Rescuing the Oldest Game I Own - Belisha (1937)

A few years back a good friend (and fellow bargain hunter) bought me a Christmas Gift of two copies of an old card game game at an antiques fair in Covent Garden. 

Sadly, one of them was missing two cards and so I rescued it from oblivion.

Belisha - The "Safety First" Card Game

Published way back in 1937 by Castell Brothers Ltd (1878-1983) under the "Pepys" series of games.  Belisha is a reimplementation of popular card game Rummy.  The name "Belisha" was borrowed from the iconic Belisha Beacon introduced to UK roads in 1934 by then Minister of Transport the Rt.Hon Leslie Hore-Belisha.

Belisha - The Safety First Card Game (1937)

  A Game of Thrill

"All the family can play this new and entertaining game. Young and old alike. will find in it many a new thrill and many a valuable lesson, for 'Belisha' teaches the ever-valuable and all-important doctrine of 'Safety First'. 

Played on the same familiar lines as 'Rummy' with new and ingenious variations. 'Belisha' is a game of many interests. As the game proceeds the players are taken on a tour of England and Scotland from London to Oban: many of the cards bearing beautiful pictures in colour of famous beauty spots.

Belisha Card Game Advertisements

Each card bears in the top left-hand corner a familiar safety first symbol; some cards illustrate the dangers of the road; some show how accidents may be avoided. 

There's a touch of humour, a smattering of geography, a new method of teaching 'Safety First' and a heap of fun. 'Belisha' is a game that should be played in every home, for it has the merits of a family or party game with the added attraction of demonstrating again and again the way to ensure road safety for all."

Safety First, the birth of RoSPA and the Tufty Road Safety Club.

Tufty Club Badge

The "Safety First" campaign can trace its heritage back to 1916 and the founding of the London Safety First Council.  A public meeting was held due to an increase in road traffic accidents involving motor vehicles and the reduction in street lighting to aid "blackout" during WWI.  Their first campaign which encouraged people to walk on the pavement on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic reduced pedestrian deaths by 70%.

In 1941 the NSFA patron the Duke of York became King George VI he wished to continue his patronage and RoSPA was born.

I first encountered RoSPA, like many of my generation, when having to perform my bicycle safety exam as a child in the 1970s.   

The Tufty Road Safety Club had been around since the early 50s and I distinctly remember having to negotiate a mock road course which had been det up in my school playground.  Getting your Tufty Club badge was a seminal achievement back in my day.  

Tufty and his woodland friends have been iconic champions of children's road safety education for decades and featured on many educational board games over the years.

Tufty Road Safety Boardgame (1970s)

A masterpiece of marketing before the advent of  Baby Shark, "do doo, dee doo, dee doo" he was rocking the hit parade with an album of nursery rhymes related to road safety. 

Fun times.

Bicycle Road Safety Training and Belisha Beacons

It's Games Master Appreciation Day

March 4th is Games Master Appreciation Day so show some love to those people who make your game happen.

 
I've been a Games Master on and off for well over 35 years and whilst it is a heck of a lot of work it is one of the most rewarding experiences in the hobby. I do it because:

1. I have stories that are begging to be told.  Sometimes it's a funny idea I dreamed of in the shower, sometimes it is a puzzle I want to put in front of my friends to solve.  Often it's just an interesting story idea that I want my players to enjoy.
   
   
2. I enjoy the collaboration.  I feel that GMs who don't feed off the ideas that their players generate are missing a trick.  Tabletop RPGs are a collaborative experience and that comes down to the plot and the storyline.  Many times I am stunned by the creativity of my players.  They will often come up with alternative ways to resolve encounters that I never imagined or they will ruminate on a possible scenario which is may more interesting than I could dream up.
   
   
3. I enjoy the pressure.  GMing can be hard at times, you are juggling a lot of balls most of the time whilst trying to keep your players engaged. 
   
   
4. I enjoy learning from my mistakes.  Even after 30+ years behing the Dungeonmasters Screen I'll admit that I get it wrong.  I love when my players tell me that I did a good job but even more, I look forward to them telling me when I did something that didn't make sense to them.  This gives me an opportunity to try something different.
   
   
5. I enjoy Seeing players laugh and smile.  At the end of the day this is why we are Games Masters.  It's having fun with your friends and getting them to put their ordinary lives into the background for a few hours and just have some fun. 

Check out some of the other Appreciation Days I have added to my Geeks & Gamers Social Media Calendar.  Have a date you think we should celebrate or a story you want to share with the community then pop a comment in the box below.

Why You Should Join a local Tabletop Roleplaying Group

Online is a necessity at the moment thanks to the current year situation.  The internet allows us to be connected whilst being seperated by thousands of miles.

However, being part of your local Dungeons and Dragons group means much more than just playing your favourite Tabletop Role Playing Games (RPG) game. 

