The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: The Ol' Guy on April 24, 2004, 03:20:56 PM
-
Okay - let's go down that road we discussed earlier - if everything were possible, which tv games do you wish a classic box game company would have made home versions of. Keep in mind your primary tools are ink, paper and plastic, and perhaps some small reasonable electronics. Not computer versions, just good-ol' stick-in-the-closet box games. Two that immediately come to mind because I'm too lazy to make them myself are Clark-era CrossWits and Wipeout!.
Let's go a limit of 6. I'll scan over your ideas and make some other choices later. What would you want?
Oh - for some of our newer or younger members, to prevent the "it's been done" syndrome, check out Matt's homegame page link in the other recent box game thread.
PS- and pardon my putting the header in caps - it's an old habit that comes from being a radio commercial writer....
-
I'm setting the over/under on the number of legitimate posts to this thread before some idjit asks for something completely unreasonable at 5, not counting this one or the opening one above.
You may email me your over/under predictions if you like, and I will keep track and announce winners and losers. Those who fail to follow the proper over/under format will be publically humiliated.
-
Cross-Wits
Big Showdown
The Movie Game
Gambit
Chain Reaction
Hot Potato
-
It would have been nice if Sierra had continued to release classic game show PC games. Their $100K Pyramid game was solid, and they were developing Match Game when the series was canned. If they had continued it, I wonder what else they would have released after MG.
-
...and we have a winner at 1.
Those of you who had the "under", congratulations!
That said, here's my list:
1) (Las Vegas) Gambit (although this one really isn't hard to simulate at all, particularly if you have a High Rollers home game, just toss a deck of cards in the box (hey, and then you have the LVG endgame!)
2) Chain Reaction (man, how easy would this be, given the mechanics of the old Family Feud home games? Oh, Cullen version, please.)
3) Whew! (Yeah, nobody cares about a game that ran 13 weeks. But Top Secret never made air, and there's a home game out for THAT. :))
4) Card Sharks, during its's original run when Milton Bradley would have gotten it RIGHT.
5) All-Star Blitz. I enjoyed the show, I think ABC deserves some representin' here, and it would be a fairly simple translation to a home game
6) Crosswits would be a lot of fun, but you'd have to include enough material to play a bunch of games without repeating.
-
A much more recent game that I thought really should have been put into a box was Win Ben Stein's Money. I also would love to have seen the Tattletales game make it to shelves back in the seventies.
As I say on the site, you can play Tattletales using the questions from the Mars/Venus box game. It's a lot of fun and incredibly faithful to the show, but I'm guessing that for a number of you, getting three couples together would present a problem.
-
Matt, you've got me curious...how would have done Ben Stein for a home game, especially round two? Round 1 is simple q and a, and I could see comparing Ben's answers with the winner for the final round, but that second round has me stumped...
On the other hand, the Tattletales "couples" comment was the post of the day!
Matt (the other one)
-
[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 24 2004, 07:21 PM\'] On the other hand, the Tattletales "couples" comment was the post of the day!
[/quote]
I don't think he meant it that way....but I laughed wickedly anyhow ;)
-
Interesting challenge - maybe we could do this for Stein, since there are occasional rule bends in other game show home versions - in the game "Oodles", there's a nifty 10-second electronic countdown device. Perhaps in the "second round", you have to beat Ben Stein to the right answer? The MC asks the question, triggers the timer (with a Ben Stein face on it), and if neither player gets the correct answer within 10-15 seconds, the buzzer goes off and we "assume" Ben answers it correctly and scores. It doesn't hurt anything, since it's the highest-scoring player between the two remaining civilians who take on Ben for the final round - and there, you just use the transcripts from the show.
-
[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 24 2004, 10:21 PM\'] Matt, you've got me curious...how would have done Ben Stein for a home game, especially round two? Round 1 is simple q and a, and I could see comparing Ben's answers with the winner for the final round, but that second round has me stumped... [/quote]
You're right, the second part is the tricky one. The Ol' Guy's idea is a good one, though it does force us to include higher-priced electronics into an otherwise simple game, plus it doesn't really let "Ben" protect his money since any player who knows the answer will answer in the first second or two anyway.
My system (which I admit is far from perfect, but is simple): The remaining two players answer questions, but after each correct answer, the player who got it right has a 50/50 chance of not receiving the money for the question. He draws a card or rolls a die or does some other random thing to see if "Ben" got there first. I'd do it after the question rather than before, because it lets your players actually play but it still offers the frustration of being "beaten out" by the mighty Mr. Stein.
