THE MUPPET SHOW BOARD GAME by PALITOY - 1977

I've never met anyone who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s who doesn't still have a love for The Muppets,

 I really can't put my finger on why but ask anyone who was a child in those decades and just the mention of The Muppets will raise a wistful smile and a nostalgic longing inside them, heck even the adults around us at the time loved The Muppets and like us children of the 70s and 80s still look back on those halcyon days with longing, so it really should come as no surprise that I just happen to be the proud owner of a Muppet Show board game from 1977!

As you can see from the box, the game is for two to four players aged 8 to adult - the reason for this is because each player controls two of the eight counters.

The aim of the game is, as you'd expect pretty crazy - Chaos has broken out Back Stage in the theatre and no-one is where they should be, the audience are seated..."Curtains Up" is in a matter of minutes and The Muppets are running here, there and everywhere like a bunch of manics, so it's up to you to help Kermit get each pair of Muppets to the right place on stage before the curtain goes up...

When I opened the box I found all the playing pieces sealed in plastic bags, so I had to remove them and place them into the moulded areas of the box to check if I had everything needed to play the game.

The playing counters and their bases are colour coded, this corresponds to the area of the stage in which those Muppets should be waiting ready to perform their act once the curtain goes up.

As well as two Muppets each player has to control a "set" piece, these are also colour coded to match their respective Muppets.

Miss. Piggy & Rowlf have a Theatre set ( note they are dressed as Surgeons), Scooter & Fozzie Bear have a Park bench set, Zoot & The Great Gonzo have instruments and spotlights on their set and of course Dr. Teeth & Animal have their band set.

These pieces must also be moved to the front of the stage and placed in their respective areas before the Curtains go up.

You have a book of Stage Directions / Rule Book to help you and a pack of cards which contain directions, hazards etc...

The cards are used in place of a die and provide instructions on where and how to move, but they are not always so helpful... 

You may be moved Backstage, to The Wings, or moved by other players who draw a certain card, but to help you along and to counter these threats use could also draw Star Cards; these will countermand Hazard cards providing you hold at least one Movement card.

 The first person to get their Muppets and set pieces to the correct area at the front of the stage wins the game...

And allows Kermit to take a well earned rest!

15th August 2017.

As I've had a couple of requests for copies of the rules for this game, I've decided to revisit this post and upload scans of the Stage Directions (Rule Book) so anyone who needs a copy can just save and print them as required... So here goes!

7th March 2018

Many Thanks go to David Simpson, who downloaded copies of my original scans, retouched them and has kindly given me the retouched versions to upload here for anyone else who needs them..

As the Rule Book is printed on a single folded sheet,  the best way to print it so it looks more authentic would be to print the first side, then turn the paper over and print the second image on the other side.

It's also worth noting that the Rule Book is A5 in size so make sure you reduce the image so it is no more than 148 x 210 mm ( 5.8 x 8.3 inches) that way your replacement will be as authentic as a printed scan can be!

                                       

                                              Hope this helps, and happy gaming!!

                                   

                                                                Hugs,

                                               

✤✥✦ Hujoo Albu & Nano Freya Clothing Ideas for J Louisa ✦✥✤

I promised that I'd give some information on clothes which fit Hujoo Albu and Nano Freya, it's taken a little while but I've finally got on the case, kinda...

The plan was to have a bit of a fashion show with my Albu, Kasa, my Nano rabbi ,Maitake, and Suave, Ae sook Aiko (both being used as stand ins for Nano Freya as I don't have one yet... But by the looks of them they all have a similar body size and type, as do most Hujoos, with the exception of Coojoo & Albu.

But I had battery problems and once I got them sorted I discovered I really don't have many clothes for either doll, this was made harder as I needed to find boy doll clothes for each and apart from Maitake, my little ones are girls!

I discovered that the majority of clothes I had which were a likely size for Albu - turned out not to be and so instead of a fashion show, I've decided to give guidelines of which type of clothes there are available in the right sizes, and some hints of others which may work...

That said, I guess it's time to get on with it, so I'll start with Hujoo Albu:

Hujoo Albu are much wider on the chest than Hujoo Wings, so clothes for Wings won't fit Albu, also with any clothes there is the same cuff problems you'll find with Hujoo Freya, Nano Freya, Albu or Nano Rabbi as their feet and hands are paw like and so wider than their human counterparts.

Bratz boyz t-shirts will fit Albu, but will be a close fit if you get my meaning. many of Mattel Ken's clothes will be too big, shorts work well as the waistband  can be hidden under t shirts so are not noticeable but if you like the style this can be adapted, after-all too big is better than too small in terms of tweakablity!

Clothing for 12 inch Doctor Who and Vintage Action Man are far too big and look silly, but could be adapted if you wanted.

Another type of doll clothes that will fit (please bear in mind I've only tried gathered bloomers for a female doll) are clothes sold for 1/6 yosd size |(Yo Super Dolfie) dolls.

