Car Wars, Illuminati, Ogre, Necromancer and other Steve Jackson classics are bringing back the retro Pocket Box

Veteran designer Steve Jackson is bringing back some of his eighties games in their original portable ‘Pocket Box’ form.

The affordable, travel-friendly box was a mainstay of games both designed by Jackson and published by his self-titled label during the decade, many of which would go on to become classics of the tabletop and kickstart the trend for modern microgames.

All in all, 16 games were put out in the hard black plastic packaging, beginning with 1980’s Raid on Iran – the first game published by Steve Jackson Games – and ending with Car Wars expansion Boat Wars eight years later.

The new series of Pocket Box games will include reproductions of games such as Jackson’s Car Wars (co-designed with Chad Irby), Illuminati and Ogre, as well as Allen Varney’s Necromancer, with others teased to join the line-up in the future.

Steve Jackson Games describes the games as “retro-fuelled designs, near-exact reprints”, including the need to cut out the counters by hand. The Pocket Box itself won’t be an exact remake of the eighties original, though, featuring an improved latch, no hang tab and increased depth for better storage.

The Pocket Box games will be coming to Kickstarter in early 2019, with no sign yet of when the games might arrive with backers – or if they’ll make a return to shops.