Game on: the old ones are still the best

Jane Gough, who owns the Big Top toy shop in Glasgow, says traditional games are selling better than last year. "We first noticed in October that more people - of all ages - were buying them,"

says Jane. Particularly good sellers are chess, dominoes and snakes and ladders, with Cluedo and Ker-Plunk also holding their own.

Will you be joining in the fun this Christmas? We will. Here, four Herald writers recall their favourite old-fashioned games. Frustration by Marisa Duffy When I was a girl, the soundtrack to rainy Saturday afternoons was shouts of dismay, whoops of triumph and the unmistakable "click-boing" of Frustration. It was so much more than the sum of its parts: a square board with a central "Pop-o-Matic" globe which contained the die. The first press of that clear dome marked the onset of open family warfare. Was there a sweeter revenge than landing on one of your opponents and sending them back to the starting block?

Essentially Ludo with a quirk, it was originally produced in 1965 by Milton Bradley, aka MB Games. What made Frustration particularly appealing for families was that it required no real skill, so the precocious five-year-old could lord it over his elders. But some may argue that it was a game not completely without strategy: for example, should you aim to get as many of your men off the starting block as possible, or play safe and concentrate on getting them home safely one by one?

I recently stumbled across Frustration at a car-boot sale. A wave of nostalgia caused me to pick it up for a pound coin. Although Hasbro still sells a version of the game called Trouble, getting hold of the original Frustration is only possible by striking lucky - or hunting on eBay. Needless to say, despite a gap of two decades, Frustration still has the ability to cause simultaneous outrage and hilarity. Cluedo by Rebecca McQuillan More often than not, it seemed to me, it was Miss Scarlett. She'd be doffing Reverend Green with the candlestick in the ballroom one game, then shooting him in the study the next. For that reason, I secretly wanted to be Miss Scarlett - but thought that was rather obvious for a girl, so usually went for Professor Plum instead.

Perhaps it was that imaginative dimension which guaranteed Cluedo was always chosen above all the other games in the pile. The house existed in your head as a rambling country mansion and the characters were clearly defined by Agatha Christie TV adaptations. Usually we did the accents, too, and made up back-stories as we went along.

Devised by a Birmingham solicitors' clerk and launched in 1949 by Waddington's, Cluedo (called Clue in the US) has been through countless incarnations, including Super Cluedo Challenge and Cluedo Master Detective, as well as themed versions such as Scooby Doo and Harry Potter. But the biggest change was the most recent: a redesign earlier this year by modern owner Hasbro. Out went Mrs Peacock, Professor Plum et all; in came film stars and football pundits. The updated weapons include a baseball bat and a dumbell.

It's evolution, it's inevitable and it will probably secure a long-term future for the game, but for us diehards, the new version can't hold a candle(stick) to the original. It'll take more than a dumbell to kill off classic Cluedo. Spillikins by Elizabeth McMeekin It all started by torchlight, in the village of West Linton, one cold November Sunday afternoon. The scene was set: four highly competitive individuals were ready to do battle on the carpet, their unwavering hands poised. With surgeon-like steady grip, the first competitor took his turn. It was a brave move. We all watched, tense with anticipation. As he pulled it off perfectly, a competitor gasped: "That's good Spillikins."

The idea of playing Spillikins - or Pick Up Sticks, if you prefer a more literal approach - sounds like a quaint way to spend your time - after all, this is an ancient game made popular by the Victorians - but it is a genuine test of mental and physical ability. To start with, the bundle of sticks is held upwards and then dropped on to your chosen surface; then each player takes it in turn to try to pick up as many sticks as they can. A single stick can only be taken if, on his turn, a player does not move any other stick in the game. The scoring system is actually surprisingly complex, and the whole game often hinges on who removes the King stick.

There are more modern mutations, such as Jack Straws, which has a tool to pick up the objects, but my advice is stick to the original. Due to the requirement for steady hands, however, it doesn't - Sunday pub-lunch fans take note - go very well with a glass of wine. Jigsaws by Cate Devine It was a dark, rather miserable evening in deepest Provence. We had soon remembered that French TV fodder was mince, and boredom was beginning to creep in under the lengthening shadows of antique furniture in candelight.

I picked up the jigsaw out of sheer desperation. My husband barely flinched when I emptied out its 1000 pieces on to the fin-de-siecle dining table. Then he sloped over to see what was going on. He picked up a piece. So did I. He put down his glass. So did I. Da Vinci will probably never know it, but his Annunciation was to change our married life forever.

Three hours later, we found ourselves in amicable silence, each pored over our little patch of fifteenth-century perfection. Our natural teamwork would have been a joy to behold, had anybody else been in the house at the time.

That soon changed. Friends joined us in our holiday home and, once the niceties of cooing over the exquisite landscape were over, it was back to business every night. We'd rush to take up our positions on each side of the table. Voices would be raised, and elbows used, if someone took over an area somebody else had begun. Stockpiling pieces was declared unlawful. Clearly, the game had evolved.

There is still a growing selection of jigsaws on offer. Lee Stevenson, a buyer for the National Galleries of Scotland shops, says: "There was a time when you couldn't give jigsaws away, but now people are asking for them. In the credit crunch, more people prefer to socialise at home and a jigsaw is a great way to do that."

Jackson Pollock, Edward Gorey and Jean-Michel Basquiat are just three of the artists whose work is used on new, 1000-piece modern-art jigsaws available from the Galleries in Edinburgh for around £10 each. John Lewis has 15 designs at £10 each, while Lidl sells classic designs for around £2. What are the games you can't stop playing or can't wait to play again? Share your thoughts at comments.theherald.co.uk

Shop around for bargain toys It is all change in toyland. No longer immune to economic downturn, even popular Christmas toys are in danger of languishing on the shelf into January.

Tesco took action this week by taking 60% off the price of hundreds of items. Debenhams and Woolworths quickly followed, slashing prices by up to 50%.

Yesterday, the price of the Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker was relatively stable - at Argos for £29.35, Woolworths for £24.99, Play.com for £27.99 and Tesco.com for £29.97 - but the High Street Musical 3 Dance Mat was on sale at John Lewis for £24, at Boots for £25 and at Tesco.com for just £17.99. The biggest price cut at Tesco.com was in toys such as the Wall-E remote-control all-terrain vehicle, down from £80 to £32, and the Hannah Montana Styling Head, down from £29.97 to £11.98.

Gary Grant, chair of the Toy Retailers Association, said: "This year, although parents may be spending less, we are finding they still want to get that wish-list item for their children. As a result, our most popular lines are selling as fast as in previous years."

Cate Devine

Click here to comment on this story...