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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Our postman tapped the door, tentatively, with an armful of parcels and soaked - from head to foot - thanks to the relentless rain of a grey Wednesday. She scanned the QR codes by way of 'proof of delivery' and squelched back to her van. Careful not to soggy up the floor and furnishings, I snipped at the droplet-strewn packing tape:
A mixed bag of donated (The Simpsons' Game of Life), personal (the Blish books and the Stontium Dog ZX Spectrum cassette) and Museum items:
The particular treasure is Teuf-Teuf! - a French language edition of C.W. Faulkner & Co's race game Pip-Pip!:
Heaven knows how difficult it is to source the Faulkner catalogue; indeed, I have recently been snipe-d out of copies of both From Sailor Boy to Admiral (Sailors) and Flyto (Balloons).
So to happen upon an almost-complete (it's missing the Rulebook with the picture/forfeit descriptions), foreign imprint is a real joy:
The turn-of-the-century stuff is well worth saving up - and waiting - for!
Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband and Independent UK Game Designer.
Archive for History of Games
4
Comments
Thu Sep 21, 2023 6:20 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Okay, so I might have been short-changed in a couple recent exhibit acquisitions but, sometimes, I deliberately go after "part works":
This is invariably because the 'full version' would be markedly more expensive and, in the case of these Fairylite products, consist of nothing more than tatty box, some counters, a d6 and a small dice cup. No, indeed; this kind of 'Snakes & Ladders'-esque fare is far better serviced by the art and layout of the boards than anything else:
Simple, bright and doing exactly what you'd expect; the little details make them a delight.
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Well, I always thought that our Nanny State was rather over-egging the pudding when it came to Internet Safety; that is, of course, until I experienced the dangers myself.
Bear with me, dear pals, as I may become emotional: this copy of G1 from the 1980s - described as 100% complete - brought my trusted view of the digital domain smashing and crashing to the ground:
There are supposed to be 54 cards in the deck - but there are only 52 in the box; there should be five player rocket ships but only the one made it to my door. As for the 'Bases'?! Well, the good Lord knows wheretofore they have wandered!
Without hesitation, I turned to eBay for assistance and the vendor immediately apologised and refunded my money...
...I'm not sure I can ever recover from this trauma.
To add insult to (grevious) injury, this 90 year old edition of Trilos - noted with "all parts and pieces" - was delivered on the same day and - woe upon stomach-churning woe - it was missing its rulebook!
I had to - gasp - go online and download a previously-scanned PDF! Though, to be fair, BGG has everything you need to know right here:Quote:Trilos is a game system featuring Triangular Dominoes (twenty-four Trilos and one Joker,) two playing boards, and two tile holders that include clips for tracking scores. Each Trilo has a number of pips along each side, one through nine, and has a white face on one side, black on the other. The spots on each side are the same, so that on one side the numbers run clockwise, the other anti-clockwise, which is indicated by an extra mark.
The rules describe these games for play with Trilos:Dom Trilo – a game of drawing Trilos and matching them on a table, in an attempt to rid one's hand of any remaining tiles
Stones and Windows – two players match randomly drawn Trilos around the blank edges of the small board (a triangular grid of 10 triangles the same size as the Trilos.) The goal is to be the first to use all one's Trilos or, if reaching an unplayable position, to score the fewest points on remaining Trilos.
Rummy Trilo – three players draw seven Trilos and privately try to match a pattern drawn in the rulebook, taking turns swapping out pieces until someone completes the pattern.
Crazy Pavement – a more complicated version of Stones and Windows, with players trying to match pieces around the numbered sides of the small board, tracking several different ways to score points. When the game becomes unplayable, the score determines the winner.
Khuti – two players lay Trilos on the larger board (which features a grid of twenty-two triangles,) attempting to fill the board while outscoring each other.
Khefren – two players engage in a slightly less difficult version of the above game, Khuti.
Two Patience Games – there are two solitaire games included in the rules, Pyramid Patience and Trilex Patience.
Troulette – a game of chance utilizing a scoring board drawn in the rules and the Trilos pieces.
