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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🦉 Twin Peaks Board Game by Paul Lamond Games Ltd - 1991 🦉

local-pittsburgh.com

I was a huge fan of Twin Peaks, back in 1990 when season one was released on UK television, I eagerly awaited each new episode, I love the surrealism of David Lynch's work and have most of his films.

But Twin Peaks was something else, so absorbing and intriguing; I couldn't wait for season two, and when I discovered that a film: "Fire Walk With Me" was coming out in the cinema, well I got excited for that too!

I was so pleased to add that dvd to my complete seasons one and two box-sets as well and expanding my Lynch collection.

When Christmas 1993 came around and visiting my parents over the holiday, I received a very pleasant surprise from my Mum...  

A brand new Twin Peaks Board Game!

It surprised me on two counts... I had no idea my Mum knew I liked Twin Peaks or that a board game had been made of it!

At first glance the game seems quite complicated as the board has a straightforward roll a standard die and move design around the outside and across the middle to collect doughnut tokens...

This is also the part of the board where you earn one of 50 Suspect cards... you need 4 of these showing the same suspect.

The board also has an inner roll and move section which is played using a Black Jack die and is differentiated by it being marked out in card suit symbols.

This inner section is "The Inside Track" section, marked in card suits.

If the symbol on the Poker die matches the one on the square you are on, you earn a diamond shaped token which when all of them have been collected form a pentagram with extra clues on which help you solve the case.

The very centre of the board has a "spinner" - This is The Dream Sequence part of the game which you will need to use in order to receive a clue in the form of a backwards sentence...

Once you unravel this clue (you must do so before the other players count to 10) you will then receive another clue which will send you to another part of the board, where you will have to find something to help you gather evidence.

You play as one of  the six main characters from the first Series and attempt to solve the clues so you can discover the identity of who BOB is currently possessing and using as a tool to commit his crimes. 

The F.B.I Agent's Handbook By Special Agent Dale Cooper, contains a wealth of information regarding each character and the rules they follow when playing the game, information on The Spirit-world Talisman, a map of the town of Twin Peaks and information Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry Truman collected during their investigation, plus some information on The White Lodge and The Black Lodge.

To win the game, you need to hold 4 Suspect cards, 13 Doughnuts and a full Talisman showing BOB in the centre. 

I love this map, I think I might have to get it printed and framed!

Remember ... 

"The Owls are not what they seem"

Hugs,

🍄 Super Mario Bros. Board Game by Waddingtons - 1992 🍄

www.independent.co.uk

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but Aaron is a huge Retro Video Game nerd, he loves old consoles that other people would term as obsolete, 8 Bit Games, hand held, vintage consoles and arcade games and machines...

One series of games he's always had a love of is the Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. series of games by Nintendo, so when I discovered the Super Mario Bros. Board Game by Waddingtons, I just couldn't resist getting it for him!
                                                                         
The game is for 2 to 4 players, aged 7 to adult, and like it's video game counterparts, the aim of the game is to find the Princess...

Apart from the four playing counters, (two Luigi & two Mario), the box contains: 4 Princess Tokens (only 1 of which contains The Princess, the rest bear the words "The Princess is not here"), 12 Life Tokens and 40 Bricks...

The box states The object of the game: "To be the first player to find the Princess who is hidden in one of the Castles. Or if all other players have lost all their lives, to be the last remaining player in the game."
                                                                       

Each player chooses to play as either a Mario or Luigi, and is given 3 "Life Tokens" at the start of the game, there are also "Extra Lives" and "Gold Coins" to collect, which can be traded for additional lives throughout the game, this can be very useful if you happen to "Lose a Life" at any point.

boardgamegeek.com

You may land on a "Short Cut" square, at which point you'll have to wait until your next turn to either continue clockwise around the board or use one point from your next die roll to jump straight across the board to the "Short Cut Space" of the same colour to the one on the opposite side of the board to which you started from, then continue from there to use the rest of your dice roll to move around the board.

