Watching these two pals on Star Trek play 3D chess (do you remember it?) ....
Reminded me of that plastic 3D game Space Lines, which we had when I was a kid and is so iconic of the Sixties.
Did you have Space Lines?
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 July 2026
Sunday, 8 February 2026
Anyone for Foosball?
We bought this at a bargain price of £1 at a car boot years ago.
It's proved popular with younger members of the family over the years and it was brought out again this month for our football mad neices.
The name of this toy has morphed over time. In my day it was known as table soccer, which was also another name for blow football. As the word soccer waned in popular usage in the UK, it became table football.
But a new name appeared during the last decade or so.
Foosball.
Oddly enough this is the German word for football, correctly spelt as Fussball or Fußball.
I have a feeling that the US TV sitcom Friends popularized the name Foosball, which could be why it's used now.
Anyone know?
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
He Shoots! He Scores!
Having explored Settle's handful of charity shops I was pleased to find a few cheap plastic figures - to follow - and a very smart boxed Pro Action Football set from 1993 for a coupla quid. Just the football missing, I was pleased with this.
Here's the UK TV ad from 1993.
https://youtu.be/iGmRVm9-uxw?si=HL6i6ra1Ngpde7z7
Like a sort of Subuteo on rollers, it's not something I had. Did you? In fact the only two football games I remember having were Casdon Soccer with Bobby Charlton on the box and Striker, with the plastic players that actually booted the ball.
Did you have any football games or other sport games?
Thursday, 13 January 2022
BOMB-A-SHIP AND TORPEDO ATTACK GAMES
Hi
Here is another fun game. The Bomb-A-Ship, which I found on Pinterest.
The set comes with a US Air Force B-29 bomber, an Atom bomb for it to drop, and an exploding Japanese battleship. 'Hit the target and battleship explodes harmlessly into 8 parts'. The battleship can be reassembled, and bombed over and over again.
Really, if you are dropping atom bombs on a ship, a direct hit would not be required. Plus, it seems fairly unlikely that a B-29 would be used for anti-ship strike missions. I would guess the game is 1950s - the description says Thomas Mfg, 1953. This company was based in Newark, New Jersey.
Thomas Toys Bomb-A-Ship Play Set | Thomas toys, Nostalgic toys, Vintage toys (pinterest.nz)
It seems there was a very similar game called Torpedo Attack, again with an exploding Battleship, but this time with a torpedo firing Atom submarine. Oddly, the Battleship is described as exploding into 7 pieces this time.
Then there was the more basic Atom Bomber game (I think this may have been featured on Moonbase before ?), where you dropped your Atom bomb on to a target that seems to be the box the toy came in. There is even a very short film clip on You Tube showing the game being played. The bomb is loaded in to a working bomb bay. When a lever on top of the B-29 is pressed, the bomb doors open, and the bomb is dropped on to the target.
Thomas Toys Atom Bomber target game - YouTube
The colours of the plastic used for these toys seem to vary, with yellow, red, and blue being used for the Battleship, and silver grey for the B-29 and Submarine.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Wednesday, 17 March 2021
Airfix Fighter Command Game
Hi all,
Just found this short item on YouTube, on the Airfix Fighter Command game from 1976.
Based on fighter combat in the Battle of Britain. It looks as though each side gets three aircraft (Spitfires or Bf 109s) and an anti-aircraft gun.
There is a vertical 'sky' with clouds and barrage balloons on it. Unfortunately, there is no indication of how the game was played, or what the rules were. Nice box art.
The camera work is a bit wobbly, but the game itself looks very interesting.
Anyone got this game?
Paul Adams
New Zealand
Monday, 2 September 2019
CHEMTOY MOON SHOT
This is another toy I glimpsed online which I found appealing.
By Chemtoy, this Moon Shot game is 3 puzzle-ball games in one, although I'm not sure how.
I love the way bean is spelt 'been'! It is from the past after all!
The graphics of the moon landing are just ace.
I know nothing about Chemtoy. Do you?
Monday, 12 November 2018
WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE GAME?
