Doubleday & Co.. 1948. Book. Excellent. £10

Author: Oswald Jacoby. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 19x12cm, 173 pages. A detailed and expert study of Poker by Bridge master Oswald Jacoby. There are handy reference charts giving the odds of various hands etc on the inside covers. The book is split up as follows: About Poker, How To Play, How To Conduct Yourself, General Principles, Draw Poker, Stud Poker, High-Low Seven Card Stud, Low Poker, Other Variants, Poker Probabilities, Problems with Answers.

Outpoint. Published by Spears. 1985. Box. Good. £1.50

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

Somewhat abstract game with dice and letter tiles played on an 11x11 grid. The playing pieces consist of letter tiles spelling *OUT*POINT*, and points are scored for getting them on top of other player's tiles of the same type, and the stars can be used to eliminate opposing pieces or double the score of other tiles.

Paparazzo. Published by Abacus. 1994. Box. Good. £4.50. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Friedmann Friese & Wolfgang Panning. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins. Card game with a paparazzi theme. Players must collect valuable photographs of celebrities. The more compromising photos of one person in circulation the greater the value for that particular celebrity. A neat twist is that, to finance future investment, you have to sell some pictures as you go along (to Stunk magazine) but you must be careful not to sell future high earners lest you reduce the value of your final portfolio too much.

Party Games. Published by Juniper Books. 1992. Book. Good. £5

Author: Nicola Adamson. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback with dustcover, 26x22cm, 120 pages. Subtitled: Manageable Parties For 2s To 10s. The book is intended for parents intending to host a birthday party (or similar) for their children, and gives lots of advice about organising such an event as well as suggestions for planning food etc. The games suggested for such parties are subdivided as follows: Music & Movement, Drawing & Collage, Word Games, Indoor Games & Races, Blindfold Games, Outdoor Games & Races, Acting Games, Treasure Hunts & Guessing Games, Games To Play On Journeys.

Passe Trappe Micro. Published by Ferti. 2007. Box. New. £22

Designer: Jean Marie Albert. No. players: 2. Country: French, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Amazingly simple but extremely intense and addictive dexterity game. The wooden board has sturdy wooden barriers around the edge and a barrier across the middle with just one small hole in it. This hole is big enough for a well aimed wooden disk to go through. Each player starts with 5 wooden disks on their side, and uses an elasticated string to propel the disks using one finger. The idea is to get your disks through the hole faster than your opponent can so they all end up on their side. Highly recommended.

Pax Britannica. Published by Victory Games. 1985. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Greg Costikyan. No. players: 4-7. Country: American, Duration: 8 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Complex multi-player game of imperial conquest which covers the colonial period from 1880 to the outbreak of The Great War. The players control the world powers of the time: Great Britain, France, Germany (with Austria-Hungary), U.S., Imperial Russia, Japan and Italy. The players vie for control of the world which is split into areas which generate income. The players must spend money to maintain and build new military units and then maneuver these forces to try to extend their empires and so further increase their empires. Care must be taken however, not to start the Great War - the player who does this is penalised severely and the game then ends.

Peninsular War. Published by Rostherne. 1988. Tube. Good. £9

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

Wargame, with wooden components, played on a hex gridded map of the Iberian Peninsula (and which looks very much like a Railway Rivals map). Dice are used to resolve combat, but movement is based on movement point allowances. Combat is modified by terrain. One player plays the French forces while the other controls Spanish, Portuguese and British allied forces. The objective is to hold more key towns and cities at the end of a fixed number of turns, or to push forward and take significantly more than this earlier in the game.

Phoenix. Published by Eurogames. 2003. Box. In shrink. £6

Designer: Zach & Amanda Greenvoss. No. players: 2. Country: French, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Strategy game for two with a pleasant mix of luck and skill. At the start of the game six rainbow coloured wooden blocks are laid out at random in a line in the centre of the board. Each player has a line of 10 pawns in the same colours which are also set up randomly. The players take turns playing cards which rearrange the order of the pawns and in a few cases the coloured blocks so that their pawn sequence matches the sequence of the blocks. Three rounds are played in half an hour to even out the luck of the card drawn. Rather nice game.

Pick A Pair. Published by A & C Black Ltd. 1979. Book. Good. £4

Author: Frank Tapson, Alan Parr. No. players: 2. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Spiralbound book with thick card pages, 31x21cm, 32 pages, and each page having the rules to a different game and a diagram on which to play it. Pop out playing pieces supplied. The book contains the rules and boards for 32 two player games. All are simple in terms of the rules, but not necessarily simple to master. The games are all abstract in nature, many to do with strategic positioning on a board or taking it in turn to remove / place pieces with assorted twists, and some use dice in clever ways. Most of the games are playable in a very few minutes, with the remainder being perhaps 20 minutes to play. If you like these types of games at all then this book is very worth investigating.

Pirate Island. Published by Rostherne. 1984. Tube. Good. £7

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

A game of adventure with pirates and a treasure island. Made privately by David (designer of Railway Rivals). Each player captains a team of pirates who must search an island for buried treasure and get it back to their ship.

Pony Express. Published by Abacus. 1991. Box. Excellent. £14

Designer: Alan R Moon. No. players: 2-6. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Unusual betting and racing game. Players try to gain control of 2 horses in the 7 horse field and then lead them to victory. In the first stage of the game players place bets on horses and give out cards to the horses. By the end of the round ownership and odds will have been determined. In the race itself the horse owners try to make the best use of the cards assigned to each horse bearing in mind any special features of their track. Bets are paid off at the end of each race. There are some unusual mechanics which set it apart from other horse racing games. Wooden components.

