Game Title: Stumpz
Publisher: Thos. de la Rue & Co. Ltd.
Year: circa. 1930
Marketing blurb: “The Indoor Game of Cricket Played by the Australian Test Team, English Teams and Keen Cricketers Everywhere.”
Description: Stumpz is one of the real classics amongst cricket board games. Created by an unknown designer working for the De La Rue Company, the game appears to have first been released in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
There are many different versions of the game that appeared over the years. I would be guessing the order they were published in, but the game came in at least two size formats – large, with a hard backed board, and small, with a soft cloth or material foldable boards.
The large version comes in what I have deemed the “deluxe” version and the normal version. The deluxe version contains a mounted board made of cardboard (the backing) and felt (the board itself). This deluxe version contains small lead figures for the players, and higher quality wicket indicators and components. The lesser version of the large board contains wooden pegs for players, and a paper front of the board.
The smaller version of the game is in itself, quite lovely even though it was pared back to a foldable cloth board, wooden pegs, and lower quality ball selector and other elements. Even this version is a classic.
The game Wicketz which was popular in the 80s and 90s is an updated version of Stumpz, with more cards, but little variation or improvement over the original.
