Games

World Cup Game Expansion Sets

The World Cup Game series of Expansion sets

Expansion set 1: Covers the World Cup tournaments of 1958, 1962 & 1966. Also contains all the remaining flag tiles for every World Cup tournament ever staged.

The components are:-
• 2 boards: Each board is double-sided A3 and matt laminated. They have one fold so that they fit neatly into your World Cup Game box. The first board has 1958 and 1962 back to back, the other has 1966 and the knock-out stages for all three tournaments back to back

• A complete double set of flag tiles for ALL World Cup tournaments that have not been covered in the basic set. Once you have these you can play any World Cup. Of course 2010 may introduce new nations, but I can deal with that if and when it arises!

• A double sided A4 sheet of rules to cover these particular World Cup tournaments where they differ from the main rules

• 3 double-sided score sheets, one for each tournament

The 1958 World Cup was held in Sweden. This was the only time that all four ‘Home’ nations (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) competed. Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 in the final to become the first nation to win a World Cup outside their own continent.
The 1962 World Cup was held in Chile. An unusual World Cup as the two teams that made it to the final – Brazil and Czechoslovakia started in the same group. Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final to become the second team to win back to back titles.
1966 was, of course, held in England who also won the tournament for the one and only time. Famous for the appearance of North Korea, who got to the Quarter-Finals. England beat West Germany 4-2 in the final with Geoff Hurst scoring a hat-trick!
Each game takes about an hour or so to play in this expansion.

Expansion set 2: Covers the World Cup tournaments of 1934, 1938 & 2006.

The components are:-
• 2 boards: Each board is double-sided A3 and matt laminated. They have one fold so that they fit neatly into your World Cup Game box. The first board has the first 4 groups of the 2006 World Cup on one side and both the 1934 and 1938 World Cup tournaments on the other. The other board has the last 4 groups of the 2006 World Cup on one side and the knock-out stages of the 2006 World Cup on the other side

• A single A4 sheet of rules to cover these particular World Cup tournaments where they differ from the main rules. I have added a new rule in a 2nd edition whereby the 1934 and 1938 World Cup tournaments should be played without the multi-goal cards

• 2 double-sided score sheets, one for 2006 and one for 1934/1938

Italy hosted the 1934 World Cup and also won the tournament beating Czechoslovakia 2-1 in the final.
France hosted the 1938 World Cup with only 15 teams. Sweden got a bye into the quarter-finals as their opponents were due to be Austria which was now part of Germany! Italy retained the World Cup beating Hungary 4-2 in the final.
Germany hosted the 2006 World Cup. Italy beat France on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time.
The 1934 and 1938 games are very quick – they take around 40 minutes to complete. The 2006 game is the same as 2002, so anything from 2 - 3 hours.

Expansion set 3: Covers the 1950, 1986 & 1990 World Cup tournaments and the bonus Euro 2008 game.

The components are:-
• 3 boards: Each board is double-sided A3 and matt laminated. They have one fold so that they fit neatly into your World Cup Game box. The first board has the complete 1950 World Cup held in Brazil; a unique World Cup in which 13 teams in unequal groups battle for a top place in their group so that they can compete in the 'Final Pool'. No Final, no 3rd place, it's decided on a group system!! The reverse side of Board 1 is the Knock-out stages of the 1986 and 1990.
Board 2 has the first 4 groups of 1986 on one side and 1990 on the other.
Board 3 has groups E and F from both the 1986 and 1990 World Cup. This side of the board is used in conjunction with the relevant side of Board 2. The reverse side of Board 3 is the Euro2008 group stage. Despite each team being ranked in advance of the tournament, the players have the option to renak the teams themselves.

• A single A4 sheet of rules to cover these particular World Cup tournaments where they differ from the main rules

• 3 double-sided score sheets, one for 1950 and Euro2008; one for 1986 and one for 1990.

IIn 1950 it was fortunate, perhaps that the final match to be played was between the two contenders, the highly fancied home nation, Brazil and their local rivals Uruguay. Uruguay upset the home fans by beating Brazil 2-1 to take their 2nd title.
1986 held in Mexico and 1990 in Italy were two of three tournaments whereby 4 of the third place teams progressed to the 2nd round. It was a complex mechanism to decide which teams played against each other in the Round of 16 in order to keep teams apart for the rest of the tournament who had played in the same group. Both Finals were contested by West Germany and Argentina - one win each!
The Euro 2008 bonus game will allow players to choose their own rankings. There will be guidelines with a ranking system in place. It will be interesting to see how accurate the guideline rankings are by the time we get to the final on 29 June 2008!