Wembley trial print run 1954, 1st edition 1955 Ariel

	Wembley trial print run Wembley 1st edition	(#1) 1954 (#2) 1955	Ariel
	First produced	1955	Players	3 to 12 or teams	Age(s)	8+

Click either picture for more		#1		1 x playing board 32 x team draw cards plus 6 spare blanks 32 x team strip pink cards plus 6 spare blanks 12 x counters, 4 red, 3 green, 3 yellow and 2 white 3 x sets of home and away dice, 1 per division 1 x dice shaker 1 x pack of money in 6 denominations; - £50 (20), £100 (40), £500 (40), £1,000 (40), £5,000 (15), £10,000 (5) 3 x gummed strips for personalising the board 1 x rule booklet Based on the English football association Challenge cup competition, your goal is to win the FA Cup. You play matches in the later rounds of the competition. The semi-finals decide which teams go forward to Wembley for the FA Cup. Players start with a random number of teams from divisions 1, 2, 3 or 4. You may then buy more teams or more footballers to improve your chances of winning. This is where skill and judgement come into the game; do you spend your money on more teams or on improving your existing teams? Also earn money from takings at the gate. This 1st edition; - Accrington replaces Grimbsy, otherwise identical 32 teams start the game and this soon whittles down to the final 2. Score lines are decided using special dice which are numbered to reflect the odds of goals scored in each division, depending on whether the team is playing at home or away.
Click either picture for more		#2

An excellent game and a real collector's item. These 1st editions can be recognised in part by the small red box and separate board. The trial copy has Grimsby as a named team whereas the 1st edition replaces it with Accrington. Only the 1953/4 and 1954/5 league tables accurately match the teams and their positions as represented in this game. There are normally a number of blank draw slips, team cards and division strips included which enable players to include their favourite teams.

Teams featured;
1st Division; Arsenal 6000, Cardiff 4500, Chelsea 6000, Manchester Utd. 3000, Newcastle Utd. 4500, Tottenham 4500, West Bromwich 3000, Wolverhampton 3000
2nd Division; Birmingham 2400, Bristol Rovers 3000, Fulham 3000, Hull 1800, Leeds Utd. 2400, Notts. Forest 2400, Plymouth 1800, Stoke City 1800
3rd Division North; Bradford 1200, Gateshead 600, Grimsby 1200 / Accrington 1200, Mansfield 900, Southport 600, Stockport County 900., Wrexham1200, York City 900
3rd Division South; Brighton 1200, Coventry 900, Milwall 900, Northampton 600, Norwich 1200, Reading 900, Southampton 1200, Southend 600

Special dice are designed to improve the odds for home teams vs away teams and higher division teams rather than lower division teams. The dice numbering system;
Red, 1st Division- Home = 4,4,3,2,1,0
Orange, 1st Division away = 4,3,3,2,1,0
Green, 2nd Division home = 4,3,2,2,1,0
Yellow, 2nd Division away = 4,3,2,1,1,0
Blue, 3rd Division home = 5,4,2,1,0,0
White, 3rd Division away = 5,4,1,1,0,0

Distinguishing features of these early editions;
- there are 6 different denominations of money used in the game (£50, £100, £500, £1,000, £5,000 and £10,000). In later editions, the £50 was to be dropped and the £2,000 and £50,000 notes were introduced.

- gate money for teams is very low. For example, Manchester Utd. gate money was £3,000, which by the 1970 edition went up to £15,000.

- bonuses payable in different rounds were also low and doubled by the 2nd edition
- the cost of buying international star players also went up in later editions (eg. cost of a goalkeeper went up from £2,000 to £25,000)
- money given to each player at the start of the game was £5,000, compared with £20,000 in later editions

- the quality of the pictures on the game board is very basic