That said I don't know how long the trousers are but looking at the doll sizes on Where Angels Lie (A Volks Super Dolfie Database) I noticed that 1/6 YOSD are 26.5 cm tall (around 10 inches tall), and as Albu is 28cm tall (approx 11 inches) they may not be long enough. 

However if you plan to keep your doll in boots it shouldn't matter... It might also be a good idea to ensure that the trousers you buy for your Albu are elasticated at the waist.

1/6 YOSD 

Here's a link to the YOSD outfit in the picture above: 1/6 YOSD Outfit on Ebay

Another doll whose trousers may fit properly is the Makie doll - I haven't been able to test this theory though as the only trousers I have for my Makies are leggings, leotards and shorts. Makie dolls are much chunkier on the waist and hips than a lot of other 1/6th dolls (with the exception of Lammily) and as they are also about the same height, should work on that score too. Most Makie doll clothes are made from stretchy fabrics (again, I'm only aware of items for female Makies) so they may work quite well with Albu's paws...

Here's a link to the boy's clothing section of The Makie Store, so you can check it out for yourself:  Makies Shop - Boy's Clothes

Clothes for 1/6 dolls such as Dragon Force and Sideshow can work quite well, but again it is a matter of experimenting, which could work out pretty expensive!

One doll who's clothes fit perfectly is Tonner's Little Miss Matched, the jeans and long sleeve shirts look great and the boots fit perfectly too, although most of her clothing is very girly and might be hard to come by since that particular doll has been retired from sale for several years now.

Little Miss Matched Fashion Pack - Amazon.com

And so to shoes...  

Again, I haven't really experimented, I love Kasa's feet so I've never bothered with shoes but I know that apart from Little Miss Matched's footwear, the converse type boots sold for Pullip or Blythe dolls fit well - A word of warning though, I have many pairs of these shoes in different patterns and colours, and have discovered that they are not all the same size, so it is important to remember that Albu's feet are 3. 5cm long x 1. 8cm wide.

Ebay.com

The shoes in the photo' below are sold for "12" blythe, pullip, momoko and similar dolls" and are 2cm( wide) X 3.8cm length), so will fit fine...  Here's a link to them:  Blythe Doll Converse Style Boots

Now for Nano size dolls:

Nano Hujoo dolls such as my Suave and Rabbi can fit into clothes designed for Evi Love dolls ( not so good to know if your interest is in Male doll attire!) Mini Baby Born doll clothes - which come in both male and female varieties, although these can be quite limited and always bear the "Baby Born" logo (but you could always cover this with a mini iron on or some other decoration. 

Mattel's Shelly , Kelly, Chelsea & Tommy dolls clothes also work, but again there can be issues with these items due to Rabbi's hand and foot size, so items such as sleeveless shirts and leggings work well but a jacket or trousers may be a problem around the cuffs.

Bratz girls t shirts are also a good fit, so I'm guessing Moxie doll's also work...

Maitake

In the photo above Maitake is wearing a romper suit designed for Mattel's Tommy dolls and his favourite mask made by Hot Toys, both fit him perfectly.

Ae Sook Aiko & Akimoto

In the photo' above. Ae Sook' is wearing a two piece Baby Born Halloween Costume, which is actually a little large for her, but not too much that it looks silly!

I have yet to find shoes to fit Rabbi but this is mostly because I haven't  tried! 

I love those little Leporine tootsies and don't want to cover them up!

Shoes sold for Hujoo baby will definitely not fit, so don't bother trying them... 

Rabbi's feet are a good 0\5cm longer than Hujoo Baby's. 

Sylvanian families shoes also are no good, Rabbi's feet are too wide and the shoes are too rigid to give enough to even try and get them on.

Of course this is by no means a comprehensive list, as with all dolls it's best to play around until you find something you like, but hopefully it's given you a few ideas..

Anyhoo,

I'm off now.

Take Care,

Star Wars Episode 1 - Queen Amidala Dolls by Hasbro.

I was so looking forward to George Lucas renewing his Star Wars series, being a huge fan of the first three films.

I saw the first one in the cinema when I was two and my big brother Carl, had a friend called John who had every one of the figures, our Mums were friends so we used to go and play with him and his collection for hours. We'd act out each scene of each movie with his cool arse toys.

I never wanted to go home, it was such a wrench to leave those awesome starships and alien races behind, and I'd be on pins until the next time we could go back round to play.

We were Star Wars obsessed in those days anything remotely Star Wars and we got our "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" bounce going on.

We lapped up Caravan of Courage: An Ewoks Adventure in 1984, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor in 1985, the discovery of Star Wars: Ewoks cartoon series in the local video rental shop in the mid- eighties gave us a new way to get our Star Wars kicks.

Nagdabbit, we even loved Spaceballs when it came out in 1987, that's how bad we had it!

Each new film and spin off bought new toys that John would be bought so we'd have more characters to act out new stories with next time we visited him.

