Boxed board game 'Castle Paths', published by Board Craft Simulations Inc., 1981, California

The parts are boxed together in a standard rectangular box with the title 'Castle Paths' written across the top in magenta. This colour is repeated around the edge of the box and in block colours on the sides. The words 'Castle Paths' are also repeated around the edge in white. There is a fantasy image on the front of two characters, a male and a female, holding swords and pointing towards the top of a steep climb which disappears into the clouds.

Twelve pieces of varying size of the board game base. The parts and printed on both sides, one reflects an outdoor scene and the other, an indoor. The majority of the board is cream. The inside pieces have brown doors and a black outline of the tiles on the floor and the bricks on the wall. The outdoor pieces also have a similar drawing but show more green trees and grass.

A pair of dice. One is white and the other is light brown. They both have twenty sides with the numbers 1-20 engraved into them.

The card which originally contained all the circular pieces now has many circular holes. It is mainly white with a stripe of grey and a stripe of black. The small pieces are circular and are either black, white or grey with numbers on them.

The characters vary from a fairy to a goose and are printed on in black against a light brown background. The pieces are square and vary in size.

Introductory guide, a cream, paper booklet of four pages folded and held together with two staples. All the text and images are printed in black and the front page reads 'Basic Role Playing An Introductory Guide'.

Instructions, a cream piece of A4 paper with black text printed on it under the title 'Castle Paths Instruction'.

Rule Book, a sheet of cream paper folded in half to A4 sizes with black text printed on it.

Contents sheet, an A4 sheet of cream paper with black text printed on it.

Given by Ann Garrett

This game was given to the museum along with other games by Ann Garret in 2009. They belonged to Bob Dixon, the well known poet, author and peace activist. He was born on 29th November 1931 and died on the 4th October 2008. Publications by him included 'Catching Them Young', 'Now Read On', 'Agitpoems', 'Playing Them False', 'More Agitation', 'Make Capitalism History' and 'The Wrong'.

'Castle Paths' is a fantasy role-playing game. This is where the player constructs characters who simply live in a specifically designed game world. This game's world is operated by a referee who sets up the situations which the players confront. The game is mainly an interaction between players who operate the characters, and a referee, who oversees the world in which these adventures occur.

The original form of this type of game is conducted through speech. In live action role-playing games players perform their characters' physical actions. Role playing games are fundamentally different from most other types of games in that they stress social interaction and collaboration, whereas most board games and card games emphasise competition.

B.125:1 to 10-2009