Shoot the Moon

Moonshot is a term that came out of NASAs publicity machine in the sixties and has entered the english language as a byword for the huge undertaking of landing a human being on another planetary body for the first time in history. Toy and game makers also found it useful as it summed up in a few syllables, the exciting nature of the event. There have probably been countless games with this name, but here are two notable instances.

The first one by Invicta games (of Mastermind fame) was probably made in the late seventies and is a lovely little self contained travel game. The box itself becoes the playing field and contains two tiny dice and a handful of counters. Whats notable about this game is the colourful artwork depicting all manner of exciting spaceships and satellites. This particular game was given to me as a gift by my good friend the Philosophic Toad, some time ago.

On a more mundane and slightly less involved note we have Moonshot by Guardsman Games, which is essentially, Tiddlywinks. The game comes in a garish coloured box and is basically a cork mat, a handful of counters and the 'cup' to catch the winks after they have been tiddled.
What brings this game here however is the rather unusual nature of the traditional 'cup'. Guardsman have justified the Moonshot title of the game by including a set of plastic vac-form craters to shoot your tiddlywinks into. About four inches square, with four craters to aim for, it has an air of Johnny Astro about it!