World in Flames’ enormous 2.27-square-metre map could make it the biggest board game ever made

The Collector’s Edition of classic 1985 World War II strategy wargame World in Flames is big. Really, really big.

It’s so enormous, in fact, that it could be the biggest board game ever made – a bold claim its creators hope to make official by taking the Guinness World Record for ‘Largest board game commercially available’ from The War Game: World War II, which has held the award since 2007.

World in Flames: Collector’s Edition comes equipped with not just one, but four, main maps, which are so large they are mounted on hardback boards measuring 83cm by 57.4cm. Each.

That’s not all though. Oh, no. There are also three 42-by-29.7cm “mini” maps and displays included in the set.

The sizeable boards bring the total playing area to 2.27 square metres, which publisher Australian Design Group says is more than a fifth bigger than The War Game’s 197-by-98cm board – or 1.93 square metres.

World in Flames isn’t just grand in terms of its physical scale; its gameplay is also a complex simulation of World War II, from the outbreak of the conflict in 1939 through to its end in 1945. Players each control of the major nations involved, managing both the military tactics of their troops across the globe and the background production, diplomacy and political manoeuvres of their homeland.

There are 20 different setups included in the game, spanning from a relatively quick one-hour scenario up to the Global War ‘mega campaign’, which takes a staggering 150 hours to complete. That’s a lot of very sore bums.

While the game’s designers are still waiting on confirmation that World in Flames has broken the Guinness World Record, it has already smashed its AU$50,000 (£30,593) goal on Kickstarter.

The standard version of the set, which includes the huge maps as well as 1,600 counters, dice and the rulebook, costs AU$149 (£91) (plus AU$69/£42 postage to the UK), with the opulent AU$299 (£183) deluxe variant adding in 3,200 premium counters for planes, ships, troops and territories.