London Cabbie Board Game

Quite a game this. And one that uses one of the most iconic characters in London – The London Cabbie!

The game was all about (predictably) navigating taxicabs through the streets of London for fares. It was first released in 1971 from “intellect games" and has had quite a bit of success.

You do move around the board but there is no finish point, the aim of the game is to make fifteen pounds by picking up passengers and dropping them off around the streets of London. To move, a player picks a "passenger" card to determine where on the board the fare is to be picked up.

The board was great because it featured a really accurate London Map. Indeed, moving to London many years later I was able to actually refer to it in my memory to help me get around the capital – unlike Monopoly which is nothing like in the same order of London. So in that way you’d have to say that the game was educational too, as it really does involve real roads, places and landmarks like museums and galleries.

Like real life – or not like life as Cabbie drivers might say - fares also pay out a small tip.

This is obviously a British game – you know that not just because it’s based in London, but also because the gameplay involves traffic jams and queuing!

Brilliantly, this game was apparently a big hit with London Cabbies too! I know, not content in driving around the capital all day, they’d spend their days off playing this at home as well! That’s dedication! In fact the game was invented by a London Cabbie:

“I used to be a cab driver in London and this board game is as real as it gets. I came up with the idea while waiting for a fare, saying to myself, 'this is some game, ain't it!'

Brilliantly, the inventor even wanted to make a 'New York' cabbie board game 'Tokyo Cabbie' 'The Paris Cabbie' and even had the idea to make a version set in Bombay where instead of taxi’s it was Rickshaws!

It was quite a success - som much so that there's been enough demand to make it into an online game now.