games

I’ve been cleaning. Or, as one astute friend called it, excavating. 30 years of accumulations are being sorted through, organized, preserved, or sold, or given away, or simply thrown out. They start to form geological strata by which I can study the progress of my life and analyze the anthropological significance of my existence with layers of dust and delicate stacks of things.

During this, I’ve found that I have a LOT of games. We’re not talking Monopoly or Life (though a Simpsons edition of Clue lingers around here). We’re talking about the WizKids Pirates trading model game, Heroclix, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Buttonmen, Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, Talisman, and hidden behind it all where prying eyes can’t see it, Xxxenophile.

As far as trading card games go, Xxxenophile was fairly collectible and remains so today – owing no small part to its incorporation of sexual and suggestive themes into its imagery. The card game was launched in 1996 and based loosely on Kaja and Phil Foglio’s X-rated comic book anthologies. All of this, while not explicitly filthy, was certainly highly suggestive, and unlike most material of a sensual nature, was definitely equal opportunity between the genders. The occasional ‘remove one article of clothing’ cards can be ignored, if you so choose.

See, in 1996 I was very much into Magic : The Gathering, so when many of these artists also contributed artwork to the Xxxenophile card game, I made it a point to pursue them across these boundaries. Remember that this is before the internet really was the vast bastion of scanned artwork and easily searchable information that it is today, so when I wanted to see what Quinton Hoover was creating for this new set of cards, I had to find a way to purchase them. Fortunately, the internet didn’t know how old I was for either Xxxenophile or my Sorayama books.

The most surprising aspect of the game was that it involved some truly fun mechanics, involving placing cards in a grid, turning them, matching symbols, and lots of other things that had nothing to do with sex at all. In fact, without cards titled ‘Erotic Potato Prints’, ‘Cornelia’s Double Bed’ and ‘Naked City’ (which are some of the few that I can actually type here), the game could genuinely be fun for all ages. Fortunately, Studio Foglio reworked the cards’ imagery to suit their all-ages comic, Girl Genius in 2001. With cards on the table that effected the gameplay conditions at every turn, and chain reactions that resulted in the accumulation and removal of many cards, the game is a very fun balancing act. You know, if you don’t mind all of the nipples.

One rarely encounters these cards on eBay, though with a set of 270 to obtain, there’s certainly a lot out there to look for, and while complete sets are almost impossible to come by, even back in 2001 there’s evidence of sets selling for over $100. If you can snag a handful of these collectible cards and don’t mind the blushing and weirdness, it’s an excellent game.

Have I mentioned I like to play games? Especially retro & vintage games? *wink*

A few weeks ago at a garage sale, I was lingering over the seller’s table of retro board games & toys. At $5 a piece, I wasn’t sure how to narrow down the selection… I selected a few (and those I will also review), and he set them aside while we poked around more in the garage. One more longing look at the table and then we went to the table to make our purchases — where the owner tried to sell me on buying more games.

It was tempting, I told him, but it’s always a risk because you never know if all the pieces & instructions are there and as I hadn’t played these games, I wasn’t sure I wanted to invest $25 in worthless games. But when he offered me a two-for-the-price-of-one deal on Mall Madness, I decided I’d bite. (What retro board game lover can resist such an offer?)

Sunday, the girls, hubby & I sat down to play the game — but first we had to sort through, identify and verify all the pieces before we could even attempt set up.

Retro Milton Bradley Electronic Mall Madness Games

There were, as I said, two game boxes, so I was optimistic… But also a bit concerned because the boxes were different sizes, so maybe they would be very different games and we wouldn’t be able to mix & match pieces. We inspected the boxes.

Both Milton Bradley games are named Electronic Mall Madness, # 4047, and marked with copyright 1989, 1996. The only discernible differences between the two boxes themselves were the measurements and that the so-called “short box” game has an “It’s our world, girls” thingy on it. (Inside the boxes, it was clear that some of the game board mall cardboard pieces are slightly shorter — all the same stores, same layout, etc., just shorter pieces to fit the length of the box and so there is more of them. And a few pieces, like the mall windows & sale signs are different. But all the pieces still fit/can be exchanged with the other game’s pieces.)

To make a long story short, all the pieces were found in the “long box” and the “short box” game had the instruction sheet, copyright 1990. (In fact, the “short box” was very incomplete — but with the humorous hand-written replacement pieces, including the “clearance” sign misspelled as “Clarence.”)

Handmade Replacement Game Pieces

Mall Madness Game Set-Up

Electronic Mall Madness is a rather complicated game to set up (I can only imagine the headaches during holiday & birthday gift openings when the girls chant, “Open it now! Let’s play it now!”), but once you figure it out, it’s fun.

The game board is a two-story mall & your pieces represent shoppers. Instead of using dice, a spinner or cards, there’s the electronic talking thingy. All players follow the instructions of “the Voice.” The objective is to shop for 6-10 items in specific stores (no duplicating) which are then marked off on shopping lists; the first person to complete their shopping and get back to their parking lot, wins. Of course, since it’s a game, it’s not quite as easy as that sounds.

