The Monorail Game- Version One

 Last week I shared my Monorail Game from the early 60's. I decided (after writing that post) that it might be fun to have the original version. So, I checked out eBay and I found a copy that said it was missing the game pieces. Because of that flaw, it was a great price, so I snatched it up!

Now, when you collect board games, you tend to get odds and ends of other games (it's amazing what people just scoop into the boxes when they're putting the games away). So, I have a drawer full of lost dice, markers, pawns, even little buildings. I say all of this to point out that it was pretty easy to replace the missing pieces with ones that, while maybe not exactly like the originals, are period correct and functional.

So, let's dive in here, shall we?

Let's start with the box top. As you can see, unlike the sleek, midcentury modern look of the second edition, this one is decidedly more like the 1956 games. Of course these attractions didn't open until 1959, so when was this one made? Well, it seems that this version was designed in 1959, and copyrighted in 1960. The art came slightly before the attractions, so it isn't exact, even though the game came out after the attractions. Got it? My head hurts.

The sides of the box are all the same.

Here is the sticker on the back of the board. This art is actually pretty. An interesting aside on the Disneyland logo font: there was an item that someone posted on a Facebook page with this rather different font. As people do on Facebook, everybody jumped in with their two cents about if it was a genuine Disney item or not. Some "experts" swore that Disney never used this font and, therefore, it was a fake. This game begs to differ...

And here is the board. Although I love the simplicity of the Blue Box board, this one is just plain fun! There are a lot more attractions featured, although they don't have the same ones as the second edition. Interestingly, this version makes it clear that what the game refers to as "Casey Jr." is actually the Disneyland Railroad. This seems to be a common mistake.

The board with my "new" wooden pieces. The player markers are from a 1950s Clue game; therefore, say "hello" to Col. Mustard, Ms. Peacock, Mr. Green and Mrs. White. The Casey Jr. token is from a large number of multicolored wooden pieces that went to...something else. The red die was actually in this game (there were two), and the green die was from my orphan piece drawer.

Here are the instructions! They are identical to the second version, but written on the inside of the box top.

So now my early Disneyland game collection is complete! I think. There is always the chance that somewhere out there there is a rare, forgotten game just waiting to be discovered!

You know what we call that? 

Treasure!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!