Well, this is rally an oddity: a self-destructing game! Of course it is not really a "board game", so you might think it does not belong here. Well, if this is the case, you are wrong.

The instructions are clear. The game probably has (or had) some powder (or similar) lanes from the star (the "starting star", excuse the pun) to the finishing line. Of course you just can play it once, which means I will never play it ...unless I find one hundred copies.

 

 

There were four different games, and six were included in each envelope. I guess I am lucky to have all four of them.

 

As you can see, the paper is very thin.

"The race is not fixed" but in case you want to bet on the outcome, don't: I also says "for amusement only"

 

 

 

UPDATE July 2024:

Strange as it is, this format (self-destructing games lit is found in different formats (and different subjects) in different countries countries. Whithout leaving the USA I can mention a couple of horse-racing cigarette-lit games: "Magic Race" (horses featured: Dead Indian, Anchor Man, Sun Marks, My Last Rry, Roman Request, and Sailor's Knot), and "Tom Thumb Race" (horses featured: War Admiral, Sea Biscuit, El Chico, and Stagehand). Both of them were made by The Lederer Co., NYC. The former has a "Buy U.S. war bonds" sign, so it is safe to assume that it was made sometime during WWII. The latter features three actual very famous pre-war horses (never heard of El Chico, nor of the six Magic Race horses).

 

 

 
A similar game was found in French cafés, as promotion for various drinks, featuring various games. There is at least one cycling game, as you can see, with at least a couple of variations. Unfortunely, I have not been able to add to my collection yet, these are pictures I found on the web. Notice the cigarette burns: these games have been played, or at least someone tried to.

 

 

 

Cigarette-lit games were also found in Spain in at least two formats, both of them made by Anlumay in Madrid. Pictured above are some booklets (the actual games are inside) called "Deportes de fuego", which translates as "fire sports". As you can guess by this name, all games are sports-based.

 

 

This is a box titled "Juguetes de fuego" (fire toys), which not only has sports games in it but also educational maps (with the course of eight different Spanish rivers) and a few war-based games. Inside the box, all the games (including war and geoghraphical games) are marked "deportes de fuego" (!!!)

 

Strange "sports"

 

 

 

If you have a close look at the football games you may notice that there are different matches with different teams. Judging by the teams present, I would say that these games are from the early 50s.

 

Apart from war and river courses, I have horse races, dog races, car races, hurdling races, and football, a lot of football. A quite nice collection, I concede, but I do not have a cycling game!

 

 

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