Have you ever wanted to blow a fortune on a Sunday Afternoon? Who hasn’t (indeed these days you only have to take the kids to the cinema to do that!) Well in “Go for Broke” you could actually do it, and in my family we often did!
As the box said: "Big spenders rejoice! Players receive one million dollars from the bank and must go broke to win. Even after donating to the Poor House, playing the Stock Market, visiting the Racetrack and Casino, players will find that splurging a million dollars is harder than they think."
I loved this game and much preferred it to Monopoly - that felt slow and staid by comparison – perhaps even “bad”! Why accrue money when you can flush it down the toilet? Now, this might have had an effect on me as an adult, perhaps accounting for the fact that I don’t have any savings… although the reasons for that are probably more complex than a board game I played when I was 8.
In the game you can lose money in lots of different ways – giving it away to the poor, or at gambling. I remember once winning BIG at the roulette wheel – I was so GUTTED!
There’s a memorable advert featuring people dressed as rich Saudi business men – made in 1988 – “You’ve got to lose a million to win”. It’s on You tube if you want to look it up. I’m not sure it would pass the complaints commission these days, the Saudi’s are a little sketchy.
“Go For Broke” Fact: A similar game was described/invented by science fiction author Philip K. Dick in 1963!
While Selchow & Righter published the game Go for Broke in 1965, it has remained on best sellers lists for year – even winning “Family Game of the year” in Denmark in 1988. They still make it now. You can understand it’s appeal – everyone would love a million dollars.
I also remember the film “Brewsters Millions” with Richard Pryor which was based on the same premise, a very funny film.
Brilliantly, while researching this I found out that the game has a different name in every country it is released, probably because the title “Go for Broke” is so colloquial – here’s a few examples – it’s alternatively knows as: Bancarrota, Bankroet!Crack! Lad millionerne rulle, Mankomania, Viva Hasan! Κερδίστε χάνοντας.
Personally, I’d like to play “Mankomania”!
Do You Remember Go For Broke?
Do You Remember Go For Broke?