Board game Squatter is an ode to Australian farming. Here’s the secret behind its longevity
It started as a side hustle, a way for a travelling salesman to get home to his family, but turned into a love letter to the land, an educational tool and one of the most successful Australian board games of all time — and it’s all about sheep farming.
Squatter simulates the highs and lows of earning a living as a farmer and is still in production six decades after it was launched.
Its inventor was Bob Lloyd, a city lad from Melbourne who gained a deep connection to rural life working as a farmhand on his in-laws’ property in Loch, South Gippsland.
Bob, who died in 2019, is remembered by his son, Richard, as a fun-loving bloke, a dreamer who loved the latest toys and gadgets.