The Best Games
by Bruce Whitehill
Toy Shop, May, 1998
Talking about the best collectible games is like arguing about whose ice cream is the creamiest. “Best” is pretty much subjective–a judgment call. Only a “best-selling” game can back up its status with some numbers, and even there, that doesn’t mean the game will make anybody’s “best” list, other than the manufacturer’s. There are kudos and awards that magazines give out for supposedly good games, but most of those acknowledgments are for games that _play_ well, and that are still available; they are not necessarily collectibles. _Games Magazine_, _The Games Annual_, and, periodically, Consumer Union’s _Zillions_ all have an annual issue or buyers guide devoted to the best games; _Gamers Alliance_, _Sumo_, and _The Game Cabinet_ regularly publish reviews of games. And any game that makes those lists long enough _may_ become collectible–_if_ the design is interesting, and if the game isn’t over-produced.
Games of Fame
The American Game Collectors Association (AGCA, P.O. Box 44, Dresher, PA 19025) is the only collectors’ group that polls its members about what the most desirable games are. The organization’s Games of Fame includes playable collectible games, such as AUTHORS (multiple companies, 1861-present), TOURING (Parker Bros., 1906 onward), UNCLE WIGGILY (Milton Bradley and Parker Bros., 1918 on), and CABBY (Selchow & Righter, 1938). Some of these are strictly playable for kids, but they’ve been around for a long time, and the original versions are sought after. An example of the AGCA choice of most artistic collectible games includes NATIONAL GAME OF THE AMERICAN EAGLE (W & S.B. Ives, 1844), a game few collectors have ever seen, and SPEDEM AUTO RACE (Alderman Fairchild, 1922) and HOPALONG CASSIDY (Milton Bradley, 1955). I suspect these latter two are more sentimental favorites than highly collectible games of exceptional artistic merit; and they appeal to the widest audience, since they embrace the two popular themes of automobiles and western. I should note that the AGCA Games of Fame are voted on from a pre-set list, making the judgments even more subjective because of the listmaker’s own choices.
The Most Sought After
Are the best games the one’s most sought after? Or the rarest? I would consider the ELVIS GAME (Teenage Games, 1957) one of the hottest games in the collectibles market. I can’t show you a photo, because I’ve never even seen the game. Of course, its value is governed more by the fact that it’s rare Elvis–as a game, it may not even be that interesting.
I’ve had more requests for RED BARBER’S BASEBALL than almost any other game. So I’d have to put that on one of the “top-10” lists. And every game collector between 40 and 60 wants STAR REPORTER, if he doesn’t already own one. The game came out in 1937 as BOAKE CARTER’S STAR REPORTER, but does anybody know who Boake Carter is now? People played the game when Parker Bros. continued to reissue it through the ‘50s, and it seems to hold great nostalgic value for the baby boomers. THE HARDY BOYS games and NANCY DREW also have great memories.
What’s in a theme?
The most collectible games clearly fit into a particular theme. Chances are, if we put some top-ten lists together, we’ll have many games fitting into the most popular themes: sports, with baseball as the big hit, Black characters, and transportation are the biggies. Transportation can include anything with wheels (bicycle games are as sought after as automobile items), anything that flies (from gliders to DC-10s to jets to rockets, along with the floaters: dirigibles and hot air balloons), and anything that floats, from row boats to yachts to warships. Military games are also highly collectible.
