Landmine Challenge - the Boardgame

‘Landmine Challenge!’ is generally considered to the the worst toy ever - a board game based on “the skill and suspense involved in negotiating a mine field,” according to the description on the back of the box. The game comprised a 4 centimetre-thick board, decorated to resemble a minefield, and containing several small, pressure-sensitive explosive devices. A review in Board Gamer Monthly from November 1998 said, “Not only is this game tasteless, with the playing pieces being little blue, red, or green plastic Third-World children, whose limbs you must remove each time you lose a round, but the game is profoundly unsafe. To randomise the placement of the ‘landmines’, you are expected to load them into the base of the board and shake it vigorously, with often horrific consequences.” The producers of the game MS Funtime, hoped to resell the recalled games is countries with less stringent Public Health laws, but the warehouse where they were stored for shipping exploded in early 1999.

This toy shop in the South Coast UK town of Mordley was the scene of protests from residents and landmine charities soon after the release of Minefield Challenge. The shop's proprietor, Alan Mauspan, told the crowds on the third day,

"Look, I understand your outrage, and your disgust. I should have looked into the game more before I added it to the annual board-game tournament, but I'm planning to remove it, and replace it with a round of Cupcake Mayhem."

Photograph by morebyless.

 ©2013 James Mathurin