It could be a board game, cards, an outdoor kids game, an RPG, a computer game.
Mine's Haunted House, the board game.
What's yours?
Mine's Haunted House, the board game.
What's yours?
Wednesday, 10 January 2018
King of Games: Crossfire
The Winters of the mid to late Sixties were a good time to stay in and play board games with mates.
Whilst my older brothers tackled the strategic challenges of Formula One, Risk,Go, Monopoly, Go for Broke, Cluedo, Blast Off and the beautiful Battle of Little Big Horn, my posse opted for more gimmicky fare.
Our games of choice all had some kind of toy or prop at their heart and involved very little dice throwing.
These included Frustration [the pop-o-matic], Fascination with its hand-held mazes, Mouse Trap with its diving man, Hands Down with its plastic hands, Battling Tops with... well, battling tops and the brilliant Haunted House, with its drop it down the chimney action.
But the king of the toy-games, the big enchilada, was of course .... Crossfire!
Crossfire was just genius. Simple as a duel at dawn, constructed like a decorating table. Basically two players had to fire ball bearings across a long board at a plastic puck and knock the puck into the opposing goal. Boom!
The balls were shot from red plastic repeating pistols which very cannily slotted into each end of the board. The board itself was at least a mile long and had thick plastic walls all round it.
The goals were simple recesses in the walls bridged by neatly shaped steel rails for effect. It looked magnificent and came in a box big enough to make a door out of!
I adored crossfire and have had several boards since being a kid. You could still pick one up boxed at car boots in the Nineties relatively cheaply. I may still have a board in the attic minus its pistols.
When you got good at Crossfire and you could fire a whole barrel of balls as fast as Wyatt Earp you would develop Crossfire Finger. This was a painful condition whereby the trigger finger would become tender and even blistered after repeated bouts. Seasoned firers stuck foam onto their triggers.
When you got mad during a game it wasn't unheard of for the pistols to be lifted out of the sides and placed directly in front of the puck for a point blank shot. Some particularly tetchy games ended in duels with the pistols being fired directly at the other player but such rakish behaviour was frowned upon.
There were many other ingenious games in my childhood - Cascade, Rebound, Booby Trap, Lawn Darts, Twister, Hats Off, Mousey Mousey and Buckaroo - but Crossfire was and always will be king!
What do you think readers? What games did you play?
Whilst my older brothers tackled the strategic challenges of Formula One, Risk,Go, Monopoly, Go for Broke, Cluedo, Blast Off and the beautiful Battle of Little Big Horn, my posse opted for more gimmicky fare.
Our games of choice all had some kind of toy or prop at their heart and involved very little dice throwing.
These included Frustration [the pop-o-matic], Fascination with its hand-held mazes, Mouse Trap with its diving man, Hands Down with its plastic hands, Battling Tops with... well, battling tops and the brilliant Haunted House, with its drop it down the chimney action.
But the king of the toy-games, the big enchilada, was of course .... Crossfire!
Crossfire was just genius. Simple as a duel at dawn, constructed like a decorating table. Basically two players had to fire ball bearings across a long board at a plastic puck and knock the puck into the opposing goal. Boom!
The balls were shot from red plastic repeating pistols which very cannily slotted into each end of the board. The board itself was at least a mile long and had thick plastic walls all round it.
The goals were simple recesses in the walls bridged by neatly shaped steel rails for effect. It looked magnificent and came in a box big enough to make a door out of!
I adored crossfire and have had several boards since being a kid. You could still pick one up boxed at car boots in the Nineties relatively cheaply. I may still have a board in the attic minus its pistols.
When you got good at Crossfire and you could fire a whole barrel of balls as fast as Wyatt Earp you would develop Crossfire Finger. This was a painful condition whereby the trigger finger would become tender and even blistered after repeated bouts. Seasoned firers stuck foam onto their triggers.
When you got mad during a game it wasn't unheard of for the pistols to be lifted out of the sides and placed directly in front of the puck for a point blank shot. Some particularly tetchy games ended in duels with the pistols being fired directly at the other player but such rakish behaviour was frowned upon.
