Mar 2005 Catalog

MNG-AJM Games and Collectibles

Mar 2005 Catalog

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

5 In A Row, published by Spear's Games. 1075. Box. Box shows wear. £3

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

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

90 Minutes, published by Sporting Connections. 1986. Box. Box corners taped. £6

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1-5. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Soccer game, with a nicely designed box in which the game is actually played. The pitch has been marked with small squares which are used for movement. The game is driven by cards and dice are used to resolve various actions. Four decks provided for actions, special situations, referee's decisions and determining exact direction of passes etc. Bryan Robson is pictured on the lid recommending the game, and the pitch-in-a-box is surrounded by adverts from real companies making it an attractive item.

A Shepherd And His Dog, published by Spear's Games. 1983. Box. Excellent. £7

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

Attractive game played on a hex grid showing a field with a sheep pen at one side and two gates on the far sides. One player controls the 5 sheep each with a realistic painted plastic model, while the other player controls a shepherd and his dog, again both represented by realistic painted figures. The sheep attempt to escape out of one of the gates, while the shepherd and dog try to force them into the pen, where they must stay once there. Players alternate moves but if a sheep is adjacent to the dog or shepherd it must move away from them.

Adel Verpflichtet, published by Avalon Hill. 1991. Box. Excellent. £11

Clever game in which the players attempt to obtain large collections of antiques. The antiques are represented by cards and include items such as Marilyn Monroe's lipstick and Sir Walter Raleigh's pipe. Each turn players simultaneously choose whether to attend the auction house to buy more antiques to go to a stately home. In the auction house players can either bid or try to steal money. In the stately home players can either put on an exhibition to gain points, try to steal from an exhibition or be a detective to catch any thieves. To do well you need to be able to work out what other players are likely to do, and act accordingly. Won the Spiel des Jahres 1990 in Germany. Recommended.

Alles Im Eimer, published by Kosmos. 2002. Box. Excellent. £14

Clever but good fun card game in which players start with a pyramid of buckets each, and they try to keep these intact. Card play involves leading a card in one of five suits and the next player plays 1-3 cards in the same suit whose total must exceed the previous player's total. After playing only one card is drawn no matter how many were played, but failing (or choosing not) to play means you lose a bucket of the current suit, and if other buckets are supported by that bucket then they go as well! Recommended.

Animal Tracks, published by Spear's Games. 1983. Box. 1 box corner taped. £7

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Childrens game (age 7+). A rather attractive tile laying game in which the players play path tiles (showing assorted curves, straights, cross-overs, dead ends etc) onto a 4x4 grid. Around the sides of this grid are 16 animal tiles (cows, hens, pigs and sheep). The objective is to play a tile which creates a path between two animals of the same type. Those two animals cards (which are worth various amounts) are then kept and will score at the end of the game. The animals which have been won are then replaced with new animals ready for the next player.

Axis And Allies, published by Milton Bradley. 1986. Box. Box shows wear. £28

Special notes: The box is somewhat battered around the edges, but is still whole. One German dominance marker replaced by a colour copy on card.

Second edition of this game that went on to become the best selling game in Milton Bradley’s Gamesmaster Series. A great strategic multi-player game of WWII which encompasses the entire globe. The game uses loads of plastic miniatures to represent the various forces (infantry, tanks, ships, carriers, fighter planes, bombers, subs etc). The five world powers involved in the conflict (U.S., U.K., Russia, Germany and Japan) have to work with their allies to ensure best use of production facilities and the various forces. Countries can even try to develop a super-technology (eg. nuke) to turn the tide of the war. Low complexity and great components make this a classic.

Back Spin, published by Binary Arts. 1994. Box. Excellent. £5

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

More a puzzle than a game - in the same category as Rubik's cube and those metal puzzles you have to take apart and put together with a cunning trick. This consists of a large plastic disk, each side of which has 6 sections which hold 3 balls each. The two sides of the disk can be spun separately, and the sections lined up with those on the other side and a ball transferred from one side to the other. The objective is to get all the coloured balls into sets as quickly as possible. Nice item for any puzzlers amongst you.

Baffled, published by Spear's Games. 1991. Box. Good. £5

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

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

Basketball Strategy, published by Avalon Hill. 1974. Box. Good. £6

Extremely clever, cerebral game (quite unlike any other sport game) which places each player as a manager of a Basketball team. The games are almost played like a war game, with each player represented by a counter that has things like Zones of Control.

Batman The Game, published by Paul Lamond. 1989. Box. Good. £3

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

Special notes: Box lid corners damaged

Film related, with half the players representing Batman and the other half, the Joker. Essentially a race game from your base, either the Bat Cave or the Axis Chemical Factory, to a secret destination and back home again.

Bells Of War, published by Silly Space. ca.1995. Box. Good. £12. Desc. by Andy.

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

Black Cannon, published by Parker Brothers. 1987. Box. Good. £10

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

Action game in which the players control ships which navigate around a board with two 3-D islands. The ships are large cardboard standups and attempt to retrieve some pirate treasure and get it back to their home port. However, other ships will try to stop them and do so by firing a miniature cannon. Should the cannonball knock the ship over then it is replaced with a raft on which the victim attempts to flee. The 3-D islands get in the way of cannon-fire and also ships can be positioned so that they show very little sail to the enemy making a successful shot much harder.

Blockbusters, published by Waddingtons. 1986. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Box corners taped. £4 2) Good. £5

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

Quiz game based on a very popular British 1980s TV programme of the same name. What makes this a little different is that it is designed for unequal teams - eg. 2 players on one team and 1 on the other. If a team gets the answer to a general knowledge question right (they are of the form: What 'A' is the highest male voice?) then that team gets to place a piece on a hexagonal grid, and the objective is to make a line of your pieces from one side of the board to the other. However, this is a longer path for the stronger team than the weaker team. Attractive and chunky hexagonal standup grid.

Blue And Gray Quad, published by SPI. 1975. Box. Good. £17

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

4 American Civil War battles in one set. There is a set of standard rules (4 pages) and then each battle has its own specific set of rules as well. The battles are represented at the operational level. One hex represents 400 meters and a strength point about 300 men. The four battles are: Shiloh (by Christopher J Allen), Antietam (by Thomas Walczyk), Cemetary Hill (by Edward Curran) and Chickamauga (by Irad B Hardy).

Blue And Gray II Quad, published by SPI. 1975. Box. Good - counters unpunched. £18

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

4 American Civil War battles in one set. There is a set of standard rules (4 pages) and then each battle has its own specific set of rules as well. The battles are represented at the operational level. One hex represents 400 meters and a strength point about 300 men. The four battles are: Chattanooga (by Frederick Georgian), Battle of the Wilderness (by Linda Mosca), Fredericksburg (by Joe Angiollilo), Hooker and Lee (by Richard Berg).

Brainline, published by Palitoy Bradgate. ca.1974. Box. Good. £4

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

Strategy game in which the players try to get their 4 pegs into a straight line with no opposing pieces in between. The game is played on a hexagonal grid. Pieces may be moved any distance in a straight line, but cannot jump another peg or land on another peg.

Buck Rogers The 25th Century, published by TSR. 1990. 2 copies available:

1) Packet. No polyhedral dice. Excellent. £4.

2) Box. With polyhedral dice. Good. £6.

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

Science fiction role playing game. The set includes: The Technology Book, The World Book, Characters & Combat Book, GM reference screen, 2 maps, 14 colour spaceship pictures with datasheets, 1 sheet of counters, 7 character sheets with colour pictures, and 4 planet datasheets with colour pictures.

Bulge, published by SPI. 1979. Box. Box good, counters unpunched. £10

Battle of the Bulge game at the divisional level. In this version of the Battle for the Ardennes 16 Dec 1944 - 2 Jan 1945 the Germans try to blast through the American lines and get as many units as possible off the W and NW edges of the map. Supply rules are a critical part of the system, as is the control of bridges. The rules are short, being only 5 pages long.

Busy Bees, published by Pavillion. 2000. Box. Good. £4

Special notes: Original rules missing, but a summary of them is provided.

Childrens memory game with a difference! There are 16 chunky plastic bee pieces which all look the same from above, but underneath they have different colour bases. The bees are places onto the circular board and players take it in turn to turn up two of the bees and if they are the same colour underneath they claim them. If they are different colours underneath then they are replaced and the next player has a go. What makes this more interesting is that the board unit has a motor in it which makes the bees vibrate and move around a lot, thus keeping track of which one is where is not so easy!