Quick Wits. Published by UPL. ca.1935. Box. Good. £2

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

Card game, featuring cards giving a range of categories, and a second deck of letters. There are several variations, but the basic idea is that players must name something which fits the current category and starts with the current letter.

Race The Wind. Published by Ghenos Games. 2007. Box. In shrink. £23

Designer: Velagiochiamo, Giulio Gallana. No. players: 2-5. Country: Italian, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Yacht racing game with nice components. The game uses simple but ingenious rules without dice or cards to ensure an interesting but skillful race game which incorporates elements essential to yacht racing such as changing tactics with the shifting wind, using wind shadows and overlaps to your advantage, as well as cunning starting manoeuvers.

Red Empire. Published by GDW. 1990. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Frank Chadwick. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game, each player is a member of the Politburo in Russia. Naturally, to gain power over the other factions, you must use treachery, bribery, and corruption to discredit them and become the ruling Party Member. The game has a nice twist: although all the players are despicable, they must not go too far and cause the total destruction of the Soviet State.

Reiner Knizia's Poison. Published by Playroom Entertainment. 2005. Box. In shrink. £9

Designer: Reiner Knizia. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players have numbered cards in three colours as well as wild poison cards. Players take it in turn to add a card to one of three large cauldron boards, one for each colour. If the cards in a cauldron exceed 13 in value you must take the cards. At the end of the round any cards collected count against you, although whoever has the most in each colour gets to discard their cards in that colour. Thus players can either try to avoid cards in each colour or try to take more than anyone else in order to avoid the penalty points.

Ring Board. Published by Spears. 1972. Box. Good, but box edges show wear. £2.50

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Originally came with 6 rings, but there are now only 5. It is still entirely playable.

This game consists of a solid wooden board which can be hung on a wall. The board shows 4 concentric circles and there are metal hooks sticking out from it, each with a large number below it. Players take it in turns to throw a set of rubber rings from a suitable distance and score for any rings which land on hooks. Highest score after a predetermined number of rounds wins.

Risky Business. Published by Laycee Games Inc. 1986. Box. Good. £5

Designer: Palmer Wenzel. No. players: 2-6. Country: Canadian, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: There is a mark on the base where tape was removed, which makes some of the 'blurb' unreadable.

Farming themed business game. Players breed their cows and build their herd, buying new cattle as cheaply as possible and selling others for a good profit. Also prize cows and bulls can win awards at shows. However, as the game name implies farming is a risky business, and all sorts of unfortunate events can befall the players. Game play is driven by moving around a track on the board, but with choices of which way to go at junctions.

Rolit. Published by Goliath. ca.1997. Box. Good. £5

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

Nicely produced multi-player strategy game based on Othello / Reversi, but for 2-4 players. Four sided balls (if that's not a contradiction) are placed into holes with the current player's colour upwards, and captured pieces are converted by 'rolling' them in their hole to the new colour.

Roma. Published by Queen Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £9

Designer: Stefan Feld. No. players: 2. Country: German, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card and dice game in which the players build Roman buildings and attract influential Roman characters in order to try to seize power. Each card shows a building or character who has a special ability once in play, as well as a combat value and a cost to get it into play. Dice are rolled and can be assigned to activate a character or building to use its power, or used to claim more gold or cards. The game can be won by gaining more VPs than your opponent when the game ends or by attacking your opponent and making them lose all their VPs before the game would normally end. Plenty of choices of what to do and plays well. Recommended.

Rubik's Line Up. Published by Ideal. ca.1985. Box. Good. £4

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

Abstract game in which the players turn cubes over on the board trying to form a line of three cubes of the same colour (the cubes have different colours on each face). The cubes are all about an inch on each side which makes the game quite attractive.

Rumis 2nd Ed. Published by Murmel. 2003. Box. New. £25

Designer: Stefan Kogl. No. players: 2-4. Country: Swiss, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Each player has a selection of 3D pieces made from wooden cubes stuck together. Players take it in turn to place one of their pieces onto the board, but with the restriction that each space has a maximum level to which pieces may be played, and each piece must be played touching one of your previous pieces. Points are scored at the end of the game for parts of your playing pieces which are still exposed. Interesting tactical challenge, as you have to ensure you keep future options open while also playing into scoring positions. On the German Spiel des Jahres nominations list for 2003. Recommended.

Samurai. Published by Wiggins Teape. ca.1970. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good but 2 corners taped. £3

2) Box indented due to stacking. £2.50

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

Stylish abstract game with 8 large (7.5cm tall) Samurai playing pieces. The pieces hold plastic swords in different ways, to indicate their changing strength throughout the game. Movement of one side's pieces determine, to a certain extent, the limitations of movement on the other side.

San Gimignano. Published by Piatnik. 2002. Box. In shrink. £13

Designer: Duilio Carpitella. No. players: 2-4. Country: Austrian, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players vie to build towers in the town of San Gimignano. The board is laid out using large hexagonal tiles as the game goes on. These tiles each show differently coloured zones, onto which players may place their influence counters. When a player has four different zones connected they may build a tower, which is a step towards victory, but also blocks off that space from further use. The towers are substantial and very tactile being made from Anker building stones. Very nicely produced. On the German Spiel des Jahres nomination list for 2002.

