Round the World: Europe
Here is another card game game from the Pepys/Castell Brothers collection. According to the boardgamegeek entry the publication year is 1961. This is curious because a key feature of the game, including the box art, is the use of the Concorde plane. The Wikipedia entry for the Concorde states that construction of prototypes didn’t start until 1965, its first test flight was in 1969, and that it wasn’t ready for commercial service until 1976.
Round the World: Asia
An apparent and intriguing anachronism then…!
I guess it’s possible that there was some early publicity about the Concorde design way back in 1961 and that the (uncredited) game designer/artist was/were simply forward-looking and imaginative enough to feature it so early into this game.
Or maybe the first edition of Round the World did not feature the Concorde card at all and this set is actually an updated edition from the 1960s or 70s (the rules sheet and box for the game have no date printed anywhere).
Round the World: Americas
Or, maybe the boardgamegeek entry is simply a mistake.
If anyone can shed any light on this minor mystery, please add a comment here or send me a message through the contact form. It would be appreciated!
Round the World: Africa
Anyhoo, let’s take a look at the game. Simply, this is another version of Uno or Crazy Eights or, according to the Pepys box and rule sheet, their game “Speed”. It has the theme of world travel pasted on flimsily, making it playable by the kiddies and vaguely educational (ie., because of the geographical and cultural features on some of the cards). But it is the kitsch, period artwork on the cards that make this marvellous to look at. Granted, some of the drawings are a little flat and uninspiring. But some are just the opposite – The Great Wall (China) and Panama Canal cards are nice stand-outs for me. Various other cards show stylised stereotypes that are unrealistic but still attractive – Kenya, the Canadian Mountie, the Old West (USA), and the Mount Fujiyama (Japan) scene, for example.
Round the World: Australasia
Some are actually quite odd and seem a little out of place – in particular the Le Mans 24 Hour Race (France) and the Melbourne Test Match (Australia), and the yellow sky over the Sydney Harbour Bridge makes me think that possibly the artwork on this card wasn’t finished or that maybe something went wrong in the offset printing process?
More games to come in the Pepys collection.
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