Caesar & Cleopatra, published by Kosmos. 1997. Box. Excellent. £11

Card game. Caesar and Cleopatra compete for the favour of various influential factions. This is done by card play and cards can be placed either openly or secretly. What adds interest is that you need to try to keep as many factions on your side as possible all the time as you don't know when each group will cast its vote. The cards are longer than normal playing cards. Part of Kosmos' excellent 2 player game range and thus comes in the fairly small square box.

Camel - The Game, published by R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Co.. 1992. Box. Good. £4

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

Promotional game made in the shape and design of an oversized packet of Camel cigarettes. The game itself is a variation upon Liar's Dice. Players are each dealt 6 cards, which can be any of the letters C,A,M,E,L or wild. Also provided are 6 dice showing the same symbols. Players in turn make a bid for how many of a particular symbol they reckon can be found in all players hands (but only their own wild cards) + two rolls of the six dice. Once noone decides to make a higher bid then the dice are rolled and a letter won. First to win all the letters (CAMEL) wins.

Candidate, published by Shaw Games. 1979. Box. Good. £18

Election game, based on the American electoral system. Played for a predetermined number of turns with a shorter 40 min game being quite possible. Each turn the players can choose two of three possible cards types to draw. Campaign cards give you votes in the state you currently are. Fundraising cards give you money which can be spent secretly. Dirty tricks cards allow you to hurt your opponents, but these can sometimes backfire.

Casino Roulette, published by Bell's. ca.1980. Box. Good. £8

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

An attractive and substantial roulette set. The roulette wheel is plastic, but 12 inches across and nicely made with a metal spindle so spins very nicely. The set also includes a betting mat, croupier's rake and 4 colours of chips.

Castle Risk, published by Parker Bros. 1986. Box. Box shows wear, 1 corner taped. £9

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

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

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

China Moon, published by Eurogames. 2003. Box. 2 copies available:

1) In shrink. £11 2) Excellent. £10

Players command a team of frogs on a lily pond attempting to collect the most beautiful flowers, to give them as a bethrothal gift. The board shows a track around the pond with various sidepaths, and with lotus flowers of various colours dotted along paths. Each player on their turn moves 3 frogs, either theirs or their opponents', 2 spaces each, ignoring occupied spaces. As well as collecting flowers, some spaces cause exchanges or even cause a flower to be dropped. Once all frogs are at the end of the track flower collections are compared, with values higher the more collected of the same colour.

Citadel Of Blood, published by SPI. 1980. Packet. Good. £10

Special notes: This copy has been nicely boxed by a previous owner.

Game from Ares Issue 5 (magazine not included). Exploration game, a direct follow-up to the exceptionally popular Deathmaze. Each player is a character who must explore the dangerous Citadel of X The Unknown. The board is made up of counters that get laid in front of the characters as they progress, making the game different every time. In the Citadel the characters will come across all sorts of monsters and traps, and gain lots of treasures - valuable and magical. The rules include both physical and magical combat.

Community Challenge, published by Co-Op. 1990. Box. Good. £4

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

Promotional item made by a supermarket chain, but extolling the virtues of care in the community, so players learn to do good deeds, help charities, and so on. The game is a ludo / parcheesi variant but with card play added on.

Crime Fighter, published by Task Force. 1988. Box. Good. £7

Rare Task Force item, a role-playing game based on TV police shows. This set contains: rules, 104 playing pieces, 12 geomorphic map boards, player reference cards and dice. The rules include some 'episodes' ready for you to run.

Cutlass of Fire, published by JMG Inc. 1993. Box. Good. £9

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Fantasy adventure game set in a maze. Players defeat monsters and return gems to magic skulls to score victory points. On the way useful items and spells will be discovered. At the start of the game points can be spent on various weapon and magic skills, which will allow the use of various items of equipment and spells. The maze is created at random, with large hexes showing what is in each room and which way you can exit and enter the rooms, and these are discovered as the game goes on. The game clearly doesn't take itself seriously with monsters like 'Living Whipped Topping' and the 'Scarecrow Assassin'. Includes 6 50mm figures for the characters which all look rather like ninjas. Basic but functional level of production.

Dark Future, published by Games Workshop. 1988. Box. Good. £18

Special notes: Includes 16 additional metal cars (some Matchbox) painted up to fit the theme. There may be a few detachable weapons missing (does not affect play).

British version of Car Wars really, again set in a Mad Max style future world. The set includes about 15 large road sections (each about 30 cm long), 4 plastic model cars and 4 motor bikes, to the same scale as Matchbox cars. The cars have a variety of weapons which can be attached. 6 page basic rules are included as well as a 100 page very comprehensive rules book which covers just about everything you could think of eg. mines, critical hits, rams and crashes, creating tracks, designing your own vehicles, scenarios, reference sheets etc.

Das Riff, published by Kosmos. 2000. Box. Excellent. £11

Unusual game of catching rare and colourful fish in order to breed specific new combinations. Colourful square reef cards showing fishes, sharks, coral, pearls and open sea are placed in rows, some face up and some face down. Players use their ships and worms (as bait ?) to explore the reefs, and obtain more boats, always looking to obtain breeding pairs which will produce young fish currently in demand. Play is quite tactical, but with luck in whether previously unexplored sea regions hold what is desired and in what worms become available. The game has a neat 'water-flow' mechanism which drives the replenishment of the tiles. Definitely an unusual one and well worth trying.

Decathlon, published by Avalon Hill. 1984. Box. Good. £7. Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Statistical sports game, using the Paydirt dice system, and originally made as Trackmeet (by Sports Illustrated). Great Decathlon stars compete against each other over 10 events, some requiring little more than a dice roll, and some require decisions, such as whether to make a safe attempt, or going all out for a personal best. The rules also cover fatigue and injuries as well.

Der Rattenfanger, published by Herder Spiele. 1993. Box. Good. £16

Lesser known game by this excellent designer. This is a cooperative game (all the players win or lose together) in which the Pied Piper has enchanted the town's children and lead them into his secret labyrinth. 4 brave children venture into the labyrinth and try to rescue all the children. Players take it in turn to roll a dice and choose any of these 4 children to move between the caves under the mountain. The network of caves is cunning and slowly forces you from one end right the way through to the far end and and then out. The players all lose if not all the children have been rescued by the time the caverns have been left. In the same series as the excellent cooperative game Sauerbaum.

Die Magier Von Pangea, published by Queen Games. 2001. Box. In shrink. £17

Fantasy themed game in which each player is a wizard controlling minions who wander around a world which often shifts around changing its layout. These minions produce goods which are used to purchase amulets from the agents of foreign wizards. Collecting these amulets and returning them to your wizard's tower gives you the ability to cast more spells and obtaining enough of them combined with a suitable number of goods wins the game. Some unusual mechanics combine to form a game which feels unique.

Dinoquest, published by McGowan / Magwood. ca.1980. Box. Excellent. £8

The players take the roles of archaeological teams and attempt to reconstruct dinosaurs from the bits they dig up. Game play involves moving around a track, dealing with various events as they come up and finding dinosaur parts. Sometimes you can raid another team's finds. Each player must use their resources wisely as they have only a limited supply of time and team members. Lots of bits, including 12 eight part puzzles formed from the dinosaur parts, 6 plastic dinosaurs, time chits, team member playing pieces, and even cups to store your dinosaur parts in. Some spaces require you to answer questions about dinosaurs from quiz cards, but you could easily drop this aspect of the game if so desired.

Doh-Nutters, published by Spear's Games. 1991. Box. Good, but box edges show wear. £7

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Ridiculous game which will have all but the most straight faced players (and spectators) laughing. Each player gets an elephant mask with a prehensile trunk. Each player also has 3 donuts of their colour which are placed on the board and players have to try to get all their donuts onto their trunk simultaneously. This is not easy, but nor is it impossible with a little practice. The rules don't specify how much you may interfere with other players' trunks! You could also use the components in a variety of party games of your own devising, eg. passing a donut from trunk to trunk.

Domination, published by Poor Boy Productions. 1987. Box. Box corners taped. £8

Limited edition of 1000. Strategy game in which the board shows 15 coloured regions in 3 colours, and the players try to dominate these using the presence of their counters, which come in two types - cubes and disks. Victory is either by dominating 4 areas of one colour or by reducing one's opponent to 3 counters left. The two types of counters move differently - the disks like chess kings and the cubes like chess queens. Pieces are captured by landing on them, and only the non scoring areas are safe.

Domino Rally, published by Action GT. ca.1980. Box. Good. £3.50

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

Special notes: Finish flag is missing. Not sure if all dominoes present (number not stated, but there are still 200+).

Box full of 'dominoes' intended for setting up in rows and knocking over. As well as about 200 dominoes in two colours there are two domino bridges and a loop the loop device to start things going. The dominoes are 1.8cm x 3.6cm in size and plastic with no markings (so no use for traditional domino games).