Save The President. Published by Games for Pleasure. 1984. Box. Good. £7

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

Unusual game of bluff where each player has an objective, either to fulfil the title or to kill the President. Who is doing what starts out as a secret known only to the individual. The President moves in a motorcade across the board and players attempt to keep him safe / kill him by getting into the best positions. The President's route is not known in advance, but is determined randomly at each junction. Players move their agents and play cards which will hopefully give them an advantage. Players are penalised at the end of the game for hindering other players who turned out to be on the same side.

Scattergories. Published by Milton Bradley Games. 1993. Box. Good, but box shows wear, 1 corner taped. £7.50

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

Special notes: 4 standard pencils missing - but you can use any pens or pencils with the game

Family game in which a category is selected from one of several hundred listed on cards. A special (very large 20 sided dice) is rolled to determine the start letter to be used for this round and the players all write down answers which fit the category and the start letter. However, answers only score if noone else has thought of them. As well as the unusual large d20 letter dice the game also has a rather neat clockwork timer and a folder and notepad for each player.

Scottish Highland Whisky Race. Published by JKLM Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £16

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

Whisky smuggling race game set in 1773. The players are taking part in a cross country race, but are using it to smuggle in Whisky, which is heavily taxed by the English. While winning the race can score victory points, success can also be achieved by successfully buying and selling whisky along the way. Players move by secretly deciding how many movement points to use each round, and then spending them to move. Ending up on special spaces on your own will give a beneficial extra action, and moving past other players uses up movement points fast due to lots of jostling. Players also have to avoid the Englishman who will levy taxes on any whisky carried by players he inspects.

SHOC. Published by Chad Valley. ca.1955. Box. Good for age (2 corners taped). £3

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

Special notes: Copyright is 1944, but also appointed to HM. the Queen, so must be 1953 or after. Includes 2 (modern) packs of cards.

Stocks and shares game. Playing cards decide the rise and fall of share prices. Rules assume you have two packs of cards in the house (ie. not supplied with the game). One pack represents shares in the 4 suits and the other is used to change the share prices, which are recorded on dials. Players take turns to act as the broker, buying and selling shares to the other players, until the dials indicate the market closes, and then the next player gets a chance as broker. Name comes from S (Spades), H (Hearts), <> (Diamonds, vaguely O shaped) and C (Clubs).

Solarquest. Published by Golden Games. 1986. Box. 1 box corner taped. £4

Designer: Western Publishing Co.. No. players: 2-6. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Space game which takes some of the ideas of Monopoly (ownership of spaces and paying a fee to the owner when landing on those spaces), but adds more ideas such as using fuel and refuelling at appropriate places, laser battles between ships etc. The board is attractive and shows various routes around the solar system, playing pieces are plastic spaceships and fuel is indicated by special metal threadless screws.

Sold!. Published by R&R Games. 1997. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £4.50 2) Good but 1 corner dented. £4

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

Players run competing antique shops and vie for the most valuable antiques, but need to snap up the best deals while avoiding forgeries. Items can be bought from other players' shops, a non-player shop, the flea market or the auction house.

Solo Whist And Auction Solo. Published by George Routledge & Sons. ca.1910. Book. Good. £5

Author: A.S. Wilks. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 16x10cm, 137 pages. This book details the ever popular game of Solo, and as well as explaining the game, each of the possible bids is explored in depth. Includes laws of the game and hints and tips for the beginner.

Sorcerer's Cave + Extension Kit. Published by Ariel. 1982. Box. Good. £35

Designer: Terence Donnelly. No. players: 1-4. Country: British, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Main set is actually the Gibsons ed. Expansion's sheet of numbers replaced with laminated version.

First edition. Very nice concept in this fantasy game that you need to play on the floor. This is because the board is made up of a large number of dungeon cards, which can meander in any direction (and they really do spread out). When you find stairs, you start a new dungeon 'under' the other one, and so on as you go deeper. You will need a large playing area! The solitaire game is very challenging to win. This set comes with the extension kit cards and tiles included, which adds extra variety to your games.

Space Dealer. Published by Eggert Spiele. 2006. Box. In shrink. £18

Designer: Tobias Stapelfeldt. No. players: 3-4. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

An unusual and intriguing take on the theme of merchants trading in space. Players start with a power generator and a few cards on their home planet and race to deliver goods to either neutral planets or their opponents' planets. In addition research can be done to improve their abilities. Every action, however, has the cost of flipping over an empty sand timer, and each player only has two sand timers, so when both are running you can only plan what you want to do next, and must wait until one finishes before taking your next action. The game is timed and lasts precisely 30 minutes. A second set can be used to make the game playable by up to 8 players. Recommended.

Space Dealer - All-Zeit. Published by Eggert Spiele. 2006. Box. In shrink. £6

Designer: Tobias Stapelfeldt. No. players: 3-4. Country: German, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Expansion for Space Dealer which provides 44 new cards and some wooden cubes to add variety to the base game (which you will need to make use of this). The new cards include a variety of new technologies, a few corrected cards and more neutral trade planet cards (Gizzis).

Space Walk. Published by Ravensburger. 1999. Box. Excellent. £10

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

Space themed game which takes some ideas from the classic Mancala, but adds some neat twists. The board shows a circular track of spaces with some spaces being holes. The board is placed over the box and any spaceships landing on one of these 'black holes' is out of the game. Players play their spaceships which come in three sizes onto the board, and then move them. This is done by taking all the spaceships on one space where you have at least one ship and then placing them, largest first, one per space, onto the next spaces - hopefully getting opposing ships into the black holes while keeping your own safe. Extra turn tokens can also be used or kept for additional victory points.

