Vintage Board Games

I was raised in a family of game players and I mean that in the very best way. I have happy memories of "Candy Land", "Sorry", "Clue" and "Scrabble". I distinctly remember Christmas vacation tournaments of "Monopoly". I also loved going to my grandmother's house to dig through her game cupboard.

I married a man who also enjoys board games, though our carefree evenings of games rarely happen these days. We are raising three delightful little people who I think will continue on the game playing legacy.

What I want to talk about tonight though is vintage board games and I do not mean cool old versions of awesome board games that have stood the test of time. I mean obscure board games from childhood, in this case the 80's. I have three that are so dated and ridiculous they are a little bit awesome.

The first, from 1984, "Mystery Mansion". You build the mansion as you play. Then you search for clues, try to find keys and hope one opens the treasure box. It is a game "board" that can be constructed hundreds of ways . The treasure can be moved into any of 7 treasure boxes and there are trapdoors and card stealing and losing turns to make this a game that really can not be played the same twice. Honestly this is a game that I still really like.

 

The second, from 1987 "Lie Detector". Another version of 20 questions. You have witness cards that everyone can see that have a detail about the guilty party and the "lie detector" indicates if the clue is true or false. There are also secret clues that help you narrow down the suspect and you can also summon another person witnesses if you think they will give you a new clue. In the end you arrest your guilty party and check to see if you were right.

Finally, from 1988 "Heart Throb". I honestly do not even know how to describe this one. A game to pick out your perfect boyfriend? A silly way to spend a Saturday night with your friends? To start there are three boys to choose from and you need to pick a boy, based just on appearance, that you want to take you to the dance. You also try to guess who your friends will pick. For each correct guess you get a point. Then in the second round you turn over two personality cards for each boy and pick again this time to decide who you would go on a date with. The personality cards reveal such charming traits as "Swears A Lot", "Races Motorcycles", "Nickname Grizzly Bear" or "His shoe size is higher then his IQ." Final round you get two more personality traits per boy and this time decide who you would "go steady with." The player with the most points wins. It does not say anything about picking the same boy as your friend though so maybe in that case he wins.

Do any of you have board games from your youth that you still have or that you loved that did not last the test of time?

Many blessings this fine night for games.--Kate