I just have to nip off for a bit of a lie-down; it's all so stressful!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
I am between work contracts at the moment and, imminently, expect to receive some new kit and get going BUT - until then - I'm knocking around the place. With the weather unseasonally lovely, loitering my library room was not an option so Mrs B and I trundled over to Stroud for a browse. Half of the town is a bit scuffed and modern but the other half is rather picturesque; all of it is settled on the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Valleys.
Keeping to the scenic side, we found a couple of bits-and-bobs in the Charity shops and scoffed a hearty-and-delicious brunch in a tiny café next to the Church:
Mostly stock for the gift shop, the Cluedo dual-language edition caught my eye...
...as did an initially-innocuous book, for £2.95, on an unremarkable bookshelf:
We stopped by Fireside Books - who had just acquired a large Tolkien collection - and they helped us with a valuation. With a bit of luck, this fortuitous bibliographic find will end up having covered the cost of the other main arrival of the week:
The RPG shelves are expanding with fabulous examples and will soon demand a proper corner for their display!
All-in-all, a splendid and worthwhile escape from the house!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Patrick Moore's Astronomy Game is a standard, roll-and-move game with a couple of thematic wrinkles to cover 'over-rolling' (using your fuel tokens) and an element of team play (after you land on the same space as another player). Hardly ground-breaking BUT a delightful vision in cardboard:
Obviously, the board is the most striking component:
For those who aren't familiar with the game's Patron - Patrick Moore - here's a biographical snippet from the Wikipedias:Quote:Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore CBE HonFRS FRAS (1923-2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
Moore was president of the British Astronomical Association; co-founder and president of the Society for Popular Astronomy; author of over seventy books on astronomy; and presenter of the world's longest-running television series with the same original presenter, BBC's The Sky at Night (from 1957). He became known as a specialist in Moon observation and for creating the Caldwell catalogue. Idiosyncrasies such as his rapid diction and monocle made him a popular and instantly recognisable figure on British television.
Outside his field of astronomy, Moore appeared in the video game television show GamesMaster. Moore was also a self-taught xylophonist and pianist, as well as an accomplished composer. He was an amateur cricketer, golfer and chess player. In addition to many popular science books, he wrote numerous works of fiction.
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
A fortuitous Lot on eBay from a person clearing their late Mother's effects - "(she) loved to buy vintage and unusual things" - resulted in the completion of a another Quest:
My complete set of pieces were pining for a board upon which to be played:
It's a fabulous thing with real texture (more so than its later spin-off Campaign)!
I am very much looking forward to shifting my Units along those lines - a definite candidate for the Gathering of Chums (in just 12 weeks time)!
Of course, even with a game as rare as this there would be variations and 'editions' (curse you, Gods of Acquisition Disorder) - you will note that the pieces in this recent set are thick, printed-cardboard chits while my original set had pinned flags on wood:
Of course: someone is now bound to inform me that the map itself came in a series of adjusted variants...and my Sisyphean travails doth continue!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Now that away days and holidays* are done (for now), I figured I needed to sort out the exhibition room that I've acquired upstairs at the Art Gallery opposite. Hannah, who runs The Secret Gallery, and I have been Shambles buddies for a couple of years now and both projects have a heavy, creative crossover; it seemed daft not to avail myself of an unused storage space to extend both businesses appeal.
Having previously sold of a bunch o' modern things and invested in a shedload** of IKEA IVAR shelving, I took the opportunity of a quiet Sunday morning to lay out The Warren Collection, list my new (info) signage needs and plan moves from the Main Room:
It's still a little scruffy but once the games have found their places - and a nice bench is set in the middle - we'll be good-to-go!
And I definitely need more pictures and posters on the walls!
*see also Rainy Days and Mondays
**there are four shedloads to a fuckton
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Gotta love a well-drawn, interestingly-themed copy of Happy Families and this version, from Imperial Tobacco (1930s) is a doozy:
Each family represents a particular Wills product and was, apparently, given to retailers as a promotional item!
