Check Your Basement for These 15 Valuable Vintage Board Games

Board games have demonstrated staying power in the digital age, and the market for older ones is strong.

Check Your Basement for These 15 Valuable Vintage Board Games

Most of us grew up playing board games with our friends and family. And even in the digital age, many of us still do. According to Research and Markets, the world board-games market is poised to grow 9 percent annually through 2023. The market size for board games at that point will be $12 billion.

Newer games like Settlers of Catan and Pandemic are leading the way, but the oldies like Monopoly still hold places in our hearts. You may have some of these older board games tucked away and forgotten in an attic or basement, or have come across them in thrift stores.

What you may not realize is that quite a few of these old board games can be valuable. Some games can sell for thousands of dollars, especially if they are in good condition with all of the playing pieces intact. Here’s a list of vintage and antique board games selling for high prices.

Monopoly Atlantic City

Sold at auction: $146,500

Year made: 1933

Monopoly Atlantic City is the original game created by Charles Darrow. Loosely based on another popular game called “The Landlord Game,” the board was modeled on the actual streets and real houses around Darrow’s house in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Only 5,000 copies of the original game were made, and only a few are known to survive. In 1935, Parker Brothers bought the game from Darrow and made it famous. You’ll recognize Darrow’s distinctive early version if you happen to stumble across one in a thrift store or garage sale, as the board is circular.

Fox and Geese

Value: $17,827

Year made: 1830

Fox and Geese is an old hunting game that dates back to the Middle Ages, or even earlier. It’s played on a cross-shaped board using pegs or marbles. The single fox attempts to “kill” the geese by removing them from the board, while the geese attempt to trap the fox so he can’t move. An English version of the game dating from 1830 is scarce and valuable.

Swift Meats Major League Baseball Game

Sold at auction: $2,644

Year made: 1957

Swift Meats issued a baseball game in 1957 that is extremely rare today, especially in good condition. The game consists of 18 cards of real-life baseball players, including diamond legends Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson. The cards are printed in color, with perforations, and each card is meant to be punched out and used to assemble 3D figures of the players. A paper board game is then used to play a game with the assembled figures.

Monopoly (French Edition)

Value: $2,546

Year made: 1957

Parker Brothers released a French edition of Monopoly for the French market (through the Miro Company) that used French francs and places around Paris in place of the standard Atlantic City locales and American dollars.

Coromandel Games Compendium

Sale price: $2,411.78

Year made: Late 1800s

The Compendium is a collection of various games: chess, checkers, backgammon, dominoes, playing cards and more. Both the pieces and the boards for each game are housed together in a wooden box with lift-out trays. These sets were made in the late 1800s from Coromandel wood, a brown wood with black stripes, which has since been logged to extinction.

Be a Manager

Sold at auction: $1,500

Year made: 1967

A baseball board game from 1967, the game contains a deck of 120 batter cards and 80 pitcher cards, a cardboard playing field, dice chart, and a hit and run chart. A complete game in good condition, with all the pieces, sold recently on eBay.

Fortune

Sold at auction: $1,360

Year made: 1935

Fortune was released by Parker Brothers in 1935, and was similar to Monopoly. Fortune was based on New York City’s streets, however. Only about 5,000 were made as Parker Brothers bought the rights to Monopoly shortly after releasing this game, at which point they changed Fortune to Finance and Fortune, and finally discontinued it.

The War of the Ring Collector’s Edition

Sold at auction: $2,400

Year made: 2010

The War of the Ring games is a dice-play strategic fantasy war game, based on “The Lord of the Rings” books, in which one player operates the Free Peoples and the other controls the Shadow Armies. The Free Peoples player must complete the Ringbearer Quest and reach Mt. Doom to destroy the One True Ring to win. The player with the Shadow Armies must conquer the Free Peoples to win.

While regular editions of this game can be worth hundreds of dollars, the collector’s edition released on the 10th anniversary of the game’s launch is especially valuable.

Keywood

Sold: $1,200

Year made: 1995

Keywood is a settlers game in which two to five players try to settle and control six villages. Each player must start as a farmer and then buy trade licenses, which allow them to become traders. In addition, each village must select its leaders who make decisions about taxes, trade licenses and markets. As each village is able to open a new market, its income doubles. Between earning income and paying taxes, players accumulate money. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins. Only 200 copies of this game were made.

Haunted House

Sold at auction: $475

Year made: 1962

In the Haunted House game by Ideal, players explore a large plastic molded three-dimensional haunted house, searching for a secret door that conceals a jewel. The first player to have the jewel and successfully escape from the house wins the game. Players use a spinner that emits an owl’s hoot, to move spaces. The house is full of traps and surprises that can send players back a certain number of spaces, or even back to the start.

The Elvis Presley Game, 1957, Teen-Age Games ($800)

Sold at auction: $1,500

Year made: 1956

The Elvis Presley Game, made in 1956, is a tribute to Elvis Presley and his music. The board is divided into a blue half (for boys) and a pink half (for girls). The game contains 110 questions cards about Elvis’ life and songs. Players use a spinner to select a card and can only move on the board if they answer the question correctly. If they don’t know the right answer, the player is penalized and moves backward. Very few copies of this game survive in good condition.

Settlers of Catan 3D Collector’s Edition

Sold: $995

Year made: 2005

Settlers of Catan has a board made up of unusual hexagonal tiles, which can be rearranged each time players start a new game. Players compete for natural resources, such as lumber, wool, brick or grain, and deal with accidents and incidents. Raiding the resources of other players and building roads, cities and settlements lets a player accumulate points.

While the game involves strategy and planning, the players also create a storyline as they play. The Settlers of Catan won major game awards from 1995 to 2015.

Lost in Space 3D Action Fun Game

Sold at auction: $340

Year made: 1966

Lost in Space 3D Action Fun Game was based on the popular TV science fiction series, “Lost in Space,” from the 1960s. The board has three levels, and players use a spinner to advance around the board. You can only move to new levels if you land on the right space.

Gioco dell ’Oca

Price: $637

Year made: 1930s

Gioco dell ’Oca, or Game of the Goose, is a children’s game that may date back to Ancient Egypt. The game, similar to Snakes and Ladders, has players throw dice to move along a spiral track, trying to reach the end, while facing obstacles, such as an inn, a bridge or death. Copies of the Italian version of the game made in the 1930s are especially valuable.

Dark Tower

Sold at auction: $580

Year made: 1981

Dark Tower is a fantasy quest game in which players must get an ancient magic scepter from an evil king who lives in the Dark Tower. Players search for three keys that unlock the tower and raise armies to besiege the evil king. All of the players’ moves are fed into a small battery-operated computer, which keeps track of who is winning.