A Month of... Board Games! Day 1: Bat-Track the Leaper

Now that we've had our fill of pancakes (as if!), let's while away the hot dull dog days of summer by playing board games! (You can play 'em inside if it's a rainy day, and outside if Mama Bull tells you to go out and get some exercise.) No, I'm not talkin' about one of my many many versions of Monopoly


No, no, come back, game snobs! I'm not gonna teach ya about Monopoly. Of course, as you can probably guess, I like Monopoly. If you play it RIGHT and follow the danged RULES with no Free Parking money and unbought properties get auctioned off and actually tally up the 10% surcharge on mortgages and do not, I repeat do not let my little sister Marshall be the Banker I find it quite enjoyable. But I know many of you think that game is the Devil's Spawn and I promise you, the only use you'll get out of Monopoly this month is raiding a box for dice and tokens and pawns. And Ventnor Avenue.

All of which you can use with the comic book board games I'll be presenting this month, all month! Actual (mostly) playable board games taken from the pages of comics — to be honest, primarily British Annuals, so get yourself ready for lots of Thunderbirds and Doctor Who. You can look at them on the screen or you can cut 'em out and actually play 'em! Make sure to get your mom or dad or parental guardian's permission to use scissors first, and if there's any heavy hardware involved, don't do this at home! (Go over to a friend's house and do it there). Games are mostly reproduced as originally printed except in some cases where I've mildly re-arranged tokens or instructions on the page to fit better. 'Kay?



Let's start out with a fast-drivin', high-octane, burnt-rubber-scented motor race game, okay? Naw, it's not Top Gear: The Game, but Batman's Bat-Track, from the long-lost classic Batman Giant Games Book!

"Bat-Track" from Batman Giant Games Book (World Distributors, Manchester, 1966), creators unknown
(Click pictures to Batman '66-size)
HOW TO PLAY:


You can download and print out the board, and either create the pieces as shown or raid another board game for pieces (like I said, you've got an unplayed Monopoly around there somewhere: they issue them to people when they move to the suburbs).

Join us here tomorrow for another day in A Month of... Board Games! Until then: no cheating! (Lookin' at you here, Marshall.)