Merry Christmas!!!

I had another post in mind, but when I went back and looked at my earlier posts, I found that I had already used those pictures! So here's what I have for this year!

That's my band mascot, Kevin, in his flying rig! I just wired in those LEDs for him for Christmas, so he's super excited! He usually sits on my amp while I play, and now he can sit in illuminated glory!

Speaking of not remembering a post, here's a little bonus for everyone! 

 Bonus Post!

So may I take this time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brings everyone what they want!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

I Have a Clue!

 Actually, I have a lot of them. Clue Games, that is! The one I'm featuring this week is the first one. The very first U.S. edition of the classic board game, Clue...or, Cluedo, if you're British. And Great Britain is where our story begins.... (cue wavy lines floating down the screen...)

In 1943 British musician and factory worker Anthony E. Pratt sat in his  home in Birmingham enduring the Nazi blitz. He remembered games he had played growing up and one in particular, called "Murder," struck a chord with him. (I expect to get extra points for that double pun!) 

Now, although "Murder" involved sneaking around in large old houses and touching people to make them fall down "dead" (with a shriek, if possible), he began to come up with a more organized version played on a board. That result, also called Murder, was copyrighted in 1944. The game company Waddington waited to release it until 1949 due to wartime shortages. They also called it "Cluedo," which was a mix of "clue" and "Ludo," which was a popular British game at the time. 

By the way, I always pronounced it "ClueDoe" when I read it, but it's actually "ClueDoo." See, I learn stuff writing these posts too! 

Anyway, Parker Brothers released it at the same time in the United States as "Clue," so there's no need to figure out how to pronounce it here. Let's take a look at this first U.S. edition that I picked up years ago at a thrift store, shall we?

The box cover is a little damaged, but it still displays well, I think. "The Great Detective Game!" was the slogan for the first run. Later editions mention Sherlock Holmes. Now the standard edition says, "The Classic Detective Game."

Upon opening the box, you see the folded board with the standard Parker Brothers box cover sticker. For some reason, I really like that touch.

Lifting the board out, we find the parts...

The board is the same as it has been for decades. The graphics are wonderfully retro, though!

Speaking of retro graphics, check out the cards! By the way, shouldn't Miss Scarlett have red hair? Isn't that a law or something?

And here are the weapons! The candlestick is fairly huge. The gun is a trusty .45. All very lethal...

And here are the instructions! I like how they introduce the game as a new concept, much like a play. A leftover from sneaking around in manor houses playing "Murder?" Maybe...

So there you have it! The first one! Now, I have more editions. There were eight just on the same shelf as this one! I won't share all of them, but I might do a couple more.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

I'm Such a Square...

 ...that I accidently bought a game I already had! Well, sort of anyway. You may remember a few weeks ago when I posted about the 1974 version of Hollywood Squares that I picked up at an estate sale. As I looked at it, I slowly remembered that years and years ago I got an earlier version at a thrift store. Then, upon cleaning up in the ol' game room I found:

Ta da! The 1968 version of the same game! This is apparently the second edition, with all new questions! Yay! By the way, I really like the graphics on this one a lot better (sorry, Gene Rayburn!)

Upon opening the box, we find a large plastic game board, plastic "X" and "O" pieces, twenty 100.00 bills, and four small boxes of question cards!

Here is the stuff more spread out so you can see it better...

Interestingly, some questions in each deck has stars on them. Why? Because they are the "Secret Square!" 

You take any of the decks of questions (or you can mix them up) and put five in each square. Then if a contestant answers correctly, they get to stick their plastic thingy on there!

Here are the actual rules, in case you're curious...

Note that in the rules it says to write your favorite stars on the squares. Whoever owned this game before me did just that! In case you can't read them, they are Karen Valentine, Charlie Weaver, Lucille Ball, Art Carney, Dez Arnez, Elizabeth Montgomery, Rock Hudson, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra. I'm pretty sure those stars were never all on the show, especially together, but it's fun anyway!

I like this version a bit better than the 1974 version. By the way, it's made by a different company. The Heatter-Quigley Company did this one.

So, I'll hang on to both versions. Maybe someday I'll get the first version!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

An Inventive Game

 I remember getting the subject of this week's post for Christmas in 1974. It is the fun and wacky game, The Inventors! Let's jump right in, shall we?

Here is the box! You can see all the inventors in the patent office trying to get their inventions (which are actually in the game) patented. It seems the chap holding a certain board game has the best shot.

Upon opening the box, you see the fairly interesting game pieces. 

The board is divided into an inside and outside track. The players start on the outside track to collect inventions, and then move to the inside track to get paid for them with royalties. 

And here we have The Incredible Patent Picker Move Maker Machine. This gizmo rolls dice with a push of the plunger (while ringing a bell!) and puts metal patent clips of random values on the invention cards.

These are the metal patent clips. The higher the number (they go up to "2") the better!

