Meet Jeff Bauspies: Inside the collection
Meet the Guinness World Record holder for the largest board-game collection.
Jun. 28, 2020
With more than 1,700 board games in his collection, Jeff Bauspies is the Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of its kind. His custom-built basement is packed floor-to-ceiling with games arranged in alphabetical order, some of which are quite rare — including a 1941 edition of Monopoly, and nearly every game in the 3M Bookshelf series.
Appraiser and board-game specialist Kate Martin put an overall value on Jeff's collection.
1. The Game Room
Jeff dedicated his entire basement to his collection, arranged alphabetically on custom-built shelves. He and his cousin covered the metal pole in the room with dice — they glued on 2050 dice! Totaled up, Jeff's collection is estimated at about $35,000.
2. 1941 Monopoly
The board and box were packaged seperately back then — they did not make a box big enough to hold the board!
3. 1941 Monopoly Pieces
From 1941–46, Parker Brothers produced Monopoly with wooden game pieces, as metal was being spared for the war effort. These wooden versions are rare. Jeff found his in a church rummage sale for $5! It's worth about $250 in this condition.
4. Franklin Mint Monopoly
This bespoke edition of Monopoly from the Franklin Mint came with a raised pedestal and chairs.
5. Franklin Mint Monopoly Pieces
Game pieces for the Franklin Mint edition were plated with gold.
6. Franklin Mint Monopoly Drawer
The Monopoly money was kept in fancy drawer built into the playing table. This entire set is worth about $500.
7. Clue Collection
Our specialist Kate explains that there are eight different editions of Clue over the years (not to mention countless themed versions of each edition). It was first introduced in 1949 — and originally titled Murder! It is still known as Cluedo in Europe.
8. Red Boxed Clue
Which Clue edition did you have in your home?
9. Gold Box Clue
Remember these early cartoon version of the Clue characters?
10. Handmade Seinfeld Game
Jeff made his very own unlicensed Seinfeld trivia game from scratch!
11. Seinfeld Game Board
Jeff made his custom Seinfeld game to center around the four central characters.
12. 3M Bookshelf Games
Jeff owns all of these rare 3M Bookshelf Games save for one — Jati (1965) was a rare prototype with only about 100 produced. Jeff's collection is worth about $500. Adding Jati would double that.
13. Bionic Woman Board Game
Jeff owned the Bionic Woman game — but was missing the companion Six Million Dollar Man game until a Collector's Call trade!
14. Six Million Dollar Man Game
Parker Brothers released this TV tie-in in 1975.
15. Extras Bin
Jeff keeps his extra and duplicate game pieces in a giant tub. We can relate to that.
16. Walrus Cribbage Board
On his travels, Jeff likes to acquire cribbage boards from his vacation destinations. Don't worry — this one is made of resin, not actual tusk.
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