Board games: Game on for profits

Now all those Christmas games have been put back in their boxes, Peter Seddon considers some vintage classics which might make for a profitable New Year clear out.

The Beatles Flip Your Wig Game of 1964 is now a collectors' item

SINCE the late Victorian era, boxed games have been one of the most popular Christmas gifts. Children and adults alike have loved both receiving and playing these packages of sheer fun.

At least for the most part, for games playing can be fraught. First some bright spark needs to decipher the rules. Then underhand tactics are fiercely debated.

Anyone who considers cheating a legitimate part of the fun must be firmly corrected. And don’t we all remember a shameful occasion when someone who really should have known better has sent the entire board flying in a sudden fit of fury?

The season of goodwill just wouldn’t be the same without such battles of the board.

Once New Year’s Eve has passed, the bits go back in the box to lie dormant until they re-emerge a year later for the annual mayhem to begin all over again.

In time, the lid begins to look a little tired – and what about that missing counter? Sucked to its death in a post-hangover frenzy of over-zealous vacuuming?

It’s little wonder that so few boxed games survive complete and in perfect condition. All of which means that demand for vintage examples is hard to satisfy.

And that, in turn, is reflected in prices. One of the leading dealers in collectable games explains: “People keep them for so long, then give them to a jumble or car boot sale. Then, years later, they want the game back – often to show their own children or just so they can feel the innocence of youth again.”

One of the absolute classics which is notorious for its missing pieces is Mousetrap. It’s been around longer than we might imagine, invented in Chicago in 1963.

A perfect first edition from the well-known maker Ideal might easily cost the enthusiast £50 to acquire now. It falls into the category where a contraption is part and parcel of the attraction.

Buckaroo, Don’t Tip the Waiter and Kerplunk (£20 a piece) are other classics for which brainpower isn’t the first prerequisite.

So too the celebrated Booby Trap (£25), a cliffhanger of a game in which coloured discs of various sizes need to be removed from a spring-loaded trap without it exploding. Not for those with frayed nerves.

The company to blame for that one and many more classics is the legendary firm of John Waddington, founded by the man himself in the 19th century, in partnership with his friend Wilson Barrett.

The organisation began life as a small printing firm supplying programmes and posters to the theatre industry, but once they diversified into playing cards it was very much a case of “game on”.

Few people can have escaped exposure to a Waddington’s experience at some time in their lives, and they became almost a cult name in British manufacture. Alas the firm was swallowed up by Hasbro in 1995.

News from the collecting fraternity is that games from the 1960s to 1980s are most in demand, but also the most difficult to find in complete and clean condition.

Some collectors go for the more cerebral games in which an element of tactics, knowledge or skill comes in handy. Anybody out there remember Campaign, Risk and Go? More to the point, did anyone ever fully understand them? Something like £20-£30 will buy a second chance.

Far simpler were those shake a dice and move games which were spin-offs from TV series. Generally, these relied on the programme title to clinch the sale, but what lay within was often a let down.

Nevertheless, the boxes usually sport evocative artwork, and such nostalgic items are very much in demand. Anything between £20 and £50 is the going rate for these ’60s and ’70s examples – the list reads like a tribute to the TV classics of yesteryear – Emergency Ward 10, Z-Cars, Bonanza, Dad’s Army, Double Your Money, Take Your Pick...and the list goes on.

Many boxed games of yesteryear also incorporated geographical or historical elements which really could educate a willing youngster.

Classic examples are Waddington’s Railroader (build a railroad from Junction City to Buffalo Creek), Spear’s Nile (track its course) and Wildlife (the conservation game).

Others are very much iconic reminders of a certain time. Blast Off from 1969 could only come from the year in which man first landed on the moon. And both The Monkees Game (1967) and The Beatles Flip Your Wig Game (1964) (pictured above) reflect revolutions in the music industry. The Beatles example was by the American manufacturer Milton Bradley and is particularly rare – I’ve seen good ones for sale at £100 plus.

Further boxes of fun reflecting the cult of celebrity, both real and fictional, are the James Bond 007 Secret Service game, Superman, Batman, Sherlock Holmes, the extremely scarce Twiggy and the inimitable Sgt Bilko, all of which are keenly sought after.

Board games aren’t everybody’s cup of tea but they are a growing area of collectables which is worth keeping an eye on. If you fancy buying, then several internet sites will provide.

As for selling, the top of the wardrobe, under the stairs and the loft are always a good start.

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