Monster Maker Game

Today we look at "Monster Maker" by Whitman (Western Publishing) from 1977.  While this game isn't as cool as the Mighty Men & Monster Maker I found back in 2019, I can see how this could be fun for the pre-school to about 6 years old set; the game recommends ages 4 to 8, but I can see a 7 or 8 year old getting bored with it.

I found this particular game out of the box with just the lid cut out.  I'm not quite sure why that would have been done unless the box was damaged severely.

Pockets of Fun

Pardon me if my age shows while I switch into "kids these days" mode. 

It seems the sole source of entertainment for kids these days (see, I told you) are video games.  Sure, they come in a variety of platforms, but they're still video games.  Pre-Atari, I didn't have much exposure to video games.  But there were variety of options for game play I could choose; board games, cards, outdoor physical *gasp* games, and early electronic games.  And for a brief time in the late 1970's mixed among those other choices was a line of mechanical pocket games made by Tomy and other companies.

I remember going through bins of these at a local store as a kid, trying to decide which held the most fun and game play.

I found a couple of these this past summer. I had this Jackpot game in yellow.  Pull the lever, let it spin, push to button to stop the reels on a dime.  Of course, nothing ever dispensed for hitting the jackpot, but it felt great just the same.

Come Along with Me and I'll Garage Sale with Thee

I have a special treat for everyone today.  Well, "treat" may be a bit strong.  But if you've ever wondered what it was like to garage sale with me, this is your lucky day. Okay, "lucky" may be a bit strong.

Okay, let's not quibble with words.  You're wondering, What is Tom babbling about?"  I'm babbling, I mean, talking about my first (and maybe last) Garage Sale Finds vlog.

I've been toying with the idea of creating some vlogs of my garage and estate sales adventures for a while now.  I've been on the fence whether I wanted to go that direction, but thought I'd give it a shot.  I've watched other garage sale vlogs and have thought, "I find better stuff than that".

My next concern was, is it legal?  Of course, there are countless Youtube videos out there doing exactly this, but I was curious.  From what I've read, essentially, even if you on private property, but are "asked" to enter, you may videotape.  Kind of like a vampire.  I didn't plan on filming any actual people, so I decided to proceed (more on that later).

So this past weekend, I took my camera with me along for the ride (or walk as the case may be).  Videoing the sales was the easy part.  Editing them was something else.

My first challenge was, for obvious reasons, I didn't want people's faces to be shown.  There are a lot of people at garage sales these days.  Not like the old days when I'd be the lone person there.  Consequently, they bounce in and out of the video.  I tried to point the camera to shoot at waist height, but still ended up catching a lot of people. So finding software that could blur faces was my first task.  I ended up playing around with the online video editor Flixier.  It wasn't terribly hard to figure out how to use, although the blurring feature is fairly clunky.  It doesn't follow faces, so you have to blur out large blocks of video and move the blurring area frequently.  I did my best.

Second was adding some narrative to let you know what was going on.  I didn't talk too much during the actual video and I didn't feel like doing a voiceover, so I added some text explaining what I was looking at and my thoughts.

One last warning: it's long.  It's 17 minutes and 36 seconds long.  I'm sure there are long sections I could have edited out, but if you want the full effect of just 1 garage sale (I went to about 5 garage sales and 4 estate sales that day) it's all there.  You can always double the playback speed and watch it in 8 minutes and 48 seconds.

Will I do this again?  I guess it depends how much everyone enjoys the video...and if I can find some decent video editing software.

P.S.  I'll follow up with a later post in more detail of the actual items I bought.

P.S.S. That's my daughter with me in the video.  The garage sale force is strong with this one...

That Voodoo You Do

While this game was incomplete, I decided to buy it for the box art alone. It makes for a good Halloween display piece. 

Doorways to Public Domain Horror

I picked up this "Doorways to Horror" game way back in the 90's.  I've been doing this garage saling thing for a long time.  I remember seeing the commercial for it in the 80's and really wanting it, but never did get it until I found it for $2 at a sale.

