Fashion Plates

Today we steer away from board games and wrap-up August with one of my favorites:  Fashion Plates

These toys were awesome, and I obviously liked them, considering that my sister and I had at least three of them (we still have three today).  As a kid I pretty much enjoyed playing with anything which involved coloring and drawing, so these were right up my alley.  Kind of ironic though....I am definitely no Monet these days.  Anywho (shout out to CQ), below are our surviving Fashion Plates:

All of the above were phenomenal products of Hasbro.  The first two are copyrighted 1989, the last one with the bear has a copyright stamp from 1991. Fashion Plates operated as follows: You'd select from 2-3 versions of plates and place them in the drawing area.  You'd then place a piece of paper over the plates and close the frame around them.  You'd rub the side of the supplied crayon over the paper on the plates, revealing the design below.  I was too dumb to realize this as a child, but examining the plates today I realized that on the reverse side of the plates were designs that could serve as a pattern to infill the clothes outlines.  Pretty neato.  I've gotta try this out.

The original fashion plates were products of the 19th century, when images were created to display the latest ladies' fashions in mail order catalogs.  The 1980s Hasbro version doesn't stray too far from that idea.  With the first Fashion plate, you could choose from a variety of heads, torsos, and bottoms sporting a wide variety of clothing styles.  This toy was obviously a product of the 80s because no one today wears loafers with knee-highs and shorts or MC Hammer pants.  This are tell-tale signs of 80s fashions.  As are the results of my early days as a make-up artist:

What was so great about the Face Fashion Plates was that it came with eye shadow and blush.  I was a big fan of applying copious amounts of blue eyeshadow to the brow line.  At times I may have gone a bit overboard with the blush, but what did I know?  I was five.  I'm not sure of the exact date of the artwork to the left, but I'm thinking it was done in the early to mid 90s, because I doubt that even I was that good at staying in the lines as a five year old.  I was, however, aware enough of the world around me to create a diverse array of faces.  I don't remember using the smaller plates with the bear all that often.  There is evidence of my sister writing her name with the crayon on the plastic (not recommended as a mode of play).  She did the same thing (backwards) on my big Fashion Plates drawing area. 

I'll leave you with this image detailing the raised design on the plates.  I hope other people enjoyed playing with these as much as I did.  I'm pretty sure they're still around, a true testament to their greatness.

Pizza Party

Today we play Pizza Party

Debuting in 1987, Parker Brothers' Pizza Party looked like it could be a fun game.  And it was, when I was 3 in 1987.  Having revived this game 2 weeks ago with my sister, I quickly discovered there's a reason why Parker Bros. intended this game for ages 4 to 8.  You know how some games just say 4 and up?  Well they made this one 4 to 8 because it is dullsville for anyone with the mental capacity beyond that of a sloth. 

The object of this game was to be the first player to fill your pizza slice with all six of the same topping pieces.  To start, each player selected a "slice" with a uniquely colored handle.  The topping pieces were placed face down in the center of the table.  A player would take his first turn by selecting a topping piece and placing it face up in an opening on his slice.  That topping would then become the player's designated topping and his goal would then be to fill his slice with all six pieces of that topping.  If another player already claimed the selected topping as his own, the piece was returned, face down, to the middle of the table.  This was where it was useful to remember where your opponent placed unwanted pieces, because if it was yours, you could select it on your next turn.  To mix things up a little, Parker Bros. also threw in "switch pieces."  If a player selected a switch piece, they had to switch their in-progess slice with the slice that had the handle matching the color on the switch piece.  If the player was in possesion of that color when the switch was selected, he must switch his slice with any other slice.  This could be awesome or depressing, depending on the progress of your slice.  You could either end up receiving a slice filled with 5 pieces or giving away a nearly complete slice.  And as if the game wasn't simple enough, Parker Bros. does supply "Suggestions for Simpler Play" in the rules.  This mainly involves leaving out the switch pieces.  Personally, I think it's good for kids to learn at an early age that just when things are going your way, BAM-O! SWITCH!

For those interested, here's the commercial, courtesy of retrojunk:  http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/18714/

I must admit, I love the graphics on this game.  I always wanted to be the pepperoni (mainly because that's my favorite pizza topping, but also because he was a cool, pensive-looking dude and his legs kind of reminded me of the California Raisins). 

Other topping options included mushrooms, onions, and peppers.  Mushrooms and peppers were female.  Onions and pepperoni were male.  Of course.

Fleas on Fred

Editor's note:  Today I am veering slightly off the normal path by featuring a game I no longer possess.  I felt that this game was too great a part of my childhood to let it slip through the cracks on a technicality.

Image:  http://www.amazon.com/Fleas-on-Fred/dp/B001OZM0QW

FaFaFaFleas on Fred!

