Mar 2007 Catalog

MNG-AJM Games and Collectibles

Mar 2007 Catalog

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

1500 Gold, published by Ragnar Brothers. 1995. Box. Good. £5.50

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

221B Baker Street - The Time Machine, published by University Games. 1997. Box. Excellent. £9

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

Sherlock Holmes uses a time machine to tackle the 20 most baffling real life cases of the 20th century. Game play is similar to the standard 221B Baker St Game, and involves moving around the board getting clues from locations, which will eventually allow you to answer the questions posed at the start of the case. Each case is fairly involved. The board design is completely different in this version to the standard version, and the cases are completely different. A good family detective game.

3 Up, published by Airfix. 1971. Box. Box shows wear, contents still sealed. £2.50

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

Players take turns placing their pieces onto the board with the objective of completing a stack of three pieces of their colour. As well as placing a piece, one of your pieces may be moved each turn as long as it is on the top of a stack.

5 Star, published by Spears. 1984. Box. Box shows wear. £8.50

This game was a huge success in France in the early 1980’s, and this is the only English language version. Players are entrepreneurs with different objectives. They must achieve their individual goals, as well as accumulate a set amount of wealth, and finally, they cannot claim a victory until they have played out all of the Chance Cards in their possession. Players move around a track which gives a variety of options which allow players to help themselves or hinder other players. Wooden components.

6 Mal 6, published by ASS. ca.1970. Box. Good. £2

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

Cards are played in your row on the board and when the board is full columns are reckoned up - the lowest value in the row having to pay penalty chits.

Ace Handicap Golf, published by EMS Home Products Ltd. 1975. Box. Good. £5.50

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

Special notes: Box colour is faded along two sides, and the base is indented.

Golf game with two large boards, and fairly simple rules which use a chart to indicate the distance and direction of each shot. However, most unusually a 14 sided dice is used to determine the result of each shot, with the sides having various letters on them which refer to the entries in the charts. The game is recommended by Tony Jacklin, who is pictured on the box.

Ancient Board Games, published by Michael O'Mara Books Ltd. 1996. Book.

Excellent, but 1 throwstick missing. £10. Designed by Irving Finkel. No. players: 2.

Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 10 pages, 30x32cm. This book by one of the curators of the British Museum is actually a fold out and play games set - the pages are thick card, and there is also a reclosable packet containing components with which to play the games. The games are: Senet, Mehen (The Snake Game), Hounds & Jackals, and The Royal Game of Ur. There is also some historical background on the games as well as some variants you might like to try.

Ark, published by Rio Grande Games. 2005. Box. Excellent. £11

Card game with the usual excellent Doris Matthaeus graphics. The theme is Noah's ark and players take it in turns to add in animals to the ark. This is done by playing cards which show the animals with symbols to indicate characteristics such as size, carnivore / herbivore, shyness, slowness or misc special abilities. The ark is divided into two halves and care must be taken not to overbalance it. Also no harm must come to any of the animals or provisions, so there are quite a few restrictions on what can be played where eg. only one carnivore per compartment, and it must be the smallest of the animals there. Shy animals won't even go into a compartment next to one with a carnivore in!

Arkham Horror, published by Fantasy Flight Games. 2006. Box. In shrink. £32

A rework of the classic Lovecraft based board game. This edition is wonderfully produced with a big board showing sites in and around Arkham, as well as over 350 cards with assorted events, monsters, items etc which the investigators can encounter. The objective is to obtain equipment and knowledge in order to close the gates to realms of terror which are popping up around Arkham. The game is cooperative in that the players can all win or all lose, but each investigator can do their own thing. Eventually if the gates are not stopped, one of several ultimate evils will rise and unless the investigators can pull off a miracle Arkham is doomed!

Ars Mysteriorium, published by Hangman Games. 2005. Box. New. £26

As apprentice alchemists the players see who can earn the most money by gathering basic elements (eg. Brimstone, Verdigris, Salt, etc) from various suppliers and then using them in alchemical recipes. At the end of the game monetary rewards are paid out for sets of recipes and the most successful alchemist will be declared a Master. Game play involves deciding how to deploy your 'favours' amongst the shops and the masters each turn and making the best use of the elements you manage to gather.

Automania, published by Livingstone. 1991. Box. Mint. £7.50

One of the two limited edition games (1,000 of each) by this privately owned company. Players must sell cars and maximise their profits in the markets of various countries. Card play and competitive advertising provide interaction,

and players can play event cards to help their own positions and hinder others. Box and components made by Ravensburger so their quality is high.

Axis And Allies, published by Hasbro Avalon Hill. 2004. Box. Excellent. £27

Fourth edition of this classic light wargame. A great strategic multi-player game of WWII which encompasses the entire globe. The game uses over 360 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. Updates from previous versions include two new unit types and new victory conditions.

Ballon Cup, published by Kosmos. 2003. Box. Excellent. £11

Part of Kosmos' excellent small square box two player series. In this game the players play cards of five different colours next to terrain cards either on their own side of the table or on their opponent's side. Each piece of terrain represents a part of the race and cubes are placed on it which are both the prize and also indicate what colour cards must be played at that terrain. The cards are also numbered, and low numbers do best over the plains while high numbers are needed to traverse the mountains. As cubes are won players get the chance to trade them in for victory cups, and the first to claim three such cups wins the game.

Basic Acol, published by Unwin. 1981. Book. Good. £2.50

Softback, 19x13cm, 112 pages. 4th edition. Bridge book describing the Acol bidding system using 44 tables. The idea is that this can be used as a quick reference or reminder for the entire Acol system. While learning Acol from scratch from this book is entirely possible, it is not really what it is intended for - better is to use another book to learn from and then use this as a quick reference.

Battlegame Book 3: Galactic War, published by Usborne. 1983. Book. Excellent - unpunched. £7

Laminated A4 paperback book with 40 pages. About half the book is informational, giving information about the solar system and the history of space exploration. The other half of the book details 4 simple space wargames, each with a double page board. Counters for each game come with the book as well. The games are: Space Pirates (Each player sends out a ship to collect ore and return with it to earth); The Deadly Planet (Move around the board and try to be the first to get to your 4 target spaces); Invasion Earth (The Ganoids try to colonise the Pacific Oceanbed, while the Earth player must stop them); Galactic War (The Krul and Stellar Federation send out fleets of spaceships to conquer each other).

Battleplan No. 7, published by 3W. 1988. Magazine. Good. £1

Substantial wargamers magazine, with many articles of interest and originally came with a complete game (now missing). Articles include: Tank Leader scenarios, Variants for Shogun, Ancients Scenarios, Battle for Moscow mini campaign game, Great Patriotic War errata and variants, Fireteam scenarios, World in Flames 4th Ed preview, World In Flames strategy, 1940 variants, Rommel in the Desert new scenario, B-17, Okinawa variants, Team Yankee new ideas, Last Victory errata, St Nazaire variants, The Last Victory variant, Winter Storm variant.

Beginners' Guide To Strategy Gaming, published by Fire & Movement. 1986. Magazine.

Cover good, game unpunched. £5. Designed by Rodger MacGowan, Jay C. Selover. No. players: 2.

Country: Amercian, Desc. by Andy.

Softback, 28x22cm, 64 pages. A special magazine produced by Fire & Movement intended to act as an introduction to the board wargame hobby. Also included is a pull out and play game: Battle For Moscow developed by GDW as an introductory game covering the German attempt to capture Moscow in 1941. Other articles include: Welcome to Strategy Gaming, The Basics, An Intro to Gamespeak, Notes on Solitaire Play, Multi-player Grand Strategy Games, Computer Wargaming, Naval Supremacy, Principles of War, A Beginner's Wargame Library, Where Do I Go From Here ?

Best Of Bridge On The Air, published by BBC Publications. 1965. Book. Good. £4.50

Softback, 20x13cm,176 pages. Bridge book produced by two great British names in Bridge. This book covers the best of The Listener articles which were in turn based on a series of radio programmes about Bridge. The book presents 32 hands which each present interesting issues which are discussed and the reader is given the chance to provide answers themselves (solutions at the end of the book). There is also a common questions and answers section at the end of the book.

Big Bucks, published by Gestion Group-Or. 1987. Box. Good. £8.50

Designed by Andre Bilodeau. No. players: 2-6. Country: Canadian, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy. Special notes: Box lid shows considerable wear marks on one side and the edges, but is still sturdy. Contents fine.

Business game which uses some of the ideas from Monopoly. Players can put their money in high, medium and low risk investments, and there are benefits to collecting 'sets'. Insurance can be bought to help protect against the misfortunes which can occur. Play is by moving around a track according to a dice roll and actioning the space (or deciding to wait for a better opportunity). The objective is to buy out the other players, but there is a long and a short game available.

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

1) Box corners taped. £3 2) Good. £4

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.

Bolide, published by Gnenos Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £26

Motor racing game which uses a vector movement system - each turn you can slightly adjust your vector from your previous vector, which means you can build up great speed on the straights but must slow down gradually in time for tight bends. The game also includes rules for tyre wear and coming off the main track as well as pitting in multiple lap races. Advanced rules permit slipstreaming, collisions and more. There are two race tracks provided for variety.

British Square, published by Gabriel. 1978. Box. 2 Box corners split. £2

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

Players take it in turns to place pieces on a 5x5 grid. However, no piece can be placed so that it is orthogonally adjacent to an opposing piece, so this quickly limits what moves are possible. Several rounds are played and the score for a round is the difference in the number of pieces the players managed to place. The game is named after the defensive infantry formation used by the British against Napoleon, though this has precious little to do with the game! Chunky tactile pieces and board.