Dream Team, published by Abacus. 1997. Box. Excellent. £5

Card game, featuring characters from a world of fantasy. Players combine their creatures into a 'Dream Team' and take it in turn to pit their teams against each other in a game somewhere between ice hockey and a brawl (I have been told there is a difference :-) Special powers and special cards make the matches more interesting and less predictable. This is a reissue of the earlier game Power Play.

Eden, published by Kosmos. 2001. Box. In shrink. £13

Players must irrigate areas of land in the desert and try to form contiguous regions by taking over adjacent plots using a clever semi-forced take-over mechanism, which rewards the player who loses land with money. These contiguous regions are then cultivated to provide income and more victory points. The first player with 20 such victory points wins. A clever set of mechanics which results in a tight and interesting game. Recommended.

El Caballero, published by Rio Grande Games. 1998. Box. Excellent. £13. Desc. by Andy.

A strategy game of discovery, exploration and struggle for control. Players search for islands to produce gold and food. They protect their conquests with caballeros. The artwork matches that of El Grande, but the gameplay is quite different, and more intense and cut-throat than that game. Lots of scope for clever play and works well (possibly best) with 2 players too.

El Grande, published by Hans Im Gluck. 1996. Box. Good. £17. Desc. by Andy.

Designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich. No. players: 2-5. Country: German, Duration: 90 mins. Special notes: I can print out and laminate a set of English action cards to considerably ease play for an extra £4

Brilliant game, which was German Game of the Year 1996. The players vie for control of areas of medieval Spain, in order to score victory points for having the majority of caballeros at the three census points during the game. The game is driven by action cards, of which five are available each round and each player will get to select one. The more powerful actions allow less men to be added to the board, whereas the weaker actions allow more men to be placed. Players also have to play cards to determine player order (and thus the chance to get needed action cards) each round. Various other excellent mechanics make this one of the best German games of all time in my opinion. Highly recommended.

Elevation, published by Appletree Toys. 1983. Box. Box base & lid indented due to stacking. £7

Unusual game in which each player controls an elevator with space for 3 blocks. The elevators are on either side of 9 'storeys' and on each storey upto 5 blocks can be held. There are 7 colours of blocks which start randomly on the 9 storeys. Players move their elevators up and down loading and unloading blocks trying to make storeys hold a single colour. Achieving this scores a point. There are various restrictions to ensure the game doesn't become a stalemate too. Well constructed plastic board with chunky blocks.

Europa 1945-2030, published by Euro Games. 1998. Box. In shrink. £20. Desc. by Andy.

Interesting election based board game which covers the creation of the European Union from 1945 through the present day and extrapolating forward to 2030. At the start of the game there is no E.U. just lots of countries, some of which are more likely to join the E.U. than others. Players place their politicians into these countries and at the end of each turn any countries with enough politicians in join the E.U. providing the players with politicians can agree on a suitable coalition, and the coalition members score points and a large cardboard piece in E.U. colours is placed over this country. In addition some countries are predisposed to war, and players need to work to prevent it spreading out of control. Unusual game which works well.

Everway, published by Wizards of the Coast. 1995. Box. Excellent. £7

Fantasy roleplaying system based on images and symbols. The game is card driven - a fortune deck is explained in detail and different characters have different elemental strengths, unique to each character. Most unusual role playing item - worth a look at this price even if only to get inspiration for your own roleplaying sessions. The set contains: 90 vision cards, 26 fortune cards, source and quest cards, Guide to the Fortune deck, Playing guide, GMing guide, 12 character sheets, 12 pregenerated characters and 2 maps.

Fifth Avenue, published by Alea. 2004. Box. Excellent - unplayed. £17

Auction based strategy game based on developing Manhattan in the 1930s. Players build up neighbourhoods so as to be as valuable to themselves as possible. This is done by getting your skyscrapers adjacent to plots with shops. Cards are collected of various colours and these are used in auctions for the various plots, but the colour of cards used determines the plot which that player is bidding for, and in addition the lower the maximum value of any cards used to win the bidding the more building can be placed. Finally, everyone wants to get in on the free for all that is Central Park, where there are less restrictions.

Final Score, published by Lambourne. 1992. Packet. Good. £8

Statistical soccer game, with fairly speedy results, around 15 minutes per match. 16 all-time great teams included. Rules allow you to convert teams from Soccer Replay into this format. The game was designed to give a feel that individual players mattered, and give very descriptive and exciting highlights such as goalmouth scrambles etc, but with plenty of variety too. It also gives the players of the game more input into tactical decisions rather than being a pure replay system. This is mainly done by having the players make decisions on the formation to use throughout the game as well as making substitution decisions.

Flying Hats, published by Spears. ca.1970. Box. Good. £3

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-3. Country: British, Desc. by Eamon.

Dexterity game, with plastic bats upon which you balance the hats and then flip them onto the board, scoring points for the area where they land.

Football Widow's Handbook, published by Avalon Hill. 1972. Booklet. Excellent. £2

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

A booklet detailing everything (and more) an American Football illiterate person might wish to know about the game. It is written humorously and is quite an amusing read as well as being informative.

Fortune, published by Ariel. 1979. Box. Good. £12

Semi-promotional business game, made to a very high standard because several companies paid to be in it. A good game of manufacturing, wholesale and retail. Companies in the game include Prudential, Bovis, Woolworths, John Menzies, Brooke Bond, Shell and Guinness amongst others. Received a very good review in Games International. Game play involves buying machinery, fuel and computers, and procucing goods, which are then sold through various distribution channels. Advertising, insurance and consultancy can also be bought and shares in various companies can be bought. Players move around a track, but get quite a few choices as to what to do.

Four Scores, published by Spear's Games. 1971. Box. Good. £7

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

Tile placement game. The tiles are rectangular cards showing a diagonal line on each half, with each line being one of four colours. The board is a rectangular grid on which the tiles are placed, but with little pegs sticking out around which the tiles fit neatly and then stay in position. Players alternate tile play with the objective of forming either crosses or squares made up of all four colours. On completing one of these a scoring marker is placed at the centre of that cross or square to ease tallying up the scores at the end of the game.

Framed!, published by Gibsons. 1992. Box. Excellent. £7

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

Card game based on the movie business. The film sequence cards look like clips from reels of film, and must be placed in sequence to produce a complete film. However each of these cards has 3 clips on it which won't all be sequential, so these cards will have to overlap making the game more interesting. There are also action cards which can hinder other players or protect yourself from hindrance. Part of the Bepuzzled series.

Gangland!, published by Corglenburg. 1996. Box. Good. £13

Card game, 180 cards associated with the gangsters and mobs of the 1920’s. Each player collects together a gang of thugs, sharing their expertise on skills like Business Savvy, Muscle and Loyalty. Lots of interaction as the gangs try to outwit, outgun and outlive their rivals.

Geist, published by RoseKnows Inc. 2003. Box. Excellent. £30

Unusual game in which the players must catch 5 ghosts and take them to the underworld where they can be safely released. Play involves moving around a chequered and numbered board collecting Zingiberi (Zb) chits - actually rather nice poker chips in 9 denominations. When precisely the right amount of Zb have been collected then landing on the space with that ghost catches it. Before a ghost is taken to the underworld its catcher can use it to play a special ability on the opponents which will hinder them somewhat - the harder to capture ghosts having the nastier effects. Managing your pool of Zb so as to get the exact amount is quite a challenge, and requires quite a bit of planning. The game is very nicely produced too.

Geronimo, published by Omnia. 1976. Box. Good. £7

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

Special notes: 1 treasure card and one ’Destroy’ card replaced by photocopies, but this does not affect play significantly.

Players race to be the first to find Geronimo's treasure, which is hidden in the cave at the top of a cliff. As well as the board the box and a moulded plastic cliff are used to play on. The board shows a region of the Wild West, and the cliff has a number of slots into which climb cards can be placed to form ledges for the figures to climb. Each player controls an indian and two cowboys who are moved around the board, avoiding impassable areas and allowing cards to be revealed and then placed on the appropriate space. A player whose figure reaches such a card gets to claim it. Some will help one of your men climb Geronimo's cliff while others can be used to hinder an opponent's climber. Attractive 3D game.

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

1) Good. £6 2) Excellent. £7

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

Giganten, published by Kosmos. 1999. Box. In shrink. £22

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 good business game which I can certainly recommend.

Golferholics, published by A.L.E.M.. 1999. Box. Excellent. £7

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

Golf game with a large attractive board showing an 18 hole golf course. Also included are two special dice, one used to detemine progress while on the fairway and the other for short range shots. The playing pieces are nicely made flags. Game play is driven by dice and event cards and scores are recorded on very well made pads of score cards.

