Review a home game...

[SimpsonGeek]

This is a simple topic, take one of the many home game versions of game shows and review it.


Family Feud
(Milton Bradley) 1970's and 80's


Box Cover: B+
Nice simple picture of a fake host and families playing the feud. The question appears to be \"Name a male's name that begins with R\".

Game Materials: A
A very nice game board that looks just like the show, the only exception is that you pull a plastic tab across to reveal the answer instead of flipping it. Plenty of questions are included, more than you'll probably need.

Playability: A
Great, just like the show. Only problem is that you'll need plenty of people to play, which is tough to do at times.

Overall: A-
A very faithful adaption and MUCH better than the current game put out by Endless.


OK,Now you try....

[PeterMarshallFan]

Match Game '7x
MB--1974, plus two others

Cover: C

Decent enough drawing of a contestant playing the Audience Match.

Materials: B+

Points off for the weird looking celebrity board.

Playabilty: D-

baaaaaad. Just read the question and the answers. Not very fun at all. The only thing that keeps it from being an F is the fact that w/ the third edition and enough people, you could have some fun.

Overall: C-
The 60's game was better.

[zachhoran]

One oddity about the MB Feud home games is that the rules tell you to reveal the six given answers for Fast Money questions, a better idea is to keep the answers hidden, as done on the show itself.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jun 22 2003, 06:46 PM\'] One oddity about the MB Feud home games is that the rules tell you to reveal the six given answers for Fast Money questions, a better idea is to keep the answers hidden, as done on the show itself. [/quote]
 I agree, I always thought that was a pretty stupid rule. The way I figured it, if you gave an answer that wasn't among the six listed, you DESERVED the zero...

[That Don Guy]

Family Feud
(Milton Bradley) 1970's and 80's

Playability: A
Great, just like the show. Only problem is that you'll need plenty of people to play, which is tough to do at times.

I remember playing a version with friends in the mid-1980s.  There was one flaw: each game had only three rounds (two single and one double), so one strategy was, if the team that was ahead after two rounds controlled the third round and that round's score was less than what was needed to won, the players on that team intentionally struck out.  (Given the way the game was laid out - one booklet with the \"game boards\" and one with the answers for the host - there doesn't seem to be an easy way around it.  If the third rounds of each game were the same difficulty as the others, perhaps adding a \"winner-take-all\" fourth round would be best; having it after three pretty much makes the first two rounds meaningless.)


-- Don  (side question: how many of the old MB games had the white $1000 bills?)

[SimpsonGeek]

Wheel of Fortune
(Milton Bradley) 1975

Box Cover: C+
A very odd picture of the set with a host who looks british.

Game Materials: C-
A very primitive wheel includes a \"Buy A Vowel\" space and a \"Bankrupt\" Space is green. The letter board isn't much better, a non-decorated yellow chunk of plastic, which you put seperate letters in backwards, which at times can be very confusing to the host. Most of the prizes in this game are taken from the Price is Right game which was also out at the time

Playability: B-
Like the original Wheel started out. The \"Buy A Vowel\" wedge is very dull. This is also the only home version of Wheel in which you go \"shopping\" for your prizes after the round.

Overall: C
Like I originally said, It's just like the real Wheel started out, it started out dull but over time it got better. I suggest you buy one of the Pressman games.

[DjohnsonCB]

[quote name=\'SimpsonGeek\' date=\'Jun 22 2003, 10:13 PM\'] The letter board isn't much better, a non-decorated yellow chunk of plastic, which you put seperate letters in backwards, which at times can be very confusing to the host. [/quote]
 There *is* one advantage to the early Wheel game.  Because the letters can be placed in the board individually, the host can actually come up with his own puzzles instead of being limited to the ones in the booklet, or the ones in the other companies' versions that are pre-made on large sheets you slip in.

My review is of Eye Guess.

This one was well thought out, implement-wise, with a plastic board and answer lids (which were originally used in another ancient MB game called Pivot), and everything could fit into the common MB long flat game box.  Plus, the smaller cardboard lid that fit on the Q/A answer box for storage could be placed over the board and lifted so the answers could all be exposed at once for players to study, and it also came in handy for the host to place the question book in so no one could look at the questions that were on the other side on the book.  The only debit was that the thick black lettering used on the STOP card combined with the yellow color of the answer lids made it easy for me and others to see where STOP was hidden in the bonus game.  They should have reversed the colors (making Eye Guess yellow and the number lids blue or red), or at least rethought the color scheme and letter font for the STOP card.

