AIRFIX SPACE BAGATELLE - CLONED IN FINLAND BY ARTO

Happy Birthday Moonbase!

Some time ago a collector friend brought me this interesting Finnish bagatelle game from the Fifties, "Avaruusraketti" (Space Rocket). It measures 30 x 15 cm. There is no mention of the maker on the game, which was quite customary at the time with smaller manufacturers.

Thinking back, I recalled having something similar already in my collection!

It seems that the Finnish game is a clone of the Airfix "Rockets Away" Bagatelle Game of a similar size and graphics.

Apart from the obvious language issues, and some alterations on the graphics, there are also other differences between the two. Unlike the Finnish version, the Airfix game comes without a clear plastic cover over the gaming field. The firing mechanism is also simpler, just a small piece of metal used as a spring.

"Rockets Away" came in an illustrated box with nice space graphics. The item number was 712 W. It is very likely that its Finnish counterpart was sold loose.

Here's "Avaruusraketti" with another Finnish space bagatelle from the Sixties. Its maker and possible source of inspiration are unidentified as of yet.

For further reading, the Small Scale World blog has more on the "Rockets Away" version

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-is-for-airfix-addicts-aided-by-atomic.html

Arto

Finland