Grand Prix Championship, published by CPag. 1989. Box. Excellent. £7

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

Motor racing game. Huge racing track board and 12 really excellent model cars, over 5cm long and with moving wheels and attractive painted bodywork. The game is dice driven with the main choices being when to block and when to risk overtaking on coloured corner spaces as when this is done an event card specific to that corner must be drawn and acted upon for that car, These events range from extra movement, through no effect, to reduced movement, a missed turn for that car or a requirement for that car to make a pit stop.

Grapevine, published by Colmans/Games Workshop. 1985. Box. Good. £5

Promotional game made by Colman’s, who are most well known for their range of mustards, but here trying to promote the wine importing side of their business. Players must travel across Europe collecting wines, and ship them back to Norwich. The game uses event cards and various charts to resolve actions. The game was designed by the Games Workshop team.

Greyhound Race Game, published by Bob Edes Board Games. 1985. Box. Good. £7

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

Guerilla, published by Avalon Hill. 1994. Box. Good. £15

War based multi-player card game with some very good ideas. Players control the forces in a Third World independence struggle. Players secretly back either rebels or government but there are chances to score VPs by winning a battle even if it won't help your side in the end as it may give the player the use of a valuable resource such as an airfield. It is also possible for the U.N. to intervene and stop open warfare in which case the Secret Police come into their own... Bookcase box.

GURPS Supers - Deathwish, published by Steve Jackson Games. . Booklet. Excellent. £2.75

Adventure module for GURPS Supers. Intended for 500 point superheroes. The characters must investigate odd goings on at and around Deathwish rock concerts from coast to coast of the U.S.

Haithabu, published by Hexagames. 1990. Box. Good. £11

A unique variation of Chinese Chequers, but very well themed (Viking rivalry!), and uses graphics very reminiscent of Asterix the Gaul comics. A skilful abstract game, with wooden pieces. Players must control the bridges and avoid the traps as they move their men from island to island.

Halma, published by Glevum Games. ca.1920. Board & Box. Shows wear, some discolouration on box. £8

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

Special notes: Original rules (if there were any) are missing, but I have supplied a set with basic strategy info as well as extra pawns to play the 19 piece version.

Classic strategy game which was probably invented in the 1880s, and for some years was very popular. The objective is to get your men into the diagonally opposite home area faster than any of your opponents. Pieces are moved either one space at a time or by jumping over other pieces as many times as desired, which is clearly more optimal. This set has attractive period drawings on the board and box.

Hang On Harvey, published by Kingsley Paige PLC. 2001. Box. Good. £8

Played on a vertical playing area, which consists of two parallel sheets of clear plastic with many holes in them. Players have several pegs each which they place through the holes to suspend their 'Harvey', a man with hooked feet and hands, between the two plastic sheets. Players then take it in turn to remove one of their pegs (which will almost certainly change the way Harvey hangs) and put their peg in a different hole. The objective is to get your Harvey down to the bottom safely, rather than having him fall (in which case he gets restarted at the top). Interference with your opponent's Harvey is quite possible too.

Hard Line, published by Amherst Lodge Games. 1999. Box. Good. £4

Strategy game in which players attempt to make a winning line of 4 dice on the board. 16 dice (8 black, 8 white) are rolled once and don't get rerolled or turned over during the game. Players take a die and place it on the board in turn. There are several different types of winning line (all white, all black, straights, all odd, all even etc), so you have to be careful to watch for all the possibilities. Since the distribution of numbers will be different between games, the game plays differently each time.

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone Trivia Game, published by Mattel. 2000. Box. Good. £10

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

Trivia game with the questions all on Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. The game itself involves rolling a dice and moving around a track. Spaces require questions to be answered to earn charms. The first to earn 7 charms and get to the centre of the board wins. There are also curse and spell cards which can be used to hinder others and help yourself as well. The components include rather nice detailed plastic wizard hat playing pieces, and a special dice.

Heritage, published by Industrial Art. ca.1970. Box. Box shows wear. £5

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

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

High Hand, published by E S Lowe. 1984. Box. 3 Box corners split. £10

Interesting card game using cards laid out on a board, and moving your pawn around the board to collect the cards, forming them into as high as possible poker hands. The partnership game is definitely the better form of the game, as it has a clever scoring mechanism and also players start off playing for themselves but may choose a partner they think will win during the game, and they can then help ensure their partner does win. However, this is only worth doing if you are sure you yourself cannot win.

Highway, published by BMI. ca.1990. Box. Good. £6

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

Holiday AG, published by F X Schmid. 1990. Box. Excellent. £15

Clever game of the same general type as Acquire and Big Boss. There are five travel companies in which the players will gain shares, and each company has a line of 20 spaces onto which luggage markers are placed. Cards allow placement of the luggage markers, but the game is about trying to get strings of adjacent markers onto the companies you have shares in, while trying to ensure that those you do not have a stake in do not get long groups of markers, as the longest group of markers for each company at the end of the game determines the values of the shares. Recommended.

Honor Of The Samurai, published by Gamewright. 1996. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £11 2) Good. £10

Card game, with 110 top-quality cards, illustrated in colour with images of feudal Japan. Players are Samurai, in the service of their lord, with the intention of becoming the most honourable warrior in the land. This is done by building up armies, arranging honourable marriages, sacking other lord's castles, and also the use of less pleasant tactics such as employing ninjas to steal opponent's possessions or even perform a necessary assassination! The game also includes six special 6-sided dice, with symbols rather than pips.

Horoscope, published by Ariel. ca.1960. Box. Box lid indented by stacking. £6

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

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

IAGO, published by Spear's Games. 1984. Box. Good. £10

Intense word game for two players with time pressure a major factor. The board is a neat design which makes it especially easy to remove tiles from it. The letter tiles are double sided, and one player plays words blue side up and the other plays red side up. The objective is to try to keep more letters of your colour on the board than your opponent, but tiles can be stolen and reused and thus flipped over. Once you have more tiles than your opponent on the board then flip the sand timer and relax for a moment! Another display shows how many more times you have let the sand run out than your opponent. If this reaches the end of the scale you lose.

Igel Argern, published by Doris & Frank. 1996. Box. Excellent. £19. Desc. by Andy.

The title means 'Hedgehogs in a Hurry'. The players have hedgehogs (wooden disks with a cute hedgehog picture), which will race along a board showing six tracks. In the basic game a die is rolled and a hedgehog moved to the right or left before a hedgehog in the track rolled is moved. Special spaces cause hedgehogs to become trapped, and the first player to get three hedgehogs to the end wins. However, there are 40 variant games, some daft, some fairly serious, and you can combine the ideas to make exactly the type of hedgehog race you desire.

Island War, published by SPI. 1975. Plastic case. Good - 3/4 games unpunched. £17

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

Quad set from SPI, one of the rarer ones to find. Includes 4 games from WWII, in the Pacific theatre of war. Bloody Ridge (Kevin Zucker) - the Japanese attempt to re-take Guadalcanal; Saipan (Kip Allen) - the American invasion of the island in order to get their bombers within range of Japan for the first time: Leyte (Jay Nelson) - the American invasion at the very centre of the Phillipines: and Okinawa (Larry Pinsky) - the last great island battle of the war. The games use a 4 page common set of rules and each has its own specific set of additional rules. The games are ground combat simulations where one hex is roughly 1000 yards and a game turn 1-2 days.

Jeopardy, published by Milton Bradley. 1964. Box. Box corners split. £4

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-5. Country: American, Desc. by Eamon.

TV related. Third edition. Based on a popular American game-show (practically unknown outside the States), where players are told an answer and must give the question it relates to, as the answer, if you see what I mean! MB Game No. 4457.

Jump The Queue, published by Spears. 1989. Box. Good. £7

Race game in which each player has 5 different types of vehicle. A dice is rolled and this says which type of vehicle to move, often giving a choice. The selected vehicle is moved forward to the next free space ahead of it. Once past the finish line the vehicles score points - more points for the first of each vehicle type to arrive down to none for the fourth. However, the game ends when one of each vehicle type has finished, so not every vehicle will get to score.

Jungle Bungle Beetle Game, published by DaMert. 1992. Packet. Good. £1.50

Although called a game, this is actually a puzzle. There are 8 rectangular pieces, very colourful and attractive, and they must be laid out in a square, but with all the sides matching. It claims hundreds of possibilities but only one solution.

Karibik, published by Winning Moves. 2004. Box. Excellent. £15. Desc. by Andy.

