A Sunderland-themed board game to celebrate the city is in the works
Written by Hannah Rooney on 4th November 2025
A Sunderland board game is in the works (this is not it, by the way!).
A board game based on Sunderland’s history is in development, with a North East gaming group visiting Sunderland Maritime Museum (SMM) as part of their research.
Tactic North East (TNE) – a community connecting table top gamers across the region – were awarded £38,676 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to make and distribute a Sunderland-themed board game.
The project puts the power in the hands of the community, encouraging Sunderland people to participate in the research and design for the game.
To inform the game’s contents, TNE visited the SMM in late October, since the city’s rich shipbuilding tradition is just one of several parts of its history which could be honoured as part of the game.
Jon Burns, president of the University of Sunderland’s Games Club (SGC), told Spark: “I’d think a Sunderland-themed board game would be incredibly fun to play with.
“In regards to what locations to add, I’d nominate the Winter Gardens, as it’s one of the nicer parts of the city centre.”
This isn’t the first Sunderland-themed board game: a Sunderland edition of classic board game Monopoly was released in 2002, celebrating iconic locations like the Stadium of Light.
The SGC often play Newcastle Monopoly, and Jon Burns hopes a new Sunderland board game will enable people “to interact with places closer to home”.
As described in the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project aims to honour Sunderland’s culture as a “response to the Sunderland riots”.
The riots, which occurred in August 2024, saw protests and anti-immigration rhetoric spiral into violence and chaos across Sunderland.
TNE’s board game project seeks to educate people on Sunderland’s rich lineage.
Two Film Production students at the University of Sunderland told Spark that, despite not being from Sunderland, they would consider playing the game.
What would you feature on a Sunderland board game? Let Spark know @sparksunderlan
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