Blackout predates American involvement in, but not awareness of, World War II. In this game, players roll dice and cover (or "black out") the matching spaces of their respective cities. The first player to fully cover his city announces "BLACKOUT" and wins the game. Counters are also provided in case the players wish to play a series of games, with each player losing one counter per uncovered space to the victor. As the dice only passes from one player to another when he is unable to use his roll to cover spaces in his city (and another player *can* use that roll to do so), it is possible for a player to win on his first turn. In that case the, payout for the multi-game series is limited to five counters. Blackout appeared in both the traditional narrow box (folded board) and wide box (unfolded board) formats.