Each of the Castle Spaces in the centre of the board contain a Princess counter which is placed face down in a    on the board. If you turn this counter over and it is the Princess, then you have won the game, if not, then you must return that counter to the Princess Counters, shuffle them and replace it with another, face down, and then return your playing piece back to the start of the game.

boardgamegeek.com

Along the way you may also have to "Shuffle the Princesses", land on a square under a column of bricks, remove a brick, turn over a brick, roll again, lose a life, miss a turn, be sent back to the start, end up in an empty column (one that has no bricks) and be forced to take a detour, or "Zap" 1, 2 or 3 Bricks from the board.

1965 Bewitched - Samantha Stephens doll by Ideal.

I'm sure you'll be amazed to discover that I've always been a fan of the 1960s TV Series Bewitched, what with this blog having the word kitsch in it's title and all!

There are just so many things to love about the show, Elizabeth Montgomery is beautiful, glamorous and sassy as Samantha Stephens, Agnes Moorhead is as amazing as ever in her role as the glamorous 1000+ something year old Endora and the ever funny Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur and then there's all those sets, beautifully and  sumptuously decorated in all the latest mod cons the 1960s had to offer.

Add to that, Witches, Warlocks, and back-firing spells and for me you're onto a winner!

One thing I always wanted growing up, apart from being Tabitha Stephens, was a Samantha Stephens Witch doll. But I didn't think they existed so I was pretty surprised to discover recently that in fact they do!

They were produced a decade before I was born, and as I obviously grew up on re-runs, the Bewitched merchandise had already run it's course years before, not that there was much of it.

The Samantha Stephens doll was made by the Ideal Toy Company in 1965, with a baby version of Tabitha being released in 1966, both are now sadly quite rare.

Ebay.com

The Samantha Stephens doll as a 12" version of everybody's favourite Witch, dressed in a long red velvet cocktail style dress, covered in glittery sparkles, complete with red Witch's hat, shoes and straw broom. She had movable arms and bendable legs, 

A boxed doll will set you back between $499.99 and $625.99, nude dolls are much cheaper but you're still looking at around $56.00 for her.

The above image is taken from an auction which ends in 8 days, the seller is asking for $625.99, for the doll in a reproduction box, but generously offers the option of paying for her in 6 instalments of $105.00, if you are interested you can find the auction page here: 1965 IDEAL BEWITCHED SAMANTHA DOLL

Oh and before I go, Endora wants to say "Hi"!

✨ Star Trek The Final Frontier Board Game.by B.M.I Print Division LTD -1992 ✨

http://www.comingsoon.net/

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this, but I'm a life-long "Trekkie", more specifically, the original series - you just can't beat Capt. Kirk and Lt. Spock as far as I'm concerned.

Over the years, I've managed to get my hands on a few bits and pieces of merchandise pertaining to that series, the stuff I like is few and far between to be honest, so I  don't often find many items that take my fancy...

The Final Frontier Board Game was one of those items that I just had to have, as board games go it's pretty basic but heck it's not quite Snakes & Ladders, so here's the low down..

"This is the Star Trek Enterprise, your mission is to be given four destinations in your Solar Chart and return to Earth before your competitors..."

The game is for 2 to 6 players aged ten to adult.

There are 10 destinations in the Star Chart, you will only need to visit four - these destinations are determined by which cards you are dealt from the Mission Pack.

The aim of the game is to travel around the board and reach your four destinations. Along the way you may encounter Black Holes, these may either help or hinder you, depending on how the cards fall.

Once you have reached all four of your destinations, you must throw an exact number to be the first to reach Earth and win the game.

Star Wars - Escape from the Death Star Board Game by Palitoy -1977

Growing up with a big brother I shared his love of all things Star Wars, we couldn't get enough of the films and merchandise released from each of the films when they came out.

For a many years our favourite game to while away rainy days was the "Escape from the Death Star" board game, released by Palitoy in 1977.

The game is for 2 to 4 players, aged 8 to 10, but don't let that fool you, the game is still fun, even at mine and my Son's ages. 

The box contains 8 Playing Tokens, 4 Death Star Blue Print Cards, 4 Tractor Beam Cards, an  R2D2 Spinner, a Deck Of 52 Force Cards and of course the game board.

Each player has two playing pieces, Han & Chewbacca and Princess Leia & Luke Skywalker and both playing pieces must reach the Rebel's Base before a player can win the game.