At the start of the game and periodically, at the start of a (random) player’s turn, the Voice announces one clearance sale and two regular sales at specific stores (regular, sale & clearance prices, are all printed on your shopping lists), which means that you’ll pay less if you can get to them in time, saving you trips to the bank. (These mall shopping sales alerts always make me panic — you have to move the signs to their respective stores asap as the info is not repeated. For some reason, it gives me an adrenaline rush.)

Once the game board is set up, everyone given their cash & banking credit card, and your first sale signs are properly set, red starts by following the Voice’s instructions, trying to shop. Should you be lucky enough to get into a store, you’ll try to buy something. I say “try” because sometimes, inserting your credit card you’ll get a nasty “out of stock” or “long line” response from the Voice and you won’t be able to buy anything.

Other times, you may get a special sale or special clearance price. (I now refer to them as getting a “Special Clarance” — and I always want to take him out for ice cream or buy him a toy at the toy store!)

Or, you may just get a snotty “you must pay $5 more.” (Which promoted me to wonder why such an illegal thing existed — and why, in the 80s or 90s, you couldn’t litigate over that!)

Playing Electronic Mall Madness Game

Play continues clock-wise, with each player trying to shop and, when successful, marking off on their list.

While you make your purchases with your credit card via the electronic thingy, you actually pay the game’s designated “banker” with cash. This means you can run out of cash or not have enough for the specific purchase. So trips to the bank, at the center of the mall, are needed. You can only go to the bank after you’ve made at least one purchase. And you can be refused cash at the bank too — which, while not as embarrassing as at a real bank, is frustrating and adds to the game play.

So do other dastardly things such as the Voice telling you to return to the parking lot because you’ve left your lights on (serious set-back) or sending you to the restrooms (like skipping a turn). Plus, a turn may, along with giving a player the number of spaces she can move, instruct them to send another player to the arcade (you can’t buy anything, but it can keep you away from stores or your hoped for exit to your parking lot) or just tell you to take a friend to get pizza (messing up your shopping by costing $5 and moving you away from your destination).

Overall, a very fun retro board game of silly fun.

(Because I won the first game, I gleefully pronounced Mall Madness a game of skill; I was poo-pooed and booed for both winning & adding such insults to the losers’ injuries. Harumph.)

As an interesting side note, the store names are cute (or corny, if you prefer) and apparently MB discovered that some of the clever names were already in use and had to get permission to use them. From the instruction sheet:

Store Name Credits

Novel Idea Books is a trademark of an used with permission by Annie’s Book Stop.

Hocus-Focus is a trademark of an used with permission by Byron Booth & Associates.

Oddly, I can find no record of anyone claiming to be the businesses/folks behind those names on the games.

New versions of Electronic Mall Madness are available, and perhaps that, or the anti-consumerism movements, seem to make retro versions not so desirable.

Like I care.

At $5, totally worth it. And I have an extra electronic voice gadget along with other pieces. Maybe I’ll sell or swap them with other game nuts. But never the handmade “Clarence” piece, which is a total hoot.

Last month I wrote about vintage Bingo games & The Game-Lovers Library Bingo game by Metro Manufacturing Co. At the same thrift shop, I also discovered not one but two copies of Bottoms-Up, a vintage game by E. S. Lowe Company. I grabbed them both for several reasons…

The collectibility: Along with my adoration of old games, Bottoms-Up is also a vintage game designed to sit on the shelf, like a book. Like Metro Mfg. Company’s Game-Lovers Library series, Lowe’s “Bookshelf of Games” were made in the 40’s, came in both the cheap and DeLuxe Editions (bound in Genuine Top-Grain Leather), and are smaller, portable sized games.

Vintage Bookshelf Of Games Bottoms-Up Game By E.S. Lowe

The ultimate reason for purchasing: The pig butt game pieces. Yup, you read that right; the game pieces feature the bottoms of pigs! My mom, who now has a nice collection of pig behinds, needed more — and I couldn’t pass the other game up for myself either. So I greedily snatched up both games on the spot.

Vintage Bottoms-Up Pig Butt Game Pieces

Now that I own the vintage game, I’ve fallen in love with it for other reasons…

While the pork playing pieces are absolutely charming, the final joy lies in the fact that Bottoms–Up is played like one of my favorite games, Shutbox aka Shut The Box.

You begin by hiding all the pig behinds, so that the nine pieces display their dot-numbered sides (1-9). Then you roll the dice, and then turn down (or ‘bottoms up’) playing pieces that equal the total sum of the numbers on both dice. For example, if you roll an 8, you may ‘bottoms up’ the 8, the 7 & 1, the 5, 2 & 1, or some other valid combination totaling 8. You keep rolling the dice & doing the math to display as many pig bottoms as you can, until you roll a sum which cannot be equaled in the remaining numbered pieces.

The goal is to get zero, or as low a score as you can when you add up the remaining numbered pieces. Then the next person plays and tries to beat your score.

