The following information is classified TOP SECRET… It’s 1976. Your TV show board game is The Bionic Woman. Girlie colors. Kickass bionic powers. And maybe a big hairy sasquatch…
Object: Assist Jaimie Sommers with her Top Secret Assignment. Highest score wins.
Jaimie was an inspiration to America’s girls, who refused to hold it against her even when she revealed her bionic powers to that evil hairdresser. She had to get her hairs did so she’d look hot for Col. Steve Austin, for gawds sake!
Hello, Friday! Hello, nuther ’70s TV show board game! This time, it’s badass left coast detectives in a testosterone-fueled Ford Gran Torino. Yes, my friend, the original Starsky & Hutch…
The car, aka The Striped Tomato, was a star in its own right.
Object: Be the first to stop the mad bomber by collecting all four matching cards.
Did I mention I haven’t even ripped the cellophane open yet? I just can’t bring myself to do it! This game is mint with a capital PEPPA.
Leather jackets. Double denim. Macrame plant hangers. A streetwise informant named Huggy Bear. What didn’t this show have? Other than a short man in a white jacket yelling “De plane! De plane!”, I mean.
Watch the first episode. Sing along to David Soul’s big hit from 1976. Geek out in an S&H car of your own. That’s right, live the dream. Why not? It’s Friday.
I feel like I should apologize for a string of entries about things, but they’re the easiest to post about when there’s a sumo wrestler sitting on your sinuses.
So check out what I just pulled out of the closet that hasn’t seen the light of day for three years: our framed, uncut sheet of Wacky Packages stickers (1st Series 1979 Rerun Sheet)…
You’ve seen Wacky Packs, right? Made by Topps, they included six stickers and a pack of gum. The stickers spoofed the products of the day and were illustrated by cartoonists like Art Spiegelman. Pretty silly stuff…
We thought the back was pretty awesome, too, so we had the sheet framed in glass so we could flip it over and look at it…
Now that you’re saying to yourself, “that’s so cool!”, let me tell you the backstory behind this particular sheet.
Picked this up at a Manhattan flea market 11 or 12 years ago for $30. Curiously cheap. We figured it was cool enough to hang up whether it was legit or not. Wackypackages.org claims it’s not counterfeit, however…
This is the infamous 1979 rerun sheet. Tens of thousands of these suddenly showed up in 1999, before that they would sell for around $150 each, now they can be obtained for about $20 (at one point you could get them for under $10), certainly the cheapest sheet at this time. There has been a lot of speculation as to why so many showed up.
It came out that these sheets were part of a planned promotion for Bond Bread around 1985. Bond Bread was apparently going to use them like Wonder Bread had. They were printed in the same factory in Philadelphia that the rest of the wackys were printed at. This was around 1985… They were printed and die-cut, and yet they were never shipped, due to some sort of cease and desist or perhaps due to a change of plans on the corporate level, we are not sure. So there they sat on a pallet for 15 years, with the “stop shipment order” stuck on top. Eventually the factory went out of business and went abandoned… There the sheets sat, until they were found sometime in 1999.
… It appears there were on the order of 100,000 of these sheets.
So there ya go. Our sheet will likely never be worth anything but that’s not really why we bought it. Wacky Packs rule.
I’m really digging this Friday ’70s TV show board games theme. So fun to peek at them again after having them packed away for the last three years. Dial your Way Back Machine to 1971, kids! How ridic is this Partridge Family game?
The flouncy shirts. The flare-leg pants. The shag haircuts. Ah the life of a show-biz family on tour is so exciting! But wait… where’s mom’s tambourine?
Object: The Partridge Family has finished playing at a local arena and must hurry to their bus. The winner is the first member of the family to reach the bus.
Oh, David Cassidy, you’re soooo dreamy. I Think I Love You.
Yay, it’s Friday! That means I’m pulling another 70s TV show board game out of my insanely packed closet to take another whiff of vintage with you. Ready? This week: Welcome Back, Kotter. Breathe it in…
Object: Be your favorite Sweathog and be the first to complete the expression “Up your nose with a rubber hose!”
