What’s In That Game Box? – Nuclear War (1983 Edition)

Ever searched the Internet looking for what exactly you were missing from the old board game you pulled from your closet, only to find no succor in your time of need? Well, stop that fruitless searching through endless google results, as this week we look at the 1983 version of Douglas Malewicki’s classic game of mass destruction, Nuclear War.

Nuclear War started it’s bombing run in 1965, and has seen many new editions (and expansions) since, but each keeps that 1960’s Cold War paranoia and panic vibe alive.

Should you find a copy in a thrift shop or on eBay, below is a guide to the game’s contents you can use to decide if you want to make that purchase! Included are:

• The Game Box (featuring a marvelous image of the the Super Virus and a successful nuke)
  
• The Spinner (which includes a dice-rolling option if the Spinner no longer functions)
  
• 2 Strategy Maps (with spots for the Face Up Card, 1st Face Down Card, 2nd Face Down Card, 3rd Face Down Card, Population, and 2 Deterrent Force spots – as well as “The Button” with “Press to Test”)
  
• A deck of Population Cards (40 total)
  • Ten 1,000,000 People Cards
  • Ten 2,000,000 People Cards
  • Ten 5,000,000 People Cards
  • Six 10,000,000 People Cards
  • Four 25,000,000 People Cards
    
• A deck of Nuclear War Cards (99 total)
  • 19 Ten Megatons Cards
  • 10 Twenty Megatons Cards
  • 4 Fifty Megatons Cards
  • 1 One Hundred Megatons Card
  • 3 Saturn Missiles Cards
  • 6 B70 Bombers Cards
  • 9 Atlas Missiles Cards
  • Two 25 Million Propaganda Cards
  • Six 10 Million Propaganda Cards
  • Twelve 5 Million Propaganda Cards
  • Four different Anti-Missile Cards
  • Five different Top Secret Cards
  • Ten different Secret Cards
  • Two Joker Cards (not used for gameplay, showing how to get a catalog for more games)
  • Three Blank Cards (make your own card!)
  • Two Product Ad Cards (not for gameplay)
  • One Card showing the contents of the game
    
• A Blade (division of Flying Buffalo, Inc.) product catalog
  
• The Game Rules

That’s it!

The Best Classic Board Games – Personal Preference (1987)

There are games that rely on the roll of the dice and the luck of the draw as they are about strategy, moving tokens around a game board, drawing cards, paying money, and trying to have the most loot.  Then there are games that rely on your knowledge of people and events, which tend to be known as “party” games, perhaps because there are less little game components to lose during a drunken gaming bacchanal.  Of party games, there are two broad categories: those that test your knowledge of trivia, and can be played by any group, whether they are acquainted or not, and those that focus on players answering questions that deal with how well you know your fellow gamers, which means they are best played among friends.  Personal Preference, a classic game first published in 1987, is one of the latter.

Game play in Personal Preference is relatively simple: during their turn players draw four cards from the category box corresponding with the game board space that their token is on.  Each card has a single item, either from the “FOOD & DRINK”, “ACTIVITIES”, “PEOPLE”, or “POTPOURRI” categories, and are placed on the game board for the other players to see.  (For example, drawing four cards from the “FOOD & DRINK” category box might net the player the following: “Beef jerky”, “Chocolate chip cookies”, “Garlic”, and “Pumpkin pie”.)  The player then ranks those cards in order of most to least favorite, using the four color-coded Preference Cards, placing the Preference Cards into a secret envelope hidden from the other players’ view.

At that point the other players attempt to guess the secret order of the Preference Cards, placing their special Preference Tokens on the game board in order of what they think the secret ranking is.  Once all players (or teams!) have committed to their preference guesses, the secret order is revealed.   Correct guesses move the corresponding player’s token further along the game board, while incorrect answers can move their tokens backwards.  The winning player or team is the one that manages to guess correctly enough times to move their token all the way to the FINISH square.

Personal Preference was originally published in 1987 by Broderbund (yes, the software company) in the United States, and Playtoy Industries in Canada, but was actually designed by Donal Carlston, Ph.D.  Dr. Carlston is currently a professor in the Psychological Sciences department at Purdue University, and his university bio explains much of the origin of Personal Preference:

“Primary research interests are in person perception, impression formation and social cognition. The current focus of this work is on the origin, organization and use of different kinds of mental representations of people and events.”

I connected with Dr. Carlston back in 2010, and he graciously consented to an email interview, but his schedule never permitted him the time to respond to my questions, which were fairly innocuous:

1. A 1988 review of your game stated that it was designed to further familial social bonds. Would this be an accurate statement, and what was your original purpose in designing the game? Was this game an example of your research or was it an academic aside? How did the idea for the game come about?,,

2. Do you have any favorite anecdotes of your time as a game designer that you could share?,,

3. You are also credited for being a designer for the board game, Lode Runner, based on the classic computer game. Did you design other games, and have you considered returning to the industry? Do you have any advice for those that may wish to pursue a career as a game designer?