Pirate themed board game which uses 3D cardboard ships (rather nicely made) to move around the board and collect pirate treasures and take them to each player's home base. There are 6 ships, but they are not owned, instead players secretly choose how to distribute their bid cards amongst the ships each round and the player who played the highest for each ship get to move it. The bidding cards also include a -1 which will never win, but reduces the amount of movement the winner for that ship can use. Some money is earned by collecting treasures, but rather more is gained by getting a treasure safely to one of your pirate hideouts. Very attractive game.

Karriere Poker, published by Hexagames. 1988. Box. Excellent. £6

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

Card game. Players win tricks (but with the twist that cards can be played in combinations besides being played singly - called a 'Climbing' game). Each 'trick' can be only one type of combination (eg. a pair), but players can keep playing higher sets until everyone passes. The objective being to get rid of all your cards. At the end of each round, all players will receive a title, from boss down to the dishwasher. Players change seats between each round in keeping with their 'status'. At the start of each hand players must swap some cards, such that the better positions get more favourable cards while the lower positions get the dross.

Kojit-8, published by Noetic Pastimes Ltd. 1980. Tube. Good. £8

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

Strategy game played on a large roll-up vinyl mat which shows a 6 pointed star made up of coloured circles with coloured lines joining them. Players take turn placing, moving or turning over pieces of various colours with numbers on them. The objective is to score points by making certain combinations, such as identical numbers, runs of numbers, etc on spaces of the same colour or spaces in a row. There are several variations to try out as well, such as one where additional types of play or scoring patterns are available when your scoring marker is on certain spaces on the scoring track.

Krimo, published by T Storey. ca.1935. Box. Good. £9

Card game, 60 cards representing four forces of policemen and eight crime cards. A trick-taking game. The holder of the Detective Card must retain it longer than the holder of the Guilty Card to win, and vice versa for the Guilty Card holder. Nice item.

Krone & Schwert, published by Queen Games. 2002. Box. In shrink. £23

Board game based on the theme of a medieval struggle for power by the designer of Carcassonne. The board is made up differently each time using geomorphic tiles. The land once made up is then fought over by the players who build towns and cities and then cathedrals and castles. One player is the King and may levy taxes, but the other players may start a revolt, and being on the winning side of a revolt will earn victory points. The game is driven by an action point and card system. Victory points are earned for towns, cities, cathedrals and castles as well as being King at the end of the game, along with VPs gained through taxes collected while King.

Labyrinth, published by Yang Chen Enterprise Co. Ltd. . Box. Good. £5

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country: Taiwan, Duration: 5 mins, Desc. by Andy.

A wooden ball maze in which you have two controls to adjust the angle of playing surface which will determine where the ball rolls. You try to navigate the maze without the ball falling into a hole. You score more the further you get. While this was made in Taiwan the company looks to be British and it is certainly made for the European (inc British) market.

Legend of the Five Rings - The Battle of Beiden Pass, published by Five Rings Publishing Group Inc. 1996.

Box. Good. £5. Designed by Alderac Entertainment Group. No. players: 2. Country: American, Desc. by Andy.

A box of goodies for the Legend of the Five Rings CCG. It doesn't contain what it is supposed to according to the box, but what it does contain is a selection of posters and articles on this CCG, 2 rulebooks and about 375 cards, roughly half green backed and half black backed.

Liar's Poker Scoring Game, published by Atlantic Games. 1998. Box. Excellent. £6

Special notes: Limited Edition. This is no. 00213 and is signed by the author.

This is a variant of Liar's Dice. The main differences are that instead of rolling dice, numbers are used from (pretend) dollar bills, and the way a bid which is thought too high is called is slightly different.

Longley Links, published by James Longley Group. 1991. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £6 2) Excellent. £7

Promotional golf game, made by an English construction company who noticed that many of their clients liked playing golf. As the company had just built a new golf course at Slinfold Park, they thought it appropriate to make a board game for their clients. It is a very basic concept, roll a die, move round the course, that sort of thing.

Mad Libs, published by Penguin Putnam Inc. 2002. Box. Good. £3

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

Card game. The cards show words categorised as nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. Players use their cards to form sentences which must be grammatically correct even if they are nonsense. Card play is similar to rummy with players drawing and discarding cards to get ones which will fit their requirements, and 'going out' when their sentences are complete. A variant allows players to request cards of a particuler type with a certain number of letters from their opponents.

Madeline And The Gypsies, published by Ravensberger. 1999. Box. Good. £7

Children's game (age 4+). Includes 32 very thick cards showing Madeline, Pepito, Gypsy Mama and Gypsy Clown. The first game is for 3-6 players, and players try to guess who is holding a particular type of card each round - since cards are only discarded if you guess correctly and put to bottom of your deck of 5 if you are wrong, after a while memory will give you an advantage. The idea is to get rid of your cards. The second game is for 2-4 players and is a tile matching game. Players each start with three tiles which only they have seen, and players take it turns to try to match one of their opponent's tiles with one of theirs, and are penalised by getting another tile if they are wrong - least tiles at the end wins. Attractive illustrations.

Manhattan, published by Hans-Im-Gluck. 1994. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £18 2) Good. £16

Excellent game of high-rise city development, in the edition that won the 1994 German Game of the Year. Players compete to build and control towers in 6 regions of Manhattan. Placement is by card play, but there are always a number of choices which need to be weighed carefully. At the end of each scoring round points are scored for control of each tower, most towers in a region and the highest tower on the board. The bits stack wonderfully making the game really attractive during play. Highly recommended. I can also provide a copy of the 'Godzilla' variant - please remind me!

Mertwig's Maze, published by TSR. 1988. Packet. Good. £14

Special notes: This copy has been neatly boxed, making it easier to store

Fantasy board game with each player striving to be the successor to Old King Mertwig. Tom Wham's graphics and the amusingly silly encounters ensure this is not taken seriously, but that it is an enjoyable experience. Players try to get a royal birthmark and a royal treasure before Mertwig dies, and you earn these by exploring the kingdom. Much of the game is encounter card driven, but there are also eight special areas each of which has its own A4 size card with instructions which must be followed to get through these areas and gain treasure and encounter creatures. The game was labelled with the AD&D logo, but has nothing at all to do with AD&D!

Metropolis, published by Ravensburger. 1984. Box. Good. £33

Excellent Sid Sackson game, beautifully produced as you would expect from this company. Players, in effect, zone a new town, by first acquiring plots of land and then building variously shaped buildings on the sites. Making deals with other players is an essential part of the game. The game is driven by the choice of which plot the current player wishes to claim, but there are clever rules (often mistranslated or misunderstood) which limit the ability to claim plots. The rules concerning the value of buildings when in the same area as other buildings seem complex but add to the strategy and tactics possible. Highly recommended.

Micro Machines Car Chase Board Game, published by Triotoys. 1989. Box.

Box base indented due to stacking. £8. Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Car chase game with a board showing an interesting circular network of roads. The objective is to drive fast and manage to overtake your opponents' cars, as if a car is overtaken it is eliminated. Each player gets 3 cars to start with. Each turn a dice is rolled for movement, which can be applied to any one of that player's cars. On coming to traffic lights one takes a chance and spins a special spinner, which may show red, not allowing further progress, or green and the directions you can choose to go. Alternatively a few times each game you can surrender a special token and go straight through the traffic lights without rolling. Novel idea. Sadly no Micro Machines miniatures are included with the game - they come separately.

Mid-Life Crisis, published by Game Works. 1982. Box. Good. £2

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

Adult humorous game putting players through the stresses of middle age. Players win by earning more money, less stress, and fewer divorce points, OR, by completely cracking-up and then they must go broke, get divorced and go insane before anyone else wins by the normal method.

Mikado, published by Origineering. 1976. Box. Good. £9

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

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

Millennium, published by Simulation Games. ca.1982. Box. Good, but box corners taped. £12

Futuristic space wargame in which one player plays the human empire and the other an empire of hostile aliens who want to expand into human star systems. The game is played on two boards, one strategic map for the overview of the war and a tactical one on which individual battles are fought. The rules cover 7 pages with an additional 5 pages of diagrams and examples.

Misfits, published by Spear's Games. 1964. Box. 1 box corner taped. £4

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Childrens game in which there are tiles which make up 12 characters, each having a hat, face, body and two legs. These characters must be made up starting with the head, and working down to the legs. The only matching rule is that the legs must match, and whoever plays the last leg claims that character. It is always possible to start or continue a different character though, so there is some tactical play. The character cards are such that the misfits created will generally be pretty amusing.

Mississippi, published by Mattel. 1987. Box. Good, but box edges show wear. £14

Unique race game. Players each have a boat which they race down the Mississippi. However, the mechanism is most unusual - the boat pieces (actually hexagons) have a number on each side, and on your turn you can either 'burn' logs by moving forward, or gain logs by moving backwards. However, after the initial move adjacent boats (in front, behind or even those around the bend but still adjacent on the board) will either be moved or cause your boat to move depending on the position of the numbers on the adjacent boats.

