This week is Spring Break for The Boy and me. Since the weather is still snowy, we needed some indoor entertainment, so I went up into the attic in search of games we might play together.
Mexican Train and Chicken House Domino Game - The name alone intrigues, doesn't it? This is a game I got for Christmas a few years back. It's similar to regular dominoes, except each player works outward from a hub to make his own "train". The hub has a switch which can be set to "TRAIN" or "CHICKEN". Pressing the center of the hub makes either a "toot-toot" or "cluck-cluck" noise. I'm still not sure why. There is no reference in the instruction sheet to the sound options. When I played this with friends, we pressed the hub at random intervals just to distract each other.
Quest For Makuta Bionicle Adventure Game - Because this was one of those games that The Boy would often ask for at the height of his obsession with a particular toy or TV show, I didn't expect it to be as much fun as it is. Quest for Makuta is a complex and ever-changing game with interlocking board pieces, strategic elements, puzzle elements and beautiful graphics. 
Pokemon Master Trainer - Another of The Boy's toy tie-in games that turned out to be really enjoyable. The object is to make your way across the board to the Indigo Plateau, catching Pokemon along the way (with the help of dice throws). The Unknown Pokemon Dungeon contains four rare creatures which, if captured, almost assure you of winning -- unless the other player is also able to reach the Dungeon before the game ends. Colorful and fun.
Snail's Pace Race - The Boy got this one when he was very young. Colorful wooden snails race along the board track, advancing when their color is rolled on the two dice. Since it's the snails and not the players who are racing, no one loses. This was perfect for my kid (who, at age 6 or so was known to weep and wail "my career is over!" when games didn't quite go his way). 
The Doonesbury Game - I got this back in the early 90's and I don't think I've ever played it. A look at the instruction card might explain why, although I suspect that this is the kind of game that requires a fun gathering of creative people in order to make it enjoyable. And I can't explain why, but creative people never seemed to gather at my house in the early 90's. 
Facts In Five - I asked my mom to buy this at a garage sale in the mid-1970's. It was a "Bookshelf Games" edition, which has since gone missing and been replaced with a less-attractively packaged 1964 version I found on ebay. Facts In Five is sort of a more intellectual precursor to Scattergories; players have to fill in a grid with categories across the top and initial letters along the left-hand side. But what categories! 'Artificial Satellites'. 'Scientific/Engineering Organizations'. 'African Military Figures'. I realize now that I grew up wondering if I'd ever be smart enough to play this.
Happiness - Touchy feely I'm OK you're OK free to be you and me pop psychology fun! This game was all about Hang-Ups, Self-Improvement and (curiously) Fate. Six little mini-games on the big 3-D board made it interesting to play. Fun playing pieces, spinners, reward keys and rainbow racks made it a pleasure to look at, too. My stepsister and I would often play this together, the subtext being "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm WAY more self-actualized than you, so there!" 
The Bride Game - Gosh, did I ever love this game when I was young. There was something about the art nouveau style of the cards and the soft pastel colors that just captivated the girly-girl side of me. I could never decide whether to be a Formal Evening Bride or an Informal Bride (with that oh-so-chic floppy picture hat). This is another one I was compelled to re-purchase as a grown-up. (I can't ever imagine a time when I might have said "sure, let's throw away the Bride Game", but I guess it happened somehow.)
Tricky Mickey Magic Colorforms - Technically not a game, but I couldn't exclude this childhood favorite. I wonder how many little kids actually tried to amaze their friends with this thing? I mean, by the age of four or five, the concepts of transparency and color matching are pretty much concrete, right? It was still a fun set, though. Now if I could only find the other Disney colorforms I had as a child, featuring Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and a three-dimensional pop-up stage, I'd be truly fulfilled. 
Stay Alive - The original survivor game. The TV commercial featured a group of kids stranded on a desert island, a la Lord Of The Flies. The game washes ashore: "Let's play!" Despite Stay Alive's hideous colors(especially those olive green and burnt orange marbles), I always liked this game. It was a front-porch favorite -- when I was growing up, we kept most of my games on the front porch. It worked out well for rainy days; if I had to come in from playing, I could just pull in a friend or two and we'd be occupied for the rest of the afternoon.
Here's the full list of games I found in my attic this week. So... got any board game memories of your own to share?
Abalone - The Amazing Game Board Book - Backgammon - Barrel of Monkeys - Batman & Robin Monopoly - Battleship - Quest For Makuta Bionicle Adventure Game - Blinkers - Boggle - Brainquest - The Bride Game - Candyland - Chairs - Chess - Chutes And Ladders - Clue - Connect Four - The Couch Potato Game - Cranium Cadoo - Doonesbury - Facts In Five - Fairly OddParents - The Great Dalmuti - Guess Who? - Hands Down - Happiness - Harry Potter Trivia - Jenga - Life - Marvel Trivia - Mastermind - Mexican Train and Chicken House Domino Game - Monopoly - Mousetrap - Nickelodeon Ultimate Trivia - Operation - Outburst - Outburst, Jr. - Pocket Farkel - Pokemon Master Trainer - Pokemon Monopoly - Pop Smarts - Rack-O - Rugrats Uno - Scattergories - Set - Settlers of Catan Travel Edition - Skip-Bo - 'Smath - Snail's Pace Race - Song Burst 50's and 60's Edition - Sorry - Squint - Stage II - Star Wars Epic Duels - Stare - Stay Alive - Stratego - Think 'N' Jump - Tipover - Top Trumps Lord Of The Rings - Top Trumps Simpsons - Top Trumps Star Wars - Total It! - Tri-Ominoes - Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary Edition - Trivial Pursuit Volume II - Uno - Wordrop - Yahtzee - Yahtzee Jr. Pokemon Edition
1 comment:
I wish I still had my Tricky Mickey Colorforms set. All that remains is a solitary egg (with a chick revealed inside).
I think Facts In Five requires at least 3 years of post-graduate training to play.
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