British Towns, published by Pepys. ca.1960. Box. Good. £2.50

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

Card game, with 44 cards featuring colour drawings of famous settings in 29 British Towns. The various towns and cities are divided up into 9 sets by region. Rules to a couple of different set collecting games are included, one being a rummy variant and the other a Go Fish style of game. The rules booklet also lists the populations of the depicted towns and cities, and gives a little information about each place.

Calamity, published by Games Workshop. 1983. Box. Several copies available:

1) Good. £7 2) Box shows wear. Box shows indentation due to stacking . £5

3) Box edges show wear. Box indented due to stacking. £5

A game in which players take risks by selling insurance. The original idea was by the musical-meister himself, but was re-shaped and amended by Derek Carver and Ian Livingstone. No dice, players use cards to move the one playing piece, with the intention of making opponents settle claims against their insurance policies, which come in various risk categories. Money seems easy while the going is good, but a couple of calamities in a row can be devastating! The game is played over two game years, and the player with most money then wins.

Card & Table Games, published by George Routledge & Sons. 1898. Book. Good. £25

Hardback, 21x15cm, 650 pages. Second edition - enlarged. An excellent attempt to collect together rules for card & table games of the time, and with contributions from many experts. The book covers the following: All Fours, Baccarat, Bezique, Blind Hockey, Boston, Brag, Cassino, Catch The Ten, Commerce, Cribbage, Ecarte, Euchre, Faro, Hearts & Heartsette, Lansquenet, Loo, Napoleon, Newmarket, Ombre, Patience (x18), Piquet, Poker, Pope Joan, Quinze, Ranter Go Round, Rouge Et Noire, Slobberhannes. Solo, Speculation, Spinado, Spoil Five, Thirty One, Vingt-Un, Whist, Bridge, Backgammon, Bagatelle, Billiards, Chess (130 pgs), Dominoes, Draughts, Go-Bang, Halma, Morelles, Reversi, Roulette.

Cards And Card Tricks, published by F. Phillips. ca.1920. Book. Good but some damage inside the spine. £15

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

Cassa Grande, published by Mattel. 1987. Box. Good. £5

Players sit on each side of a 6x6 grid into which they play number tiles. There will be 4 spaces and each player has a card which breaks up rows. Once all the cards are down each player reads the numbers (up to 6 digits) from their side of the table and adds them up for their score. The exact positioning of the grid is not known initially which adds to the tactical possibilities. This is the small box version - there was a large box version made too.

Celtic Quest, published by JKLM Games. 2005. Box. In shrink. £25

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

Combat, published by Palan. ca.1978. Box. Good. £4

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

Special notes: Box is made of flimsy cardboard and so pretty much inevitably is somewhat indented due to stacking.

A very very basic wargame - each player has 4 infantry, 2 tanks and 1 general playing piece (standup cardboard pieces), and the board is actually built into the box base and folds out, with the lid used as a support. Play involves introducing the units onto the board onto a series of interconnected tracks, with different pieces having different movement restrictions. The objective being to eliminate enemy units by landing on them. Some special spaces perform additional actions. Movement allowance is determined by dice.

Compatibility, published by Reiss Games Inc. 1974. Box. 2 copies available:

1) 1 box corner split. £4 2) Good. £5

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

Couples play as teams, and both have to indicate on a dial how much they agree / disagree or how tense a situation would make them and also guess at the answer their partner would give. The better the partners predict each other the more points they score. Questions come in 6 categories: General Issues, Children, Work, Entertainment, Domestic Issues and Sex.

Connect 4, published by MB Games. 1976. Box. Box edges show wear. £4

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

Two player strategy game in which players alternate dropping a coloured chip into one of seven columns. The chip drops to the lowest unoccupied space, and the objective is to make a row of four chips horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Contract Bridge For Beginners, published by Methuen. 1981. Book. Good. £1

Softback, 18x12cm, 152 pages. Bridge book which introduces Charles Goren's Point Count system of bidding. The book covers: Mechanics of Bidding, How to Score, What Shall I Bid, Responses to Opening Bids, Rebids by Opening Bidder, Defensive Bidding, Penalty Doubles, Slam Bidding, Getting to Game, Play of the Hand.

Corner, published by Ravensburger. 1980. Box. Good. £12

One of Sid Sackson's less well known games. The board is a grid of 6 x 6 holes into which marbles are placed at random. Players each have an arrow which they can slide along the side of the board, and the intersection of the two arrows after a move indicates the marble the current player must take. The more marbles you have of a colour the higher your score will be when the round ends. There is also a partnership version for 4 players which uses an arrow on each side of the board.

Culbertson's New And Complete Summary Of Contract Bridge, published by Faber & Faber. 1941.

Book. Good. £3. Designed by Ely Culbertson. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Hardback, 15x11cm, 64 pages. A pocket Bridge book with quick reference thumbnail tabs. Intended as a quick reference book for players using the Culbertson bidding system. The book summarises the different situations during the bidding and considers what to lead as well. It is intended that the reader should have a fuller book on the Culbertson system also available for detailed explanations and analysis.

D&D: Poor Wizard's Almanac II, published by TSR. 1993. Book. Good. £4

Dungeons & Dragons supplement. Softback, 23x16cm, 240 pages. The book is a guide to the D&D campaign world Mystara, covering the Known world and the Hollow World. It follows on from the 1st Poor Wizard's Almanac. Some material covered in the first book is abbreviated here, allowing for considerable new material, but also making this book useful without the first. A large full colour pull out map is also provided. Chapters cover: Atlas of Mystara, Misc Info, Current Events (for the year 1011- useful campaign hook ideas).

Darkover, published by Eon. 1979. Box. Several copies available:

1) Box poor, contents good. £6.50 2) Good. £10

3) Good, but box shows wear. £8.50

Country: American, Duration: 1 hr, Desc. by Andy.

Very odd crossover game based on the books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Essentially a game of strategic placement of your forces to control a world steeped in psychic energies, but with other mechanics which are much more commonly found in party games, which try to introduce an element of 'psychic warfare' into the game rather than just comparing the sizes of attacking and defensive forces.

Das Kollier, published by Schmidt Spiele. 1998. Box. Excellent. £6.50

Card game and winner of the 1999 Hippodice competition. Players collect gems which they make into necklaces (one central gem and varying numbers of matching gems on either side). Each turn either some gems are auctioned from the deck in one of two ways depending on whether the auctioneer thinks they will be popular or not. The auctioneer gets some commission if he doesn't buy them himself. Once during the game each player may sell some gems to get extra money, and the best sets of gems at the end of the game win.

Das Phantom, published by Amigo. 1993. Box. In shrink. £14

The players move around a labyrinth of hex spaces, which can be further blocked off or additional paths created by placing tiles. Players can extend their turns and gain action cards by moving onto special spaces on their way around the maze. Once sufficient items have been collected then it is possible to free the 'princess' and win the game. All the while you must keep away from the Phantom, and use him against your opponents. Dice are used but as you would expect with Herr Kramer, there are always several ways to make good use of what you roll, and plenty of scope for cunning play.

Deutschlandreise, published by Ravensburger. 1977. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £3 2) Box base edges damaged and taped up. £2

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

Popular German family game. Players race round Germany to visit 6 different places as dictated by the six cards dealt out at the start. Cards and rules in multi-language style, including English. Essentially a route planning game - movement along roads is by rolling the dice and moving, but it is also possible to travel by plane between major cities. Event cards can also be used to add variety to the game.

Devil’s Triangle, published by Peter Pan. 1986. Box. Good. £3

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

Special notes: Box lid slightly warped, and a small tear has been taped.

Part of this publisher's Think series of games. Nice, solid plastic triangular pieces and board. Each player has 9 triangles with numbers underneath which are placed on the board or moved around in order to surround and thus capture opposing pieces. The first player to capture 3 opposing pieces will be the winner unless one of those triangles was nominated as the Devil's Triangle by his opponent before the game began, in which case the player who captured the Devil's Triangle loses.

Diabolo, published by Klee. 1999. Box. Good. £4

Card game. 66 letter cards and 6 victory tiles. Players compete to form words with cards that are common to all players. It is a race against time as the competition can get pretty fierce. The Victory tiles allow for a longer, more strategic game.

Die Fugger, published by Adlung Spiele. 2003. Box. Excellent. £3

Card game set in medieval Augsburg in which players collect trade goods and try to influence the prices of these goods. The player who earns the most money becomes Jakob Fugger's trading partner and wins the game. Game play involves playing cards to the table, and as soon as there are 5 of a type on the table the 3 commodities with the most cards showing go up and the others go down. However, going up too far causes a crash. In addition some cards count double if only a few of that type are in play, and merchant cards allow more cards to be drawn prior to the next round.

Die Fursten Von Florenz, published by Alea. 2000. Box. Good. £13

Country: German, Duration: 100 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Aka. The Princes of Florence. Each player must develop their estates, erect buildings, lay out landscapes, and bring artists and scholars to their location. All this brings prestige and / or money. Money is needed during the game, but prestige is what you need to win. Each turn various improvements to your estates are auctioned and then players get to choose the actions they wish to do. However, there is always far more you would like to do than you have actions to do, so choosing wisely is vital. Excellent game - highly recommended.

Dinosaur Puzzles (3 x 50 pieces), published by Early Learning Centre. 1993. Box.

Good but box lid indented. £0.75. Designed by Educa Sallent. No. players: 1.

Country: British, Desc. by Andy. Special notes: The pieces are sorted by jigsaw, and 2 are complete, but the 3rd has one piece missing. 3 Dinosaur jigsaw puzzles, each 50 pieces, and ideal for ages 4-7. The pictures show prehistoric scenes each with a dinosaur and its young offspring. When completed each jigsaw is 20cm x 28cm.

