Friday, July 10, 2020
Little Orphan Annie Travel Game
I love board games, especially the kind with themes like monsters and old cartoon characters. I found this 1930's Little Orphan Annie Travel Game the other day for $4 ("Leapin' lizards!" says the guy who paid $95 on Hakes), and though it's a bit beat up, it was definitely worth that price for the art on the lid alone which depicts Annie as a cave girl, --and thus leading one to believe this "travel game" is probably about time travel. But no, reading the game play instructions inside, it's just about traveling by train from Chicago to the west coast, (I think.) Anyway, the game board is built right into the bottom of the box and though not nearly as great as the fantastic lid art, it also features a few cute Harold Gray illustrations of other popular LOA characters as well. Also, looking at photos that collectors have shared online of this game, I'm not sure if my player pieces are the originals. The super lovely game spinner definitely is though, and still works great.
That cover is an odd juxtaposition ... was it re-used art from another source, or did the game board change sometime after the cover art was made? Neat, regardless!
ReplyDeleteI love the rainbow lizard on the box lid! And while were at it, I think that's an honest-to-Betsy hand-stippled spot halftone on the inside. A lot of work! That's interesting (YMMV) because Ben Day certainly made a "hand stipple" screen--but the dots are arranged into more consistent arcs in the examples I've seen. So why? Who knows; but that's a high quality design!
ReplyDeleteAnd uh, I guess that's all it is? I mean, the packaging is usually my favorite thing, anyway. So am I being overly cynical when I point out that Milton Bradley was passing off a well designed and nearly empty box here? I mean, this thing could have been printed as an oversized greeting card (use bottle caps for pieces, kids!). But it's a great box for sure. And honestly, you can't keep all your four-color Sunday funny pages cut-outs under your bed in an oversized greeting card, now can you? So I can appreciate the utility, too.
They just don't make 'em like they used to, and that is SUCH a shame. What a beautiful find!
ReplyDeleteYeah it's all very minimal as far as the usual board game goes, but certainly looks amazing for sure. Thanks for the comments! :)
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