Games & Puzzles

(Game board artwork © 1976 Gordon Murray Puppets Limited)
Rubovia - Around the Castle Game
Hover your mouse pointer over game board text for more detail
© Gordon Murray Puppets Limited, 1975
Arrow Games Limited, UK, No. 6911
For Ages 5 to 8; 2 to 4 Players
Exceedingly rare.

(Game box lid artwork © 1976 Gordon Murray Puppets Limited)
The objective of the game is to be the first player to get all the way around the board to Rubovia Castle. The box measures 16.5" x 8.5" x 1.1" (420 mm x 215 mm x 29 mm), while the game board measures approx. 16" x 16" (406 mm x 406 mm).

RULES:
For 2, 3 or 4 players. Have fun meeting all of the characters from RUBOVIA CASTLE as you travel around the kingdom of RUBOVIA. Here are the rules of the game.
1. Each player chooses a coloured pawn.
2. To decide who goes first each player turns the spinner. The highest scorer goes first, next one on the left and so on in a clockwise direction.
3. Each taking his turn, the players move along the track from the START by the number of spaces shown by the spinner.
4. When a player stops on a YELLOW or ORANGE square, he must obey the instructions in the panel beside the square.
5. If a player spins a number which takes him to a square already occupied by another player, that player must leave the square and go back three spaces.
6. The player to reach the FINISH first is the winner. He must spin the exact number needed to arrive and must keep spinning in his turn, until he does.

(Game spinner inside game box and pawns)

Points of Interest: As shown below, the picture of Rubovia Castle on the Rubovia: Around the Castle Game board is very similar to the castle set shown at the beginning of one of the "Gublin Legends" films (Bessie o' the Glen or The Inversneekie Doonie). This is due to set reuse, a fairly common practice. Bessie o' the Glen needed a castle set, and Gordon still had the castle sets from the stop-motion "Rubovia" series in storage, so why not save some money and time by getting some more mileage out of them? For further discussion of "Rubovia" castle sets showing up in the "Gublin Legends", go to the Tunnel Trouble episode in the stop-motion "Rubovia" Chronology section. A complete list of "Gublin Legends" episodes, is given in Gordon's bio in the People section.
(Gublin Legends: Bessie o' the Glen)	=	(Game board Rubovia Castle)

Aided by puss on the air pump, Mr. Weatherspoon
entertains King Rufus & Pongo with some pipe organ
music. Mr. Weatherspoon's tripod-mounted
bellows camera stands in the background.
(click for larger image 63K)
Arrow Games Ltd. No. 5540W #1

King Boris of Borsovia is explaining something to
Queen Caroline, King Rufus, Lord Chamberlain, & Pongo.
(click for larger image 63 K)
Arrow Games Ltd. No. 5540W #2

King Rufus is helping Queen Caroline
give her pet dragon, Pongo, a bath.
(click for larger image 49 K)
Arrow Games Ltd. No. 5540W #3

MacGregor (the Red Indian with a Chinese accent) has
the rapt attention of King Rufus, Queen Caroline,
and Mr. Weatherspoon, as well as Pongo and puss.
(click for larger image 69 K)
Arrow Games Ltd. No. 5540W #4

Rubovia wooden jigsaw puzzles, 20 pieces
For ages 3 to 7
These delightful Rubovia jigsaw puzzles, produced as a set of four, were issued
by Arrow in 1976 as a tie-in to the "Rubovia" stop motion televisions series.
Each puzzle features a full-color, high-resolution scene. Together they provide
some rare glimpses of how the series appeared on television.

Twenty fully interlocking wooden pieces.
Finished size 11-3/4" x 8-1/8" (298 x 207 mm).

© 1975 Gordon Murray Puppets Limited
Based on the BBC-tv series, "Rubovia".
Made in England by Arrow Games Limited
No. 5540W

Extremely rare.

Point of Interest: According to British Jigsaw Puzzles of the 20th Century, by Tom Tyler, Arrow Games produced jigsaw puzzles from 1965 to 1987. In 1972, Arrow Games became a subsidiary of pioneering American game company, Milton Bradley, which itself became a division of American toy and game giant, Hasbro, Inc., in 1984.

According to several reports, a Rubovia Plasticine set based on the "Rubovia" stop-motion television series was marketed. Since, at that time, all Plasticine was made by Harbutt of Bathampton, near Bath, UK, it was probably similar in appearance to Harbutt's Camberwick Green Plasticine set, shown below.

Based on the similarities between the "Rubovia" and "Camberwick Green" stop-motion puppets, it is not too difficult to imagine what the Rubovia Plasticine set may have looked like. If you have one of the Rubovia sets, PLEASE, PLEASE do send us a picture!

"Model Your Friends IN 'Plasticine®'
Make the People of Camberwick Green
BIG VALUE pack. NON TOXIC.
A Harbutt PRODUCTION"

The instructions for the Camberwick Green set read as follows:
The models are built up as illustrated from balls and rolls of "Plasticine". Some figures may be dressed from flat sheets of "Plasticine" cut to shape. Finally, add smaller details like eyes, nose, etc., to complete your model.

Both versions of this Plasticine set are exceedingly rare.