Spies. Published by SPI/TSR. 1984. Box. Good. £11

Designer: Lenny Glynn & John Prados. No. players: 2-5. Country: American, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Second version of this spy themed game (but which uses wargame style cardboard counters). Each player represents the Secret Service of a major European country in the 6 years leading up to WWII. Players collect and steal secrets, expose spies and use undercover tactics to gain an advantage for their country. Although unaccredited, the scoring system was devised by Sid Sackson.

Square. Published by Merit. ca.1965. Box. Good. £4.50

Designer: J & L Randall Ltd. No. players: 2-3. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Tile laying game in which players try to complete rectangles and squares of tiles to score points. Each side of a tile shows a shape which much be matched to any adjacent tiles when it is played. The tiles are all square and made so that they stand up on their edge so players can see their own tiles while keeping them hidden from their opponents. There are 35 tiles in the game.

Star Fighter. Published by Gametime. 1978. Box. Good. £6

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Science fiction battle game in which each player has a Star Transport which they must get to the other side of the galaxy, and other lesser ships. Players must navigate through space trying to be the first to get their Star Transport to its destination while also hassling their opponents' Star Transports. There are also a number of other features in space which can get in the way, and rules for Hyperdrive (fast but imprecise movement), permitted movement patterns, combat and even a Tentacle Ray weapon.

Star Trek TNG: Romulan Challenge. Published by MMG. 1994. Box. Good. £1

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

12 planets in federation space, near to the Neutral Zone, have been occupied by the Romulan Empire. These planets are the sites of very valuable mining colonies which the Romulans are now exploiting ruthlessly. They must be stopped as quickly as possible. Each player collects mission cards during play, which they accumulate by a mixture of landing on the right spaces, using cards they have picked up along the way, and so on.

Star Trek: The Card Game. Published by Fleer/Skybox. 1996. CCG. Good. £2. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Jeff Grubb, Don Perrin, Margaret Weis. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 45 mins.

Special notes: This batch comprises two starter boxes of 65 cards each.

CCG based on the original 1960s Star Trek series starring Kirk, Spock, McCoy etc. Every starter has an Enterprise card as well as the core crew just mentioned. The game revolves around completing episodes, with each episode comprising three cards: Mission, Plot, and Discovery. During each part of an episode your opponent can challenge you with suitable cards which you must try to overcome. You then move onto the next stage of the episode. Points are awarded for how you deal with each challenge. The first player to accumulate 25 points wins.

Star Wars Adventures Of R2-D2. Published by Parker. 1977. Box. Good, but 1 corner taped. £2.50

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

Children's game (ages 4-8) based on R2-D2 who in this game is portrayed as the true hero of the Rebellion in the original Star Wars films. Game play involves spinning a spinner and moving to the next space showing that colour, with some spaces providing short cuts and others delays. A nice item for the Star Wars collector.

StarForce. Published by SPI. 1974. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £10 2) Good. £9

Designer: Redmond A Simonsen. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Part of SPI's trilogy of 3 separate games - Outreach explored the grand strategy of space, StarSoldier was at the other end of the scale, with detailed tactical decisions, this one, StarForce came in between. Star Force is played on a map representing a 40 light year diameter sphere with 74 star systems. A hex grid regulates movement. Counters represent groups of interstellar ships, and space stations. Combat occurs when units are in the same 3-D location. The rules include basic and advanced rules. There are 14 scenarios, including one which is solitaire.

StarSoldier. Published by SPI. 1977. Box. Good. £12

Designer: Tom Walczyk. No. players: 2. Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Tactical level simulation of combat between a small number of StarSoldiers who are powerful future warriors. Uses simultaneous plotted movement, which is manageable since each player only controls 3 - 12 warriors. There are many scenarios and a campaign game as well. This is part of the series which included StarForce and Outreach.

Station Master. Published by Mayfair Games. 2004. Box. Excellent. £9

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

Train themed card game in which several locomotives are placed in the centre of the table and players can on their turn either assign a passenger (secretly valued 1, 2 or 3) to a train or play a carriage behind a locomotive. Some carriages add to the value of a train while others decrease it. Each locomotive can take a limited number of passengers and pull a limited number of carriages - when a train is complete it runs and the passengers are scored. There are various special cards which give additional options such as moving passengers, running a train before it is complete etc.

Stockmarket!. Published by Jordans. 1987. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good but 1 corner taped. £15 2) Excellent. £16

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

Quite rare stock trading game. Players are dealt cards which indicate price rises and falls for the various stocks as well as for uninvested cash. This information is private, but at the end of three chances to trade each, everyone shows their cards and they are ALL actioned. Thus you need to not only take into account what your own cards indicate will happen but also what other people are doing as well. Becoming a majority shareholder in one of the companies has benefits as well. After several hands the player with the most valuable portfolio is the winner.

Stone Age. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2008. Box. In shrink. £21

Designer: Michael Tummelhofer. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Set in the Stone Age players try to improve the lot of their tribe of people. This is implemented using an action drafting system, so you can for instance improve your agriculture, create tools, enlarge your tribe, hunt for food, and gather a variety of resources. These resources can be used to build new huts which earn VPs, and also to buy various bonus cards which give VPs at the end of the game in a number of different ways. Dice are used when gathering resources to determine the success of your tribe that season. If like me, you prefer a reduction in the randomness the production dice can cause you could try using average dice instead.

