Olsenbanden

Olsenbanden (The Olsen Gang) is based on a series of comedy movies about a gang of robbers who always tries to do the big coup and flee to Mallorca, Spain, but in the end they always fails. These films were a big success in Norway in the 70's and 80's, and this game from the last half of the 70's tries to capture the athmosphere and humour from these films.

The object of the game is to be the first player to get the loot and escape to Mallorca.

The game board consists of 40 squares along the outer edge of the board. All squares are marked with one of five different colors. The color tells what card to draw when you land on the square. Roll the die and move as many squares as the die shows.

Gameplay

First you got to land on a square with a flag so that you are ready to greet Egon (the leader) when he gets out of jail. (All the movies start with Egon being released from jail).

When you've got the flag you must land on a green square to get a coup-plan card. This card tells what plans Egon made while sitting in jail: What you are going to steal, where it is and what tools are needed for the coup. There are six different coups in the game:

• The crown jewels in Akershus
• Gold from the Bank of Norway
• Money from the bank "Postsparebanken"
• A Picasso at the National Gallery
• Valuable silverware at general manager Silverfeldt
• Valuable mink coats at Pels-Backer

For every coup you need two different tools, i.e: rubber gloves, lock-picks and stethoscope.

After you've got the coup plan it's is the blue and the yellow squares you need to land on. When you land on a yellow square you draw an event card. The result of an event card can be good or bad, like losing a tool, that you get en extra die roll or that you lose the loot if you've got it.

When you land on a blue square you draw a tool card. On each tool card there is a picture of one of the tools needes for the six coups. If the card you draw has a picture of one of the tools you need for your coup, and you don't have this tool already, you might keep the card.

When you've got both the tools you need it's time to commit the crime: land on a white square. Then you receive the correct loot card. But watch out, if you in a aubsequent round lands on a yellow square, you might lose the loot.

Winning the game

The player who first moves a whole round on the game board, with the loot, and then gets aboard the airplane to Mallorca (marked on the board) is declared the winner.

Luck dependent

I remember playing Olsenbanden a lot as a kid. When I look at the game now, I realise that the gameplay is not much, but the game is rich on atmosphere, and these movies were really popular. I would rank the game play as below average - even vor a childrens game. There is no special tactics in the game, no player-interaction and no way of teaming-up to get the leading player. All there is to it is really die-rolling movement around the board hoping to draw a good card.

One good thing, though, is that you are never sure to win. A player might be only a couple of squares away from the Mallorca plane and then suddenly lose the loot.

What keeps the game up is that it is a game about Olsenbanden. The event cards, the coups, the pictures, all are taken from the movies. All in all an average game - fun for kids who've grown up with Olsenbanden.

Reader comments

Ø.Eker:

Det jeg husker best er den elendige kvaliteten på materiellet. Spillmekanismen kan være bra - men er brikker/brett/kort i et spill elendig så nytter det ikke. Tror spillet veier 20 gram inkl. eske. Kvaliteten på spill (og stereoanlegg) kan måles i kg. Det første jeg kjenner på er vekta. Er det lite så etter jeg spillet tilbake igjen.

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