As usual, while looking for something else, I discovered another bizarre kit line. This one is from the Japanese company Bandai.
The Animal Series is described on Scalemates as Animal Bowling, and that is just what the kits are. But instead of rolling a big, heavy ball at a line of pins or skittles, you launch a big, mean animal at them - take your pick from a Wild Boar, a Buffalo, or a Rhinoceros.
These look to be very simple, motorised animals, with only a few parts - which are out-numbered by the parts required for the set of bowling pins.
From the pictures on the side of the box, it appears the animals were wound up with a key, inserted in to the underside.
Each kit comes with ten white bowling pins, each of which is moulded in two halves. A sheet of stickers or decals includes animal faces and numbers for each of the pins.
It was the box art that got my attention. Each shows the animal in the kit sending its set of bowling pins flying, watched by various small creatures - a monkey of some sort on the Wild Boar, a pair of squirrels on the Buffalo, and a pair of tiger cubs on the Rhinoceros.
I found these kits on Scalemates, which says that all three date from 1970. SM also suggest that the Rhinoceros was re-issued at some time in the 1970s by Imai.
PG001-500 Wild Boar - ? plastic
PG002-500 Buffalo - brown plastic
PG002-500 Indian Rhinoceros - grey plastic
The only boxes I have seen just have Japanese writing on them, so perhaps the kits were only for the Japanese domestic market ? Certainly, the only sales listings for these kits all appear to be from Japan.
Mandarake looks to be a Japanese mail order or auction site. I did have some difficulty with the photos.
There is very little information on these kits, and I doubt if they were available for very long. Clearly toys rather than serious models, but they do score very highly on the weirdness meter.
Four photographs from Ebay.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Great find, Paul! I told you, I stumbled on a Buffalo Bowling kit on ebay many moons ago, but it was way out of my price range, so I passed. As for Mandarake, they are a great resource for all things vintage Japanese. I actually bought a rare Japan SF kit from them several years ago, and way overpaid, and who knows if I'll ever get around to building it? But for browsing, they are the best!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I am not surprised you remember seeing a listing for this kit - it is not the sort of thing anyone is going to forget. It is so weird.
ReplyDeleteYes, another great example of the "Anything Goes" spirit of Japanese toymaking! And as you discovered, Mandarake is an amazing resource for browsing rare Japan SF items. Mouthwatering inventory, and prices that will keep you from going crazy with impulse buying!
DeleteAnd of course, the box art is by the masterful Shigeru Komatsuzaki ...again!
ReplyDeleteShigeru made even something as goofy and lowly as a bowling bison look somehow majestic and awesome!
DeleteA Buffalo Bowling game kit !
ReplyDeleteWhat were they thinking ?!
I've seen Japanese Game Shows like this.
ReplyDeleteBut they'd probably use human contestants as the bowling balls...!