So I've compiled a short list of items to share with everyone to see if anyone else played these growing up.
1. Crossbows and Catapults
HOW COOL WAS THIS GAME?!?!? For those who didn't play it, there were two teams, blue and red (very basic), and the object was to capture the other's castle. "How would you capture the castle?" some may ask, BY SHOOTING THINGS AT IT!! Not only was this game the basis for hand eye coordination but, it provided lots of lessons in what "not" to capture. Like you could not capture the couch by shooting the discs at dad (found that out the hard way. Either way, this game was awesome.
2. The Uncle Wiggily Game
Uncle Wiggily is an elderly rabbit with rheumatism. How can that be fun? Think of the coyote and roadrunner but, make them British and a rabbit and a rhino. The whole point behind the game was to get Uncle Wiggily and the other characters to Dr. Possum's house. I don't remember anything about the game other than the fact that I used to play it for hours and I always liked it better than Candy Land.
3. Hungry Hungry Hippos
Now here's a game for everyone. The rules are simple and they haven't changed since the game came out in 1978. Hit the lever on your hippo the fastest and be eat the most marbles before they're all gone. No matter how many times I played this game it was never any less fun. Most of the times we would play this game like "Rock, Paper, Scissors". The games were over so fast that it was always the best of 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5. Even today when I play it with my brothers, now 18 and 22, it is still as fun as it was when I was 5 playing it with my sister.
There were plenty of other games like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Connect 4 that used to eat away days of our lives. However, these were what we had and they did the job that they were supposed to do. I was lucky enough to receive a new copy of the old Uncle Wiggily game as a Christmas gift a few years ago and I plan on playing it with my son once he's old enough. There are several new games that have hit my shelves over the past few years and I pride myself on the collection that I've assembled. In the next installment of this blog we'll go over one of my favorites. For now, just think, what did you do for fun when you couldn't plug yourself into an electrical outlet?
Wow! I loved playing Hungry Hippos, and especially the Nintendo. Who didn't like Super Mario? Remember when they had the cereal of Mario and Luigi? This is a pretty kool blog you set up.
ReplyDeleteHi I remember hungry, hungry hippos, I did not have one though. When I was growing up we had, Go Outside(is what my mom use to yell). :)
ReplyDeleteWe also had checkers, chess, (i am not very good at chess, I would like to try to learn and see if a computer could help me learn chess). Monopoly, scrabble. We use to play fooseball, pinball, pool. And then there was pong, pac-man, frogger, sorry a lot of their names escape me. But I had one I loved to play that it had a spaceship in the middle, and you flew around and shot at it, it had barriers around it. It always had a beeline on me. And when I got enough of the barriers shot down, it shot back at me, and usually killed me. I was not lucky enough to have a nintendo. Oh yea they also had donkey-kong. :)
I am really feeling your blog. I remember playing those games like it was yesterday. Especially Candyland...it was definitely my favorite. When the Nintendo came out I remember staying up until like 5am playing games. Mario Brothers and Donkey kong. I LOVED IT!! We have a Wii now and I downloaded Super Mario Brothers 3.....SO MUCH FUN....LOL.
ReplyDeleteWow I really enjoyed your blog and remembering those wonderful board games. Isn’t it amazing what games are now out there for our youngsters. My children just past their time playing on the computer or play station 3 for hours at a time. Take Care!
ReplyDeleteMan, I used to beg my parents for games when I was younger and Hungry Hungry Hippos was at the top of the list. Unfortunately, I never got it but it sure did look like mindless fun. Viewing your blog brought back so many childhood memories of the simpler times. Sorry, I'm starting to sound like grandparents when they spoke about the "olden" days. Anyway, great start to your blog, I look forward to reading future posts. Take care and I'll see you in class.
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