Spy Ring

There is never a dull moment in this International Spy Game of foreign spies competing to trick their way into sixteen different embassies.

Typical of the many board games that blended chance and skill to come out of Waddingtons, Spy Ring reached the shops in 1965, the year that Len Deighton’s anonymous spy became Harry Palmer in the Ipcress file. Set in the diplomatic quarter of Bludt, in Espiona, our successful spy must be aware of everything that is going on around, watching out for the code words that will alert of enemies unexpectedly emerging from underground tunnels, looking to steal any secrets.

Waddingtons started out printing theatre posters in Hunslet, Leeds, before moving in to making playing cards after WW1, and then games, famously acquiring the rights of the US game Monopoly in 1935, and giving us Subbuteo in 1947. This game was for four spies, each speaking a different language, looking to outwit each other in order to capture the secret cards that would allow entry into various embassies. It was updated in 1977. Waddingtons was bought out by the American toy company Hasbro in 1995.