And Matt (the other one) nailed the Best of Ten end game. Use actual questions and use Ben's actual results as the mark to beat.
-
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Apr 24 2004, 10:56 PM\'] [quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 24 2004, 07:21 PM\'] On the other hand, the Tattletales "couples" comment was the post of the day!
[/quote]
I don't think he meant it that way....but I laughed wickedly anyhow ;) [/quote]
Snarky is as snarky does. Sometimes I have to let a cheap shot fly and not worry so much about how it's perceived.
-
Yeah, the die idea works for me in the "Beat Ben" second round - use one of those large plastic blank-sided dies that require consumer-applied stickers and have three pictures of Ben with a wicked grin (beat ya!) and three with a frown (oh, well...). That would keep the retail to around $14.99 vs. around $25-$30 for electronics. Good point - most of the successful home games have stayed in the mid-range of average game prices.
I guess if I were to pick my final six - I'd be with most the crowd. I've made my own versions of a couple of these, but it would have been nice to see in a mass style -
Cross Wits
Whew!
Wipeout
Chain Reaction
The Rebus Game - though I could swear there was at least an attempt to make one - thought I saw it offered as a prize on the show. I could be goofy.
Press Your Luck
Dotto would have been a smash. All-Star Blitz wouldn't be bad, either. MarshallFan's choices were very do-able as well.
-
As a matter of fact, Ol' Guy, there was a home version of "The Rebus Game" that was made by Ideal Toys. I believe that the game came out about a few weeks into the show's brief run. I have been unable to find it on E-bay or anywhere else, thus this is a definite collectors' item.
-
Forgive the caps, but THANK YOU, John - I knew I wasn't nuts (about that, anyway), because I used to watch the show and saw a copy offered as a prize. Jack Linkletter says he didn't remember one, and I've been trying to find out if Carl Jampel is still around to ask! Bless you! We know that Lakeside attempted a copy of Runaround that didn't seem to get mass distribuition - could you or anyone else confirm one more possibility? I'm very certain that in a Sears Christmas wishbook issued somewhere between 1963 and 1966, I saw a copy of a game based on Queen For A Day - possibly Standard Toykraft. That again would be among the ultra-rares. Thanks again, John.
PS - Since some of us celebrate numbers of posts, I'm delighted you all have allowed me to slip in and babble 200 times - and glad this one is a note of appreciation. Thanks to all.
-
[quote name=\'JohnTheGameMan\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 12:49 AM\'] As a matter of fact, Ol' Guy, there was a home version of "The Rebus Game" that was made by Ideal Toys. I believe that the game came out about a few weeks into the show's brief run. I have been unable to find it on E-bay or anywhere else, thus this is a definite collectors' item. [/quote]
Wow, I've been collecting for nearly twenty years and this is the first I've ever heard of there even being the possibility of The Rebus Game or Queen For A Day having home versions. Offhand, I'd have to think that they'd be in the same category as Runaround, games that made it as far as prototypes but which were prematurely promoted on the air and never released. If either of them were to turn up, though, that would immediately catapult them to the top of the rarest-games-ever list.
BTW, when The Ol' Guy says he thinks Dotto would make a decent home version, he's talking from experience. Guy, don't you have the British home version, which came out at about the same time the American show was airing?
-
Yes, pal, I'm incredibly fortunate to have found one. Just occasionally looking up Dotto in EBay, I found the UK game, since their version was untainted by scandal. There were Dotto trading cards and game books as well. If I knew how to post a link to that webpage, I would - instead, here's a rough description. The UK version did not use famous faces, which surprised me. Each player had a small cardboard box base with a book of matching dot puzzles. When you turned to your matching pages, you'd set a thick piece of glass on top with one side roughly textured. When you answered your question, you would use an ordinary pencil and trace the dots on the rough side of the glass. Typical pictures included a goldfish in a bowl, a college professor, an airplane, and the like. Players would draw tabs from a category box to determine their questions, designed exactly like the Lowell Twenty-One game. It was made by Bell Games, which seemed to have a lot of the same licenses and designs as Lowell, so the two must have had agreements. My guess it that a US version would have come out from Lowell if the scandal had not forced the show off.
