Arcade Classics: JOUST

I picked up the new JOUST game by Arcade Classics today. These are awesome mini, 6 inch high, battery operated, handheld toys with nearly identical gameplay and graphics to the original arcade machines. They're surprisingly cool and only $20 at Walmart. (PS: I really really hope they do Popeye and Congo Bongo eventually too!) Click HERE to see some footage of it in action, as well as their classic RAMPAGE too! Check the web for all of the other games available too, there are 10 as of now.





Yep, Joust was another one of my all time favorites as a teen, so this was a "must buy" for me. Flying around on souped up birds and jousting opponents and crushing eggs while avoiding pterodactyls and fiery lava demon hands helped shape me into the fine upstanding citizen I am today! Also, ask me sometime to tell the tale of how I actually beat a Joust arcade game one night at Showbiz Pizza on ONE QUARTER. That's right, it took over an hour or so but I did it. The screen went wild with scrolling code as the high score could get no higher. True story!! I AM THE CHAMPIONZ!!!

Black Cat Judo Tricks

A handful of frisky judo tricks courtesy of my favorite crimson haired, super heroine-- The Black Cat! Yes sir, with lightening fast legwork and ferocious feline fists, the crime seeking scum of the 50's underworld never stood a chance. Just watch as she jiu jitsus the shit outta these poor ass palookas with her purrfect pussy power! (Hey, she's a cat right?) Today's scans are from the October 1962 issue of Black Cat #63, and features super lovely artwork by ever awesome Lee Elias, though these pages were rounded up and reprinted after originally appearing in various issues during her first fun run in Harvey's Black Cat Mystery throughout the late 40's/early 50's-- way before the title switched over to the infamous Golden Age horror mag of the same name.

Donkey Kong Penny Bank

Found this really neat Donkey Kong Penny Bank produced in the early 80's, aka the golden era of the awesome arcade boom. Donkey Kong was one of my all time favorite games in my younger days, still is actually, and I can't even begin to tell you how many times I rode my bike 3 miles to the Johnnies Ice Creamery in Oakville MO (where I was not only introduced to DK and Mario for the first time, but also the fantastic cocktail design stylings of table top arcade games), --that machine seriously gobbled up all of my weekly kid allowance-- faster than Pac Man gobbles up dots! The sturdy, cardboard and plastic penny bank on the other hand gobbles up pennies quite differently, but at the same time is a wonderfully interesting spin on the actual game play of the arcade classic: You place your penny at the very top of the girders (underneath Kong's foot) and the coin descends down, not rolling like the barrels that Kong hurls at you in the game-- but FLIPPING end over end! Sort of similar to the way some people can roll coins over their knuckles. You even get to jump Mario over the penny as it passes under him by pushing down on a lever on the right side - (see video below!)

The Haunted House on Halloween Hill

We live by a couple of rules here at Karswell Kastle, and one of them is simply this: Everyday is Halloween! Those that follow my other blog know this to be true, and the same goes for here as well, as today we find Little Archie and the gang running into some real honest to goodness All Hallows Eve horror-- plus, some fun 'n games to keep you all extra entertained, from the December 1976 issue of Little Archie #113. And speaking of my other blog, don't miss another story from this issue posted over there last week-- just click HERE after you read The Haunted House on Halloween Hill!

I really love this submitted drawing of Jughead by 8 year old Lark Jarvis too!

Let's Bake (PART TWO)

Here we go with the rest of the amazingly illustrated LET'S BAKE booklet from 1964 (see our previous post HERE for more cuteness and info!) And since these illustrations are so small on the printed page, I scanned everything at 400dpi and edited them together into groups so there wouldn't be so many separate images to click open.

Hope everyone enjoyed these! Lots more tasty fun on the way too!

Let's Bake (PART ONE)

From the sexy chapter header art of our last post, to the almost unbearably cute chapter header art of our current post, drawings of kids with photos of giant, REAL food are seriously some of my favorite design choices ever in vintage cookbooks! Let's Bake (the Robin-Hood flour brand "No Sift" Way) from 1964, is over 60 pages of yummy recipes and "no-sift" methods to creative cooking. But just as importantly-- it's full of super cute key art!! Whether licking the chocolate frosting off the over-sized mixing tool, or strolling happily through a giant cookie thunderstorm-- breads, desserts, and main dishes-- it's all here, and in our next post we'll see much more cuteness as well, so stay tuned, todays post is just an appetizer! :)

















PART TWO HERE!

We Gave at the Office

Sexy key art by Bill Wenzel highlights all 8 chapters of this hilarious 1974 paperback by Laura Mills and Pauline Burlick about uninhibited career girls loose in filthy New York City. Whether behind the typewriter-- or behind the filing cabinet-- "Bad girls make the best secretaries!"