Offshore Oil Strike for All the Family

[Image: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photo by BLDGBLOG].

One of the most extraordinary—and timely—subcollections in the archives of the Canadian Centre for Architecture can be found resting on a few metal shelves in the basement, where you will discover stacks of old, oil exploration-themed board games.

Cartel: The International Oil Game.
La Conquête du Pétrole.
King Oil: Combine Luck and Strategy to Control the Oil Fields.
Oil: The Slickest Game in Town.
Total Depth: An Oil Man's Game.

There's even the confident one-word title of Gusher, with no description or subtitle needed—or, if none of those strikes your fancy, you can always play a few rounds of Gas Crisis. Its goals include an exhortation to "Master the Minicar" and "Shun the Sheikhs," showing that smaller cars (and better gas mileage) have been seen as tools of foreign policy since at least the 1970s, when many of these games were first released.

But the one game that seems particularly delirious, a kind of sad joke now, or unfortunate coincidence, is Offshore Oil Strike, "Designed and Manufactured by Printbox (Scotland) Limited in collaboration with The British Petroleum Company Limited." Offshore Oil Strike, brought to you by BP.

[Images: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photos by BLDGBLOG].

With this "exciting board game for all the family," released in 1970, BP delivered all "the thrills of drilling, the hazards and rewards as you bring in your own..."

Bring in your own "Offshore Petro-Dollars," that is.

[Image: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photo by BLDGBLOG].

The game's internal monetary supply comes in denominations of $200,000, $500,000, $1,000,000, $2,000,000, $10,000,000, and $20,000,000—which is good because you need to earn a lot of it: "The 1st player to make $120,000,000 cash is regarded as the winner."

After all, it's "a race to find and develop the riches 'neath the seabed," where no deepwater is beyond the horizon of possible drilling.

[Images: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photos by BLDGBLOG].

Accumulating this fortune, however, is not without its difficulties. Each player has "Hazard" cards to deal with; here are some of the risks BP thought to include:
    —"Accident. Rig shuts down while replacement of key personnel takes place. Miss one turn."
    —"Fire breaks out. Pay $2,500,000 for repairs."
    —"Hit High-Pressure Gas—Rig Damaged. Specialists called in."
    —"Blow-Out! Rig Damaged. Repairs cost $2,000,000"
    —"Drill pipe breaks. Pay $500,000 for replacement."
    —"Strike High Pressure Gas. Platform Destroyed."
    —"Blow-Out! Rig Damaged. Oil Slick Clean-Up costs. Pay $1,000,000."
Players are assigned one of four competing oil company identities, each of which is associated with a specific urban headquarters: Chevron/Rotterdam, Mobil/Dieppe, Amoco/Bergen, and BP/Hull.

[Images: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photos by BLDGBLOG].

As the CCA wrote in their excellent book and exhibition catalog, Sorry, Out of Gas, "Historians and researchers often see games as a source of information about the customs and concerns of a given era. The way games work, their meanings and goals, are linked to the social context in which they are invented and popularized."

[Images: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photos by BLDGBLOG].

I've included several photos of BP's game here so that you can see the space of play for yourself. But perhaps it's time now for BP to release a new edition: Beyond Petroleum: Nightmare Well!, with whole new strategies for hazards and risks, with "Junk Shot" cards and "Top Kill" moves to deploy when needed. Perhaps they could even throw in a few special supplements for good measure: Perpetual Blow-Out! or It'll Take a Clean-Up of $6 Billion to Bring the Gulf Back!

[Images: Offshore Oil Strike by BP; photos by BLDGBLOG].

Anderson Cooper and Joe Barton could play a few rounds on national TV.

#CCA

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Anonymous George Showman said...

Incredible on so many levels! I love the photographs that play up the slickness of the board. But I think I'm most thrilled to know that the CCA collects board games. Did they focus only on oil-themed ones, or do they have a broader collection? It makes perfect sense: boardgames are about as architectural as Banham's campfire...

July 13, 2010 5:41 PM  
Blogger Silvia said...

Holey schmoley!

July 13, 2010 5:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bills of Power
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5171219&id=516092037&ref=mf

July 14, 2010 11:11 AM  
Anonymous Greg J. Smith said...

Ah yes, the "hazard card" - every game (and ecosystem) needs a wild card. :|

July 14, 2010 1:34 PM  
Blogger -j- said...

I'm guessing the "Rules" booklet is blank?!

July 14, 2010 3:52 PM  
Blogger Tom Fuller said...

I played that as child once on holiday. Bizarrely I am now a drilling engineer in Norway!

July 15, 2010 2:58 AM  
Anonymous Daniela said...

That's amazing, would love to see the wind or solar version of this game today!

July 15, 2010 11:35 AM  
Anonymous percentq said...

BP invests millions, over years, into government awarded eco-restoration capital- including vehicles, buildings, facilities, labs and personnel to operate them. The short term goal: Gulf clean up, long term goal: the greening of America. BP pays what it owes, Americas future environment is brought to you in part by... but! Would the trend continue... Is there a new Oil Strike for BP with Hazards like 'loose plastic bag market- pay one million for proper disposal of surplus,' 'Battery power advances- pay two million for pollution credits' price increase,' or did BP get it, and they'll make a new game entirely, a reality game show 'Intervention: Deep Water and No Horizon'?

July 18, 2010 3:36 AM  
Anonymous phik said...

I had no idea there were so many oil-exploration board games. I feel like I should try to find copies for my office. Are they actually any fun?

As for wind and solar, they could package both together and call it Lobbyist Tycoon.

The winner is the first to collect a billion dollars of subsidies from an economically-illiterate Congress.

July 18, 2010 6:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How embarrassing! Who would have guessed a BP board game existed?

July 18, 2010 6:09 PM  
Anonymous Michael said...

Your discovery has made it to the online edition of the largest German subscription newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung:

http://sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/bp-brettspiel-oelpest-fuer-die-ganze-familie-1.977886

July 23, 2010 11:28 AM  
Anonymous James said...

I vaguely recall having this game as a child. It was quite good actually. The exciting artwork on the box, lack of home computers, few tv channels and the discovery of North Sea oil were all factors that made the game seem more exciting than it would be today though.

March 08, 2011 7:51 AM  

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