Disney's Super Game Book, published by Tormont Publications. 1995. Book. Good. £4

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

Downfall, published by Milton Bradley. 1977. Box. Good. £5

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

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

Drunter & Druber, published by Hans-Im-Gluck. 1991. Box. Good. £10.50

Germany's 1991 Spiel des Jahres. Baron Munchausen style graphics. Players lay tiles to complete the rebuilding of the town of Schilda using roads, walls and waterways. However, dotted around the town are different types of buildings, and each player secretly wants to preserve one type of building, thus guiding development away from such buildings, but without making it too obvious what they are doing. Also, whenever a little toilet building is to be demolished (and there are many of them) the players must vote on whether that tile can be placed or not. Fun game, but cunning is also required. Recommended.

Eiszeit, published by Alea. 2003. Box. In shrink. £13

Also published as Mammoth Hunters in America. The players place their hunters onto the board trying to dominate regions, especially those in which mammoths are present, as mammoth meat is much needed. In addition each turn an additional region is covered by the advancing ice sheet and so as the game goes on there is more competition for scarce resources. The game uses two sets of cards, one set which earns you stones, but which forces you to assist other players, while the other set of cards costs you stones to use, but lets you advance your own position.

Entenrallye, published by Walter Muller. 1991. Box. Excellent. £14

Race game illustrated with the designer's own distinctive graphics. Players race Citroen 2CV’s (called ‘Ducks’ in Germany). The race game is quite unique. As you proceed, you enter mini-rallies, must ‘buy’ spare body parts, and can decide to take shortcuts (or not). All this against a game ‘clock’ that ticks by as you play. Wooden cars and pieces, and uses 48 2CV car 'section' cards.

ESP, published by Paradigm. 1989. Box. Good. £1.50

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

Eurohit, published by Games Gazette. 1992. Box. Excellent. £1

Card game, designed and produced by the inventor. The game was later sold as Assassin by Avalon Hill. Players travel across Europe by playing cards in the correct sequences in order to score points for visiting major cities, however one player is the Hit Man and tries to assassinate his opponents by reaching the cities they are currently in, and then scores bonus points. Includes rules to allow for shorter or longer games and to change the style of the game a little.

Explore!, published by Living & Learning. 1995. Box. Good. £7

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

Feudal, published by 3M. 1976. Box. Good. £16

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

Excellent variation on chess, with its own special board, its own special pieces (that ‘plug’ into the board), and very clever rules. For instance, you set up secretly behind a screen, and your pieces include a castle that you must site, and then defend. The board even has terrain features so that, for instance, archers on a hill have increased range.

Feuerschlucker, published by Ravensburger. 2003. Box. Excellent. £6.50

Card game in which players play cards showing various circus acts in order to get people tokens for their audience. However, for many cards if you play a card already showing on the table you get to steal some of the audience from that player rather than from the pool. However, each player only has one card showing at once. Other cards let you play several of a type at once or get more audience the more of that type that are showing etc. The round ends when all the audience tokens in the pool have been taken.

Figurix, published by FX Schmid. 1985. Box. Good. £8

Three dice are rolled, one shows an animal symbol, one a background colour, and one an outer edge colour. Players study the board and look for precisely this combination amongst the 54 pictures on the board. The first to spot it correctly and place their counter on that space gets to leave their counter there. The first player to get rid of all 6 of their counters wins. The dice are very large and wooden.

Forum Romanum, published by Franckh Kosmos. 1994. Box. Good. £18

Clever placement game in which players take turns to put their coloured pieces in different rooms on the board. Whenever a row, column, diagonal or room is full, it is then scored, with the player with the majority of pieces getting victory points, and other players represented losing victory points. All lines and rooms are scored only once, but when players run out of pieces they must remove a piece, so care is required in ensuring you have pieces you can safely remove.

Game Of The Year, published by Spears. 1989. Box. Good. £3

Cleverly titled family game. Each player must get through a year of 366 days, earning as many Red Letter Days as they can. The game is driven using a really neat spinner device consisting of flaps suspended around an axle which can be spun. It works really well, and is great fun to use and gives a choice of two moves each turn. The current player or the others may then spend money to add to the number of spaces moved to result in a good / bad event day. Events come in various flavours - a mainly good deck, a mainly bad deck and fixed events on special days of the year.

Games For Two, published by Proteus. 1981. Book. Good. £5

Softback, 28x22, 221 pages. An excellent collection of two player games with diagrams, score sheets, etc included where helpful. The games covered fall into the following categories: Card Games( 22), Classic Board Games (31), Historical Board Games (16), Modern Board Games (10), Dice Games (20), Wargaming (8), Word Games (30), Dart Games (9), Pencil & Paper Games (21), Others (10).

Games Man Issue 10 Apr 1992, published by Unknown. 1992. Magazine. Good. £0.75

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

Professionally produced games magazine which focussed on role playing games, strategy games and adventure games. This issue includes articles on: Gangland Slayers (1920's RPG scenario which uses a simple game system included in the magazine), New games from major manufacturers, Dark World review, Call of Cthulhu V review, Clan Troops review, Uncle Albert's (Car Wars supplement) review, Atmosfear review, Magic in FRP, 20 mini scenario ideas to get GMs thinking, RPG Problems solved, PBM, Gamer Stereotypes: The Psychopath, South Atlantic Skirmish (complete solo wargame), Miniatures, 6 AD&D Worlds, 14 mini reviews.

Games We Play, published by Spear Charitable Trust. 1997. Book. Excellent. £10

Hardback with dustcover, 23x23cm, 223 pages. This book details the history of J.W. Spear & Sons the board games manufacturers. The book covers both the company's history and also the games produced by the company. There are many colour pictures as well as a good index. An invaluable book for collectors of Spear's games.

Gargon, published by Amigo. 2001. Box. In shrink. £6.50

Card game with 102 cards depicting various fantasy creatures (fairies, dragons, pegasi etc). The cards are also numbered, and show amulet symbols - more on those with lower numbers. The game is a sort of trick taking game, but with several cards playable at once, and passing is also possible. Each suit of cards played is won separately, and at the end of the game amulets on cards won make points and there are bonuses for the most in each suit. The backs of the cards also show the suits, so these can be seen by everyone.

German Toys 1924 / 1926, published by Hobby House Press Inc.. 1985. Book. Excellent. £7

Hardback, 32x24cm, 403 pages. Very substantial book which has pictures (some colour, most black & white) of German toys available in the period 1924-26. Each item has a title in English, German and Spanish. There are thousands of items shown. There are some board games as well as dolls, train sets, musical instruments, woodworking sets, and just about anything else you can think of shown here.

Goa, published by Rio Grande Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £23

Very clever auction based development game. Players start out with a little money, a small income, a small fleet, and small harvest. Players bid for tiles which give a variety of benefits such as more plantations, ships, colonists and money. These together with three development actions each turn allow you to improve your position in a variety of ways, with the goal of gaining VPs through progress on your development board, gaining money, exploration cards and other bonuses. Plenty of strategies possible and lots of interesting decisions to be made. Highly recommended.

Grand Slam, published by SMT. ca.1985. Box. Good. £1

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

Tennis themed game in which players try to get four of their colour in a row on a 12x12 board. Players roll dice, which indicate the location on the board they must place their piece. Very simple game.

Haselwurz Und Baerenklau, published by Murmel. Box. New. £20

Ecologically themed board game. As the game progresses players build up the playing area using terrain hexes of 7 different types. A selection of cards showing rare wildlife and the habitat required to find it are available to be claimed. In order to claim them there are requirements for the types of terrain which must be adjacent, and you must move your pixie to such a location. Movement is clever - there are four methods and all four must be used before any may be reused - unless a turn is skipped. Making effective use of these movement methods requires careful planning. Recommended.

Hedgehog, published by Spears. 1983. Box. 1 box corner taped. £3

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

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

Hi-De-Hi, published by Waddingtons. 1984. Box. 1 Box corner split. £1.50

TV tie in for the British comedy program of the same name. The players take part in each of the camp's contests and try to gain points. Most points at the end is the Maplin's Champion. The game is basically roll the dice and move, though one or two of the contests provide some choices in how you move.

Hollywood, published by Waddingtons. 1990. Box. Good. £7

Special notes: Box slightly indented due to stacking

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

Hornochsen!, published by Amigo. 1998. Box. Mint. £5

An update of 6 Nimmt (Take 6) to make it into a more strategic game. The deck is numbered from 1 to 98, with some of the cards having green bullheads and others having red bullheads. In this game greens are positive points and reds are negative points. Players play onto sets of cards, with the fifth card in a set taking the whole thing, but unlike 6 Nimmt players take their turns sequentially and can play one to three cards from their hands.

Horse Stakes, published by Milton Bradley. 1995. Box. Good. £4

Horse racing game that borrows elements from the playing card game Racing Aces, but adds a twist or two. It is nicely presented with a ‘race case’ to store the bits, 40 cards and 6 mini-plastic pairs of binoculars which act as

marker pieces. Comes in a small box and is from the designer of Ave Caesar. Initial cards laid out set the odds and then after betting is done further cards are laid out to resolve the race. However, when a card is laid onto a fence

the card is checked to see if the horse makes it - if not it is disqualified.

How To Play Calypso, published by Hodder & Stoughton. 1954. Book. Excellent. £2

Softback, 18x12cm, 71 pages. A detailed description of the card game Calypso along with tactical options and expert advice. Calypso is a cross between Canasta and Bridge, being played in tricks, generally as a four player

partnership game, but can also be played as a non partnership game and with just three players. It is played with 4 regular decks of cards and one game lasts about 20 mins. One neat idea in the game is that each player has their own personal trump suit.

