A lot of stuff I post on here, I've had for quite a while. Sometimes, however, I'll post a brand new find from a thrift store or estate sale. Today is one of those days!
Yesterday (yes, yesterday) I was looking at Facebook Marketplace when I saw a grail item for me. The AMF Getaway Chase Game from 1966! The price was extremely low, so I contacted the seller, half expecting not to hear back (Marketplace transactions can be a bit flaky). However, I DID hear back and a couple of hours later I owned a copy of this great game!
Now, it isn't perfect, but few are. The seller went out of his way to point out that the cars didn't work, and it was missing a couple of pieces. Still, let's take a look shall we?
This box is pretty big (20x24x3). It's also remarkably clean and intact after 59 years. AMF made this game for DX gas stations to sell in 1966. The game is actually a slot car type toy where the players try to bump each other's cars bumpers. You do this by changing the car's direction with switches in the track.
Upon opening the game, we find the parts! And there are a lot of parts, although most of them are folded cardboard buildings and trees.
I went to the trouble of assembling everything. I was surprised that the halves of the track (which are identical) and the switch controls fell together perfectly. The switches still work great! The buildings were a bit of a challenge, mainly because all of them have specific places where they go (they are numbered) and it takes a while to track them down in the instructions.
The "city" is to the left. The "country" is to the right, by the way.
Here's a little close up action! As you can see, the gangster car is zooming around a turn in the city, followed closely by the cops!
The cops score a point by tapping the gangsters' bumper! You can see the switches in the track.
Ok, now for the not so good part. All of the action in the previous pictures was faked, because these cars aren't going anywhere. Kids, this is why we take the batteries out of our toys! The C cells that were in these cars leaked and ate away most of the metal. Those motors are completely frozen (and useless) These are going to require a complete rebuild with fresh parts. Fortunately modern motors are easy to find!
There was also some paperwork included. This is a envelope (not folded) and some scraps of stickers
This is the other side. You could get accesories! Cool!
And what about a DX credit card? Well, just fill this out and go back in time 60 years!
Now let's take a look at the instructions. I feel a bit sorry for the girl in this picture, as I'm sure the camera just caught her at a bad time, not actually having some sort of medical emergency...
This is what I was referring to when I said everything fit together perfectly. It really did just fold together.
And here is the building and tree map. I'm just missing the fire department and tree number 26. Hopefully we won't have a fire, as thin cardboard probably burns pretty well. Oh, and I'm missing all of the special "DX" buildings and signs. They were optional, but it's weird that none of them were included.
Here is how to build your cars...
Finally, we get to the game play. There are three types of games outlined here. There is the standard game, a road rally game (which is a lot like model airplane dogfighting) and a DX travel game which makes no sense and is stupid.
Somehow my problem with the cars isn't covered on this page...
Hey! I'll just order new parts! Oh...wait. i don't really think that will work. Sigh...
And there you have it! The strange thing about this game is I'm pretty sure I didn't have it as a kid, but my cousin did. I have "sorta kinda" memories of it. Well, it doesn't matter, because I have it now!
What's that? You want to see a period tv ad for it? Why sure!
Tv Ad!
Until next time, keep searching for treasure!
