BIGGLES

For any number of players.

From the books by Captain W, E. John;. Cards illustrated by Stead.

DESCRIPTION

This is a game with a new method of play in which speed of action is as important as the luck of the cards. It consists of 2 packs of cards, one with blue backs, the other with red, featuring Biggles and Co. in exciting scenes from Biggles stories. (See the bottom of the page for more information about the books).

THE CARDS

There are 22 cards with blue backs and 2 with red backs; all except the 2 Biggles" cards have a number in the top left corner.

The Blue-backed cards consist of:

14 with black numbers. These are in two identical sets each numbered 1 to 7. They picture incidents which helped Biggles in his JUNGLE adventures.

1 "Biggles" card with no number. It is a portrait of Biggles.

7 with red numbers. These are numbered 1 to 7, and picture setbacks which befell Biggles in his DESERT adventures.

The Red-backed cards consist of:

14 with black numbers, also in two identical sets each numbered 1 to 7, but these picture incidents which helped Biggles in his DESERT adventures.

1 "Biggles" card with no number.

7 red-numbered cards (1 to 7), this time picturing setbacks to Biggles in his JUNGLE adventures.

OBJECT OF THE GAME

The winner is the player who first builds up 3 set of his black-numbered (or "good") cards and so can play his Biggles card, before his opponent. The red-numbered cards (or "bad") cards are used to hold up the opponent.

THE PLAY

The game is played as a series of "matches", each match between 2 players.

FIRST MATCH

Separate the blue-backed cards from the red-backed.

The Blue pack is shuffled and handed to any one player and the Red pack after shuffling, to the player on his left. The two players take the packs (face downwards) in their left hand. At the signal "Go!" each of them takes the top 3 cards (not one by one) from his pack, placing them in a pile on the table before him, face-up. The 3 cards are kept together, so only the picture and number of the uppermost card will be seen. Each goes on taking cards, in threes, from the face-down pack in their left hands and putting them down face-up on the table, each making a separate pile of them there. They are therefore transferring the cards from their hands to the table, seeing the face of every third card.

THE BLUE-BACKED PACK

1. The Black-numbered or “Good” cards. The player with this pack while turning over in threes, must look out for a black No. 1 card. As soon as one appears (as the top card of any of the threes he puts on the table) he quickly takes it and places it face-up in front of his "pile" on the table. If the card beneath it, which is thus uncovered, happens to be black No. 2, he puts that on top of No. 1, and the next card, if it is black No. 3 he puts on top of No. 2 and so on. If however, black No. 2 is not the second card, he carries on taking threes from his left hand until No. 2 appears, which he then places on top of No. 1.

His first object is, in the manner described above, to build up in correct order (1 to 7) a full set of his 7 black-numbered cards, completing the set with his "Biggles" card which he plays after No. 7. The Biggles card is played in the same way as the black-numbered cards.

The player will soon have transferred all the pack from his hand to the table. The last of the cards in his hand may amount to 1 or 2 cards only. These he turns over singly. As soon as all his cards are on the table he picks them up again— leaving there the cards he has so far played in correct numerical order. He does not shuffle the pack, but moves its top card to the bottom without looking at it; places the pack again in his hand face down and continues play as before.

2. The cards with Red numbers (the "Bad" cards)

His second object is to hinder his opponent, who is playing the Red-backed pack in the same way as the blue, i.e., the opponent is busily building up his own set of black-numbered cards.

The cards with red numbers are used for hindering the opponent.

Red numbered cards are played on the opponent's black-numbered cards if they bear the same number as follows:

As soon as one player has played a black No. 1 card, the other begins to watch his own cards (which he is quickly turning over in 3s) for a top card bearing No. 1 in red. At the same time he is also looking for his own black numbers to make up his own set.

If he turns up the red 1, then quickly, before the opponent has managed to play a black 2, he places this red "stopper" card on the opponent's card which is thus cancelled. (Similarly, a red 2 cancels a black 2 and so on). The opponent has to go on turning up 3s until he finds his other black 1, this he plays, and continues. While so "stopped" he is not prevented from playing any red numbers which will "go" to stop his opponent.

Players obtain the red-numbered cards in precisely the same way as described for those with black numbers. Having taken 3 cards from the hand, therefore, it could be that the top card was a black-numbered card of the right number to play on their own set, and the card beneath it, a red-numbered card of the right number to play on the opponent's set.

N.B. There are two black-numbered cards to every one with red numbers, so the latter cards can only hold up a player's game temporarily—until the other black-numbered card is seen and played. There is no red No, 8 card, therefore the Biggles cards cannot be cancelled.

THE RED-BACKED PACK

The player with this pack plays it in exactly the same way as described for the "Blue" player.

BOTH PLAYERS

Each player, as well as trying to build up his own set of black-numbered cards, must try equally hard to play his red-numbered cards on his opponent in order to hold back his opponent's play.

SPEED

The speediest player has a big advantage, and the speed of play will increase with the number of games played.

THE MATCH WINNER is the first player to play his Biggles card.

TWO PLAYERS

If there are only 2 players, they sort out the cards into red and blue packs, shuffle them, exchange packs and play another match.

OVER TWO PLAYERS.

A plays B, B plays C, C plays D, and so on back to A, so that everyone has at least 2 matches.

SCORING

In each match, the winner scores 8 points, his opponent scores the number on the last black-numbered card he played which was not cancelled by the winner's red-numbered card.

THE GAME WINNER is the player scoring most points after an agreed number of matches have been played, always provided that all have played an equal number of matches.

In the event of a tie, a deciding match can quickly be played.

'BIGGLES'

Wing-Commander James Bigglesworth, D.S.O., M.C., D.F.C.—that was Biggles in wartime.

Detective-Inspector Bigglesworth, C.I.D. of the British Air Police— that is Biggles in the days of peace.

Wherever dangerous adventure is to be found, all over the world, Captain Johns has a story of our air-hero in the thick of it, and often Algy, Bertie and Ginger are there too.

The "Biggles” Books by Captain Johns are read and re-read; they are always in demand and always will be, as long as boys and girls want stories of real excitement—stories by a writer who knows what adventure means and takes tremendous interest in every type of aircraft from the 'planes he himself has flown to the Space Ships of the future.

The Biggles game is based on the following Biggles stories. There are many more and new adventures are always being added. Watch for them. Read them all.

BIGGLES SWEEPS THE DESERT. Flying and skull-duggery in Libya.

BIGGLES DELIVERS THE GOODS. A dangerous operation off the coast of Sumatra.

BIGGLES HUNTS BIG GAME. An exciting chase after counterfeiter! in French Equatorial Africa.

BIGGLES TAKES A HOLIDAY. Adventures in the Jungle south of the Amazon.

ANOTHER JOB FOR BIGGLES. Unmasking drug-traffickers in Arabia.

BIGGLES AND THE BLACK RAIDER. On the track of the notorious Black Elephant of Central Africa.

BIGGLES IN THE GOBI. Our hero and his friends seek eleven smuggled people hidden in the shrine by the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas.

BIGGLES, FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE. Danger and excitement in the Valley of the Tartars in Kurdistan.