ª"˜¯¨¨* Oz The Great and Powerful - Oscar Diggs doll by Jakks Pacific*¨¨¯˜"ª

Maybe it's the purist in me, but I really didn't enjoy this film. I enjoyed reading Frank Baum's OZ books and the 1939 film with Judy Garland e al, this film however really grated on my nerves.

It has some interesting aspects, artistically it's brilliant, the flying monkey, while I found him out of place and very annoying is adorable, same goes for China Girl and the adorable little pink fairy thing. The background story of The Wicked Witch of The West was interestingly portrayed and I loved the look of her, I also liked that they gave more of a background on the charlatan who went onto become The Wizard also known as Oz The Great and Powerful. 

I did however, love the look of him, he's very dapper with his top hat, three- piece suit and Gladstone bag. So when the doll version of him was released, I couldn't resist him. 

Amazon.co.uk

I have a bit of a thing about boy dolls, although the ones I like tend to be very few and far between. 

The fact that he came with a mini China Girl only added to his appeal for me, that said though I would definitely have preferred a little flying monkey too instead of the charm included in the packaging.

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Jakks Pacific's Oscar Diggs Doll is also one of the more facially attractive male doll's I've seen in a long time, most have very generic faces, such as in the case of MyScene boy dolls.

His outfit is beautifully made and presented and puts me in mind of Steam Punk style, which was another reason I wanted him. I think he's a really good candidate for customisation and would benefit from a make over to put him more in line with the way I've been envisioning him.

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👣 The Bigfoot Board Game By Waddingtons - 1987 👣

https://www.coasttocoastam.com

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this, but as I'm sure by now you all know how much of a geek I am, so I guess it will come as no surprise to learn that I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the legendary creature known in some parts of the World as Bigfoot.

http://mauiwatch.com/2017/04/looking-back-harry-hendersons-1987/

Ever since I was a small child, I've loved the thought of this big beasties living as part of our World, but apart from the Human Race, I read all the books I could on the subject, watched as many documentaries as I could and so when Harry and The Henderson's came out in 1987, I was well up for watching that too!

To be honest with you I can't remember much about that T.V. Show, but I do remember "Harry" and how innocent he was, the expressions on his face which conveyed so much emotionally and how I so wanted to find my own Bigfoot to love!!

In later years, I of course realised this would never happen, not least because of geography but also the elusive nature of these beasties, which adds so much to their lure.

Still I did manage to get myself a posable Bigfoot Action Figure and yay, also a board game, which comes with an adorable mini Bigfoot who lives on top of a mountain!

www.ebay.co.uk

As my game is currently in storage and the only photo of the board I could find on my laptop was far too fuzzy to show much detail, I had to use one of the board which I found on Ebay.uk, which is a much better photo as it not only shows the Explorers and Bigfoot better but it also shows how cool the artwork is on the box and how it not only is useful for storing the game but also becomes part of the game itself when the board is taken out and placed on top of the bottom section.

The game box itself is decorated around the edges with images of mountain scenes, the board itself can be taken out of the box to play but I think it's better played inside the box, that way, you'll never lose any of the parts, as those boulders have a tendency to roll off into hard to reach places!

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 You play as one of 4 coloured teams of 3 very happy looking Explorers, who are following Bigfoot's trail, marked by footprints around the board and eventually up the side of the mountain in order to find Bigfoot.

boardgamegeek.com/image/582255/bigfoot-game

This is obviously making Bigfoot very angry so at the same time that the Explorers are tracking him, Bigfoot is trying to keep them away by hurling (Subbuteo style kicking) boulders at you as you travel in an attempt to either scare you off his scent or make your Explorers fall off the side of the mountain as they climb closer towards him.

Bigfoot rotates throughout the game as he throws his boulders, so it isn't possible to stay behind him and try to hide from the falling boulders as they come tumbling downwards.

To win you must get each of your 3 Explorers to the top of the mountain, .

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🐵 Donkey Kong Board Game by Milton Bradley - 1982 🐵

Growing up in the 80s and frequenting Arcades as we all did in those days, it was impossible not to have heard of the platform game Donkey Kong.

http://gifsgallery.com/donkey+kong+gif

When home consoles became available it gave us all the ability to play our favourite Arcade games and even some of the most popular Arcade games which we always wanted to try but could never get a go on in the Arcade, without the need to have a load of coins to feed the machine with.