Mixtur, published by Cutting Edge. 1997. Box. Excellent. £3. Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players must gather the correct ingredients (angel's hair, troll's nose etc) in order to cast spells. The first player to cast all their spells wins the game. The spells have various effects, some amusing and some which will help you win. The cards all have a lot of German on, and so this is most likely to be of interest to players whose German is fluent. Thus I am not providing a translation of the rules since such folk will understand the German rules anyway...

Napoleon's First Battles, published by Decision Games. 1993. Box. Good - but counters unpunched. £11

Special notes: Photocopied rulebook.

Wargame quad which simulates four early Napoleonic battles: Montenotte, Arcola, The Pyramids and Marengo. All these battles use a base set of rules with some special rules for each scenario. Basic and advanced rules provided as well as detailed designers notes. Rules are included to cover Fog of War, and units are brigade and regiment size, and hexes represent 330m, and a turn is one hour. Includes 400 counters. The box claims high solitaire suitability.

National Pro Hockey, published by Sports Sction Game Co. Ltd. 1985. Box. Good. £10

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1-2. Country: Canadian, Desc. by Andy.

Statistical ice hockey game based on the North American NHL Pro Season 1985/86. Each of the teams in that league has a set of cards covering stats for each player (that's a lot of cards). The player (or players) take the role of the coach, making the decisions that a coach would in a real match for the teams. The game uses lots of ice hockey terminology and stats for different types of play. The rules cover 8 pages, but that includes both a basic and an advanced game.

Nightmare House, published by TSR. 1983. Packet. Good. £12

Special notes: Includes Ares Issue 15 which the game came with.

Gothic horror boardgame which pits one player (as the haunted house itself) against the investigators who must try to exorcise all evil from the place. Originally published in Ares magazine. The battle takes place on both the Astral and the Material planes.On the Astral plane the investigators advance along 12 axes of power weakening the psychic web powering the house. On the Material plane the investigators search for artifacts which will help them fight the house on the Astral plane while avoiding the terrors sent against them by the house. Can also be played solitaire.

Nippon Rails, published by Mayfair. 1992. Tube. Excellent. £16

Railway game in the Empire Builder family. The game comes with a laminated board featuring the islands that make up Japan. Players start with some money and use it to build tracks which are drawn onto the board using crayons. The tracks are then used to run trains to deliver goods and gain more money so that the network can be extended further. The game uses demand cards and event cards. Using the islands of Japan ensures a different feel to other games in the series.

No Room At The Zoo, published by Artstraws Ltd. ca.1990. Box. Good. £5

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

Players each have a selection of animals which they attempt to place onto spaces in the zoo. The zoo is divided into 4 sections, each colour coded, and within these sections there are several interlocking rings each of a colour of a different board section. When an animal is placed onto a space this will block off several other spaces, and the next player must play in the section indicated by the colour the last ring was played on. If there is no free space to play on then all animals in that section must be taken back into your hand. The winner is the first to place all their animals in the zoo, or if you play according to a friend of mine's house rule you can also win by collecting a certain number of animals.

Number Quest, published by Family Learning. 1997. Box. Good. £8

The board shows a diamond shaped grid of hexes showing the numbers 1-100. These are all colour coded in different sections of the board, with higher numbers being more difficult to make and so scoring more. Players take it in turn to roll 4 dice and use +, - and x operations on the numbers to produce a result which is hopefully an unclaimed space (eg. 6x4 + 3x2 = 30). Bonuses are available for completing an adjacent triangle of spaces and a larger bonus for doing so when a prime number is involved. Play continues until the numbers 1 and 100 are joined up by a continuous line of scored spaces.

Oceania, published by Mayfair Games. 2004. Box. New. £16

Special notes: This copy has been signed by the designer, Klaus Teuber.

Simplified version of Entdecker. The board shows a grid onto which sea tiles are placed. These tiles show a mix of sea and land which will join up to form an archipelago. The tiles also show ship routes through the islands. Players take turns to decide where to sail from and draw a tile, which may or may not fit. If it fits then a scout token can be placed to claim the island, and if it doesn't fit then the tile must be kept for use on a future turn. Fast playing and light, but with some interesting decisions and the way it manages to condense the essentials of Entdecker into such a short game is a credit to the designer.

Outrage! Travel Set, published by Imperial Games. 1993. Box. Good. £4

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

The players are challenged to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. However, this is a hard task as the security is such that you cannot take anything useful in with you, but must find suitable equipment as you wander the Tower looking like a tourist. Only then can you make an attempt at the theft, but you may end up in one of the jails, and have to escape using a disguise or perhaps get a Royal Pardon. Play is dice based with equipment cards needing to be collected and event cards adding variety. This set is a travel set with a miniature fold-out board and magnetic pieces.

Pennant Race, published by Avalon Hill. 1983. Box. Excellent. £14

Statistical baseball game. A great statistical game, which brilliantly lets you play a complete baseball season in a relatively short time. A single game takes about 3 minutes once you have mastered the formulas required.

Besides the games, you have to run the Minor League side, cope with injuries and, crucially, get the pitcher rotation right so that your star pitches at the most important game.

Perudo, published by Parker. 1994. Box. Good. £11

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

A nice version of Liar's Dice (also called Bluff in Germany), given a South American theme. An excellent dice game which requires considerable skill and judgement to play well. The idea is that each player starts with 5 dice which are rolled secretly and kept hidden under a cup. Players then make increasing bids on what will be on the dice under all the cups (eg. eight 4's). If a player does not want to up the bid then the previous bid can be called, and the dice are shown. Getting it wrong will lose you dice. This version has some slightly different rules to Liar's Dice / Bluff, but is essentially the same game. Recommended.

Philately, published by Dixon. 1973. Box. Good. £8

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

Very attractive game about stamp collecting. Masses of reproduction stamps add to the appeal of the game. Good interaction as most purchasing is done in an auction. Game play involves dice roll and movement around a complex track. Players will then buy, sell, swap, and inherit stamps or gain cash.

Pigs Trotters, published by Ravensberger. 1992. Box. Excellent. £7

Card driven game in which players attempt to collect the most food tokens. Five chunky coloured plastic pigs move around a track as cards of their colour are played. A pig always moves to the next free space in front of it, and if this moves it into the lead then the player who played the card gets a food token. However, the card players choose to play last must be carefully considered, as if this does not take that pig into the lead then that player loses all the food tokens claimed this round! Most food after three rounds wins. Rio Grande/Abacus released a card only version of this called Galopping Pigs/Schweins Galopp in 2000.

Point Of Law, published by 3M. 1972. Box. Good. £8

A courtroom case is read out to all the players who then decide what the judge and jury's verdict should be. Careful thought and picking up on clues in the case is important. Making the right deduction and thus making the right verdict is rewarded with points. There are 100 cases included in the game.

Pot Black Snooker Dice, published by Waddingtons. 1980. Box. Box taped up, contents fine. £8

Snooker based dice game. The game includes a plastic, beize covered, snooker table shaped dice rolling tray, a well made wood and metal snooker scoreboard, 6 special dice and 1 regular die. The rules explain the real game of snooker as well as how to play this game. Essentially 3 special dice are rolled when trying to pot a red, and the result indicates whether you potted it, how well you positioned yourself for the next shot, or if you committed a foul. Following up on a colour involves deciding how much risk you wish to take. There are also special rules for attempting to snooker your opponent and clearing the colours at the end of a frame.

Presidential Election, published by JKLM Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £12

In the race to the White House, the two players represent Democrat and Republican candidates aiming to sway the voters and win the American election. The game uses two sets of dominoes along with playing pieces and tiles. Players use the dominoes to both move their pieces along a track and also play them to form the track itself. The track can be several dominoes in height and is divided into different scoring zones. Each player has policy markers which must be advanced along the track, and these can score well either by being moved a long way along the track or by being on top of many dominoes. Intriguing idea.

Pyramania, published by M.W. Productions. 1989. Box. Good. £10

Most unusually packaged 2 player strategy game. The box is rectangular, though deep, and inside the board is held in a pyramid shape by a plastic pyramid cover. The game bits are small, medium and large pyramids. The game itself involves moving small pyramids around a square grid, and when four are together in a square a medium sized pyramid is placed over them, and can be moved as a single piece. The winner is the player who first combines four medium pyramids to form a single great pyramid. Unusual item.