There were many other ingenious games in my childhood - Cascade, Rebound, Booby Trap, Lawn Darts, Twister, Hats Off, Mousey Mousey and Buckaroo - but Crossfire was and always will be king!
What do you think readers? What games did you play?
Wednesday, 28 December 2016
games compendiums at christmas
Games Compendiums always make me think of Christmas.
We had them as a kid in the Sixties and we still have them now in our own family.
Compendiums were basically a load of games in one box. Typically they contained chess, ludo, draughts, backgammon, nine mens morris, chinese checkers and more.
Our own old box is European and there are over 200 games in it including Yahtzi, dice, a pack of cards and Halma, besides the small toys from years of pulling Christmas crackers a collection which grows every year!
I also picked up a more or less mint compendium by Peter Pan Playthings from 1979. As its unused in its original oblong box its a thing of beauty with everything in its place including the pop-o-matic device from Frustration/ Headache [what's the difference?].
Its their Compendium number 2. I've no idea what was in the square boxed Compendium number 1 but I bet its as good,
One Christmas in Whitby we also found a vintage version of the Game of Life in a charity shop, which we took back to the rented cottage and promptly played. Not a compendium but a board game bristling with activities, a bot like Mouse Trap but little more serious.
Do you like games compendiums readers?
Thursday, 25 June 2015
ALL ABOARD
I've always loved collecting board games, even though I'm not keen on playing them. I used to buy them by the sackful from Car Boot Sales in the Nineties.
Some of the beautiful board games that have passed through Moonbase airlock over the years are pictured here including some really gorgeous Batman games and activity sets.
I love the box art on Board Games boxes and have two brilliant books, Board Games and More Board Games by Desi Scarpone [just look at his collection!] and the book Spin Again and a magazine of the same name by Rick Polizzi [again, check out his amazing collection].
Have you got a favourite Board game or board game box readers? Pictures welcomed.
More board games to come.
Sunday, 5 May 2013
BEYOND THE STARS BOARD GAME 1964
Cruising cyberspace this Sunday morning and I've come across this cool vintage space game I've never seen before. Being a big fan of old board games I was intrigued. I'll check my Rick Polizzi Board Games books when I get home. In the meantime this is what I've found out.
Made by Game Partners in 1964, it was a House of Ideas Game for 2- 6 players. The objective was very Star Trek, to travel through space designated by the board safely, acquiring points by the successful accomplishment of missions, until you are declared the winner by one of three methods possible to win.
Looking at the contents list [below] the groovy red balls would appear to be planets. I can't make out what the spaceships look like though. Does anyone have this cool game?
'Contents: playing board, score board, 52 regular mission cards, 6 special mission cards, 30 special situation cards, 6 general situation cards, 6 bases, 6 ships, 5 planets, spinner (metal spinner arm is rusted and has left a rust stain on the spinner base), 5 planet bases, 6 warships, 6 speed ships, 6 freighters, instructions book, 12 pegs, and the inserts' [Vintage Game World. Com]
Friday, 23 November 2012
Hats Off To Peter Pan and All His Glorious Games
If space toys were the turkey at Christmas then games were the cranberry sauce. I loved them as a kid as did my four older brothers and sisters and I collect them now simply as beautiful things. Games by Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Ideal and Waddingtons were all staples of Sixties' Christmases and provided baby-boomer families like ours with hours of wholesome fun around the living room table where Dads wore tank-tops and kids slurped tupperware beakers of sarsaparilla.
These scenes of domestic mirth were often beautifully captured on the box art of games - like this Hats Off by Peter Pan Playthings. This was a updated version of Spears Flying Hats utilising the white-hot science of spring-loaded launchers sending the plastic hats whizzing through the air. There's something charming about the washed-out pastel colours of this box art and like the gleeful boy on the lid of the Century 21 Zero-X their faces shine with the optimism of the age.
What were your favourite games?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Paul Vreede's New Spacex Toys Website
A beautiful and comprehensive site dedicated to the world of Tri-ang SpaceX and Golden Astronaut Toys
Ed Berg's Toy Blog: Toys and Stuff