How To Play The Middle Game In Chess, published by Collins. 1974. Book. Excellent. £4.50

Hardback with dustcover, 23x15cm, 191 pages. This book covers chess skills which start when known opening moves run out and before endgame techniques take over. The book is divided as follows: Intro, The Pieces, The Pawns, The King, Tactical Ideas, Combinations, Elements of Strategy, Planning. There are a selection of problems posed throughout the book, with solutions given at the end.

Imagine No. 16 July 1984, published by TSR UK Ltd. 1984. Magazine. Good. £0.30

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

Inspector Higgins, published by Ravensburger. 1988. Box. Good, but mark where label removed. £7

One player takes the role of Inspector Higgins and attempts to catch the thief who carries the treasure and ideally as many other thieves as possible. The other players take turns moving the various thief figures looking in the various houses for the treasure, and once found it has to be transported back to their lair. Movement is by dice roll, but the type of dice to roll depends on the number of players. Fun light game.

Iroquoia, published by Stratamax. 2006. Box. New. £28

Set between 1630 and 1670 in what would become the New York area, each player represents a clan within the American Indian Iroquois Confederation and attempts to gain control of the beaver fur trade. Each player controls several braves, and exerts leadership over one or more Nations in the Confederation. Leadership in the Confederation earns players extra braves, and insight into the strength of the hunters camped around the Nations who must be fought in order to maintain control of the beaver trade.

Jambo, published by Rio Grand Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £14

Card game. Players take the role of Swahili traders and buy and sell goods for profit. There are a variety of objects, animals and people who can be used to help your business (and in some cases hinder your opponent).

Each player has five actions each turn, and these can be used to obtain cards, play cards and use ongoing cards in order to further the goal of gaining more money. There is a wide variety of cards, which give you many different options and ensure games will play differently each time. Highly recommended.

Junior Labyrinth, published by Ravensburger. 1995. Box. Good. £6

Junior version of the classic changing maze game. The board is made up of tiles showing sections of a maze and players push in a new tile changing the board quite dramatically each turn, and then move their playing piece around the maze trying to get to their current target item. This edition has only two movable rows and two movable columns, thus simplifying the maze for younger players.

Just The Job, published by Spear's Games. 1993. Box. Good. £4

Players are given job cards (eg. dentist, prime minister etc), adjective cards (eg. sadistic, trustworthy), and object cards (eg. pitchfork, briefcase), and players match them up into sets by drawing cards and swapping with other players. It is also possible to challenge other players' sets and the first player to make up three sets of cards wins the game.

King Me, published by Mayfair Games. 2003. Box. Excellent. £16

Clever and fun game in which there are 13 possible contenders for the throne when the old king dies. Each player receives a card which indicates 6 of those candidates they would like to see do well. Players then take it in turn to promote one candidate up a level in court. Should a candidate be pushed up to the throne then all players vote on whether that candidate becomes king. It only takes one person to say no, and the candidate is executed rather than crowned! However, each player can vote Yes as many times as they like, but No only twice! When a king is crowned players score for all living candidates according to how high a rank they have achieved in court. Great fun, fast and amusing. Recommended.

Koala, published by Red Glove Edizioni. 2006. Box. Excellent. £6.50

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

Kunst Stucke, published by Moskito. 1995. Box. Excellent. £10

Strategy game involving fitting coloured shapes on to a board. Players take turns placing down the chunky shaped tiles attempting to achieve some secret goals by the end of the game (eg.. 4 contiguous red pieces). Before or after placing a tile the current player can slide pieces around to adjust the layout to their liking. The scoring system is particularly good as it disguises what other people are actually trying to achieve, and makes the harder objectives more valuable.

Kupferkessel Co., published by Gold Sieber. 2001. Box. Excellent. £15

Players each have a large wooden witch playing piece which moves around the outside of a 6x6 grid of square cards. The cards are wonderfully illustrated with magic spell components: toadstools, pots of frog juice, pumpkins, magic eggs etc. Each card has a number 1-4 which is both its potential value and also the amount you will move on your next turn if you take it. Each turn you move and then take a card in the row or column you end on. Thus there is little luck and scope for planning. There are also cards which give you an extra move and some which hinder your opponent. The game plays very nicely with 3 players too (just grab a gray playing piece from somewhere). Highly recommended and now quite hard to find.

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

1) Good. £4.50 2) Excellent. £5.50

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.

Master Golf, published by Master Golf Ltd. 1982. Box. Good. £4

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

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

Mykerinos, published by Ystari Games. 2006. Box. In shrink. £16.50

Board game with an archaeological theme. Players send their workers out into sections of a major Egyptian dig site, and hope to beat off their rivals in order to win the influence of various patrons, gain victory points and get the best locations for their exhibits in the museum. The patrons each offer advantages which can be used in future turns, but once space has been taken in the museum there is no more. Clever game in which everything is always urgent, but only so much can be done at a time! Recommended.

Napoleon, published by Avalon Hill. 1977. Box. Good. £9

Country: American, Duration: 2 hrs, Desc. by Eamon.

Game that uses the classic 'wooden block' system. This is highly recommended if you have never seen the system. Each player has a number of wooden blocks as playing pieces. The blocks have 'strength' levels on all four sides and the side 'on top' at any one time is the current strength of that unit. This information is secret, i.e., the blocks only face the player who controls them. When a fight ensues, players reveal their strengths, and any hits lowering strength mean that the block is rotated to a lower level (or eliminated if no lower level is possible). The battle sets Napoleon against the British and Prussian armies as Napoleon tries to invade Belgium in 1815.

Neck And Neck, published by Yaquinto. 1981. Double LP Case. Good. £6.50

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

Yaquinto's only sports game. Non-statistical horse racing game in an album case. Players place secret wagers on one or more horses and then players roll two dice and decide whether or not to move the indicated horse the amount rolled. Doubles allow a further roll. At the end of the race bets are paid for horses finishing in the top 3 (of 6). The game requires an element of bluff as refusing to move any horses which are not your own will soon make it obvious what you have bet on, and thus you will find noone else moving them for you at all.

Non-Stop, published by Condor. 1974. Box. Good. £7.50

Special notes: Box corners show some wear. 1 plastic train replaced with one which is very similar. 1 tile missing but replaced with a colour copy mounted on card. Does not affect play.

A neat little train game. A grid of 81 track tiles is laid out and the players have a train piece each which start in the corners. The players move as many track spaces as the number printed on the tile their train started their turn on and they take each piece of track driven over. The idea is to collect more pieces of track than anyone else. What makes the game work is that certain pieces can be relaid to enable you to get your train back to where there are still tiles to claim. Surprisingly tactical for what appears at first to be very light.

Oh Pharao!, published by Kosmos. 2004. Box. Excellent. £8.50

Card game in which players put together sets of number cards to form pyramids. Each layer of a pyramid must contain cards of the same number, and the next level above must have cards one point higher. In addition thief cards can be played to raid other players' pyramids, tax collectors raid their hands and pharaohs protect against either of these. A clever rule for the wild cards ensures they will circulate amongst the players. A pyramid can be scored while small or extended further for more points, but this makes it more of a target, and so it might not survive unscathed until your next turn when it can be scored.

Okolopoly, published by Ravensburger. 1984. Box. 1 Box corner split. £13

Ecological game with an incredible board that would never be made today (it would be deemed too expensive). It is extra thick so that dials could be placed 'inside' the board. Each player is a member of the ruling party, and there are two scenarios to try - an industrial nation or a developing nation. Players change the numbers on the various dials, but this can have knock on effects, eg. upping Production increases Waste which in turn decreases Standard Of Living, which then reduces the number of action points available next round. The game can also be played with event cards if you wish. Sometimes the game ends in an environmental disaster.

Olympigs, published by Paul Lamond Games. 1991. Box. Good. £1.50

There are two parts to this game - firstly a simple set collecting very basic rummy style card game. However there are also 4 plastic pigs and three action events to do with them using little action models: high jump, long jump and the pig put! When a set is collected you must successfully perform the related event for your set to stand. Other players can play a joker on you to force you to attempt the hard version of that event. Very silly.

Onslaught, published by TSR / SPI. 1987. Box. Good. £6

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

Ostfriesenlauf, published by Clicker Spiele. 2005. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £10 2) New. £11

Race game in which players move using cards which affect the playing piece in a particular position rather than always their own piece. The cards are played into a pile, so that only the player in last place can be sure what effect their card will have, whereas other players have to try to anticipate what other players will do. As well as winning in the normal way, some cards move a piece backwards, and if enough are played a playing piece could end up going through the finish line backwards, which unusually also counts as a victory.

Outdoor Survival, published by Avalon Hill. 1972. Box. Good. £7

In the original Dungeons & Dragons game, you were urged to buy this game for your wilderness map to set your adventures in. This probably explains why it remains as one of Avalon Hill's best selling games of all time. It may not be a classic but it has its moments. We particularly like the first scenario where you are lost and you get very little choice of where you move next - mostly luck but great fun (you get around 20 counters per player, and as you get tired, thirsty and hungry, you change the counter from a healthy hiker picture at the start down to a crawling shadow of your former self). The other scenarios add more skill to the game, giving you much more control over your character.

Ox Blocks, published by Invicta. 1970. Box. Good. £0.50

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

Noughts and crosses with a novel twist. Uses plastic blocks which are thrown like dice, and placed on the board. Each piece has two X's, 2 O's and 2 open sides. You have to place a piece if you roll either your or your opponent's symbol, but the open side lets you remove one of your opponent's pieces.

Party Games For Children Of All Ages, published by W. Foulsham & Co.. ca.1975. Book. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £2.50 2) Good, cover taped inside. £1.50

Softback, 18x12cm, 77 pages. Games for children's parties. The book is divided into sections by age, and by new and original games as follows: Games for ages 12-15 (New 12, Old 15), Games for ages 7-11 (New 13, Old 18),

Games for ages 4-6 (New 14, Old 17).