I kept that love and those happy memories of those amazing films and the hours of fun the toys gave and always looked back on those years fondly. 

So the announcement that George Lucas wasn't only going to make a new Star Wars film, but he was planning to complete the entire saga of that "Galaxy far, far away" filled me with the same excitement I'd felt all those years ago, even better my son was already a Star Wars fan after I'd introduced  him to the original films which had pride of place in my video collection.

We counted down the days until release and excitedly went off to the cinema to be wowed...

Unfortunately we weren't, to be honest we made a pact never to mention "Phantom Menace" again, friends and family also quickly learnt to uphold this pact as to this day it is something I'm unable to talk about without getting on a "Damn, you Lucas" rant.

What seemed like an alignment of cosmic forces; the release of this film coinciding with my having a Son at just the right age turned turned out to be particularly unsettling for me as it obviously became the latest must have fad, so my home quickly filled up with merchandise and even a video of a film I cannot abide!

Some pretty cool toys came out at that time though, several of Aaron's which we've kept and more importantly it lead to a resurgence of many of the original toys being reproduced and remarketed.

Getting back to "Episode 1" though, I loved the look of Queen Amidala and her almost Feudal Japanese style.

I even have four Queen Amidala Barbie size dolls in my collection, (although she'll never be as good as my vintage Kenner Princess Leia dolls), two boxed and two loose ones which were bought for customizing although I've forgotten what I had planned for them!   

¯\(ツ)/¯

Still never mind all that here's my two that are still boxed...

I got them for £4.00, for the two from a seller on Ebay a year or so ago, I haven't quite gotten around to photographing them myself yet though so you'll have to make do with the listing photographs for now...

Royal Elegance Queen Amidala

The Royal Elegance Amidala Doll is dressed in Queen Amidala's Throne Room Robe, which she wears during her Coronation and again just before the Invasion of Naboo.  

The robe is decorated with gold embroidery and Sein Jewels which sit just above the wide hem.

The hem of the dress is decorated with the fur of the Potolli, a creature from Naboo, cultivated for it's brown fur.

On her head she wears the Jewel of Zenda as part of her head dress, which is customary on Naboo, she also has her gold face frame supplied in the box, which is also part of the outfit depicted in the film.

The back of the box reads: "Beautiful Styles in a snap! 

This captivating doll brings Queen Amidala vividly to life in all her strength, spirit and beauty! Her radiant Thread throne robe features special snap on pieces for lots of great looks! Join Royal Elegance Queen Amidala on an exciting quest to free her planet from the evil Trade Federation forces."

Hidden Majesty Queen Amidala

During The Occupation of Naboo, Queen Amidala becomes aware that her life is in danger and decides to swap places with her handmaiden Sabe who will then act as a "decoy" Queen.

As part of the plan, the Queen wears the robes of a handmaiden and is therefore able to pass for her and get away from danger while her handmaiden performs the Queen's duties.

The way Hasbro have chosen to depict this, is by dressing their "Hidden Majesty" doll in the traditional Naboosan Handmaiden outfit and having an extra head dress which comes complete with a mask of Sabe's face attached.

The back of the box reads: "Discover Queen Amidala's Secret!

In Star Wars: Episode 1, Queen Amidala wears a handmaiden disguise to keep her identity hidden from the evil Trade Federation forces. When you remove Padme's hood from this realistically styled doll, the Queen, in all her magnificence is revealed! Enjoy exciting Star Wars adventures as you help Hidden Majesty Queen Amidala surprise her enemies and save her planet!"

Out of the two of them, I can't make up my mind which if any I like best, I have a massive thing about doll sized masks, so that aspect of the Hidden Majesty doll really appeals to me, but the Royal Elegance Queen Amidala is so beautifully dressed it makes it impossible for me to decide!

On a slightly different subject, while writing this post I've decided what I'm going to do with one of those spare Queen Amidala dolls I have... I feel a "Custom" coming on!

1965 Kamar Female Elf Doll

I've just found this very intriguing listing on Ebay for a "1965 Kamar Female Elf Doll"  ... 

Ebay.com

The reason it intrigues me so much is because about 6 years ago I was very fortunate to find myself the proud owner of a 1965 Female Elfin faced  Doll.

Once my ownership was discovered by several of my Flickr friends who'd been nosing through my Photo Albums - Everybody wanted one, although, sadly she turned out to be pretty rare!

One or two of them managed to find them though, one even found a doll with a label from the Kamar factory still attached to her wrist, proclaiming that her name is "Julie", however, this one also was slightly different to mine...

This one differs from mine though, her hair is blonde not red, and her body is turquoise not orange...

Ebay.com

Since getting my girl a few years back, I've only seen a few of these girls, but never a blonde one like this before ...

Ebay.com

If you're interested, she's for sale on Ebay right now, here's a link to the listing: Vintage 1965 Kamar Big Eyed Elf-Doll