Tina has set this weeks challenge – #418 – Memories. I had been pondering on what to post for the challenge until I had a conversation with my sister earlier this week. We were talking about board games we played as children after I told her I had seen an old game called Totopoly in a local charity shop. She told me that she and my brother had played that game a lot as children. I don’t even remember us having it. I was a teenager by then and playing board games wasn’t cool. Not very ‘Fonze’ like behaviour at all.
So, inspired by those 1970’s memories, I thought I’d dig around in our loft and garage and see what old games I could find. It’s been one of those challenges where I’ve had to take all the photos this week, rather than rely on my portfolio. I like doing that although it’s not always possible. Some of the items below are relics from my own childhood. A lot are Charity Shop re-buys as we find our grandchildren enjoy these old games as much as we did. Also, Some of the older versions are better than the modern equivalents. There seems to be a memory, or story, attached to everything I’ve uploaded.
This is the only surviving Christmas present I have from my own childhood. Its a wooden chess set in its original wooden box. the board has long since disintegrated. I found it in my parents loft after my dad died. When I first found it there was one of those cellophane fish, pictured below, in the box that would have been a Christmas cracker gift. Back in the 1970’s, prior to influencers and wellness gurus, we relied on these fish to predict our futures 🙂My fish always curled up entirely in my palm. I lie, it was just a moving tail. This is Guess Who. Players have to ask their opponent questions to try and deduce the identity of the person on their opponents card. it was first released in the 1970’s, but I know it more from playing it with my children as they were growing up. We have this copy at home and it still comes out when our younger Grandchildren visit. They’re always keen to play. This is the old original version of the game. I had a haircut like the kid on the box, lol. In recent years some of the characters have been replaced to make the game more diverse. The manufacturer has also trimmed costs by using cheap plastics. Trivial Pursuit. As an adult most of my Christmas day evenings were spent at my parents house where the family would come together. We would always end up playing Trivial Pursuit. It was originally created in Canada and arrived in the UK in the early 1980’s. My overriding memory is of not playing the game but trying to source a copy after it first appeared over here. It was the top Xmas game following its release and trying to get your hands on it proved to be really difficult. Back then you couldn’t search the internet or use a mobile phone to make any enquires. If you did phone a shop, using a landline, it was rarely answered. I remember driving around Bristol, trying shop after shop, until we did eventually find a shop that had it in stock. I think this is the original box we bought. The board’s certainly showing it’s age after years in the loft.Subbuteo. A soccer game played on a green baize cloth with these small players that you flicked with your finger. As youngsters we had little leagues in our neighbourhood, playing each other in our homes. Nowadays it’s all FIFA on the X-Box or other game console, using the 55 inch TV in your bedroom you were bought for gaming. I remember having to rent a TV for £10 a month when I was first married. Owning a TV was a pipe dream!Annuals. We always had at least one annual in our Christmas stocking. This is an original 1976 Bay City Roller annual, given to my wife Lin as she was a big fan. My annuals would have been based on comics or soccer. I called into one of our local Charity shops today to see what old games or books I could find to photograph. There’s a few girls annuals on the left and a Bonanza board game on the right. I don’t remember that game but it looked like a 1970’s relic. I know my mum regularly watched the programme back in the day.
That’s it from me. If you got this far thank you for indulging in my childhood and young adult memories. Thank you to Tina for hosting this weeks challenge. I’ve enjoyed the memory posts I’ve read so far.
Wow, what a perfect concept for this challenge! I loved looking at all your old games. We have a box of those in our basement. We’ve moved them from house, to house, to house… Now I’m (we’re) inspired to bring them up, get them out, dust them off, and perhaps (through the winter) play each of them again. Thank you for this enjoyable and inspiring post! pp Oh, I forgot, “Tammy Annual”!!!!!!! That’s a blast from my past! Great post!
Wow, what a perfect concept for this challenge! I loved looking at all your old games. We have a box of those in our basement. We’ve moved them from house, to house, to house… Now I’m (we’re) inspired to bring them up, get them out, dust them off, and perhaps (through the winter) play each of them again. Thank you for this enjoyable and inspiring post! pp Oh, I forgot, “Tammy Annual”!!!!!!! That’s a blast from my past! Great post!