For those without access to Games Arcades or Home Consoles or just geeks like me, Milton Bradley had it covered when they launched a board game version of the Arcade hit!

I've already posted about my other Milton Bradley board game versions of popular Arcade games - Frogger from 1981 and Pac man from 1982. It seems like a weird concept at first, after all much of the Arcade games or even Home Console versions of these games comes from the difficulty, sense of achievement, sounds, music and speed in with the games move, but they oddly translate pretty well; this may of course depend on how big a Nerd you are, but meh I'm a pretty big one, and I like these versions for different reasons to why I like the Video Game versions but in some ways, just the same!

Anyway, on to game play and contents... The board is set out like the Video Game with the different levels and girders between each, for your Jumpman / Mario character counter to move up the board in an attempt to rescue The Lady / Pauline from the clutches of Donkey Kong. 

In keeping with the Video Game Donkey Kong throws Barrels and fireballs (once the barrels land at the bottom of the board)  in an attempt to hit and kill you.

The game features a large and quite dominating looking stand alone Donkey Kong, with a movable arm into which you place individual barrels which he then "throws" down the board. These barrels rolls are determined by throwing the "Donkey Die" which gives options for throwing barrels, or Donkey Kong taking a rest, so more more barrels or fireballs enter play until the next throw.

The game is for up to 4 players, each one has a different colour in order to differentiate while all the tokens are on the board. At the start of the game each player chooses one of the 4 Jumpman characters and is then dealt 3 cards before the game can begin.

The cards give players the ability to Jump or Smash the barrels with a hammer as you approach then, they also give the number of points you score when performing these acts as you move along and up the board. 

There are also opportunities to avoid obstacles on the board, again these opportunities are played with the use of cards. It is also possible to loose points accrued by not having enough cards in play during your turn and your opponent also has the opportunity to take a card off you at various points in the game. This of course makes the game harder than if it was just a case of getting to the top of the board to win.

 The winner is the player who scores the most points while travelling across and up the board.

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KOJAK Detective Board Game by Arrow Games Ltd - 1975

Growing up in the 80's there were a load of great cop shows to watch on T.V. one of my favourites was Kojak, it was gritty, and unlike our British cop shows, American Detectives had guns! 

While I enjoyed the punch ups our T.V crime fighters dished out on a variety of villains, there was something so alluring about the idea of living in a big city like New York and going on wild car chases, waving guns and saying things like "Book 'em Daddio", "say it to the judge" or in the case of Kojak "Who loves ya baby" while taking them "Down Town to get Booked" that found it's way into our pretend games far easier than anything The Sweeney or Body & Doyle from The Professionals had to offer.

The best thing was if you wanted to play at being Kojak all you needed was a plastic gun, a pair of sunglasses (optional) and a lollipop!

A few years back I found another way to play Kojak, when I happened upon a board game version of the series from 1975. Of course, I just had to get my hands on it and give it a go!!

The game is for 2 to 4 players who play the role of a Detective in the Manhattan South Precinct. The Detective counters take the form of two colour coded cars; choose from Red, Yellow, Green or Blue, which you move around the board as you hunt one of the 4 Criminal counters; also coloured Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. 

The idea is that 4 serious crimes have been committed and a file for each has been opened at the precinct; these are also colour coded: The Red File concerns a Bank Raid, The Yellow File a Political Corruption case, The Blue File a string of scams by a team of Confidence Tricksters and The Green File is a case of a Gangland Killing.

To set up the board to begin the game, each of the the 4 Criminal Counters (also colour coded) are placed on one of the areas of the board marked Bank, Club House, City Hall and Hotel on the sections of that area denoted by a black dot.

The Detective cars are placed in the Down Town Car Park in the centre of the board at the start of the game, the person with the highest number on the dice begins the game by travelling in a clockwise direction around the board until they reach the Contact Card Room, this is where you collect your assignment. 

After you receive your assignment you are able to draw Trap cards which will assist you in catching the Criminal you have been assigned to arrest. You will also need a Warrant card to do this. 

Once you have the correct cards to capture your Criminal you can proceed around the board until you get to one of the 4 buildings in which your Criminal is hiding. When you get there you Stake Out the building while the Criminal moves to a position in the building denoted by the red area in which you are able to arrest them.

Once your Criminal is caught you return to the Down Town Car Park and start again, until all the Criminals are captured. The winner is the Detective who makes the most number of arrests.

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