-
[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 07:59 AM\'] Forgive the caps, but THANK YOU, John - I knew I wasn't nuts (about that, anyway), because I used to watch the show and saw a copy offered as a prize. Jack Linkletter says he didn't remember one, and I've been trying to find out if Carl Jampel is still around to ask! Bless you! We know that Lakeside attempted a copy of Runaround that didn't seem to get mass distribuition - could you or anyone else confirm one more possibility? I'm very certain that in a Sears Christmas wishbook issued somewhere between 1963 and 1966, I saw a copy of a game based on Queen For A Day - possibly Standard Toykraft. That again would be among the ultra-rares. Thanks again, John.
PS - Since some of us celebrate numbers of posts, I'm delighted you all have allowed me to slip in and babble 200 times - and glad this one is a note of appreciation. Thanks to all. [/quote]
I remember very well seeing the promos for a Runaround home game, that I asked for a copy for Christmas back in 1972. Never got one, and have never seen an actual game. From my recollection, the box shown in the promos indicated that it was electric, and it wouldn't surprise me, if indeed it was to be electric, that the game didn't hit store shelves because of safety standards.
I was surprised to read of a Rebus Game from Ideal. I checked inside the comprehensive book "American Games," by Alex Malloy, and DIDN'T see a listing for it, under TV Game Show games, nor under the Ideal toy listings. I wouldn't say it means the Rebus Game game never existed, because there were some other rare, and/or hard-to-find games not listed (The book listed just one game from Gamut of Games, but they released Dealer's Choice and Diamond Head home games, as well as a good number of other fun games not relating to game shows).
Among the more recent game show games "planned--but not released," were a Beat the Geeks game from Imagination Entertainment, and Twenty One, based on the Maury Povich version, from Mattel. I confirmed such games were in the works through reliable sources at each company.
-
It would be interesting to see how many games had at least gone into development stages at various game companies. According to Matt, there were prototypes of Tattletales and Who Do You Trust, and most of us know about how Parker jumped the gun with Top Secret. Weren't there rumors of Cardinal developing a version of Greed? Parker and B&E had an agreement for a Play The Percentages home game - anyone know of any others that, like Runaround, were only a hair away from release?
-
I wonder if "Runaround" was gonna be like those electric football games where nobody ever went the right way.
-
[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 08:10 PM\'] Parker and B&E had an agreement for a Play The Percentages home game [/quote]
Wonder if it was PtP's cancellation or the fact that PtP had 6 format changes in a 26 week run that kept the home game from being made....
-
I believe that Lakeside was the company that made the home version of Runaround. This is the same company that originally made the game of Perfection, which Milton Bradley has now.
I'm surprised to learn that Mattel had plans to make a home version of Maury's "21". If the show lasted longer than it did, it would have been a possibility.
And yes, while Parker did pre-release the game "Top Secret", I have to wonder if this game was supposed to be a network game or a syndicated game.
-
[quote name=\'JohnTheGameMan\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 12:48 AM\'] And yes, while Parker did pre-release the game "Top Secret", I have to wonder if this game was supposed to be a network game or a syndicated game. [/quote]
Network game--CBS.
-
..and that's an interesting point to check, John - Lakeside did indeed dissolve as a company, leading to the classic purchase of their better properties by other companies -Perquackey, Perfection, Kismet, Spare-Time Bowling, Aggrivation and several others (many of these once made by smaller companies themselves). Perhaps Lakeside was facing it's own demise when Runaround was developed and they didn't have the ability, time or money to send it out to shelves? I'll try and find out when Lakeside went away. May be a clue to the answer....
-
[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 07:56 AM\'] ..and that's an interesting point to check, John - Lakeside did indeed dissolve as a company, leading to the classic purchase of their better properties by other companies -Perquackey, Perfection, Kismet, Spare-Time Bowling, Aggrivation and several others (many of these once made by smaller companies themselves). Perhaps Lakeside was facing it's own demise when Runaround was developed and they didn't have the ability, time or money to send it out to shelves? I'll try and find out when Lakeside went away. May be a clue to the answer.... [/quote]
Lakeside existed quite a few years after the Runaround game would have been made, as an Entertainment Tonight trivia game came out by that company circa 1985(and a collection of games from Lakeside was given away in the third place door during a Big Deal on LMAD85). Matt O. said a while back that Lakeside went under a few years after that.
-
leave it to the z-man to know! Thanks, Zach.
-
[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 10:51 AM\'] leave it to the z-man to know! Thanks, Zach. [/quote]
Well, except for the part where I'm supposed to know what happened to Lakeside. Zach may very well have that information, but I don't believe it came from me. I don't think Lakeside ever ended up with a game show adaptation (Runaround notwithstanding) so that puts them outside my radar.
