My Board Game Collection

[Matt Ottinger]

At the risk of crossing a line into crass commercialism, a lot of you wanted to know what's in my collection, so I hastily took some pictures and posted them on a hidden page on my I've Got a Secret site.  You can go there just to browse my collection for fun, but if you're interested in owning some for yourself, there are instructions on that page for how to get that ball rolling.

A great many of the older games will be donated to the Strong Museum of Play (including the collection I'm most proud of -- my radio games, which are not pictured) but I wanted my game show friends and acquaintances to fill in some holes in their own collections if they were so inclined.

Please do not make requests on this thread.  Because my ego needs it, feel free to comment on the collection itself.  This was a large part of my life for a long time, and it feels weird breaking it up after all these years.

I haven't gotten back to everyone who's already contacted me, but I am working on it.  Please have patience.  This is just one element of several I am juggling as we plan our move.

https://ivegotasecret.nicepage.io/Games.html

[SuperMatch93]

Those of you who own Say When!!:

Do you play it by Parker Brothers' rules, or do you adapt it? My own copy is relatively complete, but I don't like how the prize and its price are on the same side of the card.

[TLEberle]

That basically makes it drafting blackjack, yes?

I found the DIY TPIR and you could slap together Say When with the dry erase pads and prize compendium,

[Chelsea Thrasher]

Seeing the pile of NES games took me back.  When I was a kid, I got my cousin's hand-me-down NES when he upgrades to the SNES, and a local rental place in town had several of the various game show adaptations. 

I played the hell out of the NES adaptation of Davidson HS (which did a ridiculously good job adapting the show's music for 8-bit).  I'm not generally a retro gaming person (and haven't had a console in years), but every single time I see the NES Squares adaptation I always get this dumb little grin.

I've seen the collection in person once, and it's outstanding - and be it the Strong Museum, those folks who take various pieces of it, or whomever: You're getting some absolute gems.

[aaron sica]

Completely unrelated to the games, Matt, but where did you get the little shelving units that you sit the games on?

[chris319]

Matt: do you have the home game of Word for Word?

What is your favorite implementation of a TV game as a home game?

[Jeremy Nelson]

Matt- which version of Jeopardy is sitting just beneath the LCD American Gladiators handheld? I don't recall a home version with a yellow box.

I played the hell out of the NES adaptation of Davidson HS (which did a ridiculously good job adapting the show's music for 8-bit). 

I was in almost in the exact same boat as you, only it was my library that rented the games. Until years later when I put two and two together and realized it was THAT David Wise who did the music, I was always a little disappointed that the Gametek NES game show OSTs were all so good and the 16 bit ones were so inconsistent.

[Matt Ottinger]

Matt: do you have the home game of Word for Word?

Yes.  In the earliest stage of collecting, it was a gift from a cousin I think of as a sister.  It had been in her family.  It's one of the few I'll be keeping.

What is your favorite implementation of a TV game as a home game?

i like the ones that can recreate games 100% faithfully, without having to figure out a way for buzzers or timers to work.  The first two that come to mind are The Who What or Where Game and It Takes Two.  Strange choices both, I know.

[Matt Ottinger]

Matt- which version of Jeopardy is sitting just beneath the LCD American Gladiators handheld? I don't recall a home version with a yellow box.

It's a still-sealed audiobook (cassettes!) of The Jeopardy Book from 1990.  Just one of the wacky things that have oozed their way into my stuff.

[Matt Ottinger]

Completely unrelated to the games, Matt, but where did you get the little shelving units that you sit the games on?

The wire shelves are all a single unit I bought at a box store (Home Depot or Lowes or something) about ten years ago that just happened to fit my closet perfectly and was a decent height and depth for the bigger games.  The rest are just cheap particle board bookshelves I've had forever. 

[chris319]

Matt: do you have the home game of Word for Word?

Yes.  In the earliest stage of collecting, it was a gift from a cousin I think of as a sister.  It had been in her family.  It's one of the few I'll be keeping.

It's impressive that you have Word for Word. It must have that flywheel timer device.

[chris319]

How do they implement the selector switches in the WWW home game?

[SuperMatch93]

How do they implement the selector switches in the WWW home game?

This eBay listing has a good shot of the contents. I have the 1st edition, and the wagering devices work well (although bets are limited to $10 intervals, if I'm not mistaken).

[Matt Ottinger]

This eBay listing has a good shot of the contents.

Ronnie Greenberg himself did not know there was a Second Edition of this game.

[JasonA1]

I have the 1st edition, and the wagering devices work well (although bets are limited to $10 intervals, if I'm not mistaken).

$5 increments. And based on the extant episode, that would mirror the show, even through Pot Limit.

-Jason