Sunday, April 3, 2016
Ward's Game Shop
Page 481 from the 1980 Montgomery Ward's xmas catalog is called "The Game Shop" and features among other things 3 really cool items that I would have definitely added to my wish list. I remember playing Beware the Spider, but I'm pretty sure I never had it. This was a scary one where you had to snatch icky things out of the spider's web with a metal fork. In a similar vein as Operation, you must be extra careful not to touch the web itself or the spider will spring out and murder you in front of all your friends! Second, Run Yourself Ragged was an obstacle course for the armchair athlete, where it's you and your ball against the clock! (CLICK HERE for the awesome commercial, and good luck getting the song out of your head!) And finally, Atomic Arcade, which actually came out in 1979, brought the thrill and action of pinball right into your own home! I found this youtube link of a guy showing you how to make the game more fun / tolerable, so CLICK HERE! More from this catalog all this month, hope you're enjoying it!
Oh very awesome! I had those last two. The Atomic Arcade was one of two or three tabletop pinball machines I owned--could have even had them as early as they were made in seventy-nine. This one was by far the best. I played the hell out of that thing, drove everybody nuts on long car trips (which were not the ideal environment for a pinball machine that simply would not work if you didn't keep it dead level). My version of Run Yourself Ragged was called Scramble or something, and I don't remember it being so brown. I might have had a knockoff. But judging from the commercial it was exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteI am saddened to report that I've never owned, nor even heard of, that awesome spider game before today. I had Operation, of course. But this game looks way, way better than that, and I am upset that it totally passed me by.
There was a modern game in the vein of the spider game; it had a pirate skeleton and was called "Rattle Me Bones." I had it to play with my younger children at the time. It was actually pretty nerve racking, that skeleton would just freak out if you disturbed it too much!
ReplyDeleteI never had any type of handheld electronic pinball game, despite being a pinball wizard fanatic. I did have the flat ones that just sort of rolled the ball around in there-- no flashing flights or sounds though.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check out Rattle Me Bones. Brian, you're sure that's not an adult film you're talking about?
that spider game would have freaked my shit out for sure!
ReplyDeleteall i remeber ever having was a Merlin and a water basketball game where you flipped a ball up into a hoop through water.
Ok, I've added the Beware the Spider game to my ever growing list of Things That Freak Carol's Shit.
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