Grade: A-

The box cover:  The board and Bill Cullen pictured, and a near-accurate repro of the show logo--what more could you want?

Grade: A

The game play?  It still holds up after all these decades.  I know--I take it to a local group that meets every so often, and one of the ladies just LOVES it.  She may not have even seen the show.

Grade: A

Overall grade: A

[zachhoran]

If you remember the MB-marketed Hangman game of the 70s(Hangman of course is the word game on which WOF is loosely based), are the tiles used in the MB 70s WOF games the same as the tiles used in the MB Hangman games.

[SimpsonGeek]

The Hollywood Squares
(Milton Bradley) 1980


Box Cover: B+
A nice cover with a huge HS logo taking up most of the cover, few points off because of the odd looking celebs, but we'll get into that a little bit later.

Game Materials: D
The board is nothing like the show, so very cartoonish, nothing like the show at all. The static cling \"X\" and \"O\"s stop working after a while and fall off too many times. The only saving grace are the question booklets.

Playability: B-
Meh, it's OK. It would be much more fun with real celebs. Points off for no mention of a secret square.

Overall: C
The game board is the worst part of this game. If you want a good Squares game get the most recent one by Parker Brothers.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'SimpsonGeek\' date=\'Jun 22 2003, 10:13 PM\'] Box Cover: C+
A very odd picture of the set with a host who looks british.

 [/quote]
 How does one look British? Is it the teeth?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Jun 23 2003, 09:58 AM\'] How does one look British? Is it the teeth? [/quote]
 That and their obvious disdain for the Dutch.

[Bob Zager]

JEOPARDY (2003) by Pressman


Box Cover (B+):

Excellent box cover art, but the cardboard is very thin, so I don't recommend stacking anything heavy on top of it, for the serious box game collector's sake.


Game contents  ©:

Only changes in this game, compared to all earlier Pressman editions are cosmetic, except for the use of the bigger money amounts in game.  The gameboard console, which used to be red, is now BLUE.  The sheets of answers (or clues), are printed black on white, with no overprint of \"JEOPARDY!\" on the sheets.  The money amount slides, and those for DD and FJ, are once again thin cardboard, and the signaling snappers are all one color.

Playability  (B):

Just wish the Daily Doubles were pre-selected, and not randomly by your choice, and that Final Jeopardy! used a different category, like on the show (and in the Hasbro/Parker Brothers version from 2000).

Overall  (B-):

The Hasbro/Parker Brothers edition still stands as the best Jeopardy! home game ever made, IMO!

[Mike Tennant]

High Rollers  (\"Based on the New Hit TV Game Show,\" which lasted, unfortunately, exactly how long?)
(Parker Brothers, 1988)

Box Cover:  A

It's a bright, colorful photograph of a game in progress on the actual set, with the big numbers in the background and a nice depiction of the logo (though split up to fit on the box horizontally).  Plus, it shows good ol' Wink!

Game Materials:  A-

Very colorful, with box serving as dice table, stand-up board with little plastic shelves for the numbers, and nice (and numerous) prize cards.  There's no play money, just cardboard tokens to pay out for the Big Numbers and nothing to give out for winning mini-games (which are somewhat dull anyway).  There are lots of questions, and the two-sided question booklet makes it possible for two people to play without an MC.  Some clickers would have been nice, but they're not a necessity.

Playability:  A

You can't get much closer to the real thing than this.  The rules are clear, and they pretty much follow the show to a tee.  The questions are very much like those used on the show, though they don't have the, um, charm of the ones in the first edition MB game (see Mr. Ottinger's Game Show Home Game Home Page for details).  Even though there's no money on the line, it's still somewhat thrilling to beat the Big Numbers since it's not easy to do.  (I should know.  I just played this game the other day and \"won\" $10,000.)

Overall:  A

It's a very faithful adaptation and does a lot for a relatively low cost.  Of course, you don't get the nice photo of Alex Trebek with a 'fro on this one. . . .

[ChuckNet]

The board is nothing like the show, so very cartoonish, nothing like the show at all. The static cling \"X\" and \"O\"s stop working after a while and fall off too many times.

MB also used the \"colorform\" Xs and Os for their 1988 HS game, and I had the same prob.

Chuck DOnegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[zachhoran]

And of course MB also Red, White, and Gold hexagons of the same type for their Blockbusters game in 1982.