A Typical Friday Night at Dragons Keep

Face to Face is Better in Everyway

When Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson invented Dungeons and Dragons back in 1974 (I was 2 at the time) there was no internet and were always meant to be a social experience played face to face.  Those who have played both online RPGs and real world tabletop RPGs will appreciate that face to face interactions have an immediacy and a subtlety which gets lost on a zoom call.  

We are socially programmed from childhood to pick up and interpret body language and facial expressions as part of non verbal communication.  When you are in a video meeting you tend to treat it like a phone call and so your body language reflects that.  Worse still if you have a poor internet connection you can lose video alltogether or it is reduced to a jittering mess of blocky pixels.

When discussing non-verbal communication I am always reminded of one of my players Sam, who when negotiating with a Pirate Captain, started reaching out and drawing his hand back towards himself.  After 5 or six of these motions I asked him 

"What are you doing?" 

He calmly replied  

"I'm grabbing my pet turtle before he escapes off the edge of the table".  

I was blown away by this interraction and grateful that my players feel are encourage to role play in this way.

Creating the World Through Play

Most new players these days get introduced to roleplay through Dungeons and Dragons or by watching computer game streams such as The Witcher, Mass Effect, Fallout, Legend of Zelda and The Elder Scrolls.  When you play a computer game you are getting one vision or version of that world as programmed by the team who developed it.  There is no ability to break out of the box even in the biggest MMORPG.

Pre-written tabletop modules designed for online play also suffer from this to some degree.  Your Games Master (GM) may have bought the module or encounter packs for their Virtual Table Top (VTT) and you are going to encounter them come hell or highwater.  

When you meet face to face play there is so much more time for your GM to get to know you as players and therefore create personalised elements which make you much more engaged.  You get to chat as friends about what you saw on TV, read, or saw on the internet.  You find out much more about a person in this non-game chit chat time than it is ever possible to do if you only log on to play a session.

I know that I have often included references to things that my friends enjoy outside of gaming to embellish my games and create much more engagement for them as players.

Roleplaying is a Wide and Varied Hobby

There are ancillary aspects to the hobby which are firmly rooted in the real world rather than online.  For example if you are a fan of the creative arts like painting, modelling or crafting you can turn your skills to collecting and painting miniatures, scenery building, map making, prop and puzzle making.

I am a 3D Printing nerd and a journeyman miniature painter and love to show off my creations to my friends and more importantly use them in my games.  There's no substitute in my book for trying to solve a tactile puzzle with your own hands, or viewing a combat using little tiny plastic toy soldiers.  It brings and extra level of immersion which you just can't replicate online.

Yorky Smith in a life or death fight against the monstrous Doom Turtle

Roleplaying Breeds Community Spirit

Being part of a group means you have shared experiences beyond just the game itself.  At Dragons Keep we host several events throughout the year at weekends such as Games Days, Poker Nights, Karting, Movie nights, Barbecues and trips to events such as Dragonmeet or UK Games Expo.

When you are part of a group you also get to chat about each others games and share your collective experience.

Lifelong Friendships

I've been playing at my local group (Dragons Keep) for nearly 20 years.  I've met people from all walks of life, young, old and of every culture and background imagineable.  

We have laughed, cried and argued with each other and shared many adventures both in our games and outside in the biggest game of all...   Life.

Joining Dragons Keep

If you live in South East London we might be the group for you. Our venue is located in Chislehurst, whithin easy reach of Bexley, Bromley, Dartford, Eltham, Greenwich, Lewisham, Orpington and Sidcup. Drop us a line via our Contact Us page and talk to us about your passion.

If you live in another part of the UK then check out our tips on How do I find a tabletop RPG group near me?.

To Boldly Puzzle Where no Man has Puzzled Before

The above statement is not strictly true as this Star Trek TOS 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle was gifted to me by a friend (Thanks Louise) and I am sure that it has been put together by several puzzlers.

It has been many decades since I've done a jigsaw of this size and I had forgotten how backbreakingly frustrating it was.  I am a recent subscriber to YouTuber Karen Puzzles and used some of her techniques like colour sorting and edgefinding, but it still took the best part of six hours to complete.  

However, once complete there is an enormous sense of satisfaction that your pattern matching skills are still up to scratch and that you pushed yourself through the pain barrier.  Plus it's fun playing spot the character and episode.

Can you find the Lava Monster of Janus IV?

1000 Piece Star Trek TOS Jigsaw Puzzle

Reaper Bones #29 - Valeros, Iconic Fighter

Another Monday, another Reaper Bones Miniature painted.  This week it's...

Valeros, Iconic Fighter - Bobby Jackson (SKU 89007)

Valeros is a desperate looking specimen.  Not in terms of the sculpt, Bobby Jackson has done a fantastic job, but in terms of his expression.  The fight has got to that stage of the evening where it's all or nothing.  The party are out of action and only Valeros stands alone against the horde.

 I chose to give him some bandages and he's dropped his broken shield to fight two handed against twice as many foes.  Let's hope that the cavalry turns up soon...

Valeros, Iconic Fighter

Bones Progress