For those who may not have seen the show (omg), “Up your nose…” was their go-to insult. The game comes with a green hose but no warning to not actually shove this object in your schnoz.
If you’d like to hum the theme song while you scroll, here it is.
I can’t explain how I ended up with all these ’70s TV show board games. They’re cool, sure (and remarkably cheesy), but I have no room for them. Should I keep them? Help me decide! This week: Charlie’s Angels.
Object: Trap the villain with your beautiful team of Angels. After three games, the player with the most points wins.
omg, roller skates!
That’s from the infamous roller derby episode. Here, in all its feathered and bra-less glory.
and this picture, ftw?…
From the outset of the show, they pushed hard for Kelly to be the hottie — she snagged all the best shots, even in this game…
But I think we all know who the real star was…
It’s Friday! Last week that meant The Six Million Dollar Man. Digging further back into my closet of obsessive collecting of 1970s TV show board games, this week I offer you Space 1999. Why? Because I can.
Object: Be the first commander to land all your eagles on your target planet.
OMG, completion of bunk bed is finally underway!
It only took 10 months to get back to it but now it’s actually happening! I guess last year’s February post turned out to be a cliffhanger. But lookie…
I like how the wood treads echo the wood on the bunk above. Good work, David!
(Shoulda straightened that poster before I took the picture, eh? Oh well.)
Maybe in another 10 months we’ll get around to finishing the ceiling, floor and trim. *sigh*
In my very first post last February, I showed how our entire household is a maze of boxes and piles awaiting an actual remodel. There are things in those boxes I haven’t seen in three years, including my inexplicable collection of ’70s TV show boardgames — still haven’t decided if I’m keeping those, although I guess they make sense in a ’70s house.
This week I pulled them out to appreciate their cheesey goodness and will now share one with you every Friday until I run out. Ready? Let’s start with The Six Million Dollar Man…
Object: Each player controls a bionic man — but only one is the real Six Million Dollar Man. The first player to complete his four assignments wins the game, proving he’s the Six Million Dollar Man.
Hot. I say that man is undervalued.
Guess who just came out for the holidays? No, I don’t mean Ricky Martin, silly wabbit. I mean our vintage aluminum Christmas tree, vintage Holly Time revolving tree stand and trippy vintage color wheel. ’Tis the season, homies!
Wanna join me in being a kid again? Come on…
And last but not least, the Santa tree topper…
Where I find these things (in case you actually care)
eBay | The place to go when you want something specific. My favorite searches: “vintage Italian glass Christmas (or Xmas) ornament”, “vintage sputnik Christmas (or Xmas) ornament”, “vintage atomic Christmas (or Xmas) ornament” and “vintage spinner Christmas (or Xmas) ornament”. I’ve also gotten a few great vintage trees — as you’d figure, just hunt for “vintage aluminum Christmas tree.”
tin toy sites | There are plenty of places to pick up Japanese tin toys, but I tend to frequent tinmantintoys.com and tintoyarcade.com. I gave up trying to score deals on vintage tin toys on eBay — prices are astronomical. Obviously big demand for them by collectors. Since I’m using them as tree decorations, I figure they can be repro. They all come with keys and actually wind up, spin, roll, twirl, etc. They tend to be heavy so I use fishing line to afix them to the branches.
flea markets and antique stores | Good for great old Shiny Brite decorations, felt elves and whatnot. You just never know what you’ll find.
revolving tree stands | There are new ones out there but if you want an old one, try “vintage revolving Christmas tree stand” or “vintage Christmas tree turner” on eBay. If you’re willing to pay a little more to make sure the stand will work for years to come, there are a few sites that recondition the vintage stand motors. Oak Tree Vintage is one of them. Ours was new in the box, dated 1961. Works like a charm… well, most of the time.
color wheels | eBay eBay eBay. I’ve never seen another one that looks like ours… yet.