Sum-Times. Published by Spear's Games. 1992. Box. Good. £4

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

Maths based game. The board shows a grid of the numbers 1-100, and number cards are used in a simple calculation (A*B +/- C) to indicate a square on the board which a playing piece can be played on. Replacing opponents' pieces is also allowed in some circumstances, and provides the tactics. The objective is to get all your playing pieces on the board.

Super Star T.V. Sports. Published by A.R.C.. 1980. Box. Box shows wear. £2

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

A set of 12 different sports games all popular on American TV: Soccer, Basketball, Track, Skiing, Baseball, Hockey, Football, Boxing, Golf, Auto Racing, Bowling, Tennis. The set includes 3 game boards with areas for each of the games. The games are all fairly simple, with 1-3 pages of rules per game, but not entirely trivial, having some card play decisions or for the motor racing game acceleration decisions etc. The bowling game is table skittles.

Supermarket Psycho. Published by Gottick. 2008. Box. In shrink. £9

Designer: Anders Fagers & Konkarong. No. players: 4-5. Country: Swedish, Duration: 35 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Light and fun card game in which the players try to make each other go crazy in the supermarket by playing cards to up their opponents' stress levels. When someone does crack then a food fight ensues (using cards). Remind me not to go shopping when in Sweden ...

Supremo. Published by Tower Pursuits Ltd. 1989. Box. Good. £2

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

Monopoly style game in which playing pieces move around a track and purchase businesses and pay when landing on a business owned by another player. Includes bonuses for getting several like coloured properties, mortgages and event cards. What may make this of local interest for some of you is that all the businesses are real businesses in the Birmingham (England) area, and they have all clearly paid to have their adverts put on the board!

Techno Witches. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £13

Designer: Heinrich Glumpler. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Race game in which the players are broomstick flying witches and wizards. The game uses an interesting system where players select curved path sections and play them in sequence next to their planning piece. This is done one piece at a time, and as an alternative to taking another curve section you can fly, which means you play out all your planned pieces in order. Hopefully these can be played without crashing into any obstacles or other witches and wizards. Very neat system, with a variety of race scenarios suggested.

Tekeli-li. Published by Japon Brand. 2006. Box. In shrink. £11

Designer: Toshiki Sato, Reina Asada. No. players: 2-6. Country: Japan, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Trick taking card game with a Cthulhu mythos theme! Many of the cards represent sanity sapping monsters, and the objective is to avoid taking tricks, and thus keeping as far away from the monsters as possible. However, should you be forced to take a trick it is possible by winning matching cards to cancel out the sanity loss. Recommended as a light but fun card game.

The English Civil War. Published by Airfix. 1978. Book. Good. £3

Author: George Gush, Martin Windrow. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 22x14cm, 64 pages. Airfix Magazine Guide Number 28, one of a series of books detailing miniatures rules, stratagems and tips. The book includes many illustrations and photographs. The chapters cover: Background; The Course of the war; Weapons & Equipment; Organisation & Tactics; Wargaming & The Civil War; Modelling Civil War figures.

The Gardens Of The Alhambra. Published by Queen Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £11

Designer: Dirk Henn. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Duration: 50 mins, Desc. by Andy.

An attractively produced and rethemed version of Carat by the same author, to tie in with his award winning game, Alhambra. This is a tactical tile laying game, initially tiles representing various buildings in the gardens of the Alhambra are laid out. Players place garden tiles which influence the buildings it is laid adjacent to but that influence won't only be for the current player, but for the others too. When a building is completely surrounded it is scored and taken out of play. Play continues until all buildings are surrounded. The nice artwork makes the game much more appealing than its abstract predecessor.

The Godfather Game. Published by Family Games. 1971. Box. Good, but box base indented. £12

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: 2nd edition

An unusual game given the theme of Mob bosses vying for control of various neighbourhoods. However, the game mechanics resemble Go, but with money which must be spent to buy men in the various areas of town, and cards which can assist or hinder. 1st edition came in a plastic violin case, 2nd edition in a regular box.

The Pillars Of The Earth Expansion. Published by Mayfair Games. 2008. Box. In shrink. £15. Desc. by Andy.

Designer: Michael Rieneck, Stefan Stadler. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 100 mins.

Expansion for Pillars of the Earth, and one which I find significantly improves an already very good game. You will need the base game to play. This set includes: components for 5-6 players, an extra board presenting new options for your master builders and workers, additional craftsmen for more variety, new events and privilege cards. Highly recommended.

The Scrabble Book. Published by Treasure Press. 1990. Book. Good. £3.50

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

Hardback, 24x20cm, 221 pages. This book includes a huge number of word puzzles of different types with solutions. eg. 35 Regular Scrabble Puzzles and Anagrams to solve. Also presented are the n-tile record plays, and more obscure records. The rules to Scrabble, the history of the game, information about allowed words, and listings of unusual words useful in Scrabble round off the book.

The Simpsons Monopoly. Published by Parker Bros. 2003. Box. Good. £7

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

This is a Simpsons themed edition of Monopoly. The game play itself is pretty much unchanged, but the board and components all have a Simpsons theme. Thus Mayfair is now Burns Manor, Old Kent Rd is The Tyre Yard etc. The metal playing pieces include Bart in a car, a donut, the school bus, Santa's Little Helper, a 3 eyed fish etc. The event cards have pictures of The Simpsons characters on too.

The Various Dart Games And How To Play Them. Published by Universal Publications Ltd. ca.1940. Book.

Good, but cover taped. £4. Author: A. Wellington. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Special notes: Wartime production issue

Softback, 16x10cm, 90 pages. This book describes a number of games you can play with darts on a dartboard, as well as giving hints and tips on play. The book also has sections on Shove Ha'penny, Corinthian Bagatelle and Bagatelle.