"No two games ever the same!" But they all suck.

Cool Toys I Never Got for Christmas

As kids, we know Christmas is all about the toys.  What did you get, what did your siblings get, what did your friends get? The anticipation to present opening was overwhelming to me. Fortunately, my family opened presents on Christmas Eve, so I didn't have to spend a sleepless night, although it made for an anxious day.  Occasionally, my mom would break down and let us open one present early.

But let's take a step back from the actual day (or eve).  Christmas really started for me around September when the Sears and J.C. Penney's catalogs arrived in the mail.

I immediately perused their contents, flipping quickly to the back where all the treasures awaited.  With pen in hand, I began circling what I wanted, never considering the price, size or age-appropriateness.  I'll admit, I aimed high, many times knowing I wouldn't get my circled desires.  There was always the largest slot car set, a train, or the latest electronic gadget.  But Christmas is about dreams, right?

I hit a sale this summer that didn't show much promise and to be honest, I almost didn't go in. But I know "you never know", so I committed to it.  I found a few things of passing interest before heading to the basement.  It was a cluttered, dark space, but there was enough down there to pique my interest.

At the end of the basement, I found a closet door. Opening it, I was stunned to see stacks of vintage games and toys.  Among those were some I recalled circling in a catalog long ago.  I built my pile and took it to the owner.  He charged me $2 a piece and I was delighted to pay.

I've paired up some of the toys from that sale along with their catalog entry that I had once circled.

Shoot Out in Space:

Sunken Treasure

Milton Bradley's "Sunken Treasure" game is another spin (pun intended) on "Operation".

Why?

One stormy night, long ago, six people, dressed in masquerade costumes were coming home from a party. They took shelter in an old house and haven't been heard from since. Unfortunately, their ghosts are still haunting the place! Once upon a moonlight night Alfred Hitchcock saw the six Ghosts, still in costume, and some Weapons that probably were used to eliminate them.

Magnetic Fun Board

Kids on long road trips this summer will have no appreciation for the hours of boredom children of my generation experienced.  With their phones or tablets, they'll be able watch shows, listen to music, play games, and communicate with friends. The hours on the road will fly by.

This what we called a tablet in the 1970's, and if you were lucky enough to have one, you at least had some distraction until you eventually grew bored. I didn't even have this. I stared at billboards.

Haunted Operation

It's 1977 and I'm playing with my neighbor who's a couple years younger than me.  He pulls out this game that looks like Operation (you know, the one where you disembowel a drunken, naked man with tweezers), but this has a completely cool and different design (I swear that kid had everything). The premise is you "dig" for treasures while being careful not to wake the Sea Captain's Ghost (a buzzing red light).  I remember loving the art on the game and the box. I'm not sure what happened to the game, because I don't remember ever playing it again.  For years, I wondered what the heck that game was.  I came across it at a garage sale this past year.

Leftovers Day 15 -- Milton Bradley Pac-Man Board Game

By 1982, America was in full-blown Pac-mania. It's not surprising Milton Bradley tried to cash in with their own version.

Bored Games

When Ryan, the Community Manager at invaluable.com, reached out to me with an invitation to write a piece on a childhood nostalgia topic of my choice, something now gone that I wish could magically reappear, I thought, "Ryan who? Invaluable what?" So, I did a little research.

Invaluable.com is an auction marketplace featuring the world’s finest auction houses offering thousands of beautiful items from around the world at incredible prices. Whether you’re looking to add to your collection, decorating your home, shopping for a gift or on the hunt for a hidden treasure, Invaluable makes it easy for you to find, bid and win. Okay, I'm not gonna lie, that came straight from their welcome page. But then I dug into their site a little deeper and found out they are to real world auctions what eBay is to virtual ones. Their site monitors actual live auction offerings from auction houses around the world such as Sotheby's, Profiles in History, Swann and thousands of others. Through their site, you can participate in the auctions in real-time or, if you prefer, Invaluable will cast an absentee bid that you establish with them.  And like eBay, you can set up email alerts for any treasure you seek.  Check out their collectibles for auction and see what you can find!

