Cards - Escape From Colditz (Parker / Osprey)

Escape From Colditz. Parker, USA; Osprey, UK. Bespoke cards for use with board game, 96 cards (Parker) or 100 cards (Osprey). Size: 62mm x 88mm (Parker) or 57mm x 89mm (Osprey).

Make-up:
Opportunity cards: 45 cards (Parker), 47 cards (Osprey).
Security cards: 14 cards (Parker), 16 cards (Osprey).
Escape Equipment cards: 27 cards.
Personal (Civilian) Escape Kit cards: 5 cards.
Do or Die cards: 5 cards.

The game Escape from Colditz was released by Parker Brothers in 1973 and designed to tie in with the BBC TV series of the time. Although basically a role-and-move board game, unusually for the time it was rather forward-looking in encouraging participation between players, extended strategy formation, and its flexibility of play. Another unusual facet was the care shown towards packaging – the box included an illustrated background booklet, various replica wartime documents, and a facsimile Red Cross parcels box storing all the game's cards.

The game was designed by Pat Reid who had famously been imprisoned in – and absconded from – Colditz in 1942, one of 35 successful wartime escape attempts from the castle. Co-designer of the game was Brian Degas, who was the deviser and script editor of the TV show.

The game was re-released c.1986 by Gibson Games. A row then emerged (spurred on by a newspaper of the time) about the swastika featured on the box, thought by some dimwits to be encouraging Nazism, which was then removed in subsequent editions. A completely revised version (with an amount of rule clarification which had desperately been needed) was issued by Osprey in 2016 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Reid's escape from the castle. This new version was overseen by Peter Dennis, an experienced wargamer and illustrator.

A large set of 96 cards was used in play (100 in the revised version). The Opportunity cards, Escape Equipment cards, Personal Civilian Escape Kit cards and Do or Die cards were all intended for use by the players representing the various countries' prisoners of war; the Security cards by the player representing the Germans.

Though the overhauled 2016 Osprey edition generally improved the game, sadly Pat Reid's factual "flavour" comments that were on the original cards were not copied over.

The galleries below compare the original 1973 Parker Brothers cards with the newer 2016 Osprey designs. It is not clear who was the artist responsible for the earlier designs; for the later set, it may well have been Peter Dennis himself. Click on any card to explore the image.

(Comments or corrections, please e-mail: Click to see e-mail address.)



Card image size, below:     

Opportunity cards

There is one of each of these cards, except:
Bribe a Sentry: five
Diversion: two
Release from Solitary: five
Escape kit (part): two of each type (Parker) or three of each type (Osprey)
Hideaway: five
Exchange: two Rope, two Key, two Pass, one Wirecutter
Advance warning (of Search): two
Move Fast: eight (Dentist, Guardhouse, Interview room, Kitchen, Officers Quarters, Orderlies Quarters, Parcels Office, Showers)
NB The instructions say there are 45 Opportunity cards (Parker version), but my copy of the game has 46 (it seems to have an extra Bribe a Sentry card).

The hat on the Escape kit (part) card always used to make me laugh – a disguise consisting of a bright-green fedora in rural 1940s Germany? Very inconspicuous. Meanwhile, the tin of Spam on the other Escape kit (part) card seems a much better survival food than the diarrhoea-inducing chocolate syrup on the new version.

The original "flavour" comments on the Move Fast cards (only one of which, due to the similarity of the design, is shown above) were as follows:
Dentist: This was a survival from the days when Colditz was a Geriatric hospital, but in World War 2 it had other uses; the carborundum tipped dentist drills were used secretly for making keys and escape tools.
Guardhouse: This was occupied at all times by at least 20 armed guards who could be turned out at 30 seconds notice.
Interview room: This was a small room sparcely [sic] furnished where complaints and grievances previously submitted in writing were aired before the Germans.
Kitchen: The most that ever came out of this kitchen was potato soup, acorn coffee and linden tea.
Officers Quarters: This consisted of rooms for 2 to 4 officers of field rank and upwards. Captains and lower ranks lived in dormitories.
Orderlies Quarters: A small contingent of French, Polish and British NCO's and privates were quartered here. They carried out kitchen and cleaning duties; many of them played vital roles in the escape organisation.
Parcels Office: Red Cross parcels and next of kin parcels were inspected here and every item was examined for contraband and passed under an X-ray machine.
Showers: On arrival at Colditz every POW was stripped naked and ordered to the showers. Meanwhile their clothing and personal belongings were passed through the delousing boiler.

Security cards

There is one of each of these cards, except:
Appel (Roll Call): two
Shoot to Kill: one (Parker) or two (Osprey)
Tunnel Detected: one (Parker) or two (Osprey)
Search: eight (Chapel, Dentist, Guardhouse, Kitchen, Orderlies Quarters, showers, Sickbay, Stores)

The original "flavour" comments on the Search cards were as follows (see under Opportunity cards for the other locations):
Chapel: The chapel was used for religious services by all denominations in turn. The sacristy was also used as a cover for a look-out (stooge) for the famous French tunnel.
Sickbay: The sickbay had room for 20 patients and was supervised by one German and one Allied army doctor and 3 orderlies. Medicine and drugs were in short supply.
Stores: In the stores were kept black bread, margarine and potatoes which were issued daily.

Escape Equipment cards

Rope: twelve
Key: six
German pass: five
Wire cutters: four

Personal (Civilian) Escape Kit cards

There are five of these cards.

Do or Die cards

There are five of these cards, with dice rolls of three, four, five, six or seven.

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