As you travel around the board you must  Death Star Blueprints which you collect as you move around the board.

To help or hinder you along the way, you must periodically draw from the "Force Card" Pack, and follow the instructions written on it.

The back of the box reads: "Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca are trapped in the Death Star Trash Compactor. It's your challenge to help them escape to the freedom of the Rebel Base."

"R2D2 spins out your moves, but you must decide what passage ways to follow. The safe way is the long way. And time is running out. You must turn off the tractor beam and pick up a pair of secret plans. Will you take short cuts that risk encounters with the Force? You will if you're daring, and could be the first to board the Millennium Falcon, fight your way through Tie Fighters, and reach the rebel Base to win!"

Although the game is now quite rare, I've recently seen some come up for sale on Ebay.co.uk for between £30.56 and £49.99, whereas Amazon.uk also has two for sale priced at £49.99 and £80.00!!

Yet another Dolls House - My New Replacement House!! - 1970's / Early 1980's GeeBee Dolls House with Georgian Windows.

I've already told you the woeful story of how I lost my two childhood doll's houses and how I've spent years trying to find and replace them and all the furniture / people I housed within them... I found a "as close as dammit" Triang several years ago which replaced the lost one from my childhood, however I found it a complete nightmare to even find a replacement for my GeeBee house, and when I did find them they were way out of my price tag, until two weeks ago, when I decided to bid on one I'd been saving in my Ebay Watch List, I actually missed out on it on it's first listing as it had a starting bid of £29.00 and I'd already spent all my money so I wouldn't have been able to pay for it if I had of won...

Photo from listing

Turned out it was a good thing too as a few days late (and closer to Pay Day) it was relisted, only this time the price had been lowered to £19.00, so of course I couldn't stop myself from taking a chance at auction and yay I won, and then it got even better as the seller who had had the house since her own childhood and obviously looked after it very well, refunded me £6.00 on the postage as the original amount stated turned out to be more than it actually cost, so not only did I finally find my house in great condition, but I also (technically) got £16 knocked off the price woot woot!

Photo from listing

Like my other GeeBee dolls house, this one is also made of wood and hardboard (quite possibly they all are), the front of the house is pretty much a facade with only the veranda which goes from the back of the house at second floor level on the left side; around the side, stopping halfway across the front where a staircase (the only one the house has!) connects the second floor to ground level stopping just outside the front door.

This house has a far more generous sided ground than the smaller GeeBee house I have, being approx five and a half inches from the wall to the end of the cobblestone base on which it sits.

The wall below the veranda is decorated with shingle effect; like the rest of the house, and a door, window and large arrangement of flower troughs which go from the non opening door right along to the side wall of the veranda's supporting wall. This wall is decorated on the outside with sandstone brick effect, flowers and an apple tree, there is also a small opening metal double window to let some light into the gallery style room behind the wall.

The veranda is decorated with wood effect planking and a largish yellow trim below it. the room that opens out onto the veranda has a large bay window, decorated with several Crown Glass (bullseye) circles in the panes, and boosts double glazing as well as a door at the facing the front of the house, through which the occupants are able to access an enjoy the view from the veranda on a sunny day.

The two bay windows and the door on the second floor give the house a very light an airy feel to it... Although there are no bay windows on the first floor there are a door an double window which also let in a fair amount of light, so even the gallery room downstairs which proportions wise, isn't useful as a main room; but will do just fine as a utility, gallery style kitchen, or in this case bathroom: I've never been able to deal with the idea of my dolls having to get up in the middle of the night and go outside to find somewhere to go privy, so every dolls house I have must have a bathroom or at least the semblance of one or I have a hard time dealing with it!

Image from google search

As you can see in the above picture, there is an extra post / support for the balcony which is missing from the house I purchased - shown in the first two pictures. However, this is an easy fix and as mine has the red staircase for this area, which is not glued or otherwise secured into place and so could easily have been lost over the years, I really don't mind spending a few minutes to cut a piece of wood to replace it.