According to the official game rules:

The game proceeds in this fashion until all players have had their chance at the play. The player remaining with the lowest number on his face-up blocks, wins the game and is credited with the number of points left by each other player.

If a player wins by turning down all of his blocks, he wins double and is credited with double of the amount of points remaining in every other player’s hand.

The official rules for Bottoms-Up state that this is a game of 2, 3, or 4 players; however, I enjoy playing the game alone, competing against myself for the lowest score (just as with Shutbox and Solitaire). No game-Nazi can prevent me from playing this way if I so choose. Besides, you can’t take away this option for a lover of vintage games… Not everyone will play old games with me — or for as long as I like.

And with Bottoms-Up, well, I guess it takes a special kind of game nerd to also get such a kick out of pig bottoms.

But the final reason to love this old game is for the irony. Edwin Lowe is said to be the father of the Bingo game:

…while traveling through Georgia one late December night in 1929, Lowe came across a country fair where a very popular game by the name of Beano was being played. Sensing a possible winner, Lowe inquired about the game, learned it had originally come from a fair in Germany, bought some of the game cards, and returned home to New York. With some cards of his own and some dried beans, he introduced the game to friends. One woman, seeing she had won, got so excited, she couldn’t remember to yell “Beano” and yelled “Bingo” instead. In an interview years later, Lowe recalled that moment: “I cannot describe the sense of elation which that girl’s cry brought to me, all I could think of was that I was going to come out with this game and I was going to call it Bingo.”

So while I don’t (yet) own a Lowe Bingo game, I’m a bit closer to justifying that future purchase.

It will be another “space” filled on my checklist of Bookshelf Of Games games — so when I do get them all, I’ll not only be a fulfilled (and rationalizing) collector, but I’ll have achieved a full-card Bingo. And that’s satisfying on so many levels for this vintage game nerd.

Vintage Lowe's Bookshelf Of Games List

A few bits, boards and pieces from our vintage game/toy box…

Tigger, a piece from the 1988 Winnie The Pooh Train Set.

Vintage Game of The States box with spinners.

Retro Where’s The Beef? gameboard.

A huge metal gun from an old Clue game.

A vintage game board with multiple games (and cool graphics).

The ‘B’ side, sports games.

A Slater card from the Saved By The Bell game. (He’s soooo dreamy!)

A classic die from Skunk game, and an old plastic state (Utah) from Teach-a-Toy puzzle map of the US.

A vintage Pig Dice Game shaker cup (love, love, Love the graphics on this!)

Statler Muppets game piece.

Red”Infra-Scope Goggles” from an old Undercover game.

Retro The Jetsons Funpad Game piece.

================

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Old catalogs aren’t just groovy to look at, a toy collector can learn a lot about what items are missing from the series or collection, and what pieces are supposed to be included. Here are some vintage Disney toys from the 1988 Sears Wish Book.

Most of the images have larger scans, so don’t forget to click to see them. (But don’t blame me if it makes you spend more money — or feel really old to realize these toys are almost 20 years old now!)

Disney’s Main Street Replica Toy Sets: Available only at Sears Land, this was the main toy feature in the catalog, covering the first two pages. There was the Town Square set, with buildings, the train and track, horse & trolley with conductor, lighting kit, furniture sets, a Christmas tree set, and of course, lots of Disney character sets — even a family of tourists.

Winnie The Pooh Train Set: I was super excited to see this set as my (now 18 year old) daughter had this set. I got it at a rummage sale, used, when she was a toddler and now all that remains are a few of the ‘people’, like Tigger who resides on my shelf as part of one of my dioramas.

More Disney Play Sets: Featured here are the Mickey & Donald 10-Lap Race (with controlers) set against the Disney World backdrop, the Disney Chef Mickey playset (with 5 figurines, 3 vehicles, foodstand, freezer, 2 tables with 4 benches, 2 umbrellas, a wallet with play money and clip “and much more”) and, the coolest one, the “Way back in 1955, Disneyland” set. The flashback set has authentic reproductions of Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Main Street along with play mat, Disney characters & Disneyland animals — 50 pieces in all!

Disney Magic Omagles: Omagles are components that kids can use to build neat-o stuff, without tools. I suspect that very few of these pieces survived — especially the plastic ‘brick’ sheets — but it sure looks cool. (At the time this was written, the Omagles website, Omagles.com, was down.)

Disney Nintendo Games: The two Nintendo hand-held games featured here at Sears Land involve Mickey catching eggs and Mickey & Donald in the circus. The games sound super simplistic, but this was 1988 and definitely games for younger kids (ages 3 and up).

“Be a ’star with Jiminy Cricket!” These musical toys were a delight to see. Not only do I covet the phonograph, but I adore Jiminy. Over the years he’s nearly disappeared from view — and to purchase things with his image is rare. Also in this collection are Jiminy Cricket’s Dancin’ Banjo & Fiddle, cassette player/recorder, sing-along radio, AM/FM mike, and the Jiminy Cricket stand-up microphone/amplifier set. Rock on, Jiminy!

================

Gotta Collect? Then You Gotta Connect – Join our Collectors’ Community!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants