The Fantomet Board Game was produced by Alga in Sweden in 1984. The 2 to 4 play Board Game was designed by Dan Glimnel with illustrations found throughout the game by Sy Barry, Özcan Eralp and Rolf Gohs.
The Phantom/Fantomen Board game was so popular that a mere two months later, Alga introduced the same game to three additional Northern European countries: Norway/Fantomet, Denmark/Fantomet (variation lettering) and Finland/Musta Naamio.
Alga, originally established in 1917 by Pressbyrån AB, initially served as the printing division of Pressbyrån AB, which operated kiosks, were often found at railway stations, offering newspapers, magazines, and stationery items. The name ‘Alga’ is a blend of the first letters of the directors’ wives who founded the company, Anna Lundqvist and Anna Gadh, hence ‘ALGA’. While its early focus was on stationery, the company began venturing into games in 1938 when it acquired the Monopoly game license, transferring it from Åhlén & Åkerlund.
After a gradual start in the gaming industry, Alga experienced significant growth in the field. In 1963, it reached a record number of games in its catalog. A major shift came in the late 1960s when the company relocated to Vittsjö, Sweden, leaving its crowded Stockholm office and enjoying substantial success. In the early 1970s, Alga’s games boxes adopted a light blue stripe design, signifying a Golden Era.
The bankruptcy of Aristospel in 1972 also added more games to Alga’s portfolio. Alga’s success continued until Parker Brothers revoked its licensing rights for Monopoly in 1978. In 1983, Brio, a neighboring company, acquired Alga. Despite various changes and developments, Alga remains an iconic name in the realm of classic Swedish games and continues to be known for its games’ light blue stripe design. In 2015, BRIO, which included Alga, was acquired by the German toy and games company Ravensburger.
Although Alga still operates under this trademark, it primarily functions as a brand within Brio AB.
The Fantomen Board Game comes in a lift off lid box measuring 17” x 11” x 1.25”, with instruction on how to play the game found printed on the inside of the lid. Images and text are only present on the lid of the box, and not on the tray containing the game pieces.
Found within the Fantomen Board Game box are:
- Header Card
- Fold-out African Bengali Map/Playing Board 17” x 11”
- 2 Dice
- 4 Player Tokens (Blue, Red, Yellow & Green)
- 58 Jungle Drum Cards
- 36 Handelse Kort Cards
- 17 Singh Pirate Cards
- 12 Morris Town Cards
- 4 Scary Skadad Cards
- 1 President Luaga Card
The Fantomen Board Game borders on a role-playing game. The storyline of the game is that the players, all in the role of the Phantom, must free president Luaga who is being held captive at a secret location by the Singh Pirates.
Basic Rules:
Each player (up to 4 players) start as ‘The Phantom’ with their die cut pieces (either Blue, Red, Green, Yellow). The game plays in 3 phases, finally rescuing President Luaga from the Singh Pirates. Throughout the game you are assisted with the help of the Jungle Drum cards and action cards (these various cards will guide the action throughout the game).
Phase One:
Discover the secret location of the imprisoned President Luaga who can be at any of 5 locations. Taking turns as soon as any player draws the first two of the same ‘Jungle Drum’ location cards this determines the location of the president.
Phase Two:
Rescue the President, using your ‘Hero’ card (the Phantom’s Horse Card) you may move one or two squares. If you do not possess a ‘Hero’ card you can only move one space at a time. The first player to reach the president must begin to fight the Singh Pirates, using the ‘Singh Pirate’ battle cards. If you are defeated, the next player now arriving to the same location may have an easier battle being that there are now fewer battle cards.
Phase Three:
The President is freed by a single Phantom player and the remaining players automatically become ‘bandits’ by turning over the die cut pieces to reveal a bandit character. Each bandit character now tries to reclaim the President by fighting the Phantom. The Phantom is fought by rolling two dice. The outcome of this new battle between The Phantom and bandit is determined by the value of the players roll. If the Phantom is defeated the bandit who won the battle now becomes the new Phantom and the old Phantom is now turned to bandit. The ‘new’ Phantom now races to either the Skull Cave or Morristown to end the game.
The board game was initially launched in toy stores across Northern Europe and was also made available through mail order in comic books. This availability through mail order was advertised in Fantomet comic books published in Norway. Below we see Fantomet comic book number 19 published in 1984 featuring the board game on the front cover.
Thank you Christopher Smith for assisting with images and information.
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