Race To The Roof, published by Ravensberger. 1988. Box. Good, but one box side discoloured. £6

Childrens game (age 5-10). Simple roll the dice and move your piece game, but with two neat ideas. The first is that the board shows only the attic of a house and its walls - before the game starts the players arrange the large room tiles in the house however they want, thus making the layout different each game. Also each of these tiles has a very detailed picture of that room, and if a player lands on a special space they draw a card and must search for the item depicted somewhere on the board. They then move their playing piece to that room and continue from there! Very attractively presented.

Railroader, published by Waddingtons. 1963. Box. Good. £40

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

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

Rare Species, published by Spear's Games. 1985. Box. Good. £4

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

Conservation game featuring David Bellamy on the rules book. Memory game in which there are twelve rare species each with a male and female card. Players move around a track landing on face up male cards and try to pick the female from the face down cards. If right it is kept face down in a bamboo cage on a smaller board each player has, otherwise it is replaced face down. In a similar way it is also possible to claim the male when you already have the female. The player with the most breeding pairs at the end wins. The rules booklet also includes information about the 12 rare species featured in the game.

Retro, published by Minden Games. 2000. Booklet. Excellent. £4

Unofficial set of variant rules for owners of Squad Leader or Advanced Squad Leader. The 48 page booklet significantly simplifies the armour and morale rules as well as the sequence of play It also adds a new idea 'hesitation' which replaces most of the defensive fire rules. Designed for players wanting to play solitaire or to play (A)SL with less rules overhead.

Rifts Index & Adventures Vol 2, published by Palladium. 1997. Book. Excellent. £2.75

Supplement for the Rifts science fantasy role playing game. The first half of this book is an index of Rifts items printed by Palladium. The second half of the book contains a selection of short adventure ideas as well as 4 longer scenarios.

Round The Bend Labyrinth, published by Vic-Toy. ca.1977. Box. Box battered, contents good. £4

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1+. Country: British, Duration: 5 mins, Desc. by Andy.

A nicely made ball maze in which you have two controls to adjust the angle of playing surface which will determine where the ball rolls. You try to navigate the maze without the ball falling into a hole. You score more the further you get. This version is plastic, but nicely made and with more sensitive controls than many other versions.

Rubik's Illusion, published by Unknown. 1989. Box. Good. £6

Highly original abstract game. The mirror inside the plastic box lid is placed so that the board is reflected in it. This, in effect, doubles the playing area. A line of five pieces wins, but this can be an actual line of five, or a mixture of real and reflected pieces. Amazing concept!

Save Your Planet, published by Abel Games Ltd. 2000. Box. Good. £10

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-5. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Each player is an important diplomat representing an entire continent, and must attempt to save the world from potential disasters (alien invasion, asteroid collision, nuclear war, giant volcanic eruption or global warming). This is done by flying around the world and collecting solution cards, which each help against some of these, but not all. Various lesser problems will need to be resolved along the way, and when you have sufficient solution cards for the most pressing disaster you can return to the United Nations with your solutions and win the game. Includes plastic aeroplane pieces and a special dice.

Scottish Highland Whisky Race, published by JKLM Games. 2004. Box. 2 copies available:

1) In shrink. £20 2) Excellent. £18

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.

Seaquest, published by Origineering International. 1975. Box. Good, but box edges show wear. £15

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

Naval battle game in which 2 players or teams of players control fleets of ships. The ships are large and plastic and add to the game considerably. The ships stay on either side of a large smoke screen in the centre of the board, but move around and can fire into the other side, as long as they are still within range (thus giving information away about their location). Different ships need to be hit a different number of times before they sink. Submarines can cross over into enemy waters to attack, though remain hidden from their enemy, but can be attacked with depth charges. Nice item.

Sherlock Holmes The Card Game, published by Gibsons. 1991. Box. Excellent. £7

Card game, 108 cards with pen and ink drawings reminiscent of the period and the books. Published to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the first Sherlock Holmes story to appear in print. Rather a nice game that requires you to arrest various suspects or to avoid arrest yourself with one of the Villain cards in your possession. The game involves playing cards - each card can be followed by various other types of card, leading Holmes through his investigation of the case.

Shit!, published by Adlung Spiele. 1996. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Mint. £3 2) Excellent. £2.50

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

Shooting Soccer, published by Chad Valley. ca.1980. Box. Good. £9

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

Solidly made action game in which each player uses a pair of sprung flippers to defend their goal and send the ball towards their opponent's goal. The board, flippers and stand are all made of plastic, but surprisingly sturdily, and this is a necessity as during the game you will get quite frantic keeping the ball from your goal. A sort of cross between pinball and air-hockey. Great fun for all ages.

Silverton, published by Two Wolf. 1991. Box. Excellent. £25

Very nice train game, with a number of original ideas. Set in the gold rush days of Colorado in the 1880's. Players must build rail networks to connect to mines, and get the ore to the markets. Includes solitaire scenarios and lots of variants and optional rules. Players can decide how long a game they want by deciding how many turns to play for at the start of the game. I can supply my house rules and the setups and optional rules I prefer to play with. Recommended for train game fans.

Snakes In The Grass, published by Peter Pan. 1969. Box. Good. £7

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-4. Country: British, Duration: 10 mins, Desc. by Eamon.

Fun action game. Plastic balls are placed in a shallow tray and players must try to pick them up by using their snake, a plastic, segmented, wobbly thing which seems to have a mind of its own!

Soccer Manager, published by Capri. 1976. Box. 2 Box corners split. £7

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

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

Soccer Replay, published by Lambourne. 1992. Packet. Good. £13

Special notes: This set is boxed and includes the 1986/87 teams + Champions supplement (18 top teams from 70s and 80s) + Best of Europe supplement + Short & Long Game variants

Excellent statistical replay game. The game system allows soccer matches to be replayed realistically and quickly (15 mins per match), with stats for each of the players for the teams provided, and different home and away attack and defence ratings. A neat system is used to determine the time interval between potential goal chances. Action cards are used to resolve these decisive moves, and a referee's chart resolves possible fouls and sending off.

Soccer World Soccer Game, published by MY. ca.1995. Box. Good. £8

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

Soccer game with 10 players, large scale footballers who can actually kick the ball by a lever mechanism built into them. Played on a large felt-type pitch. Besides the players and pitch, it includes goals, a scoreboard a spare ball, a miniature F.A. Cup, and a mechanism that can be attached to the goalkeepers so that they can move to and fro in front of goal. No rules, but probably never had any as the reverse of the box pretty well illustrates assembly of the contents and I think they assume you can play a game of football from there on in.

Sorcerer's Cave, published by Gibsons. 1980. Box. Good. £24

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.

Space Trader, published by Abbey Games Ltd. 1985. Box. Good. £10

Space based business game in which the players attempt to be the first to gain a fortune in gold bullion and 'vertex'. A vertex is 5 units of a single mineral commodity eg. Uranium or Diamonds. Players move along various paths through space using dice rolls, and some spaces have their own instructions. The board depicts an odd mixture of the galaxy and the solar system through which the players travel. Rules are included for hyperspace jumps, a black hole, purchasing space stations, dealing with space pirates and the dreaded tax collector.

Speed Circuit, published by Avalon Hill. 1977. Box. Good. £17

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

Well regarded motor racing game with miniature metal racing cars and three courses to race on. Each player customises their car by spending points to improve start speed, top speed, wear characteristics etc. Cars accelerate or brake as desired each turn, within the car's capabilities, and only when these or cornering speeds are exceeded are wear points taken and / or chance dice rolled. The game includes many features in much more modern motor racing games, with some nice ideas of its own (especially being able to customise the cars).

Star Trek DS9: The Board Game, published by Component Game Systems. 1998. Box.

Good - contents unpunched. £12. Designed by Andrew Smith, George T. Henne Jr, C. Henry Schulte.

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

Star Trek DS9 game in which up to four factions (The Federation, The Maquis, The Cardassians and The Dominion) vie for control of the wormhole. The playing area is constructed out of large hexes showing areas of space. Victory can be won by military or economic means or even by completing a special mission. The game uses colourful counters, cards with various effects, special dice, and each faction also has a board detailing its special abilities etc. This game is compatible with the Star Trek TNG game by the same company, and also starter packs were made to allow extra players to play using additional factions. The basic rules are not long - though there are lots of optional and variant rules which can be used if desired.

Star Wars - Escape From The Death Star, published by Kenner. 1977. Box. Box shows wear. £7

Each player races his characters (Luke + Leia or Han + Chewbacca) through the Death Star, picking up good or bad 'Force' cards on certain spaces. Once at the Millenium Falcon they must fight their way across some Tie Fighters to win the game. This was released at the same time as the first Star Wars film.

