A Workplace Comedy Classic: Excuses, Excuses from Waddingtons
A Workplace Comedy Classic: Excuses, Excuses from Waddingtons
When you're late for work, you need the perfect excuse - and in Excuses, Excuses, the 1981 Waddingtons board game, your ability to craft believable stories determines whether you reach the boss's office before your opponents. This charming, accessible family game has quietly delighted players for over four decades, and it remains a standout example of how thematic design and humor can create an engaging gaming experience without needing complex mechanics.
The premise is brilliantly simple: you and 2-5 other players are racing home to the office, each hoping to arrive before the boss notices your absence. But getting there isn't straightforward. You'll navigate different transportation options - walking, taxi, bus, or train - and here's where strategy and luck intersect. You're equipped with "excuse cards" that let you advance yourself or throw obstacles in your opponents' way: sudden traffic jams, unexpected road accidents, or canceled transportation. The real twist? You also need to collect "good excuses" on your journey so when you finally reach the boss's office, you have a believable story. It's a race, a card game, and a comedy routine all rolled into one.
For 2-6 players with a play time around 90 minutes, Excuses, Excuses fits perfectly in the family-friendly, accessible category. This isn't a heavy Eurogame or a brain-burning strategy title - it's designed for an evening of laughter and friendly competition. The rules are straightforward enough for age 8 and up, making it ideal for mixed-age groups and casual gaming nights. The humor is the star: players genuinely laugh as they deploy excuse cards, and the underlying chaos of the game's logic mirrors the absurdity of real workplace scrambles. As one collector noted, "Players laugh a lot, but the Boss never does!" - and that single quote captures what makes this game memorable.
Production-wise, Waddingtons delivered solid components: wooden pawns, dice, full card decks, a substantial game board, and clear rulebooks. A particularly notable variant exists as a Canadian bilingual edition with a reversible board supporting both English and French gameplay - a charming piece of regional history that collectors actively seek. The vintage components age gracefully, and even well-played copies from the 1980s maintain their appeal.
What makes Excuses, Excuses collectible today isn't rarity - it's nostalgia and charm. The game has been out of print since the 1980s, and it regularly appears on eBay, specialty vintage retailers, and collector forums. Typical market prices range from to or more depending on condition and completeness. The bilingual Canadian edition commands particular interest among North American collectors. Over 40+ years, this game has maintained a sustained presence in the collector community, which speaks volumes about its enduring appeal.
I discovered a copy of Excuses, Excuses at a local game store's vintage bin while hunting for 1980s family games. The box art caught my eye first - that bold, colorful design screaming 1980s charm - but it was the rulebook's opening paragraph that sealed it. Within ten minutes of reading the theme and seeing the excuse cards, I knew this was the kind of game that rewards the table's sense of humor. My first play session confirmed it: my opponents and I spent half the time laughing at the increasingly absurd excuses we were deploying rather than calculating optimal moves. That's the magic of thematic design done right.
If you're a vintage game enthusiast, a collector of 1980s board games, or someone hunting for accessible party games that reward humor over complex strategy, Excuses, Excuses deserves your attention. It's a snapshot of how game design priorities have shifted over four decades - this game trusts theme and laughter to drive engagement, and it succeeds completely. The fact that it's still sought after 40+ years later is proof enough.
