Review: Max Walker’s Cricket Game

Game Title: Max Walker’s Cricket Game

Publisher: Sporting Image Games Pty Ltd

Year: 1984

Mechanism: Players cards, 2d6 and a Bowling and Batting mechanism to determine results. Players are graded from A-F many teams from 1983 to the early days of cricket are included (although I once purchased a copy that only had the 1983 Australian cricket team in it – about 50 times!).

Description: Max Walker‘s Cricket Game has no board. Strategy is non-existent as the
game consists of rolling dice, looking up a very simple chart for the
batsman and, if there is an appeal, the bowler.

There are random
elements apart from the device in the form of Match Condition cards
(which are drawn at the start of each day’s play, but are unconnected
from one to the other).

Despite all of this the game is good fun and
with a few tweaks, can fill in a few non-demanding hours as you replay
Test Matches from 1983 and before. It was a fav of mine when much younger and I even interviewed Mr. Walker and his mustache and wrote a review of the game for a cricketing publication back in the 80s when I was a mere slip of a copyboy on a Sunday paper.

Quite a few people have been busy creating new teams and you can find the formula to do so yourself here (along with a lot of new teams).

The above two devices are used with 2d6 to find results based on the quality of the batsman and the bowler.

The game came with a large number of historic teams from the 1880s through to the 1983 season. More can be downloaded off the web now.

To add a bit of spice to the game, random events could happen and weather and pitch conditions played a part.