[First published on www.tabletoptribe.com]

We’re told it’s a Golden Age of Board Games right now, but for those of us that grew up in the late 70s and early 80s, that age felt equally golden for the tabletop, although increasingly challenged by consoles and home computers.

Not only were Milton Bradley and Waddingtons churning out titles fit to bust, but a brand new type of game, invented the previous decade, was just getting into its stride: the role-playing game (RPG).

The infamous (then and now) Demogorgon from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

But barring Dungeons & Dragons (DnD) along with Atari consoles and Pac Man, plus the predictable board game staples of Monopoly, Sorry and the like, what tabletop games might some nerdy kids from the 1980s have played?

Fortunately, I was just such a geeky 11/12 year old in 1983/84 when Stranger Things is set, which was handy for research, but sadly also meant the excellent Cosmic Encounter (1977) didn’t make the cut, as amazingly I was blissfully unaware of its existence until the 1986 Games Workshop 2nd edition.

However, like Cosmic Encounters, it’s testament to the quality of many of the games on this list that most of them are still in print. So, in no particular order, let’s get the nostalgia train moving…

1. Dune (1979)

In 1984 David Lynch created a piece of 80’s high camp in the guise of a movie, taking Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune and transforming it into what some would go on to describe as “a rare form of highly expensive gibberish”.

Avalon Hill version. 1979. That’s what I’m talking about, and not a pop star in sight.

The board-game spin off was actually better quality than the movie, but most folk consider the 1979 Avalon Hill version the superior beast. That said, my 12 year old self may well have chosen the ’84 version as despite the film being often unintelligible to me, I quite enjoyed it. It was obviously no Star Wars though.

The 1984 version for filthy peasant casuals. Or perhaps 11/12 year old kids like me.

Still in print? No, but you can get the rethemed 2012 edition of the Avalon Hill game called Rex: Final Days Of An Empire, or fork out over £100 for a 2nd hand original. Or make your own. Your choice.

2. Buccaneer* (1934)

*a.k.a. ‘Trade Winds’ in the US.

When I first researched the date of this one’s original manufacture I didn’t have my glasses on and I thought it was 1984. It appears to have been around slightly longer than that.

I confess: I’ve never actually owned or played this, as I guess my 11/12 year old sensibilities saw it in much the same way as I view very dry Euros today. I do however remember those kickass pirates on the box.

It’s been around for a year or two has Buccaneer…

I now feel the need to seek out a vintage 30s version to wallow in the luxury of a 25×25 square map, rather than sample the, frankly, subsistence living of the 20×20 it was cut down to by the 80s.

Still in print? Yes… ish. Hasbro reprinted it as a Pirates of the Caribbean cash-in version, which itself is over 10 years old. You can still get hold of it but your best bet is 2nd hand, where you can choose from over eight decades of vintage stock. Enjoy.

3. Dark Tower (1981)

These days tabletop folk rail angrily at the intrusion of “electronic wizardry” into their games (in the form of companion apps), but as kids back in the 80s we thought it was bloody awesome, and I was insanely jealous of my mate who owned Dark Tower.

“Electronic Wizardry!”

To be honest I’m struggling to recall much about the game itself, or whether it deserves its swollen 2nd hand price tag, but I do recall it being a blast at the time — but then again it was the early 80s and I was 11.

If you want an electronically-dictated adventure, the same cash is probably better spent on Mansions of Madness or Descent. But if nostalgia is your thing then you won’t find many better.

Still in print? Sadly not. It’ll set you back about £200+ on eBay.

4. Axis & Allies (1981)

Sure, the hex-and-chit neckbeards can (and probably will) point out numerous WW2 war games that were contemporary or precede Axis & Allies, but none of those became almost a household name.

It seems crazy (and ageing) to think that back in the early 80s WW2 had only been over 40 years, which probably explains why kids like me were still enthusiastically enjoying games of “war” involving roughly-gun-shaped sticks, pine cones for grenades and not strictly politicallly correct accents.

Many an 80s kid got their first taste of global WW2 sabre rattling/stabbing from Axis & Allies, and went on to be become adepts in the arcane, almost indecipherable Advanced Squad Leader.

Still in print? Yes, in many different flavours.

5. Battlecars/Battlebikes (1983/84)

Many moons ago, Games Workshop (GW) produced more than just a couple of miniatures war games. Acting more like their name, they were churning out lots of popular board game titles, like Battlecars (and a Battlebikes expansion a year later).

At first glance this might seem like a simplistic peasant’s version of Steve Jackson’s acclaimed Car Wars, and in many ways it is. There’s no creative car design process, or pouring over charts and tables to achieve the ultimate vehicular boom stick. You just choose which weapons to shoehorn into your weapon pods/turrets and off you go.

Which of course makes it bloody brilliant.

Still in print? Sadly not, but available on eBay for pretty reasonable sums.

6. Judge Dredd (1981)

If our dads in the UK had grown up on a diet of Dan Dare, Dandy and Beano, then 2000AD was definitely the pick of the menu for my generation.

The hard-as-nails lawman Judge Dredd presided over a publication so packed with awesome characters that it’s surprising we haven’t seen more games featuring such ne’er-do-wells as the ABC Warriors and Strontium Dogs.

However, GW once again managed to leave us another non-Warhammer legacy in Judge Dredd: The Board Game, and later in the decade several other 2000AD titles like Rogue Trooper and Block/Mega Mania.

If you can get your mitts on it, it oozes theme and can provide a light-yet-filling distraction from your modern board gaming shininess.

Still in print? Literally a crime, punk… but no it isn’t. Available on eBay for about £40.

7. Call of Cthulhu (1981)