Board games based on TV shows were a
part of everyone 70s kid's childhood. Some were good, some were
desperate. And by that I mean that playing them required a degree in
quantum physics to understand the rules of a game that had as much to
do with the TV show they were based on as they did to a cantaloupe.
I had several of these games. Mostly
they were Christmas presents and invariably they were based on a love
for the TV series or a particularly convincing TV ad.
There were two based on 'Doctor Who'
– one was a really disappointing board and dice game in which you
had to visit four planets and do something heroic to save the galaxy.
It did have a nice perfunctory TARDIS shaped shaker for the dice
though. The version I had also came with a giant sticker of Tom Baker
on the box – evidently he hadn't been cast as the Doctor or given
his permission for his image to be used when the game was first
released. You do have to admire the gall of Denys Fisher.
There was also War of the Daleks.
This was a rather more elaborate affair with little silver and gold
plastic Daleks on a raised box-like board that spun round and knocked
playing counters over. Clumsy Daleks were the scourge of the universe
in 1977. I still have one of the Daleks but not the game itself. I
turned it into a key chain in the 80s. Poor thing!
The board game based on the Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson show 'Space: 1999' was another kettle of fish.
Evidently, the creators of the game jumped in to licence their
product very early on and had little more than script notes for the
first episode to go on – or so it seemed. A large circular
grid-like playing board on which conical playing pieces doubled for
Eagle spacecraft saw players battle through radiation fields to get
nuclear charges (small pegs that looked like rejects from an old
Mastermind set) back to Moonbase Alpha. In fact, the only connection
with John Koenig and his lunar heroes was the exciting cover art and
the odd name in the instruction booklet. Disappointing in all
aspects and dull beyond compare.
I also had a game based on the old
ITV sitcom 'On The Buses'. This was actually quite fun. Little red
buses trundled around a playing board picking up vac-formed plastic
passengers avoiding the dreaded 'Blakey' card – which featured a
lovely and threatening piece of artwork of the character played by
Stephen Lewis in the series. When the card was played, you couldn't
help but let out a “Heeehhh! I've got you Butler!!”.
Board games aren't what they used to
be and the nation's charity shops contain too few of the nostalgic
best. Ebay is now their rest home where prices (and postage) pay for
their retirement from service.
Of course, some board games never even made it into production...