The World Of Wall Street. Published by Hasbro. 1969. Box. Good. £2

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

Hasbro and NBC combined to compete with 3M in the adult, bookcase games' market and this was their best seller. In truth, it is not as good as the best of 3M, but then, 3M had Sid Sackson! Players trade stocks and shares in companies with varied expectations of profit. The usual rule applies - risky company, big profits, solid company, low return without risk.

The World's Best Word Puzzles. Published by Daily News Publications. ca.1925. Book.

Good but spine and edges show some wear. £15

Author: H.E. Dudeney. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 19x12cm, 126 pages. A compilation of word puzzles of various forms: Enigmas, Riddles, Acrostics, Charades, Word Squares, Palindromes, Anagrams, Conundrums, Rebusses, Buried Words, Missing Words, Expanding Words, Squares and Stars, Crosswords and more. 1925 is the copyright date - I doubt this is the original printing though.

ThinkBlot. Published by Mattel. 2001. Box. Good. £4.50

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

Family game based around a book of complex ink blot patterns. Players study the ink blot and try to see as many different objects as possible, sometimes the objects must also fit a category. Points are awarded for each appropriate object seen as long as other people can also be persuaded that it is there.

Thirty One Patience Games. Published by W. Foulsham. ca.1975. Book. Good. £2

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

Softback, 18x12cm, 63 pages. This book gives an introduction to the history of playing cards and then describes 31 games of patience to play with either one or two standard playing card decks - there are diagrams of the card layouts.

Thoughtwave. Published by Intellect. 1974. Box. Several copies available:

1) Good but 2 corners taped. £9 2) Excellent. £12 3) Good. £11

Designer: Dr. Eric Solomon. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Tile laying strategy game, one of the rarest Intellect games and one of their best (in what was an outstanding series of games). Each player has 24 tiles with which to build a line, either from North to South or East to West. Naturally, these must cross at some stage. A surprisingly small board (10x10) and the very limited number of tiles makes this as strategic a game of this type as you will find.

Tile Bridge. Published by Peter Pan. 1983. Box. Good. £1.50

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

Two sets of tiles representing standard playing cards (inc two jokers per set), with the basic rules of Bridge included. 4 tile racks and a thick felt mat are also included. Of course you could use the tiles for any card game, not just bridge.

Tongiaki. Published by Uberplay. 2004. Box. In shrink. £10

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

Very attractive game which uses interlocking near-hexagonal land and sea tiles, and lots of little wooden ships. The players explore Pacific islands, starting from Tonga. Each island has several beaches and each beach has several spaces for ships. On their turn a player adds ships to one island and if a beach is full of ships those ships sail. This may take them through dangerous seas where they may all sink, but hopefully they make it to another island where the ships are put on the beaches, quite possibly forcing more ships to sail off. The objective is to have ships on as many islands as possible at the end of the game, especially those that score most VPs. Quite chaotic, but great fun.

T-Rex. Published by Hans Im Gluck. 1999. Box. Excellent. £3.50

Designer: Hanno & Wilfried Kuhn. No. players: 3-5. Country: German, Desc. by Eamon.

Card game. Each player is trying to collect sets of dinosaur eggs. Each player starts with an identical deck of cards which is shuffled and drawn from and the game is then played in rounds in which each player may play several times. There are special cards which let you draw more (otherwise you don't!) and a card has to be played to indicate the round will finish. When a round does finish the last card each player played is used to evaluate the round - highest and second highest receiving an egg that round.

Tri-It!. Published by Spear's Games. 1985. Box. Good. £1.50

Designer: Jim Winslow Inc. No. players: 2. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Players try to be the first to score 10 points by surrounding triangles on a hexagonal grid of triangles using their three pieces. The lines joining vertices are green, yellow or blue and each turn a die is rolled indicating one of these colours. One piece can then be moved along as many adjacent lines of this colour as is desired. Once a triangle is surrounded points are scored according to the number in the triangle and the pieces are reset and play continues.

Turbo. Published by Milton Bradley. 1983. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £2 2) Good, box corners taped. £1.50

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

Simple motor racing game tied in with Sega's video game of the same name. The game comes with 20 well made mini plastic racing cars. Players spin two spinners each turn and must use the resulting numbers to move their own car and either an opponent's car or the neutral ambulance. 16 other non player cars block the track at various points. The chicane and the ice field add to the game as well.

Turbo Taxi. Published by Queen Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £9

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

A reworking (with nicer components) of the same author's Flickwerk. Each player has an identical set of 12 tiles showing roads with junctions and crossings. On a central board wooden tokens are placed to indicate where roads must exit the board and a tile is drawn from an extra set and placed in the centre of a 3x3 grid. Everyone then races to put together a set of 9 tiles which incorporates the one drawn and also fulfills the requirements for the roads while ensuring all the tile edges match properly. First to do so claims a point. The player with the most points after a number of rounds wins. Fast and furious puzzle style game.

Two Furlongs From Home. Published by Lambourne. 2000. Packet. Good. £10

Designer: Terry Goodchild. No. players: 1+. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

A statistical horse-racing management game based on the premise that most of the action in a horse race takes place in the last two furlongs of a race and so that is all that is replayed. Each player (the game controls all the other players if you are playing solitaire) is a racing stud owner or manager and must decide which races, and where, his string of horses should be entered. Includes a large plastic board to represent the race-course.

