$44.99
Squatter is a board game that was launched at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1962, invented by Robert C. Lloyd. With more than 500,000 games sold in Australia alone, it became the most successful board game ever developed in Australia.
It is a Monopoly-type game in which players each own a sheep station and compete, by judicious trading, to be the first to acquire sufficient irrigated pasture to increase their stock to 6,000 head of sheep, all the while coping with drought, disease, taxes, impotent stud rams, and luck.
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The Squatter Board Game
In Australia in the early 1800’s, there was great pressure to develop farming and agriculture. Most of the land suitable for agriculture had not yet been surveyed by the government and there was no formal established process for purchasing land. Pioneer farmers went out and started farming the un-surveyed land.
These pioneers became known as Squatters. Governor Bourke realised it was futile to try to prevent the expansion of settlement, and decided to regulate it. Under the 1835 Squatting Regulations, Crown land could be taken up on annual licence for a fee of ten pounds per year.
In September 1836 Governor Bourke declared the whole Port Phillip District open for settlement under these regulations.
To many, the word “Squatter” means someone who illegally lives in another’s property. In Australia this usually means settling on public lands without license. However, it is generally accepted, the squatter is one who occupied crown lands under a lease or license.
Australia’s coat of arms bear a kangaroo and an emu. Neither of these animals can walk backwards. In the game Squatter, Emu Plains Station and Warramboo Station are sheep stations named to reflect this Australian heritage. “Warramboo” is an aboriginal term that means “place of many kangaroos”.
Each Australian state is represented in Squatter.
Mt Mitchell Station is named after Mt Mitchell in Western Australia.
Coorumbene Station is named after a pioneer sheep grazing property near Loch, Victoria. Melbourne (Victoria) skyline is featured as the town you visit on the playing board.
Warramboo Station is named after the township of Warramboo in South Australia.
The Stud Ram “Winton Boy II” is named after the township of Winton in Queensland.
Emu Plains Station was named to represent Australia’s coat of arms. Emu Plains is also a property in Tasmania.
The Stud Ram “Lachlan Lad” is named after the Lachlan River in New South Wales.
Why Play Squatter?
A Fun and Entertaining Board Game.
Fun and Entertaining. Based on real life sheep farming. Every game brings new challenges. As in real life, chance plays a part… no one knows when the next drought or flood will strike.
Prudent players employ good strategies and careful management to reduce risks and achieve optimum results.
Two to six Players
2 to 6 people can play. Many games, including card games, require a set number of players. Squatter can happily entertain 2 people or just as easily provide for 5 or 6 players.
Young and old enjoy Squatter, Australia’s Favourite Board Game.
Wide range of ages from 10 and Upwards. (younger children can enjoy Squatter but may need assistance.) While Squatter is designed to entertain adults, never-the-less, children over a wide range of ages, also enjoy playing. Squatter enables several generations to play on an equal footing.
Grandad can battle the elements and fluctuating market prices on his sheep station and granddaughter can manage repairs to the shearing sheds and treating foot rot on her own sheep station.
Unparalleled in its Educational Value. Squatter provides a genuine insight into real life farming. Squatter has been commended by the Royal Agriculture Society, The Minister of Agriculture and the Woolmark Company for it’s contribution to the Sheep and Wool Industry. The Woolmark Company, which replaced The Australian Wool Bureau, has approved the use of the Woolmark logo because of the relevance Squatter has to the wool industry.
Squatter provides an informative and entertaining link with an industry resplendent with social, historic and economic heritage.
Time Together. Squatter Board Game is suitable for family entertainment and promotes family values. Time spent around the table over a game of Squatter provides an ideal opportunity for conversations and discussions that might otherwise never happen.
In the past, parlour games and card games were popular entertainment for all ages because they provided a wonderful setting for socialising. Squatter is a classic game that has been enjoyed in Australia and around the world for more than 45 years.
Squatter creates winners, not losers and one of the great things about Squatter is that everyone stays in the game until the end. This means the game is enjoyable for all the players, right up to the last throw of the dice. Squatter, together with Scrabble, Monopoly, Cluedo & Sorry belongs to the elite group of brand name board games that have stood the test of time.
Download the PC ROM Squatter Board Game Rules
Advanced Squatter Rules
(It is better that players familiarise themselves with the intricacies of SQUATTER by first playing the regular game.)
Basically the same rules as for the regular game, with some minor variations.
TWO players each receive $6000 and 3 fully stocked unimproved sheep stations.
THREE players each receive $4000 and 2 fully stocked unimproved sheep stations.
e.g. 1 – After a player lands on Stock Sale and states his intentions, the player is advised the buying price and/or selling price for all his stations. The Player may, perhaps – sell sheep on one station – buy sheep for another station – “Pass” for the other. However, no more than 15 pens of sheep can be bought or sold for any one Station.
e.g. 2 – When a Player lands on “TUCKER BAG”, the benefit, or penalty, applies to each Station.
e.g. 3 – If a player lands on “Pay Cost of Fertilizing” the Player must pay $250 for each Station owned by that Player. One “Fertilized Pasture Icon” is received, but the benefit applies to all sheep sold from the different Stations the next time the Player sells any stock.
e.g. 4 – When a Player lands in the HAYMAKING SEASON he may buy a Haystack for each Station owned by the Player. However not more than one Haystack per Station can be owned at any time. Haystacks are not transferable to another Station owned by the Player.
When a Station becomes fully irrigated and fully stocked, all sheep and the Haystack (if owned) for this Station are returned to the Bank immediately. Play continues on the remaining Stations/Station until one of the players has had all his Stations fully irrigated and fully stocked and consequently becomes “The Wealthy SQUATTER” – the Winner.
