Saturday, September 10, 2011
Silly Scarecrow Game
I love old greeting cards that fold-out into board games, and this fun Halloween example from American Greetings Corp's "Forget Me Not" line ('73) has a wonderfully illustrated board that extends over 3 pages, they even included a metal spinner and 6 cute little punch-out characters (unfortunately, I've lost two of them.) So let's head off into the dark woods and see where the path takes us, avoiding goblins, black cats, alligators, strange "fresh" pumpkins (!!!), and a wicked old witch. And for heaven's sake-- don't crush the skeleton's bones!
This is a pretty good strategy for a greeting card. What, most people throw the card into a drawer or something right after glancing over the signatures and carefully removing the cash, correct? But this design stretches customer interaction with this holiday card for however long it takes to realize that there's likely to be no escape from the wicked witch, and by then you will have spend the whole rest of the game in stultifying dormancy while your opponent(s) slowly make their way to the very end.
ReplyDeleteI love half the art. Ironically, it's the witch's brew square that I find most compelling for some reason (it just has that Garbage Pail Kids feel, I think). But I also dig that first cat and the half-bat. I do not so much dig the weirdly contrasting, greeting-cardier clip art on this board, like the rabbit, the scarecrow, and the witch herself (the exception to this is the pirate ship, which is totally cool). The odd mix of these two styles is really weird looking to me, and I would probably like these friendlier styled elements better if it weren't for this visual imbalance.
>would probably like these friendlier styled elements better if it weren't for this visual imbalance.
ReplyDeleteI kind of see what you mean, I've sort of always had a problem with the goblins personally. But the witch and scarecrow share the same color schemes, and it is of course a card designed for a child so it's all not too scary for obvious reasons. Except for that horrifically strange fresh pumpkin-- "Hi ya, Kid!" AIEEEEEE!!
"...so it's all not too scary for obvious reasons."
ReplyDeleteRight, but does it also have to look so much like Redbook clip art? Not that I mind, but then couldn't the rest of it look like that? That cat could be happy and rosy-cheeked too. The caldron could be erupting in colorful bubbles. Et cetera. I see what you mean about the goblins--I hadn't noticed them before or they would totally have gone into my initial rant. They look like old Nerds.
Wow. I would be super geeked to get a card like this. Even as an adult!
ReplyDeletePeas Pod, Carol... and this maze card goes great with the Thanksgiving maze card I posted this year
ReplyDelete