Under The Shadow Of The Dragon. Published by Pegasus Publishing. 2004. Box. In shrink. £14

Designer: Lutz Stepponat. No. players: 1-2 (5-6). Country: American, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Wonderfully produced fantasy adventure boardgame which can be played standalone by 2 players or as an expansion (up to 6 players) for Return of the Heroes. This set provides 9 large land tiles which are laid out differently each time as well as lots of large counters, wooden cubes, and glass beads. Players have a character each with different abilities, and they explore the land encountering monsters and various events. Each character has a heroic quest to complete, and can also pick up a selection of smaller tasks to perform, which will often involve finding an item and / or taking it to a particular place. During this the characters improve their abilities with the ultimate goal of being able to defeat a terrible Dragon which threatens the land.

Vagabondo. Published by Invicta. 1979. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £4 2) Box corners taped. £3

Designer: Brian Taylor & Peter Forbes. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

A nicely produced abstract game. The pieces are shaped somewhat like 'Tetris' blocks, but with from 1-6 squares involved. The pieces are blue (in 3 shades) and pink (3 shades), and pieces are placed on the board scoring for themselves and any pieces they touch. However there are placement restrictions (beyond that imposed by shape) to make it more interesting.

Waddingtons Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Games. Published by Pan Books. 1984. Book. Excellent. £7

Author: The Diagram Group. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 19x13cm, 400 pages. A collection of games of all sorts except card games (which were in a separate volume). It is indexed and also has sections on choosing games by type, occasion, number of players etc. The types of game covered include: traditional board games from around the world, ball games, coin games, dice games, dominoes, chinese dominoes, marbles, party games, pencil & paper games, target games, solitaire games, tiddlywinks, word games and more.

Watch Your Step. Published by Spears. 1984. Box. Good. £0.75

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

Special notes: One stair piece missing - a home made replacement supplied. 2 other pieces creased but entirely usable. None of this affects play.

The board shows 6 stairways. The players spin a spinner and place a stair shaped playing piece on to the board, but it must fit with the other pieces already there and also support the feet of 2 people shown on the board. If this is not possible then as a penalty that player must take all the stair pieces on that stairway. The goal is to be the first player to get rid of their stair pieces.

Weltenbummler. Published by Hexagames. 1989. Box. Good, but corners taped. £12.50

Designer: Drakes, Jarvis, Walsh & Gluck. No. players: 3-6. Country: German, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Excellent game, originally published in the U.K. by Intellect as Worldbeater. Considerable skill required as you plan your route across the world, picking up job tokens along the way, either one or two such tokens from each continent, eventually getting to New York. On the way back each of these job tokens must be replaced and will score points, but there are also bonuses for getting back to Frankfurt quickly, so one must balance these two ways to score. Very clever movement mechanism.

Wettstreit Der Baumeister. Published by Kosmos. 1998. Box. Excellent. £14

Designer: Jean du Poel. No. players: 3-4. Country: German, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Auction based game in which the players buy a variety of building types which they build into their own city. The auction rules are novel, and there are restrictions on what may be built next to what which makes it quite tactical. In addition there are various bonuses at the end of the game, so there are a variety of strategies too. Players sometime get the chance to attack opponents’ buildings, but this can be protected against by building defensive buildings. I have house rules which improve the game further. I especially like this with 3 players. Highly recommended.

Wide World. Published by Parker. ca.1970. Box. Good. £6

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

Special notes: Box base slightly indented, one corner taped.

Different to the much earlier Parker game of the same name. Players travel around a map of the world collecting products from the countries visited. Uses a 'weather guide' plastic overlay which can affect the movement of planes. The game is essentially a roll and move race game with a few extras such as event cards for certain spaces, being able to slow down other players' planes by landing on them, as well as the weather guide.

Wing Commander. Published by Mag Force 7. 1995. Box. Good. £4

Designer: Jeff Grubb & Don Perrin. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Card game, two starter boxes, one Terran, one Kilrathi. This game based loosely on the space combat game popular on PCs. 120 cards illustrating fighters, crew and missions. Players captain spaceships and try to destroy their opponent. Players use power points to launch fighters, play personnel, etc. Fighters move and fight at various locations. A spaceship can be destroyed by two successful bombing runs, or forced to retreat if the player runs out of power points. This is a CCG, but these two starters are all you need to play.

Wolf In Disguise. Published by Ta-Te Wu Workshop. 2006. Box. In shrink. £11

Designer: Ta-Te Wu. No. players: 2-4. Country: Chinese, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Set on a farm the players are shepherds who try to manage their flocks the best. This is done by using a sheepdog to protect your sheep, but it is also permitted to set a wolf in amongst your opponents' sheep. However, the wolves all start disguised as sheep. This game is inspired by Sun Tzu's The Art of War - Stratagem 20.

Word Quest. Published by Abracadabra Games Ltd. 1986. Box. Good, but box lid slightly warped. £4.50

Designer: Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Word game in which players move around the tracks on a circular board landing on letter spaces, and get the chance to cross off letters from the quest word they were each given at the start of the game. Once all letters have been crossed off players race to the centre of the board in order to get the chance to answer a winning question. In order to cross off a letter a word is selected starting with the letter concerned from a dictionary included with the game, and the definition of that word must be given. The game also includes a 30 second timer.

