The Power Game - Board Game
“The family that plays together - stays together!"
Apart from the novel and the record of the theme tune, there was very little Power Game merchandising in the 1960's but among Wilfred Greatorex's papers is a proposal for The Power Game Board Game
The outline is covered by a note from Gregson & Wigan Ltd, Greatorex's agents.*
The handwritten note, addressed to his wife Beryl Greatorex, says "Here is your copy (of the outline). I'm sure we will find lots of 'holes' over the next few days! Sorry this is not typed but have spent the afternoon bashing out the instructions and can't face the typewriter." It's not clear if the note is signed by Wigan or Gregson.
The outline begins: "The object of the game is for a player to take over control of all industry in Great Britain and crush his opponent with cunning, skill and luck together with the backing of political parties, trade unions and merchant banks that he may acquire during the game."
"The player throwing the highest number with two dice starts, and can nominate the political party in power at the start of the game."
Each player has twelve identity discs. As he moves round the board he can pick up the support of trade unions or politicians with individual markers that he "piggy backs" on each of his identity discs. At each edge of the board are "Press Release" cards which announce events that can alter the state of play. In the centre of the board is the "Arena of Power". This is divided into red and blue squares, and it is the area "where the real struggle for power takes place."
As an update, we've recently (2019) become aware of a proposal registered in November 1965 with the Writers Guild of Great Britain, for the Power Game board game. This is credited to Wilfred Greatorex and Peter Draper. Given Draper's previous experience in an advertising agency and contribution to some of the strongest Power Game episodes, it's probably not surprising to see him involved in this project.
In 2020 we also became aware of a January 1966 interview with Keith Shackleton of Century 21 Merchandising, in which he , "enthused to me about a variation of Monopoly based on ATV's The Power Game." The article continues that, "The good merchandiser exploiter doesn't wait for the games manufacturer to come to him - he goes to the manufacturer with a fully worked out idea of his own.". So it's likely that the game was offered to a manufacturer for the Christmas 1967 market, but not taken up. It's interesting to see the script editor of a TV show attempting to devise a game that replicates the appeal of the TV show ("crush his opponents"). Obviously the market leader Monopoly (and Milton Bradley's Game of Life) centred on the acquisition of wealth, but The Power Game would have offered a unique twist with the aspect of building up support from the trade unions and reacting to events such as General Elections.
*Together with his brother (actor Michael Craig) Richard Gregson had scripted The Angry Silence (1960), before forming the agency with Gareth Wigan, a literary agent at MCA's London office. They would later sell the agency to EMI in 1970. Gregson, who married Natalie Wood, would go on to write and produce the ATV series The Foundation, while Wigan produced the film Unman, Wittering & Zigo and later became an executive at 20th Century Fox.
Thanks to the British Film Institute Special Collections for giving access to the Wilfred Greatorex collection