Pharo-Myd, published by Pirouette. 1992. Box. Good. £9

Attractively presented game of movement and capture. The game has an attractive solid wooden triangular board showing a triangular grid and the playing pieces are 16 wooden pyramids with Egyptian hieroglyphs on the sides - one symbol for each player. Players move pyramids by tipping them over to an adjacent space, but if your symbol is face down, you cannot move that piece. Pieces are captured by getting 2 or 3 pyramids suitably aligned, and players are eliminated when they have no legal move available to them. Unusual item, beautifully presented.

Pick Up The Post, published by Boots. ca.1990. Box. Good. £2

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

Children’s game (ages 3+). The board is constructed out of jigsaw sections showing a street with houses to deliver to and post boxes to pick up from. Movement is by dice roll and playing the game is designed to teach young children some basic number skills, playing together and taking turns. Attractively produced.

Pirate's Plunder, published by Hilary's Toybox. 2000. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £5.50 2) Good. £5

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

Card and dice game based on the 'Golden Age of Piracy'. Players play cards and attempt to secure treasure while avoiding the British and Spanish fleets. Everything is card driven, but dice rolls need to be made to determine the success of actions such as attacking other ships.

Pitwits, published by Gibsons Games. 1990. Box. Excellent. £7

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-6. Country: British, Duration: 45 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Party game. Each turn one player reads out a series of clues to the other players. The clues get easier as they go on. You shout the answer as soon as you have got it, and if correct all the other players move one space down the track. Anyone who falls off the end of the track is out. Last player still in wins. The quicker someone gets the answer right the more spaces the other players have to move.

Pompeii, published by Challenge. ca.1987. Box. Excellent. £19

Three part game based on the last Days of Pompeii. First the players buy property and are assigned citizens, the idea being to get locations and people who match (eg. a priest and a temple). In the second part players move around town visiting people or the baths, going shopping, etc - just what a regular roman citizen would do until Mount Vesuvius erupts. The board is then slowly but surely covered with assorted shaped lava pieces. Now the players try to get their people safely out of their properties and out of the town before they are destroyed. Very nicely produced.

Queen's Necklace, published by Days Of Wonder. 2003. Box. Excellent. £11

Country: American, Duration: 40 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players purchase cards using a clever system which means that the more often a card is rejected the cheaper it becomes to buy. These cards depict various jewels as well as cards which allow various special actions to be taken. Three times in the game there will be a grand jewel sale when the players select which jewels they will put on sale this turn, with selling rights going to the players with the best display of each type. Special cards can also influence the sale phase. After three sales the player who made most money wins.

Quixo, published by Gigamic. 1995. Box. Excellent. £7.50

Very attractive game with 25 large wooden cubes which are played onto a large round plastic base. The cubes have an X on one side and an O on the opposite side, with the other sides blank. Players take turns taking a blank cube or one showing one of their symbols from the edge of the board and reinsert it with their symbol showing so as to recomplete a now incomplete row. The objective is to make a line of 5 of your symbol. The game has a French award, "As D'Or 1995".

Rainbows, published by White Wind. 1995. Box. Mint. £6

Card game. Players first draft cards and then either pay to place a counter on the rainbow grid or put it in front of them to gain gold. Players earn points by placing adjacent counters on the board and by having numerical sequences in the cards placed in front of them. The longer the sequences the more points gained.

Raleigh Burner BMX Game, published by Waddingtons. 1985. Box. Good. £7

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

Bicycle racing game over a course which uses plastic jumps and hills over which the bikes must travel. The bike pieces are also very neat and slot into the spaces on the obstacles. Cards are used to move the bikes, and players can perform blocking moves as well as crash into other bikes knocking them off the course and slowing them down. Wheelie spaces allow fast movement if there is sufficient space to move into, and the rules also cover jumps and falls. Fairly simple game, but very nicely presented.

Ratrace, published by Waddingtons. 1973. Box. Good. £7

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 90 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Fun, family game about gaining status. It is a 'round-the-board' game, but has nice elements and works rather well. For instance you can marry into money and advance quicker than you would normally, but can you pay the new bills you will now face, and should you land on a divorce space things get nasty. Similarly you can choose to take lots of credit, but should the loan be called in at the wrong moment things get worse. Players advance from working class to middle class and finally high society, needing a selection of status symbols of the right type at each stage to advance.

Restaurant, published by Flying Turtle. 1987. Box. Good. £6

Nicely made game in which 60 cards are laid out face-down in the restaurant, and players take turns revealing connected cards and using or keeping them, and placing their order markers - this is the order taking section of the game. In the second section of the game the food is played to the tables, hopefully so that the best, highest scoring meals get placed on the spaces with your order markers.

Romer, published by Hexagames. 1990. Box. Good. £3.50

A trick taking type game in which players try to build up a high value team of horses to pull their chariots. Each player has a personal trump colour, and up to six cards can be added to this to make up the team of horses. All cards added will add to the score but much more so if they are also of the trump colour. Each turn a player will either play to a trick or place a card down as one of his horses, but will be penalised for not being able to follow suit if his trump colour is led.

Royal Game Of Ur, published by Merit. ca.1970. Box. Good - box corners taped. £3

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

Very nicely made game, based on Senet, a game of ancient times related to Backgammon. Wooden pieces and nice Egyptian graphics throughout. Rules in seven languages.

S.O.S. Donald!, published by Schmidt. 2002. Box. Excellent. £5

Children's Disney themed dice game for ages 5+. The players each have two playing pieces showing members of Donald's family, and the objective is to move them across the house from one piece of furniture to the next. Players take it in turn to roll the dice and move one of the pieces of the colour indicated forward. The dice sometimes gives a choice of which colour to move and can also force you to move one of your own pieces backwards. Apart from the sofa only one playing piece may stand on one piece of furniture causing some quite long jumps to occur from time to time.

Saint Petersburg, published by Rio Grande Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £20

On the nomination list for Spiel des Jahres 2004, 1st place in the Deutsche Spiele Preis 2004, Austrian game of the year 2004. An excellent business game in which players must invest in peasants early in the game in order to build up their income, but as the game goes on aristocrats need to be recruited to your cause for VPs and more income, buildings built for VPs, and upgrades obtained to maximise both income and VPs. The game is very tactical, and deciding exactly when to switch your focus from income to VPs is key. Highly recommended.

Savannah Cafe, published by Euro Games. 2001. Box. In shrink. £8.50

Country: French, Duration: 20 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Race game, each player has a hippo (very slow but steady), a lion (medium speed, but can be knocked back by opposing hippos) and a gazelle (fast but very erratic, and can be eaten by opponents' lions) which run to the watering hole to quench their thirst. It doesn't matter which of your animals arrives first, as long as one of them arrives before your opponents' animals. The game is driven by cards, each of which moves a particular type of animal a certain distance. A few special cards also allow for some sneaky tricks.

Scarab Lords, published by Fantasy Flight Games. 2002. Box. Excellent - unplayed. £14

Card game for two which in which the players vie for dominance over upper and lower ancient Egypt. In each region players can attempt to gain supremacy in economic, religious and military spheres, with the objective being to gain two out of three supremacies in both regions and then hold them for one turn. The cards are attractive and come in various types: minions and leaders who are sent to battle for supremacy against those of your opponent, one off cards, and gods which give an advantage each turn. Players can 'curse' opponent's cards which make them inactive and the game can also end if a player's deck runs out. Additional cards are supplied which you can use to vary the standard decks. Recommended.

Scattergories, published by Milton Bradley Games. 1993. Box. Good, but box shows wear, 1 corner taped. £8.50

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

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

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

Scottish Highland Whisky Race, published by JKLM Games. 2004. Box. In shrink. £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.

See You Later, published by FX Schmidt. 1994. Box. Good. £8

Risk taking game in which players have to decide how far to push their luck. A circular track has 5 wooden alligator pieces on it, and on their turn a player draws a card and moves the indicated alligator that many spaces clockwise. If it lands on an empty space the turn may be banked or continued, with each card played counting for another point. However all points gained this turn are lost if landing on a space with another alligator, in which case the next player can potentially score for the unbanked cards too. Extra rules add action cards, and a bonus for the player losing and a penalty for the current leader.

Seenot Im Rettungsboot, published by Walter Müller. 2006. Box. In shrink. £26

Reprint of Rette Sich Wer Kann - also known as The Lifeboat Game. Players attempt to get their sailors back to land safely, and must continually vote for different options - which boat will move, which boat will spring a leak, who

will be chucked overboard, who will change ships etc. The game requires lots of negotiation and making deals, with plenty of scope for reneging! Nice wooden playing pieces.

Shadows Over Camelot, published by Days Of Wonder. 2005. Box. In shrink. £32

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

Shogi For Beginners, published by Shogi Association. 1986. Book. Excellent. £8

Softback, 18x13cm, 168 pages. Clearly intended to introduce Japanese Chess (Shogi) to westerners, this book describes the pieces and board, describes their moves, and the rules. It then analyses a sample game and gives a guide to opening patterns, middle game and then end game play. A selection of puzzles for the reader are set and the answers given at the back of the book.

Siege, published by Standard Games. 1983. Box. Box shows wear. £8

Special notes: The box is quite large and not very sturdy and so shows some damage due to stacking

Wargame in the Cry Havoc series. This is, however, a standalone game as well as being playable with Cry Havoc. Siege is a man to man small scale combat game set in medieval times. It has 5 scenarios and 2 maps (one a castle and the other a fortified encampment). Rules cover all sorts of siege engines and tactics. Attractive counters with individual pictures and combat stats.

