Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

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hentzau
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Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by hentzau »

On our weekend trip out to Galena, after a delightful weekend of alpine slides, and zip lines, and miniature golf, and D&D on an alpaca farm, we ended our weekend with an early breakfast at the very excellent Desoto House buffet. Afterwards, we strolled the main street of Galena, poking our noses into interesting little shops. My wife wanted to go into one of the many antique stores there, but my kids wanted to hit up the game and comic book store, so I strolled down the street with them. We got maybe a block away when my wife texted me that I needed to come back and check something out. I was assuming that she found an antique crokinole board or something. Boy, was I wrong.

I spotted her and she frantically started pointing above the counter. And what do I see but this:

Image

I was floored. I knew of the existence of a Prisoner of Zenda boardgame, but I had only seen pictures of the 1930's version of the game. I asked to see it, and choked on the price tag as soon as I saw it. But I checked it out nonetheless. The box top (pictured above) was beat up, but still very pretty. At this point it was actually a lid, because the sides of the box top were long gone. The interior of the box was interesting...it was a wooden box, with support slats in it and a slot for a hidden drawer to hold components (all long gone.)

Image

On the reverse side of the box lid were the directions:

Image

But I was sad to see that there wasn't an actual game board for it. Until I turned the box upside down:

Image

And that made me even more sad, because once I saw that I knew I had to have it, but...it was just too expensive. I told the girl behind the counter to put it back. So we poked around the store, and I kept looking at it, and kept getting more depressed. We left, and it almost felt like a physical pain leaving. It was almost a one of a kind item, and a board game, and Zenda. It was meant for me. But I was strong, and said I didn't need it. While the family went into other stores I was frantically searching for an info on this version of the game, but info is EXTREMELY hard to come by. The BGG entry (listing 3 people that have a copy of the game). An Italian Ebay auction. A few pictures. No real data. And all of this didn't help.

Well, long(ish) story not so long, while I was in another store with the younger kids, my wife snuck out with my eldest daughter and they called back to the shop and talked them down on the price and bought it for me for my birthday (which is next week.) Damn, I was so happy.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Plan 1 was to frame it in a shadow box and hang it next to my Argentine Prisoner of Zenda one-sheet, but that would be a big expensive frame. My current plan is to buy a glass top display coffee table and actually display it with the board up next to the glass so we can actually play the game if we like.
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Ralph-Wiggum
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

Super cool. Even if you decide to frame it, you definitely need to play it a couple of times first. Seems like it actually would be a pretty fun strategy game.
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Zarathud »

Wow, what a find! I expect you to fill out the database on BGG, and scan the rulebook.
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hentzau
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by hentzau »

Zarathud wrote:Wow, what a find! I expect you to fill out the database on BGG, and scan the rulebook.
It's already in there, but the picture they show is from the 1938 version of the game that came out with the movie.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Zarathud »

So what bits do you need? ;)
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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hentzau
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by hentzau »

7 pawns for each side and a pair of dice.

If I wanted to pimp it out I would go hunt down some of the West Wind Zendarian Vampire Slayer miniatures and paint those up for the pawns...
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Zarathud »

Not hard to find.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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YellowKing
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by YellowKing »

Thanks for posting this hentzau. Really, really cool. I love old stuff like this.
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by wonderpug »

Awesome story! Great family!
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by RMC »

That rule book seems really thin, is there a FAQ out. ;)

Very nice, and the coffee table idea sounds very cool. Would love to see pictures of that after you finish installing it.
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by baelthazar »

What a piece of board gaming history!

This game was actually published by the Parker Brothers before even Rook (and decades before Monopoly, of course). According to wikipedia, the third Parker brother did not join the company until 1898, so this game is from the two original founders. This is actually quite something, because the book only came out a few years prior to this game adaptation. In fact, many Parker Brothers history websites do not list this game, which seems to indicate extreme rarity.

You may want to write to some of these PB history people and see what they say. It might have been expensive, but given the lack of information and likely rarity, you may have gotten something priceless.
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baelthazar
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by baelthazar »

Check this out - originally $1.25.

Image
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hentzau
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by hentzau »

We've found a couple of different ad sheets talking about the game, but as you said, almost no one really has any information about the game itself. Wonder if I need to do some Wikipedia editing to add information in about it?
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Smoove_B »

That's a really awesome find and it's great they ran back and picked it up for you. Did you try emailing Parker Brothers directly and asking for some help? I mean, maybe Hasbro consumed them to the point where they don't care, but that's a hell of a historical find, IMHO.

I have an old chess board from the 1920s or 30s that belonged to my great-grandparents. My mom and aunt remembered playing with it as kids. It's two sided with the other side some type of duck hunting game. Sadly, I don't have any of the pieces either but it's still amazing to hold something that old -- and your game has another 30+ years on mine. Amazing.
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hentzau
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by hentzau »

One thing that confuses me a little is that the rules on BGG do not match up with the rules on my board. Maybe the 1937 version had updated rules/components?

I may geek mail the other two folks on BGG that show that they own copies and get confirmation about the rules and components that they have with their versions.

I just put in a request to get this book from CPL. I am hoping that it may shed some light on the game.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by AWS260 »

This is so cool. Too bad the Antiques Roadshow isn't coming to Chicago any time soon.
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hentzau
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by hentzau »

So I posted a general inquiry to Hasbro about it. Here's the response I got back:
Veronica from Hasbro wrote:Hi Hentzau,

Thank you for contacting Hasbro regarding the game The Prisoner of Zelda. I appreciate your interest!

I'm pleased to reply but regret to advised I reached out to some our teams within the organization for information on this game and regrettably, due to the age no information is available.

You may wish to try the Association of Games and Puzzle Collectors, E-bay and The Toyshop Book. You can also use a search engine like Bing, Google or Yahoo for further research.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards,
About what I expected. I like that they thought I didn't know how to use a search engine...

(And I just re-read this. Sounds like the went to the Lord Mortis School of Corresponding.)
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baelthazar
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by baelthazar »

Hent,

I would reach out to someone at the National Museum of Play, in Rochester, NY. They have the following webpage entry on the game:

http://www.museumofplay.org/online-coll ... 8/107.3644

One of the researchers there surely knows about the game or knows someone who knows about the game. Could be worth a try.
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baelthazar
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by baelthazar »

Also, after seeing that museum's website, I think I MUST go there!
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by LawBeefaroni »

A glimpse at some of the pieces here, with a different box.

Another box-only copy.
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Zarathud »

Isg has been scooped!
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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Re: Prisoner of Zenda Boardgame

Post by Isgrimnur »

I didn't know there was an assignment.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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