The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 20

Jack Straws

Caused more arguments in caravans than whose turn it was to fetch the water.

"IT MOVED - THE LADDER MOVED!!"

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 19

Mousie-Mousie

Another caravan classic. Cheap and brutal. Returning home from holiday with black fingernails. Mouse tails regularly severed.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 18

The Magnetic Fish Pond

Astonishingly, could and did keep a family entertained for hours.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 17

Magic Robot

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 16

The curious Matchbox Cascade

Took more setting up than the space shuttle and usually didn't work. But when it did it was mesmerising. Could only have been commissioned in the drug addled 70s.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 15

Buckaroo

Notoriously unpredictable. Could withstand a drunken relative falling on it and not go off. On another day, a gentle breeze would detonate it.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 14

Monopoly

Staggering levels of family skulduggery and ill-feeling

Highlights:
Nephew swallowing the Scottie dog when he couldn't have it.
Elderly aunt dropping the C-bomb after landing on Mayfair

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 13

Frustration.

Pop-o-matic dice. The future had arrived.

Once lost a gyroscope betting on the outcome of a game.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 12

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 11

Hats Off

With slide-o-matic score keeper.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 10

Flight Deck

Another absolute bastard of a thing to set up. Not as good as it looked on the telly.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 9

Mousetrap

Conceptually - brilliant. Operationally - suspect.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 8

Battling Tops

Great, but notoriously fragile. Usually knackered by boxing day. The Tops kicked around forever though. Every school had a Hurricane Hank.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 7

Haunted House

Ball bearing trauma

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 6

Subbuteo

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 5

Operation

Our drummers brother never lost and was convinced that a career in surgery awaited. Currently working in Lidl, Coatbridge in a non-medical capacity.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 4

Rebound

Once played it for 12 hours non-stop. No drugs involved either.

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 3

Battleship

Addictive

The MD guide to the 20 greatest table-top games of all time. In order.

Number 2

Crossfire

Still have nightmares about the gun jamming.

The cause of most blisters in the 70s

Once bet The Slider (ours) V Slayed? (his) on the outcome of a game with a neighbour. Pretty sure the sneaky bastard put a larger ball bearing in our ammo. Gun jammed. Still not over it.