Signs Up, published by Parker Bros. 1981. Box. Good but box a bit grubby. £3

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

Children's game - 6-10 year olds suggested. 7 shop signs have got muddled up and the players try to correct this by moving around the board to the shops, collecting part of the sign which is wrong and taking it to the correct shop where a reward is received and a new sign-part collected. Movement is by card play, and the cards have an incomplete rhyme / a sum which indicates the number of spaces to move. Player with most money when all the signs have been corrected wins.

Situation 7, published by Parker. 1969. Box. Good, 1 corner taped. £20

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

Excellent idea for a game. Each side has enough jigsaw shapes showing outer space to complete the entire board. Players lay pieces on to the board starting from their base simultaneously, and they are considered to have captured the areas of space their pieces cover. Plastic pieces such as rockets, astronauts and satellites can be used to defend or secure your area against attack, or to start an invasion of enemy space. Various areas award bonus points as does owning complete sectors. Fantastic frenetic fun, and an amazing item for jigsaw fans who also like games (or vice versa).

Six Games Compendium, published by Fim. ca.1965. Box. Good. £3.50

Designer Unknown. No. players: 1-4. Country: German, Desc. by Eamon.

Compendium of games made for the English market (rules and box only use English for example), and marked as 'Made in the G.D.R. Item No. 124'. The box includes six games: Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, 9 Men's Morris, Draughts, Steeplechase and Halma. However, the manufacturers have named one game incorrectly. The Halma they mention is actually Chinese Chequers.

Small Soldiers Karate Fighters, published by Kenner. 1998. Box. Box good, contents unused. £6.50

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

Film related, based on the characters in the film Small Soldiers. Action game in which the players control 15cm high moving figures of Chip Hazard and Archer, which can kick and punch. They are controlled using buttons and a knob to twist at the far end of a handle / base. A well placed kick and punch combination and the opponent's action figure will fly off its base, defeated. Great fun.

Space: 1999, published by Omnia. 1974. Box. 1 box corner taped. £7.50

This is not the same as the MB game of the same name. One player gets to play the Guardian of Meta who has to stop the other players getting at the Meta Energy supplies, while the other players all compete to be the first to obtain a supply of Meta Energy and return to their bases, surviving attacks from the Meta player. The board is circular with a circular 'grid' and various special bands of space. Players have a movement point allowance each turn to split between their spaceships. The non Meta ships require special equipment to get through the special bands of space, and have no weaponry which can touch the Meta ships. On the other hand the Meta ships have no such restrictions.

Spiel '95 Taschenbuch, published by Friedhelm Merz Verlag. 1996. Book. Good. £2

Softback, 15x11cm, 782 pages. Pocket guide book to the Spiel 1995 fair in Essen, with lots of useful information to collectors such as: Company addresses for all the exhibitors, PBM magazine addresses, German games awards lists, Journalists' and magazines contact details, Lists of the games being shown at all the stands that year, Lists of games authors with their ludographies, Games index, Games groups and so on. It is all in German of course.

Spiel '96 Taschenbuch, published by Friedhelm Merz Verlag. 1996. Book. Good. £2

Softback, 15x11cm, 812 pages. Much the same type of contents as the 1995 copy above but for Spiel ‘96.

Star Trek: The Card Game, published by Fleer/Skybox. 1996. CCG. Good. £2.50

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

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

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

Station Master, published by Mayfair Games. 2004. Box. Good. £10

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

Stephensons Rocket, published by Pegasus Spiele. 1999. Box. Excellent. £17

Railway game set in England in the early 19th century. Unusually for this designer the theme is very much to the fore in this game. Players lay tracks and connect to towns in order to gain bonus chits for a variety of commodities, and to connect up their stations. In addition shares are gained in the various companies and profits awarded to those with the majorities at the end of the game. However, players can forfeit a share to veto another player's lay of track if they think it hurts them too much. Recommended for railway games fans and those who enjoy Reiner's meatier offerings.

Stimmt So!, published by Queen. 1998. Box. Excellent. £8.50

Business game, with players investing in stock. Very neat game system in which there are 4 types of currency and 4 stocks available, one for each currency at any time. The aim is to get majorities in different companies when a scoring round comes. Also no change is given when purchasing, and paying exactly is rewarded highly. I have some house rules which improve it further too (just ask). This is the previous incarnation of the 2003 Spiel des Jahres winner Alhambra. Best with 3-5 players. Recommended.

Stimmvieh, published by Meyer. 1998. Box. Good. £4.50

Card game, printed in a limited edition of 200. Political election themed game. Players use influence cards to obtain votes and donations. The players who get the most votes get to double the value of their donations, and whoever has the most donations after such doubling wins.

Stockmarket!, published by Jordans. 1987. Box. Good but 1 corner taped. £18

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

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

Stun, published by Waddingtons. 1988. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. Tape removal mark on one side of the box and 4 original plastic counters have been replaced - this does not affect play. £3.75

2) Good. 4 of the scoring markers replaced by nearly matching ones - this does not affect play. £4

Designer Unknown. No. players: 2-6. Country: British, Duration: 15 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Card game in which players decide how far to push their luck each turn. Cards are turned over one a time, and most show coins. After each card the player can decide to stop and bank their coins. However, if a Stun card is turned up coins won that turn are lost. Whenever a player has cards showing 15 coins they can be traded in for a token. The first to get 5 tokens is the winner.

Sufferin' Spirits, published by 3 Wishes. 1986. Box. Good. £10

Great fun as you romp amongst the burial plots laying to rest the Spirits of Grimstone Graveyard. No dice but a mixture of cards and strategic movement wins the game. The Spirit moves independently and activates Imps and Lesser Spirits to confront the players. Players try to earn the most Good Deed points by finding the objects each of the Spirits has had stolen by the mischievous Imp and returning them to their owner, thus letting them rest in peace.

Sushi Express, published by Abacus Spiele. 2005. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Excellent. £7 2) In shrink. £8

Dice game in which players try to move around a ring of location tiles delivering sushi, and collecting customer cards. At the end of the game the customer cards collected score points depending on the number of different ones. Also the player who has received the least tip cards will be penalised. Game play itself involves placing a dobber on a number from 2-12, and effectively betting that either you, or someone who has placed on a number higher than you, will roll at least that number. If you bet wrongly you don't move that turn. Guess right and you move as many spaces as the number you had chosen.

Take The Test, published by Peter Pan. 1967. Box. Good. £6.50

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

Special notes: 1 out of 42 road sign cards is missing - this does not affect play. The box shows some wear and there is a quite large label removal mark.

Very nice sixties-looking game, with 6 plastic vehicles and a large working set of traffic lights that sits in the middle of the board (you press a button and the 'lights' change in each direction - really neat). Players drive around the board earning points by answering questions about the Highway Code in three categories: road signs, picture puzzles and regular questions. Of course it is out-of-date now but a nice item from that time.

Tall Stories, published by Living & Learning Games. 1992. Box. Good, but box lid slightly indented.. £6

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

Children's story telling game, made locally in Cambridge. The game is played on a board covered in different colour hexagons. There are 48 different hex tiles in play, and each turn you get to add one or more to the board, adjacent to tiles already there. The picture on the tile played must be incorporated into the story in a sensible way, though you may add as much or as little narrative as you wish before playing the tile. Play continues until a story is brought to an end with one of 4 special tiles indicating a happy, sad, surprise or humourous ending.

The Arab-Israeli Wars, published by Avalon Hill. 1977. Box. Good. £7

Allows you to replay twenty four different situations at a tactical level on a customizable map. The military forces of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Syria are represented in the various scenarios. Rules include (but are not limited to)

roadblocks, minefields, electronic warfare, bore-sighting, and firing while moving. Basic game rules cover 5 pages, standard game rules a further 6 pages, and advanced rules 5 more. Contains about 500 counters.

The Battle Of The Alma, published by GDW. 1981. Box. Good. £7.50

Half Bookcase sized box. This game covers the Battle of the Alma River, Sep 20th 1854 in the Crimean War. Allied forces (British, French and Turkish) met Russian forces in the first major battle of the Crimean. Part of the 120 series, which was intended to be playable in under 120 mins. The rules cover 10 pages.

The Celtic Knotwork Puzzle, published by Historical Collections Plc. 1992. Box. Good. £2

This puzzle consists of 9 large square tiles each showing a portion of a large Celtic knotwork pattern. However, the knotwork is very symmetrical, and so it is not matching the shapes that is hard, but matching the colours of 'thread' from one tile to the next which makes it difficult. There is also no indication as to which sides of the pieces are the edges. The back of the box shows the solution.

The Complete Guide To Electronic Games, published by Sphere Books. 1982. Book. Excellent. £7

Softback, 18x11cm, 214 pages. Book on electronic games of the time - obviously now very dated, but still interesting as a memento of those times, and quite sought after as such. The book is split over the following chapters: Sports Games, Games of Logic Strategy & Memory, Action Games, Learning Aids, Multi-game Systems, Video Games and more.

The Fury Of Dracula, published by Games Workshop. 1987. Box. Good. £30

Special notes: Excellent except for slight indentation of the base.

One of Games Workshops' rarer board games, which has recently been released in a modified form. One player runs Dracula and attempts to create an army of lesser vampires. Meanwhile the other players are vampire hunters and seek out Dracula and his undead offspring intending to destroy them all. Dracula uses a hidden movement system, but leaving telltale destruction in his path. When the vampire hunters meet Dracula's minions combat ensues. A very well thought of game with great atmosphere. Certainly worthy of having been brought back from the dead ...