World's Best Dice Games. Published by John N. Hansen. 1981. Book. Good. £4

Author: Gil Jacobs. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 22x15cm, 202 pages. A collection of over 100 dice games collected by category with discussions on strategy for the major games. The chapters cover: Introduction and History; Terms & Rules; Boss Dice; Liar Games; Qualification Games; Away Games - Low Ball; Scoring Sheet Games; Other Popular games; Selection Games; Games For Children; International Favourites; Probability; Glossary.

Wortersee. Published by Kosmos. 1998. Box. Excellent. £4

Designer: Manfred Ludwig. No. players: 2-4. Country: German, Desc. by Andy.

This is a word game in which a sea of letters is randomly set up in what is effectively a hexagonal grid. The letters are revealed and players have until an egg timer's sand runs out to spot words made up with adjacent letters and claim lots of the starting letter pairs with little markers. At the end players score 1 point for each letter in each word they spotted. There are extra letters for use with the English language rather than German too.

Yspahan. Published by Rio Grande Games. 2006. Box. In shrink. £26

Designer: Sebastien Pauchon. No. players: 3-4. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Set in 1598 in the Persian Empire, players are merchants who take the opportunities which present themselves to increase their wealth (gain VPs). This can be done by setting up souks in the market, sending goods to far parts of the empire by caravan, or investing in buildings which will improve their future options. The game uses dice, but these merely present the variety of options available to the players each round. The mechanics result in a very enjoyable mix of luck, strategic and tactical options which makes it very replayable. Highly recommended.

Zaxxon. Published by Milton Bradley. 1983. Box. Good. £2

Designer: Sega Enterprises Inc. No. players: 2 or 4. Country: Holland, Duration: 30 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Board game version of the early 1980s video game of the same name. Each player / team flies a mission with their planes to destroy an enemy target and fuel dump and then make a run on the dreaded Zaxxon, a well armed robot fighter. The game allows the teams to attack each other as well once on the final run and there are several obstacles which have to be negotiated too. Nice chunky plastic pieces.

And now for some books:

Book Title	Publisher	Author	Year	Type	Size (cm)	Pages	Condition	Price
Weak Two Bids	Probray Press	Brian Senior	1991	Soft	20x14	30	Good	£3
World's Best Card Games For One	Sterling Publishing Co.	Sheila Anne Barry	1993	Soft	21x13	128	Excellent	£2
How To Go Collecting Model Soldiers	Patrick Stephens Ltd	Henry Harris	1971	Hard	22x14	200	Good, but dustcover shows some wear	£4
Opening Leads	Robert Hale	Robert E Ewen	1993	Soft	21x13	220	Good	£5
Saving Lost Positions	B.T.Batsford	Leonid Shamkovich, Eric Schiller	1987	Soft	21x14	101	Excellent	£5
Popular Games Of Patience	Bazaar, Exchange & Mart	M. Whitmore Jones, Laurence Morton	~1920	Hard	22x15	166	Good, but speckling on some pages. 3^rd Edition.	£4
Fun For Your Family	Hutchinson	Eileen Elias	1955	Hard	22x16	127	Good	£8
Little Wars	Da Capo	H.G. Wells	1977	Soft	23x15	111	Excellent	£10
The Diamond System	Littlebury & Co.	Edgar Lynch	1948	Hard	22x14	57	Good	£7
The New Eleusis	Robert Abbott	Robert Abbott	1977	Soft	22x14	20	Excellent	£2.50
The Phoenix Dictionary Of Games	Phoenix House Ltd	J B Pick	1954	Hard	21x13	328	Excellent	£5
Improving Your Chess	EP Publishing	Peter Griffiths	1980	Soft	21x15	104	Good. Ex library copy. In plastic cover. Spine colour faded.	£1.50
Spellfire Reference Guide	TSR	Bruce Nesmith, Tim Beach	1995	Soft	21x14	384	Excellent	£3
All About Cribbage	Bailey Brothers & Swinfen	Douglas Anderson	1974	Hard	20x13	97	Good	£3
The Complete Book Of Patience	Faber & Faber	Albert Morehead, Geoffrey Mott-Smith	1950	Hard	21x14	192	Good	£2
Twentieth Century Standard Puzzle Book	George Routledge & Sons	A Cyril. Pearson	1907	Hard	19x13	571	Good - especially for its age	£13
Strategic Solitaire	David Berveiler	McFarland	1987	Hard	22x14	142	Excellent	£3
Backgammon	Prince Djoli Kansil	Victoria	1974	Soft	23x15	80	Good	£8
Win At Hearts	Joseph D. Andrews	Dover Publications	1983	Soft	21x14	102	Good	£10
Auction Bridge Complete	Milton C. Work	John C. Winston	1926	Hard	19x14	500	Good	£2.50
Games For Children	Faber & Faber	Marguerite Kohl, Frederica Young	~1950	Hard	20x14	191	Good	£5
Fireside Amusements	W & R Chambers	Unknown	~1890	Hard	18x13	128	Good - spine slightly faded. Signature on inside cover dated 1/1/09, but I suspect book is older.	£15
Wargame Design	S.P.I.	S&T Magazine Staff	1977	Hard	24x19	186	Good	£12
Military Modelling: The Art Of The Model Soldier	Argus Books	Graham Dixey	1988	Soft	21x15	191	Excellent	£5
Speed Chess Challenge: Kasparov vs Short	B.T. Batsford	Raymond Keene	1987	Soft	25x19	96	Excellent	£2
Winning Monopoly	Harper & Row	Kaz Darzinskis	1987	Soft	20x13	226	Good	£4.50
The Artless Gambler	Pelham Books	Roger Longrigg	1964	Hard	20c14	114	Good	£6

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