Dig These 13 Groovy TV BOARD GAMES From (Mostly) the 1960s
It’s TOYHEM! — Welcome to TOYHEM! For the sixth straight holiday season, we’re bringing you a series of features and columns celebrating the toys of our youth, which often made for the best memories this time of year. Click here to check out the complete index of stories — and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and Happy Holidays! — Dan — By PETER BOSCH Board games are always fun, but those that have attracted me most are those based on TV shows. What’s truly amazing is just how many there have been, especially between the 1950s and 1970s. So dig these 13 GROOVY TV BOARD GAMES: — I Dream of Jeannie (Milton Bradley, 1965). Ah, Barbara Eden. Everyone’s favorite genie. And the artwork on the box lid and the game board are nice coquettish images of Jeannie. In the game, a player starts with seven “magic discs” and must move with the dice from the start at the bottom of the board to cover all the letters in “JEANNIE” at the top. But along the way, if the player lands on one of the red rows near the top, another player can use Jeannie to send them back to the start. — F Troop (Ideal, 1965). The box lid features Forrest Tucker, Ken Berry, and Larry Storch and certainly brings back memories of the high-scale buffoonery that went on at Fort Courage. The objective of the game is to be the trooper who recovers the most stolen loot from the outlaw. — Walt Disney’s Zorro (Whitman, 1959). “This bold renegade carves a Z with his blade. A Z that stands for Zorro.” What kid did not want to be Zorro? With this Z-shaped game board, they get a chance to be the masked rider of old California. The player who gets the cards that spell out Z O R R O and returns to the hideout first is the winner. — The Partridge Family (Milton Bradley, 1971). Come on, get happy! Having just finished a concert, the family/players (one of four characters: Mom, Keith, Laurie, and Danny) rush to get to their touring bus. The first to get there is the winner. Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, and the cast are pictured on the game box and the board. — 77 Sunset Strip (Lowell, 1959). “You’ll meet the highbrow and the...
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