The Game Of Maze, published by Oxford Games. 1990. Box. Good. £3

The board shows a hedge-maze of the type found in the gardens of some stately homes. Players start with a playing piece in the centre and at the entrance. Players roll dice and move their pieces accordingly, with the objective of having their pieces meet up somewhere in the maze. A few spaces have special rules and landing on an opposing piece banishes that piece to a corner. The rules also include a list of British mazes open to the public and a short history of mazes.

The Gamer's Guide To Diplomacy, published by Avalon Hill. ca.1978. Booklet. Good. £6

36 page booklet which should prove a great resource for all Diplomacy players. While it is only 36 pages long the pages are 3 column and small print, so there is lots of information here. The booklet covers: An introduction to Diplomacy, Communication, Alliance & Treachery, Aggression & Defence, Cheating, Stalemates, The Small Time, The Convoyed Attack, Strategy and Tactics (The board, Positions, Stages of the Game, Basic Style, The Great Powers, Playing Each Country), A sample game, Postal Diplomacy, Diplomacy Variants (1958, Napoleonic, Bid, The Great War, Twin Earths), Clubs and Tournaments.

The Goonies: Cavern Of Horror, published by Corgi Books. 1985. Book. Good. £8

Softback, 20x13cm, 120 pages. Adventure gamebook based on Steven Spielberg's The Goonies movie. This is a paragraph based game book with 120 full page paragraphs. Pretty rare.

The Hieroglyphs Game, published by Ashmolean Museum. 1989. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £1.50 2) Good, but box base slightly indented. £1

Very pretty game made for the famous museum in Oxford. Board illustrated with genuine coloured hieroglyphics and players move a nice scarab beetle piece around the board, collecting ‘letters’ to spell the words on their reference sheet.

The Muppet Show, published by Palitoy. 1977. Box. Good. £2.50

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

Each player has control of two muppets and a movable stage set in their colour. The players use cards to move their muppets and sets across the board into the correct position ready for The Muppet Show. The first to do this wins. However, some cards can be used to hinder other players in various ways.

The Official Laws Of Bridgette, published by Xanadu Leisure. 1985. Book. Good. £7.50

Softback, 18x11cm, 32 pages. 3rd edition. This book gives the (updated) rules to this excellent two player Bridge style card game. You will need to provide a suitable deck of cards (standard 52 + 3 extras with the same backs are needed). The game itself is excellent, and has been highly commended by many Bridge experts. The extra cards add a unique element to the game, which adds a new element of interest when compared to other two handed bridge systems. I can recommend the game to non Bridge players who enjoy whist, as you don't need to be proficient at Bridge in order to play Bridgette.

The Phoenix Dictionary Of Games, published by Phoenix House Ltd. Book. 2 copies available:

1) 1953. Good, but some pages show speckling. Hardback, 21x13cm, 318 pages. 458 games. £3.50.
2) 1961. Excellent, but dustcover shows some wear. Hardback with dustcover, 21x13cm, 328 pages.

501 games. £5

Indoor and outdoor games reference book with the rules to around 500 games. The sections are divided into Outdoor Games (Full dress, Informal, Race & Romp, Tag & Tug, Tool & Toy), Covered Court Games, Gymnasium Games, Indoor Games (Board & Table Games, Card Games, Parlour Games, Pencil & Paper Games, Word Games).

The Week-end Problems Book, published by Cambridge University Press. 1932. Book. Good. £10

Special notes: Many crosswords completed in pencil (they can be erased), but a previous owner has neatly written in many additional puzzles in the blank end pages.

Hardback, 19x12cm, 334 pages. An excellent collection of puzzles and conundrums of all sorts. They fall into the following categories: Mathematical / Logical, Crosswords (American style), Word Puzzles, Bridge Problems, Chess Problems.

Thirty One Patience Games, published by W. Foulsham. ca.1940. Book. Good, but spine shows wear. £4

Special notes: The book was produced to 'Wartime Economy' specification and is now a little delicate.

Softback, 18x12cm, 62 pages. Printed during the war to 'War Economy Standard' specification this book gives an introduction to the history of playing cards and then describes 31 games of patience to play with either one or two standard playing card decks - there are diagrams of the card layouts. Interesting wartime production.

Thunder In The Glens, published by Dragon. 1987. Book. Good. £3.75

Part of the Real Life Gamebooks series of solo paragraph based adventure books based on historical events. This book is about the Jacobite Rebellion around 1746. You play Dougan MacAndrew the son of the chief of a small clan, and have just returned from being educated in France when troubles start...

Tit-Bits Teaser No.2, published by George Newnes. ca.1930. Box. Good. £3.50

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

A wooden puzzle, made as a promotion for Tit-Bits magazine. If you could not do the puzzle, you could buy the magazine at some time in the future to get the answer. The puzzle consists of 14 wooden pieces (one has been replaced with a look-a-like) and you must shuffle them round in the tray to get the Plane from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. The pieces are irregular in shape, which is one of the reasons why the puzzle is devilishly difficult.

Toscana, published by Piatnik. 2001. Box. In shrink. £10

Rather nice tile laying game in which the players alternate playing a tile onto the board. The tiles show the view of a Tuscan village from above, with the deep red rooves and gray of the ground. Each tile has a mixture of rooves and ground on a 4x2 grid, and the objective is for one player to make as large a connected area as possible of rooves while the other player tries to make a large connected ground area. Each player can also veto his opponent's play once in the game, forcing a different tile to be played at a crucial moment.

Total War, published by Gamesmiths. 1992. Box. Box good, contents unpunched. £12.50

Advanced Risk-like game, with each player taking their nation from the 19th century into the 21st. You must decide each turn what units to build (for attack and defence) and what to research for the future. Technologies include Firepower, Flight, Industry, Movement, Nuclear, Rate of Fire, Ships and Tanks. Victory is either by total domination or by having the superior position after a fixed time.

Toy Story, published by Schmidt International. ca.1995. Box. Good. £3.50

Childrens game (ages 4-12) based on the very popular film Toy Story. Game play involves moving your playing pieces along a track according to a dice roll, but with some choices, and the possibility of challenging other players along the way. These challenges are done using chunky cards showing Woody, Bo Peep and Buzz, and resolution uses a scissors-paper-rock mechanism. The objective is to be the first to arrive at the removal van, which is also moved along as the game goes on.

Translucent Playing Cards, published by Trevor Denning. 1976. Book. Excellent. £24

Special notes: No. 182. Signed by the author.

Softback, 30x21cm, 51 pages. Limited edition of 300. This book gathers together information about specialised decks of playing cards generally from the early 19th century which initially appeared as regular playing cards, but if put up against a bright light revealed a hidden picture within. Some such decks were designed to incorporate the pips on the cards into the pictures, while others were used to hide erotic pictures. This book shows the hidden pictures from both types of deck as well as detailing the history of these playing cards.

T-Rex, published by Hans Im Gluck. 1999. Box. Excellent. £4

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

Trimatics, published by Spear's Games. 1983. Box. Fair. £1.25

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

Special notes: Box lid has three patches where the underlying cardboard shows through, 1 tile replaced with a photocopy on card (this does not detract from play)

A 7x7 grid of numbers (1-9) are laid out at random, and a number disk is turned over. Players then all look for any three adjacent numbers which can make this target number by multiplying two of them together and adding or subtracting the third. eg. 4x9 + 5 = 41. The player who first spots a correct 'trimatic' wins the disc. Most discs at the end of the game wins.

Trump, published by Milton Bradley. 1989. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Good. £9 2) Good. Box base very slightly indented, edges show some wear and 1 corner taped. £7

A highly regarded original business game, sanctioned by the multi-millionaire Donald Trump. Very nice components. Players invest in businesses with the money paid being placed inside special plastic boxes. The game is played in two phases. In the first phase players move around a track and the values of the businesses increase, businesses are auctioned and action cards are gained. In the second phase players play their action cards to make profits and negotiate deals which will allow them to use their cards most effectively to make more profits. Eamon has some house rules which I can supply if you remind me.

Tycoon, published by Publisher Unknown. 1987. Box. Good. £1.50

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

Promotional game. Business game in a similar vein to Monopoly. Squares on the board represent many different companies in and around Reading!

Tycoon, published by RAM Innovations Inc. 1986. Box. Mint. £2.50

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

Business game which from the outside only appears to be in a similar vein to Monopoly. The box says: Try to become a Tycoon using your connections with organised crime, political figures and labour leaders. Pay off a judge or subpoena an opponent to court. Own a law firm or a construction company etc. Nice guys finish last!

Ur 1830 BC, published by Splotter. 2001. Box. New. £16

Although not an authorised 18XX game, this is very much the same type of game, but it does not have a railroad theme, and has enough differences to make it a worthwhile addition to the genre. The game is about diverting water from rivers into irrigation channels and supplying it to sections of land. There are various nations, and the players are land owners across the nations, with the player with the most land in each nation being the King. Nations can improve their lot by building infrastructure and technology progresses making the older technology obsolete. Irrigated land brings income to its owner and its nation.

Vegas Showdown, published by Hasbro Avalon Hill. 2005. Box. In shrink. £19

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-5. Country: American, Duration: 75 mins, Desc. by Andy.

Excellent business game which was Games magazine's Game of the Year 2006. Each player is creating a Las Vegas Casino and intends it to be the biggest, best and most profitable. Each round a selection of casino attractions (such as slot machines, fancy restaurants, table games, sport betting rooms etc) are available, and the players bid for the right to add one of them to their casino. Each one provides extra income and / or attracts more customers. Players also have to ensure that there is a good way through from room to room in their casino, and various bonus cards and end of game bonuses can be played for. Clever bidding system, and lots of options and interesting decisions to make. Highly recommended.