This is how they are loaded into the machine!

Here are all the parts of the game.

And here are the Eureka Cards that add a bit of luck and skill to the game!

And what about those inventions? Well, here you go! As strange as these items seem, they are real historic patents.

A step by step illustration of how to add a patent clip...

On the back of the card, you can see the values.. 

Here are the details on how to play!

The person with the most money at the end of the game wins. The game is over when the last clip is played.

So, is it fun? Actually, yes! The wacky inventions and the Move Maker Machine keep things fun. All in all, it's a real winner!

The Inventors was designed by toy legend Marvin Glass, who was responsible for such hits as Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and Mousetrap. Or at least his employees were. You see, it has been said that Glass is the greatest toy inventor that never invented a toy! In a way, that's kind of fitting for this game.

Glass passed away in 1974, and this may have been one of the last products his studios released. It's good to go out with yet another winner!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Thankful for the Little Things

I actually had something else planned for this week, but the business of the season got the better of me. So, I just decided to snap a quick pic of some of the vintage Disney games that I'm thankful for.

However, what I'm MOST thankful for are my friends and family, and that includes my blog friends! I always look forward to the comments but even if you've never commented, I really appeciate my readers!

So, Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! 

And as Maceys has just reminded us...the Christmas Season has officially begun!

And keep searching for treasure!

Hot Wheels 'Chute Out!

 Today, in a world where children's playthings are all digital and on screens, it's good to remember a time when toys were much more inventive and clever. The toys that I grew up with relied on simple mechanics to achieve their wonder, and they worked quite well. In this post I'm going to feature a Hot Wheels accesory that was mind numbingly simple, but it etched into the racing memory of almost all Boomer kids! I give to you, the Hot Wheels drag chute!

Here it is featured in a Hot Wheels catalog from 1971. I found this pic on the old interwebs.

Below is the first boxed set that it came in. As a kid I had this set, and I remember racing my cars around that loop, over that jump and popping that chute out time after time! Again, this image came from the net...

And now for what I currently own! This is a parachute still in it's original package! 

Next, we have a 1968 Deora snagging the parachute! I actually rolled this car down the track and worked the mechanism. No faking it for my blog!

And now my 1968 Beatnic Bandit does it as well! I'm not gonna lie. It was actually fun!

Now, let's look at how this works! Remember I said it was extremely simple. Now I happen to have two 'chute boxes (and a total of three 'chutes) so just look at the bottom one. See that hook? Yep, that's about all there is to it!

Opening up the box, we can see that the parachute is hiding inside! The car simply goes down the track, snags the hook, and pulls the 'chute out of the box. Very simple, but very effective. And it works every single time, with no batteries or electronics at all. Toy engineers were brilliant!

And just for completeness, we have a picture of the inside of the empty box.

So there you have it! Simple and fun!

Now, to be clear, these didn't come from those original stunt sets, they came from another set that was released a year or so later. I guess I can do a post on the whole set at a later date, but I thought these were a good example to make my point, which is simple is better in pretty much every aspect of life.

Of course, without electronics we wouldn't have this post, so I guess they do have their place...

Until next time keep searching for treasure!

Afterthought Train Buy

 I will admit that sometimes I get items that I don't really collect just because I think they're pretty cool. Case in point is this week's item.

At the estate sale where I found the Z scale engine that I posted a few weeks ago, I saw a non-descript brown box sitting on a shelf with no price on it. Here it is....

I picked it up and saw this on the end...

A-ha! A train car kit! Now I really don't collect these, but after finding out they only wanted five bucks for it, I went ahead and grabbed it. Let's look closer!

Upon opening the box, we are met with a whole lot of itty-bitty pieces of wood!

Laid out, we can make out some of the parts. You have the top and bottom and sides, and doors, and...uh...stuff.

Note that there are no wheels or couplers. These kits don't come with them. 

Here are the instructions...

The written instructions point out that this isn't an easy kit. No kidding! Still, the parts do seem to be very well made and the more you look at them, the more they make sense. 

The instructions are quite yellowed on the part that was facing up in the box, which made me wonder how old this kit is. So, I did a bit-o-reseach!

Le Belle Woodworking Company is still in business, and, in fact, is apparently the oldest model train kit company still around. This kit is still produced. You can buy a new one for 39.99 right now. So is this kit newish?

I'm pretty sure this kit is far from new. How do we know? The hint is in the address. Now the address isn't the same as it is today, but the real tell is the lack of zip code. Zip codes came into use in 1963, so this kit is pre-'63. You couple that with the fact that this company existed many years before that, even, then we can see that this kit has sat around, unbuilt, for over 60 years. 

Now, the question always pops up in my mind, "Should I build it?" I honestly don't know. I mean, I have a ton of other projects to work on first, but there's a chance I will. It seems pretty cool. After all, that coolness is why I bought it!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!