Thankfully only the adults (Mr and Mrs) are smoking in their pictures.
'Twas a different age, of course.
The almost pack-fresh condition of the cards suggests it was opened for a look-see then put away for the next almost 100 years!
*see also https://www.wopc.co.uk/uk/mardon/wills-happy-families
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
A few weeks ago, I was pointed at
an XProa Twitter post containing an old film segment from BBC TV's Tomorrow's World by Mr Mark Holmes - Tomorrow's World was a popular, scientific 'sneak preview' series that spoiled the great and wise developments that would see us into a shiny 21st century!
The video is a short documentary about Denys Fisher - of company Denys Fisher Toys fame:
Denys' son, Duncan (@LakesBuddhist) commented on the thread and - sensing an opportunity for more Museum-based, curatorial investigation - I sent him a DM: what happened at the games company? does he have an rare prototypes and archive materials?
Unfortunately for me but VERY fortunate for Denys and his family, the company was sold to to Palitoy before its game period; Denys' invention of the enormously-successful Spirograph facilitating his departure. This, from Duncan, explains:Quote:Regarding board games - as I understand it most of the boardgames that were marketed by Denys Fisher toys came after my father had sold his company to Palitoy at the end of 1969.
Dad was a mechanical engineer so the sorts of toys he invented tended to be mechanical devices such as Spirograph and Cyclex. The boardgames were handled by others at Denys Fisher toys - probably a man called Bob Fieldhouse who was dad's managing director.
As far as board games - dad had a lifelong passion for chess and was a very strong player. I do still have his antique chess board that has been passed down as a Fisher family heirloom for several generations now
Of course, Wikipedia can help with gap-filling:Quote:Denys Fisher (11 May 1918 – 17 September 2002) was an English engineer who invented the spirograph toy and created the company Denys Fisher Toys.From a Museum perspective, it's the games that provide the greatest interest but, with 'a fortune made and early retirement', we now have some splendid embellishments!
He left Leeds University to join the family firm, Kingfisher (Lubrication) Ltd. In 1960 he left the firm to set up his own company, Denys Fisher Engineering, in Leeds. In 1961 the company won a contract with NATO to supply springs and precision components for its 20 mm cannon. Between 1962 and 1964 he developed various drawing machines from Meccano pieces, eventually producing a prototype Spirograph. Patented in 16 countries, it went on sale in Schofields department store in Leeds in 1965. A year later, Fisher licensed Spirograph to Kenner Products in the United States. In 1967 Spirograph was chosen as the UK Toy of the Year.
Denys Fisher Toys, which also produced other toys and board games, was sold to Palitoy in 1970 and it was subsequently bought by Hasbro. Through the 1980s and 1990s Fisher continued to work with Hasbro in developing new toys and refining Spirograph.
Here are some of the subsequent non-Denys, Denys Fisher delights that currently grace the Museum's shelves: Are You Being Served, Dig (1971), On the Buses (1973), The Fastest Gun, Thomas Cook – Snap Happy, Dad's Army (1974), It's a Knockout (1974), Generation Game (1975), Harvey Smith's Showjumping Game (1975), Haunted House, Hotel, Miss UK Game (1975), Miss World Game, The Bionic Woman (1975), Up Periscope (1975), Six Million Dollar Man (1975), Six Million Dollar Man – Bionic Crisis (1976), James Hunt's Grand Prix Racing Game (1976), The New Avengers (1977), War of the Daleks and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1979).
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
UnspecifiedWelcome...to my Shed! -
Serendipitously, after the recent visit from Tim Clare, my pre-set eBay notifications alerted me to a copy of The Physog Family: the friendlier sibling to the rummy-esque (and slightly-problematic) Physogs. Once again, I'll not spoil the fascinating history of Mr Jacques Penry and leave it to Mr C's upcoming video.
The Physog Family is more of a toy than a game but a bright piece of nonsense nonetheless:
Agree on a goal facial expression/type and then draft eyes and noses/mouths to make the best approximation of it - submitting all efforts to a group vote.
There's not much else to say about it, really.
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