Stock Ticker, published by Copp Clark Games. ca.1970. Box. Good. £8

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

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

Sunken Treasure, published by Mattel. 1990. Box. Good. £14

Treasure salvaging game with amazing bits. The board is 3-D with reefs, islands, and a transparent gridded surface of the sea. In the sea are magnetic openable treasure chests concealing 1-4 gold pieces. Players move their chunky magnetic ship around the sea and it will pick up a treasure chest it passes over. It must then be navigated back to its home port avoiding reefs and the sea monster (a wonderful plastic model). Sailing over a reef is possible, but will lose any treasure the ship has, as will being attacked by the sea monster. First player to get 10gp back to their port wins.

Supremo, published by Tower Pursuits Ltd. 1989. Box. Good. £7

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

Monopoly style game in which playing pieces move around a track and purchase business 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 interest is that all the businesses are real business in the Birmingham (England) area, and they have all clearly paid to have their adverts put on the board!

Suzerain, published by TimJim. 1993. Box. Excellent. £14

Card game with each player having a board on which to build up their empire. This board shows five levels, forming a pyramid. Players start with just a ruler on their board and 5 cards in hand. Each round players take it in turns to play cards or pass. These cards can build up your empire in various ways, damage other players' empires or cause you to go to war with another empire. One way of gaining power is to marry an eligible prince or princess into another empire's royal family – the spouse then comes and strengthens your empire. The objective is to build up your pyramid of cards and be the first to have two royal couples and produce an heir wins.

Tabloid Teasers, published by Pressman. 1991. Box. Excellent. £14

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-6. Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Updated version of a traditional parlour game. Players take it in turn to be the moderator, who reads out part of a real newspaper headline, and the others fill in the blank and submit their entries to the moderator who reads each in turn along with the real headline. Eg.: '400000 year old mammoth tooth found in ____.' Players then guess which the real one is, and points are scored for guessing correctly and also for having another player guess your invented answer. Good fun, and lots of laughs!

The Battle Of The Bulge, published by Avalon Hill. 1991. Box. Good. £10

Third edition. The famous WWII encounter in the Ardennes in December 1944, when the American Commander responded “Nuts!” to the German order to surrender. The basic game rules are only 2 (large) pages long, but a supplementary book adds to this for tournament games, extra optional rules and a selection of scenarios of different lengths requiring different optional rules. The Battle Book also contains lots of historical information and details about weapons available etc.

The Battles Of Bull Run, published by SPI. 1973. Box. Good - mostly unpunched. £8

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

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

The Challenge, published by Lion Rampart. ca.1990. Box. Good but box shows some wear. £18

Fantasy game in which each player runs a rival party of adventurers. The players take it in turn to have one of their characters attack one in another party. Initially all the characters are face down, so you don't know who you will be attacking. Weapon cards, magic cards and special effect cards are played to perform the attacks, and various magic items etc provide benefits. Points are scored for eliminating opposing characters. There are 30 different characters and over 100 magic and weapon cards. The rules include a (very) basic game as well as the normal (advanced) game.

The Compendium Of Games, published by Guild Publishing. 1989. Box. Good - contents excellent. £9

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

This is a boxed set containing a selection of games bits eg. chess / backgammon board, chess & draughts pieces, dice inc. poker dice and 2 packs of playing cards. However, the most significant item by far is a 283 page colour illustrated hardback book of games with the same title. It has rules to over 100 games, not all of which can be played with the components supplied. So you get a feel for the scope of the book here are the contents: Card games: For 1 (x13), For 2 (x15), For 3 (x5), For 4 (x12), For 5+ (x7); Party Games (x7); Banking Games (x11), Board & Tile Games (x10), Dice Games (x15), Roulette. The intro says it is the best of Hamlyn Illustrated Card Games and The Illustrated Book of Table Games. Very good book.

The Complete Hoyle's Games, published by Wordsworth. 1989. Book. Excellent. £9

As the cover says: 'An excellent reference book for traditional card games, board games, billiards, darts, shove ha'penny, snooker, dominoes etc.' This is a hardback book with about 480 pages, This is a version of the reference work which was started in 1742 by Edmund Hoyle, but it has been updated and enhanced over generations by successive editors. It includes just about all the classic card games, as well as chess, draughts, backgammon, halma, go-bang, and even games played on a billiards table, and darts board. A very useful reference work.

The End, published by Scapegoat Games. 1995. Book. Excellent. £5.50

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

The Farming Game, published by Weekend Farmer Company. 1979. Box. Good. £7

Players acquire plots of land and plant a variety of crops in the hope of getting a good return come harvest. However, with each harvest comes the unavoidable costs of farming (fertilizer, equipment breakdown, purchasing new seeds, etc.). Players move their pieces around a track and the spaces drive the game. The first player who has a total net worth of $250,000 wins the game. Assets tokens are actually peelable and can be stuck onto a player's fields during the game.

The Flight Of The Goeben + Chicago Chicago, published by SPI. 1970. Plastic case. Good. £12

Special notes: The box lid is made of a brittle plastic and is delicate with some cracks around the edge.

Double game, which also includes a copy of Strategy & Tactics magazine Issue 21. The Flight of the Goeben simulates the actions of the German battlecruiser Goeben and lightcruiser Breslau in the Mediterranean during World War I. Rules are included for both a strategic and a tactical version of the game. Chicago Chicago simulates the riots of August 1968 in Chicago, with one player controlling the police and the other the rioters. The objective is to get 'good press' rather than eliminate the opposition. The other main articles in S&T 21 are: North Africa - The British Army and Invasion (a war game from 1889). The plastic case includes a built in counter tray.

The Flintstones Game, published by Triotoys. 1990. Box. 2 box corners taped. £4

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

Special notes: Box somewhat indented due to stacking

TV related. Fred and Barney decide to take the day off work to go fishing, but first they must get their families safely home. To do this you will have to visit a number of locations such as the zoo, the bowling alley etc, and play out the cards you were dealt, as well as collect appropriate family cards. A dinosaur wanders around and can mess things up. Some cards are played on opponents. Colourful board with standup counters.

The Full Monty, published by Susan Prescot Games. 1998. Box. Mint. £3.50

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

Film related, aimed at adults who won't mind stripping off during the game. Other penalties/actions in the game mean you need to be pretty broad-minded to play.

The Glory, published by Genesis. 1988. Box. Good. £12

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 3 hrs, Desc. by Andy.

Privately made game. Each player represents a great European power in the mid-nineteenth century vying for supremacy. Players have to look at things both from a military commander's point of view, positioning forces ready to attack, and planning with potential allies, but also from a King's viewpoint where keeping the people happy and keeping yourself popular are important too. Involves negotiation and knowing when to break allegiances too. Bookcase box

The Honeymooners Game, published by TSR. 1986. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £3 2) Mint. £4

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

TV related. Box lavishly illustrated with pictures of Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, the star of the show. Over 100 cards supplied. Players move their pieces around the board with the objective of collecting special cards from each of the corners. Then players return to Ralph's appartment and attempt to obtain other cards. Play is by playing cards and when moving onto a space a matching card can be played to move again.

The Key To The Kingdom, published by Waddingtons. 1990. Box. Good. £6

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

Special notes: Box slightly indented due to stacking, but contents unused.

Fantasy game with a board that changes shape (there are 6 different boards that change as the game progresses). Plastic miniatures as playing pieces and one of the few mainstream games to use 8-sided dice. Players must enter the Kingdom and discover the Key, hidden in one of the special locations, each of which involves a mini-adventure to get to it (such as the whirlpool, the stepping stones, or the sleeping giant). Food end equipment is needed to survive. Failed adventurers end up in the dungeon. Ultimately the other adventurers could prove just as troublesome as the perils of the Kingdom itself.

The Lonely Mountain, published by ICE. 1984. Box. In shrink. £30

Tolkien based fantasy board game. This game is set in Smaug the Dragon's lair, some time earlier than events in The Hobbit. Each player controls a group of adventurers who attempt to sneak in through one of the minor entrances and steal as much loot as possible before Smaug wakes up, discovers the intruders and kills them all! There are various ways out, but the longer one takes to get out the more likely Smaug will be able to exact his revenge. Game play involves exploration (possibly splitting up your group), searching for valuables, combat (missile, melee and magic) and deciding when you have enough treasure and head for exits.

The Madame Tussaud's Board Game, published by Spear's Games. 1990. Box. Good. £5

Board game no doubt made as a souvenir for visitors to London's famous Madame Tussaud's waxworks museum. The game itself has cards showing many of the famous people who have their likenesses in the museum. Players are dealt mini cards showing these people, and they must collect the larger cards with the same people on them. This is done by moving around the museum and collecting them. However, it is also possible to get cards off other players by 'bumping into them'. Finallly there are several 'Jack The Ripper' cards with no matching cards - these need to be palmed off onto another player.

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