Who Remembers the 1989 Board Game, Great Lakes Cargo?

While scrolling through Facebook the other day, I stumbled upon a potentially forgotten Great Lakes-themed board game.

In the Facebook group Ship Junkies, a post was shared by André Boudreault that included a picture of a board game I had never heard of: Great Lakes Cargo. Judging by the photo alone, it looks like a combo of Monopoly and Risk only with cargo ships:

Judging by an eBay listing I found while searching for information about Great Lakes Cargo, the game was originally released around 1989. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to find it except through sites like ebay.com.

What Was the Objective of the Game?

Again referring to the above-linked eBay listing, the object of the game is for players to,

schedule the shipping season of a Great Lakes Laker and pilot that ship to become the first debt free shipping magnate of the Great Lakes.

Dangerous waters are indicated by lighthouses while ports are indicated by anchors on the game board. The game also includes cargo cards, navigation cards, game pieces, dice, and play money too:

I'm assuming, like many other board games, players would roll the dice to see how many spaces they could move before landing at a port. How the money comes into play is a little less clear.

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Because the game is over 30 years old, finding more information or even more copies of the game to purchase has proven to be incredibly difficult. I'm not sure how long this game was made or if it ever rose to popularity amongst those in the Great Lakes region.

Today, if you want to acquire the game you'll have to keep a close eye on sites like eBay or even boardgamegeek.com. But, be prepared to spend a pretty penny. The above-linked eBay listing was priced at just under $75 the last I checked.

Of course, it might be worth the money to have a new game for your family to fight over during the holidays (looking at you, Monopoly).

If you love comic books and games, there's a new place that recently opened in Paw Paw that you should check out: