BP oil slick predicted in rare 1970’s board game

A rare BP board game was unearthed which chillingly warns of oil slicks with $1million clean up costs – one per cent of the amount now being spent every day. The 1970s set ‘BP Offshore Oil Strike’ promises all the ”thrills of drilling” in the North Sea with the first person to make £120 million dollars crowned the winner. But players are also warned of potential oil spills caused by rig damage in ‘hazard’ cards, which would cost ‘£1m dollars’ to clear up.

The petrol giant is currently shelling out £100 million (£67m) a day to try and stem oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico following an explosion aboard its Deepwater Horizon rig. Recent estimates show that BP have already spent £1.9billion (£3billion) clearing up the spill since April 20 when a blast killed 11 people. The hazard card in the two to four player game reads: ”Blow-Out! Rig damaged. Oil slick clean-up costs. Pay £1,000,000′.



Players compete at exploring for oil, building platforms and laying pipelines to bring offshore oil back to the their home country. The rare mint condition set, made by Scottish manufacturer Printabox, was donated by a private collector to The House on the Hill Toy Museum in Stansted, Essex, last week. Museum owner Alan Goldsmith said he was bowled over by the similarities between the ”very obscure and hard to find” game and BP’s current crisis.

He said: ”The parallels between the game and the current crisis out in the Gulf of Mexico are so spooky. The picture on the front of the box is so reminiscent of the disaster with the stormy seas, the oil rig and an overall sense of doom. I was just knocked over by how relevant this game is, despite being made some 35 years ago, to BP’s troubles today. It’s amazing when you think that their own game predicted this big oil slick – although sadly not the extent of the cost involved.”