Literally!
In 1969 Ideal came out with a game that was a huge hit with the kid sports world! Battling Tops made any afternoon into a grand tournanent full of epic battles, heros and crushed dreams. It was a game so epic that it was re-released many times over the next couple of decades (including a space themed version to loosly tie in with Star Wars in 1977). I happened to find a copy at a thrift store a few years back. Let's take a look!
My copy, (an original 1969 version) while priced very well at just two bucks, has some obvious box integrity issues.
Upon opening the box, we find that the contents are a little light as well. We have five out of the eight tops, and only one puller. That's going to make "battling" a little difficult.
But here are the instructions on the inside of the lid anyway. The beauty of this game is that it's very simple. You pretty much just launch your top and hope it wins! Now, there are some techniques you can use, like how you aim your launcher, or how hard to pull the string, but no one has ever proven that those things change matters much.
Here are the tops I have. Note that "Fighting Frank" has lost the top of his spindle. This really doesn't slow him down much. He spins with the best of 'em! No word on if "Dizzy Dan" is actually dizzy
..."Smarty Smitty" and "Rocky Rocko." I'm missing "Hurricane Hank," "Tricky Nicky," and "Twirling Tim." As a kid, I usually used "Tricky Nicky." It's funny what you remember fifty years later..
Here we have my one launcher and one score peg. I really need at least one more launcher...
Now this is just an interesting picture that I found on the internet, showing the insert that came in the box. I just thought it was neat, so I included it.
Do you wanna see a top go? Do ya? Do ya???
Well, here you go!
Wasn't that thrilling?
How about a vintage commercial?
Battling Tops Commercial
Ok, that was just about as thrilling as my video. But the point is that this game kept us occupied for hours, and that's really what our parents wanted...
Battling Tops was invented by Eddie Goldfarb who's other big invention was those wind up chattering teeth. For real. Then again, with a name like Eddie Goldfarb, he was probably destined to invent those.
Anyway, if you want to pick up a copy of this game, they go from around 30 to 50 bucks on eBay. I think I'll go there now and see if I can find some replacement parts..
Until next time, keep searching for treasure!