Victorian Board Games, published by St Martin's Press. 1996. Book. In shrink. £15

Hardback, 31x32cm, 12 pages. Very nicely produced book of Victorian games, that includes copies of the original boards and pieces (in a resealable container). The six games included are The Prince's Quest, A Day At The Zoo With Daddy, Cycling, The Wonders Of The Deep, A Trip To Mars, and The Tailless Donkey. The boards are mounted on thick card rather than just paper copies, and the book folds flat so the games can be played. The author is a Christie's auction house expert.

Vive La Difference!, published by Ravensburger. 1992. Box. 2 copies available:

1) Mint. £7.50 2) Good. £6

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

Promotional game for Remy Martin, the champagne people. As you would expect, a really beautifully produced product. Players race to make a tour around Europe using a special dice. On the city spaces a trivia question is asked and a correct answer gives the chance to jump ahead. The cards show gourmet meals, the dice are black and gold and the box is inlaid with black velvet. Also includes 20 metal coins in a leather pouch. If you are going to use a game to advertise yourself, this is certainly a classy way to do it.

Warlock Of Firetop Mountain, published by Games Workshop. 1986. Box. Box shows wear. £16

Special notes: The original plastic miniatures are missing, but have been replaced with good substitutes.

Fantasy adventure game based on the well known Fighting Fantasy book of the same name. The players run adventurers who explore a labyrinth and fight creatures and gain treasure in order to increase their power. Characters have three stats: skill, stamina and luck, which affect combat and the character's chances in various other encounters. The objective is to reach the far end of the dungeon having deduced which must be the right keys to open the Warlock's treasure chest. This is done by asking other players about the key cards they hold in a slightly Cluedoesque way.

Watchamacallit, published by Berwick. 1972. Box. Good. £3.50

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

This is a game of categories - a category is chosen and players have to name things in that category. There is a spinner which selects the start letter for an appropriate word, eg. category Birds, Spinner says E so Eagle would be appropriate. There is also a ball for each player and a special bowl with a hole. When you say a suitable word you drop your ball in the bowl, so if two people call out simultaneously this breaks the tie.

What Am I Bid, published by Tri-Ang. ca.1964. Box. 1 box corner taped. £5

Designer Unknown. No. players: 3-11. Country: British, Desc. by Andy.

Auction game which includes a large wooden gavel. Players buy antiques which are put up for auction. Each type of antique has 3 specimens which will ultimately come up, one good, one poor, and one fake. Thus if you know that the ming vase that has sold already is a fake then you know it is worth bidding higher on the next one. In addition, when a player has a set, they can choose to end the game and score a bonus, or let the game continue in the hope of an even higher bonus, but with some risk.

Who's In The Igloo?, published by Artstraws Ltd. ca.1983. Box. Good. £6

Children's game (ages 5-10). The board shows a grid of 14 x 14 squares each showing either a polar bear or an eskimo (mostly eskimos), and 5 are coloured. A large igloo tile covers a 5x5 area of the board except for one central space. A card is drawn indicating the current coloured target space and players take it in turn to move the igloo tile one space at a time towards this target. They can keep moving it until they reach the target or the hole reveals a polar bear, in which case the next player continues. Reaching a target wins that card. A harder variant gives each player a different target card.

Wild Life, published by Clementoni. 2002. Box. In shrink. £13.50

Special notes: For £2 extra I can colour print and laminate a set of English event and Ability cards to ease play.

Each player takes the role of a different species, each of which is best suited to a different environment. During the game populations expand and the creatures come into conflict. Each species can develop, however, and become able to operate more effectively in other terrains as the game goes on. Special ability cards can also be obtained and used to good effect. Naturally each player wants their own species to dominate.

Word Games, published by Merit. Box. 2 Box corners split. £4

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

A set of 8 word games played with tiles on a table. The games are called: Crossword, Anagrams, Word Rummy, Word Dominoes, Word Ghost, Snatch Words, Word Solitaire & Passwords. A nice collection for word game fans.

Word Quest, published by Abracadabra Games Ltd. 1986. Box. Good, but box lid slightly warped. £5.50

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

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

X From Outer Space, published by Discovery Toys. 1985. Box. Good. £5.50

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

Roll-and-move children's game with a twist: you roll one white and two red dice and move your ship using the value of the white die. If you land on a space with a number, then multiply the large blue number on the space by the sum of your red dice. If the result is equal to the little red number in the space, you move forward 5 spaces. If greater than the red number, you move forward 1 and if less you move back 1. Planet Zoomer and Black Hole cards are drawn at different places on the board and move the player's pawn forward or backward along the track. The first person to reach the sun wins.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now for some books:

Book Title	Publisher	Author	Year	Type	Size (cm)	Pages	Condition	Price
Car Wars: Fuel's Gold	TSR	S.Jackson, C & S Lambard	1986	Soft	18x10	400 paras	Excellent	£4
The Theory Of Whist, 17th Edition	Longmans, Green & Co.	W. Pole	1890	Hard	17x11	108	Cover faded with wear, good internally. Gold edged pages	£5
Mrs Pottleton's Bridge Parties	Geoffrey Bles	Hugh Tuite	1926	Hard	19x13	156	Good, but dust cover worn, a previous owner has stuck various bridge related newspaper clippings onto the inside covers.	£7
Card Games Up-To-Date	Foulsham	Charles Roberts	~1940	Hard	19x13	160	Good, but cover edges faded Good.	£4 £5
The Beginner's Book Of Contract Bridge	C. Arthur Pearson Ltd	Joy Weston	1939	Hard	19x13	167	Good, but dustcover shows wear	£3
The Standard Book Of Bidding	Walter Edwards	Charles H. Goren	1946	Hard	19x13	282	Good, but some of dustcover missing	£4
A New Book Of Patience Games	Routledge & Kegan Paul	Ernest Bergholt	1953	Hard	19X13	119	Good	£4
A Book Of Card Games	Klutz Press	John Cassidy	1990	Spiral	22x14	124	Good	£3
Canasta For All	Sunday Times	Colin Harding	~1952	Soft	18x12	74	Good, cover shows wear. Good	£2.50 £4
The Game Of Draughts: Kelso	Phillips & Co	H. Jacob, J. H. Strudwick	1905	Booklet	18x12	32	Good	£4
Foulsham's New Fun Book	W. Foulsham & Co.	W. Foulsham & Co.	~1930	Soft	20x13	256	Good	£6
Fighting Fantasy 1: The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain	Laurel Leaf	Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone	1983	Soft	17x11	400 paras	Good, signed by Ian Livingstone	£5
Card Games For All The Family	Hodder & Stoughton	George Hervey	1977	Soft	18x11	100	Good	£2
Sixteen Gambling Games In Twenty Minutes	Eyre & Spottiswoode	Double You	~1910	Soft	17x11	63	Good	£10
Auction Bridge For Beginners And Others	Stanley Paul & Co.	A.C. Barker	1929	Hard	17x11	189	Good	£5
Improve Your Opening Leads	Victor Gollancz	Hugh Kelsey, John Matheson	1991	Soft	20x13	124	Excellent	£5
Contract Bridge In 20 Minutes	Eyre & Spottiswoode	Harold Thorne	1949	Soft	16x10	71	19th Edition, 303rd Thousand. Good but cover has some staining.	£2
The English Defence	B.T. Batsford	Raymond Keene, James Plaskett, Jon Tisdall	1987	Soft	21x14	100	Excellent	£10
New Rules For Classic Games	John Wiley & Sons	R Wayne Schmittberger	1992	Soft	23x19	245	Excellent	£9
Why You Lose At Bridge	Cornerstone Library	S.J. Simon	1974	Soft	20x13	160	Good	£3
Oswald Jacoby's Complete Canasta	Windmill Press	Oswald Jacoby	1950	Hard	20x14	160	Good but dustcover shows wear	£7
Military Modelling Guide To Wargaming	Argus Books	Stuart Asquith	1987	Soft	20x15	126	Excellent	£6
First Principles Of Card Play	Faber & Faber	Paul Marston	1990	Soft	20x13	153	Good	£6
From The Mana Born Issue 1	Mons's Goblin Writers	Julian Snape	1994	Booklet	21x15	23	Good	£0.50
Military Modelling Guide To Solo Wargaming	Argus Books	Stuart Asquith	1988	Soft	20x15	127	Excellent	£8

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MNG-AJM Games and Collectibles

Book Title

Publisher

Author

Year

Type

Size (cm)

Pages

Condition

Price

Car Wars: Fuel's Gold

TSR

S.Jackson, C & S Lambard

1986

Soft

18x10

400 paras

Excellent

£4

The Theory Of Whist, 17th Edition

Longmans, Green & Co.

W. Pole

1890

Hard

17x11

108

Cover faded with wear, good internally. Gold edged pages

£5

Mrs Pottleton's Bridge Parties

Geoffrey Bles

Hugh Tuite

1926

Hard

19x13

156

Good, but dust cover worn, a previous owner has stuck various bridge related newspaper clippings onto the inside covers.

£7

Card Games Up-To-Date

Foulsham

Charles Roberts

~1940

Hard

19x13

160

Good, but cover edges faded

£4

The Beginner's Book Of Contract Bridge

C. Arthur Pearson Ltd

Joy Weston

1939

Hard

19x13

167

Good, but dustcover shows wear

£3

The Standard Book Of Bidding

Walter Edwards

Charles H. Goren

1946

Hard

19x13

282

Good, but some of dustcover missing

£4

A New Book Of Patience Games

Routledge & Kegan Paul

Ernest Bergholt

1953

Hard

19X13

119

Good

£4

A Book Of Card Games

Klutz Press

John Cassidy

1990

Spiral

22x14

124

£2.50
£4

Steve Jackson,
Ian Livingstone

Good, signed by
Ian Livingstone