So once I established this wasn't some sort of spam email, I put some serious thought into what I missed about childhood and the two things that stood out in my memory were its simplicity and freedom. And nothing represented that better to me than Summer vacation.  But the funny thing about summer vacation was that while it always began with the exuberance of no school and endless possibilities of adventure, the excitement always seemed to fade by the third week of June.  "I'm bored" was often heard by my mother. "Go play a game" was a common answer from her, her eyes never leaving the latest episode of "Days of Our Lives". Sometimes, my sister and I would get into a week-long Monopoly battle until one or both of us finally wearied of it.  Other times, it might be Clue (if we could find all the cards and pieces), Battleship, checkers or Sorry. But all of those games required thought, strategy and time, something we weren't always willing to invest in on a sleepy Summer afternoon in the basement.  During those times, we would turn to the "junk food" of the gaming world - TV Show board games.

Before the days of video games and VCRs, the closest you could come to experiencing and reliving the worlds of your favorite cartoon characters or TV shows was through board games, and the 1960's and '70's were the indisputable golden age for these.  It seemed like every show had a board game version.  Here are a few I've collected over the years.  Clearly, Milton Bradley owned this market.  This first game holds a special place in my childhood memories.

Milton Bradley Scooby Doo Where are You! 1973

The (Not So Much of a) Mystery Game Find

I found these two game pieces in a box of miscellaneous toys I bought at an estate sale last weekend.

Dragon Dominoes

When I was a kid, I thought dominoes were strictly for standing up and knocking over like, well, so many dominoes.  When I was about 12, my brother taught me to play and we spent one summer doing nothing but.  It's been a long time since I've played a game.  I found these Halsam Dragon Dominoes at a garage sale last weekend for 25 cents. 

Dad's Puzzler

I know posts have been scant around here lately.  The combination of my illness and the medicine I'm on pretty much make feel me like not doing anything.  I'm not quite recovered, although I'm definitely moving in the right direction.  I do plan on participating in The Countdown to Halloween again this year.  I'm not sure if I can maintain the rate I did last year, but I'll give it my best.

In the meantime, I did manage to drag myself out to a few sales yesterday.  I found a few things including this tray puzzle called "Dad's Puzzler" from 1953.

Tiger Rocket Pinball

Game play on this Tiger Rocket Pinball LED handheld game from 1979 is pretty basic, but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it at the time.  The trick is to press the flipper when the LED above the flipper is lit.  You can sustain a fairly long game using this method unless the "ball" comes straight down the center.

Bash!

Released in 1965, "Bash!" by Milton Bradley is a kind of junior version of Jenga or a vertical version of  "Don't Break the Ice".

All the King's Men

In my opinion, the 1970's were the golden age of board games.  Just prior to home video games taking over, these games were plentiful and provided great escapism for a child.  After all my years of going to sales, I still see some I've never heard of, like this Parker Brothers game "All The King's Men" from 1979.  

Similar to chess, only 3 piece types are used on each side: 1 King, 4 Knights and 7 Archers.  Movements are dictated by the space the piece resides on.

I never played chess when I was a kid, but the graphics and realistic figures of this game would have hooked me.  I loved anything medieval-themed.

24 Tails of Brown

"Pin the Tail on the Donkey" is the quintessential children's party game that I'm not even sure anyone plays anymore. In fact, I don't recall ever playing it when I was a kid.  I knew it from TV shows.  I found this "Donkey Party Game" at a sale this morning.

 

The boy is either really into this, or completely horrified by it.

This donkey has an awfully smug look on his face for someone who's about to get a pin his butt.

  

There was a vintage box of straight pins included.

THE HORROR!!!!

Children's Birthday Party Games

This book of children's party games was published by the Leister Game Company who are still in business producing the same types of books.