10 Controversial Board Games That Got BANNED

4. Bombshell

Ah, something for us Brits to be proud of now, rule Britannia.

And a game made by what were once the biggest game publishers in the land, Waddingtons, the company that brought you Monopoly, Cluedo, Subbuteo, the lads. Bombshell was an eye-catching toy-heavy game with the table presence and push-your-luck elements of a don’t wake dad or pop-up pirate, except if you did the wrong thing, everybody died, because the game was about not about tiptoeing around a dozing daddy or probing privateers with pointy pins, but defusing an unexploded bomb.

On your turn you turn the top of the bomb with your soldier and if it explodes you gain an injury, too many injuries and you’re out.

It seems fairly harmless fun, but in a bit of terrible timing, a few weeks after the game’s release, a real-life bomb disposal officer was killed trying to defuse an unexploded IRA bomb and during the ensuring media outrage, Waddingtons pulled the game from retail.