Long-lost Pepys board game found in attic

A rare prototype of a board game - described by a museum curator as a holy grail - has been discovered in an attic amidst a box of childhood toys.

Stop or Go, a road safety game played on a grid with counters, was designed in the 1940s by the games company Pepys, but was never manufactured.

Heidi Gibbs found what is believed to be a pre-production version of the game amidst her late grandmother's belongings and approached the Museum of Board Games in Newent in the Forest of Dean.

Curator Tony Boydell confirmed it was "the rarest Pepys game by a mile" as the game was known about but had never been seen. It has now been bought by the museum and is on permanent display.

Boydell said even the most knowledgeable "guru" of the company's archive, Rex Pitts, who wrote a book about the history of Pepys, had never seen a copy.

"It became very clear that this is something of a holy grail, it's a real treasure," he said.

Players throw the dice and move counters along the squares to the finishing line, choosing whether to obey the Highway Code or take a chance.

Boydell said he believed the game may have been discarded because it involved an element of risk-taking.

"For a small museum, to be able to get hold of something unique within the history of the games of a major British publisher is really unique," he added.

Gibbs, from Norfolk, said the game had stood out amongst her grandmother's toys due to its age.

"It looked very old-fashioned, but in a very good condition as well," she said.

"I contacted someone to do with Pepys board games and he had a look at it and said, 'obviously that is the exact game that is missing'. I thought it was absolutely amazing."

Gibbs said she decided to sell the game to the museum because she wanted board game fans to be able to "see and appreciate" it.

The mystery remains, though, as to how the game ended up in her grandmother's attic, as the family has no connection to Pepys.

Board game fans and collectors of Pepys memorabilia reacted with "real warmth" to the discovery, according to Boydell.

Philip Dennis, 73, from Aberystwyth in West Wales, said board games "tell us a lot about our social history".

"My games collection from the 1750s onwards contains a lot that were just played on Sundays because they were educational and so they were permitted," he said.

"Modern games are totally different to old games, but I think it's interesting to see how they've developed over the years," Dennis added.

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