-
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 10:39 AM\'] [quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 10:51 AM\'] leave it to the z-man to know! Thanks, Zach. [/quote]
Well, except for the part where I'm supposed to know what happened to Lakeside. Zach may very well have that information, but I don't believe it came from me. I don't think Lakeside ever ended up with a game show adaptation (Runaround notwithstanding) so that puts them outside my radar. [/quote]
On a side note: What happened to the Cardinal "Finders Keepers" game that was advertised during the Eure era of the show? Pressman later put an edition out, but the box was much different....is Cardinal even in business now?
-
Yeah, Cardinal is still kicking around - www.cardinalgames.com. With the exception of their $25,000 Pyramid and perhaps Figure It Out, Cardinal always seemed to get the weak sisters in home games - Pressman had Double Dare, they took Finders Keepers. Pressman got Wheel Of Fortune, they took $1M Chance of a Lifetime. They have some Simpson and Friends-licensed games going for them currently. Both Cardinal and Pressman make a lot of classic games that they release under their own label and lease to major chains - most of your Pavillion line of games at Toys R Us - poker keno, mancala, checkers, chinese checkers, chess, labyrinths - are a mix of Pressman and Cardinal-made products.
-
[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'May 2 2004, 02:27 AM\']
On a side note: What happened to the Cardinal "Finders Keepers" game that was advertised during the Eure era of the show? Pressman later put an edition out, but the box was much different....is Cardinal even in business now? [/quote]
If Pressman did indeed release a box game version of Finder's Keepers, that's news to me. I have the Finder's Keepers game, which was packaged in a similar manner to the Pressman Double Dare, but it DOES say on the box that it's from Cardinal!
The game hit store shelves a short time before the series went into syndication, with Larry Toffler hosting instead of Wesley Eure. The original "prototype," box was larger, and much nicer looking, and I believe featured an illustration from the shows set, with Wesley Eure in view. I'm sure that played a major role in the decision to redesign the game box and illustrations on it.
-
And Matt (the other one) nailed the Best of Ten end game. Use actual questions and use Ben's actual results as the mark to beat.
Interestingly enough, I saw a game called "Beat the Experts" at Barnes & Noble a couple days ago that centered around this concept...according to the back of the box, you're given a category and 10 (or similar number thereof) questions, and then see how you stack up to the answers of an "expert" in the field (Buzz Aldrin for astronomy, Dr. Joyce Brothers for psychology, etc.) It looked kind of fun, really (and similar to "Beat the Geeks," I guess, except for using actual celebrities).
Back to lurking now...
--Sam
-
[quote name=\'SamJ93\' date=\'May 2 2004, 06:59 PM\'] Interestingly enough, I saw a game called "Beat the Experts" at Barnes & Noble a couple days ago that centered around this concept...according to the back of the box, you're given a category and 10 (or similar number thereof) questions, and then see how you stack up to the answers of an "expert" in the field (Buzz Aldrin for astronomy, Dr. Joyce Brothers for psychology, etc.) It looked kind of fun, really (and similar to "Beat the Geeks," I guess, except for using actual celebrities).
[/quote]
As many of you know, the Wizards Of The Coast retail game store chain has been going through a closing-up-shop clearance sale for a few months now. Ours finally closed for good this week.
I was there Monday, just to see if anything worthwhile was left. They had about eleventy BILLION copies of this game, and that was about it.
Just sayin'. Maybe I missed out on a bargain. :)
-
[quote name=\'SamJ93\' date=\'May 2 2004, 09:59 PM\'] Interestingly enough, I saw a game called "Beat the Experts" at Barnes & Noble a couple days ago that centered around this concept...according to the back of the box, you're given a category and 10 (or similar number thereof) questions, and then see how you stack up to the answers of an "expert" in the field (Buzz Aldrin for astronomy, Dr. Joyce Brothers for psychology, etc.) It looked kind of fun, really (and similar to "Beat the Geeks," I guess, except for using actual celebrities). [/quote]
You wanna know how old this concept really is? I have a hardback quiz book called Ask Me Another from 1927. It's a series of trivia quizzes, and probably one of the first of its kind. And for most of its quizzes, the editors posted the score of some notable public figure of the day for you to compare with.
-
Shouldn't that be Dr. Joyce in the category of boxing?