The Campaign for North Africa: Why the World’s Longest Board Game is Actually Playable (Sort Of)

You’ve probably heard the rumors. There’s a board game so long that it takes 1,500 hours to finish. A game so detailed it tracks the evaporation of water in individual pasta rations. Most people treat The Campaign for North Africa like a cryptid—something people talk about at conventions but nobody has actually seen in the wild.

It’s real. Published by SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.) in 1979 and designed by Richard Berg, it remains the ultimate "white whale" of the hobby. But here’s the thing: most of the internet gets it wrong. They treat it as a joke or a piece of performance art. If you look at it through the lens of 1970s wargaming culture, it wasn't a prank. It was a serious, if wildly overambitious, attempt to simulate the logistics of desert warfare.

Honestly, it’s a monster.

The map alone is ten feet long. You need ten players—five on each side—to even attempt a run at it. If you tried to play this solo, you’d likely lose your mind before the first tank even fueled up. It isn't just a game; it's a part-time job that lasts three years.

The Logistics of The Campaign for North Africa

Most wargames care about where the tanks go. They care about hexes and combat odds. The Campaign for North Africa cares about the grease in the axle of the truck that carries the fuel to the tanks.

Logistics is the game.

If you’re the Logistics Commander for the Axis, your life is a nightmare of paperwork. You aren't rolling dice to see if Rommel wins at Tobruk. You are filling out charts to see if your fuel arrived in 44-gallon drums or 4-gallon "flimsy" cans. The British have it better because their steel drums didn't leak as much. In this game, that matters. The "flimsies" used by the Italians and Germans have a higher evaporation rate.

That’s a real mechanic.

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The Infamous Pasta Rule

Everyone mentions the pasta. It’s the go-to anecdote for why this game is "insane." Basically, Italian troops required specialized rations. In the game, if the Italian commander doesn't provide an extra water ration specifically for boiling pasta, the troops become "disorganized."

Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it historically grounded? Sort of. It reflects the genuine supply chain friction of the North African theater. Richard Berg famously said later that he added some of these details just to see if anyone would actually play it. He was a notorious provocateur in the wargaming world, often clashing with other designers over "realism" versus "playability." In this case, he chose realism and then doubled down until the game became a legend.

Why 1,500 Hours Isn't an Exaggeration

Let’s do the math.

A standard "grand campaign" covers the entire war in North Africa from 1940 to 1943. Each turn represents one week. There are hundreds of turns. Because every single plane, pilot, and truck is tracked individually, a single turn can take an entire weekend to resolve.

You have to manage pilot fatigue. You have to track the specific grade of fuel. You have to account for the fact that some units can't move because they’re waiting on a specific shipment of spare parts that got sunk in the Mediterranean.

It’s a massive spreadsheet with a map attached.

Actually, it's more like five different games being played simultaneously. You have a Commander-in-Chief, a Logistics Commander, an Air Commander, a Rear Area Commander, and a Front-line Commander. They have to talk to each other. If the Logistics guy hates the Air guy, the whole front collapses. That’s where the "human" element of The Campaign for North Africa actually shines. It’s a simulation of bureaucracy.

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The SPI Legacy and Richard Berg

To understand why this exists, you have to understand SPI in the late 70s. They were the kings of "monster games." They produced Terrible Swift Sword and War in the Pacific. There was a massive appetite for complexity. This was before computers could handle these calculations, so gamers used paper.

Richard Berg was a genius, but he was also a man who loved the "crunch." He didn't want a game that felt like a game; he wanted a game that felt like history. When SPI went under and was eventually bought out by TSR (the Dungeons & Dragons people), many of these hyper-complex designs were lost or went out of print.

Today, a copy of The Campaign for North Africa can fetch hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on the secondary market. Not because people want to play it, but because it’s a relic. It’s the "Mount Everest" of cardboard.

Can You Actually Play It Today?

People have tried. There are groups on BoardGameGeek who have spent years logging their progress. Usually, they stall out around the six-month mark. The physical toll of standing over a ten-foot table and the mental toll of tracking 1,600 counters is just too much for most humans.

However, digital tools have changed things.

VASSAL modules now exist. These allow players to manage the counters and charts on a computer. It automates some of the math, but it doesn't change the soul of the game. You still have to make the choices. You still have to worry about the pasta.

What Most People Get Wrong About the Complexity

People assume the rules are impossible to read. They aren't. They’re actually quite logical. If you’ve played other SPI games, the mechanics will feel familiar. The difficulty isn't in understanding how to play; it’s in the sheer volume of tasks.

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It’s the difference between doing one math problem and doing ten thousand math problems. Neither is "hard," but one will ruin your life.

The Real Value of the Game

Why does it still matter in 2026?

It’s a reminder of a time when games weren't streamlined for "user experience." Today, every game is playtested to death to ensure it’s "fun." The Campaign for North Africa doesn't care if you're having fun. It cares if you're being accurate. It’s an uncompromising piece of software made out of paper.

It also serves as a warning. There is such a thing as too much detail. When the simulation becomes so granular that you lose sight of the strategy, the game becomes a simulation of work. But for a very specific type of person—the person who wants to know exactly how many gallons of fuel were lost to the sun in Libya in 1941—this is the only game that matters.

Actionable Steps for the Brave (or Insane)

If you’re genuinely considering diving into this behemoth, don't just buy a box and start unfolding maps. You will fail.

• Find a dedicated crew. You need nine other people. They must be committed for at least two years. If one person quits, the logistics chain breaks, and the game ends.
• Use VASSAL. Don't try to manage the physical counters unless you have a dedicated room that no one else enters for half a decade. Use a digital interface to track the units and the "paperwork."
• Start with "The Desert Fox." If you want the flavor of North African logistics without the 1,500-hour commitment, try Richard Berg’s other, more manageable designs. They use similar concepts but won't result in a divorce.
• Focus on the Air War first. Many players find the air simulation in CNA to be the most "playable" sub-section. You can run just the air modules to get a feel for the bookkeeping before committing to the full campaign.
• Read the Errata. Since the game was so complex, it shipped with bugs. The wargaming community has spent decades documenting these. Download the community-corrected charts before you start.

This game is a monument to a specific era of gaming. It's beautiful, frustrating, and arguably broken. But there will never be another one like it.