However, it’s been four years since the attempt was made; even I am willing to give up on receiving an answer after this much time has passed! This blog entry has been waiting in the queue all this time…it’s time to let it free!

Advertising From Yesteryear…Milton Bradley’s Gamemaster Series

Just about everyone who loves board games or war games knows about Axis & Allies, Milton Bradley’s strategy board game that came in a large box and was filled with tiny plastic playing pieces.  The game was part of a special line-up of similar products that the giant board game company released throughout the 1980s, some of which are certainly much more obscure than others!  The Gamemaster series included the aforementioned Axis & Allies (the WWII game released in 1981), Broadsides & Boarding Parties (the Age of Sail strategy game released in 1982), Conquest of Empire (a Roman Empire wargame released in 1984),  Fortress America (an alternate universe wargame released in 1986, where America fights off an invasion from the rest of the world), and Shogun (a 1986 game set in feudal Japan, later renamed Samurai Swords).

To remind you of those fine games, here is a full-color, full-page ad from Milton Bradley found in the September, 1986 issue of the classic Dragon Magazine.  Incidentally, it is the first time I’ve ever seen Conquest of the Empire advertised in any format. Click on the image below to see an enlarged version, and enjoy the trip into yesteryear!

1986 Ad for Milton Bradley’s Gamemaster series.

Yesterday’s Freebies: The Sam ‘n’ Max Hit The Road Board Game

Squirreled away amidst the pages of LucasArts’ The Adventurer (No. 7, Winter 1994, to be precise) was a curious two-page spread entitled, Sam & Max Hit the Road: The Thrill-Packed and Completely Unrelated Official Boardgame. Just a little zany extra for fans of classic LucasArts comedic adventures, and a great ad for the Sam & Max PC game. (The Adventurer also contained an “interview” with Sam and Max, but if written slapstick humor is a lost art, this piece did nothing to locate it.) At any rate, below is the Sam & Max Hit the Road: The Thrill-Packed and Completely Unrelated Official Boardgame, ready for you to play – just click on the image to enlarge it to a usable size! (NOTE: The enlarged image is hi-res, so don’t click on it if you don’t have a fast Internet connection!)

Sam & Max Hit the Road: The Thrill-Packed and Completely Unrelated Official Boardgame

What’s In That Game Box? – Milton Bradley’s Hotels (1987)

Ever scoured the Internet looking for what exactly you were missing from the old board game you pulled from your closet, only to find no one who could give you the answer?  Well, stop that fruitless searching through endless google results, as this featured this week on What’s In That Game Box? is Milton Bradley’s classic dimensional game of high-rises and high stakes, Hotels.

Box art for Hotels (Milton Bradley, 1987)

The contents of Hotels are as follows:

The game box (featuring a full image of a fully set up game board. The inside of the box lid includes the instructions of the game in French)

The game board (featuring a 31-square path with adjacent spaces for various hotels and properties)

4 player limousine tokens (blue, green, red, and yellow)

1 red six-sided die (standard)

1 special six-sided die (sides are: 2, green dot, green dot, green dot, H, and red dot)

30 cardboard buildings (with 30 plastic bases and 33 plastic roof parts) which construct the following:

• Bank (1 building)
• Boomerang (1 building)
• Fujiyama (3 buildings)
• Le Grand (5 buildings)
• President (4 buildings)
• Royal (4 buildings)
• Safari (3 buildings)
• Taj Mahal (3 buildings)
• Town Hall (1 building)
• Waikiki (5 buildings)

8 cardboard Recreational Facilities (to be placed beside the hotels) which include:

• Boomerang Hotel (swimming pool)
• Fujiyama (swimming pool)
• Le Grand (swimming pool)
• President Hotel (golf course and swimming pool)
• Royal (swimming pool)
• Safari Hotel (swimming pool)
• Taj Mahal (swimming pool)
• Waikiki Hotel (swimming pool)

8 Title Deed cards, which include Cost and Rent Due tables

30 red plastic hotel entrance markers (miniature staircases)

A supply of play money in the following denominations: 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 5000. (All bank notes are marked with the number “4844” and include a picture of Milton Bradley with the title “M. Bradley” below it)

The rules sheet

Aside from a very well-laid out inner cardboard separator piece which also provides a photo of each hotel and construction instructions, that’s it!  Hopefully this will help would be hotel magnates realize their tycoon dreams!

Game board set up for Hotels (Milton Bradley, 1987)

All the buildings in Hotels (Milton Bradley, 1987)

Hotels (1987) Title Deeds, set 1

Hotels (1987) Title Deeds, set 2

Tokens and dice for Hotels (Milton Bradley, 1987)

Game money denominations for Hotels (Milton Bradley, 1987)