“Beat the Border” board game, 1971
I’ve written about vintage board games in the past here in DM, but here’s one that I’m pretty sure didn’t sell very well back in the early 1970s, and for good reason. I mean, can you imagine sitting down on game night with your kids and playing a game that was based on the Mexican drug cartel and their mission to bring drugs into the US of A?
Now? Sure. Back then, not very likely. Still that didn’t stop a company called Border House Inc. (for which I can find absolutely no reputable online reference for) from making ”Beat the Border”.
The handy “kilo” buying and selling chart from ‘Beat the Border’
The box cover of the ‘Beat the Border’ board game (1972 edition). Text reads: Warning: “Your friendly local neighborhood Pusher warns that Marijuana Smoking is against the Law and may be Hazardous to your Freedom.”
Unlike the actual task of bringing drugs to the U.S., game play in Beat the Border is pretty simple—players start with $1000 and attempt to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S. to buy “kilos” of marijuana from their contacts named “Edwardo,” “Renaldo,” “Papas”, “Pepe” and “Jose.” Players then try to broker a sale in major cities like Tucson and New York, and for some reason Muskogee, Oklahoma.
To help your cause, players have access to “dope lawyers,” “phoney identification” (as it is spelled in the game), and “guns,” (affectionately referred to as “heaters” here). There’s even a handy chart telling you how much the going price for a “kilo” of grass was back in 1971. For instance, according to the handy “kilo buying and selling chart” (pictured above), a kilo of pot was worth $350 in 1971. Quite the bargain compared to today’s prices!. Much like its elusive creator Border House Inc., I wasn’t able to track down a physical copy of “Beat the Border” anywhere, just in case you were thinking about picking one up for your upcoming Election Day “apocalypse party” this November.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Let’s play Revolution: Gorgeous but violent Soviet board games, 1920-1938