While I was awaiting delivery of this house, I did crazy amounts of google searches and read countless dollshouse group postings, read blog posts, squidoo pages and anything else that mentioned GeeBee houses in an attempt to find out more about this house and also hopefully find some images so I can compare them with the house in my mind's eye and the one I purchased, so that when it arrived I can work out if anything is missing, and what if anything I nee to make or do in order to replace any broken or missing parts.

However, I really wasn't able to find much at all and even less with corresponding photographs, I lost count of the amount of information I read just because it had the words GeeBee dolls house, only to discover after reading it that it was an entirely different house, and so apart from the limited information and photographs I've managed to collate here, I'm still sadly, pretty clueless about it.

Image from google search

Image from google search

The two photographs above show views of the left and right sides of the house respectively, as you can see there is a lot of detail on the outside, which again gives the house a kind of "up market" feel, I mean just imagine if this was a real house with that cladding and fixtures on the facade it would cost at least a couple of thousand pounds, in the right location of course!

The view of the left side, showing the two windows on that side also shows that the house should have a yellow trim running around bottom of the veranda, in that photograph it has been damaged, however, mine thankfully has no damage in that area. it also has all the original windows and doors, right down to the "Georgian style window" insert with several Crown Glass ( Bullseye) printed onto plastic which fits into the bay window giving the effect of  double glazing in the bay windows

The regular yellow and white metal windows all have their perspex "glass", locks, and surround in place, but as these are made to be opened they do not have the bay appearance or the double glazing of the others..

Image from google search

The front of the house has three doors, two of which open both of white have the same yellow metal frames and white inserts which match the opening windows; the third one is just for decoration.

The door closest to the veranda's staircase opens onto  a large living room area, the other door opens onto the smaller of the two bedrooms and is recessed into an arched porch type area coming off the veranda.

Image from another Ebay Listing.

The back of the house is completely open for access to the three rooms on the ground floor an two rooms upstairs, each of which in true 1970's/1980's dollshouse kitsch style, have printed rugs placed in the centre of each floor.

Like my other GeeBee house the inner walls which also form the outer walls have approximately half an inch to one inch, wooden frames, the bottom supports of which run along the inside of the floor, against the wall itself, this can make it a bit of a nuisance to arrange furniture as I discovered recently with my smaller GeeBee house, when I attempted to arrange the Jean's of Germany kitchen set I have for it, unlike this house that one has windows positioned in such a way that here are only one or maybe two ways in which you can arrange the cupboards and white goods, but due to the wooden floor support they do not fit flush against the wall and therefore jut out slightly and take up valuable floor space.

However, the position or doors, windows an floor supports in this house makes interior designing a lt easier, especially as the rooms are bigger too. What I do find a little odd though and cannot remember ever noticing as a child, although I'm sure I would have done so, is the distance between the floor and the bottom of the doors, it has to be approaching an inch, so I guess I'll have to put up some "Mind Your Step" signs before the new homeowners move in or else one of them may end up breaking their leg!

In terms of scale the house, like my other GeeBee and my Triang is 1: 24th.

the house itself is rather large when compared to the Triang and one berom GeeBee houses as this one approximately: 16 inches / 42cm Tall.   22 inches / 56cm long  and  15 inches /38cm wide.

I think half the reason why I have been having such a hard time locating this house is because I have never known the name of  the model, and only realised it must be a GeeBee house when I saw similar external decoration on another style house while looking through countless Ebay pages trying to see if it was possible to fin another on there... and it also seems to be quite rare, this style only seems to come up for purchase once in a blue moon.

I guess it is possible that due to it's large size it in't sell as well as other models, as a doll's house generally requires an area on a shelf or piece of furniture onto which it can be placed and remain relatively undisturbed when it is not being played with, there's also the mater of devilish little pets stealing items so they too can play, so most dolls houses tend to be "up" somewhere, and it's not always possible to find the space to do so.

GeeBee made a similar house which is often described as a "Chalet" but while it has several features in common with this one, it is very clear to me just how different they are and so instead of purchasing one of those, which I have to admit I have passed up the chance to do so many times as I just couldn't allow myself to buy another GeeBee house unless it was identical to the one I loved as a child and lost during our move to Wales.

Still at least I can now say my quest for a replacement is finally over!