Where to begin?  This game was the epitome of fantastic.  Released by Tyco in 1995, it consisted of a yellow dog named Fred with floppy ears and a flat back, a whole bunch of fleas on sticks, dull tweezers, and little upright baggies.  The fleas of varying colors were inserted into holes in Fred's back and Fred's switch was turned to "on."  When on, Fred would convulse violently as the players attempted to pluck their designated color fleas from his body and place them in their bags on opposite corners of the room.  The winner was the person who removed all of their color fleas from Fred and placed them in the designated bag first.  Oh, and just in case anyone is concerned that Fred might get a head injury from those convulsions, no worries.  He was anchored to a plastic fire hydrant.  Nice touch Tyco.  For a better visual, please view the FOF commercial courtesy of my favorite website, retrojunk.com:  Fleas on Fred Commercial

I must admit I was not the primary owner of FOF.  My sister received Fred as a birthday gift in November of '95.  It was supposed to be a surprise from Grandmom, but the day before her birthday, my sister and I were playing with the wheelchair lift in Grandmom's van when Caitlin jumped in the backseat, only to noticed the unwrapped FOF package in the trunk.  Despite the ruined surprise, my sister was still thrilled to receive FOF for her birthday that year.  We enjoyed many hours of fun with Fred until one year my mom decided to clean out the playroom (unbeknownst to us) and sadly FOF didn't make the cut.  In mom's defense, the playroom did need a good tidying, so some things definitely needed to go, but I wish she would have used better judgement when it came to FOF.  Needless to say, we came down to the sparkling clean and neatly organized playroom and immediately noticed Fred's absence.  It was too late to save him from his impending doom. 

Years later, my sister swore he was one of the casualties during the flood of '96 when many of our toys had to be thrown out due to water damage in the basement.  But honestly, who is she kidding?  Fred was ENTIRELY PLASTIC.  No flood was going to take him down.  I think subconsciously she was trying to protect my mom, considering that in all other matters excluding FOF, she's the greatest mom on the planet.

Word on the street is that the game has been re-released with a hairer dog.  Bad move Tyco.  The gleam from Fred's jaundiced skin was one of his most appealing features.  Besides, a hairy Fred would never have survived the flood of '96.

Sevylor Floats

Today's discussion:  Sevylor Floats

Many a summer during my childhood was spent at Harry Wright Lake.  And what would a trip to the Lake be without floatation devices?  In 1992 Gram and Pop went to Clover, a discount department store which no longer exists, to get some rafts for us.  They picked up two blue tubes (that could be used in cold or hot weather) and two rafts.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the red and blue raft they got us.  It does still exist though.  Taking a picture of it would have involved me blowing up the raft and my lungs weren't up to the challenge today.  Here is an image of the box holding the blue tube:

They picked a rather chunky child to model the tube.  I don't think I took up that much room in the tube until I was 12.  This tube was particularly awesome to flip.  If you swam under the person in the tube then lifted up from below, they'd flip head first into the waters below.  I'm really glad Gram kept the prices and years on things so that years later we could know how much things cost. According to the box, G + P spent $9.99 on this in 1992.

My ultimate favorite flotation device though, was the kick board.

Not only did this kick board have tropical birds emblazened across the front, it had a window so one could view the fishies below.  Dope.   According to the box, G + P spent $19.99 on this in 1992.  This price would make the kick board TOTL (Top of the Line) in 1992. 

The front and back of the box show small children enjoying the fun of the kick board.  The side is a bit more risque, displaying a bikini clad broad. 

The high-thighed bikini is indicative of the era. 

Considering all of these floats still exist 18 years later and that they were used for at least 10 of those 18 years, I'd say that these were high quality devices for all ages and should be used again whenever the next opportunity arises. 

Fisher-Price Medical Kit

Today we travel back to the days when I was a medical doctor thanks to the Fisher-Price Medical Kit.

This kit had everything one could need for your basic medical remedies.  It included a stethocope, a blood pressure guage, a cast (complete with graffiti), thermometer, a shot, bandages, medicine, a reflex hammer, and of course, the official "leather" bag.  I have reason to believe there may have been one of those ear scope things in this kit, but we don't have one now, so maybe not.  This kit was alot of fun.  According to mom, it actually originally belonged to my brother, and I can't figure out the exact copyright date for this kit, so she may be right.  Regardless, I pretended the kit was my own and solved many an ailment in my youth.  I was particularly good at checking my sister's reflexes by slamming the hammer as hard as possible against her kneecap.  Hey look, I broke my arm:

Because my limbs are now too big for most of the items in the medical kit, H2HB will serve as my model for display purposess:

The stethoscope once had a rubbery foam inside but over the years, it deteriorated, leaving a mere shell of its former self:

This got me thinking, where did the foam go?  OH! there it is:

ew.  oh well, this medical kit was still awesome.  I've ruled that it is far superior to today's version (see image below) simply because of the bag.  Today's shotty carrying case craftsmanship pales in comparison to the case of yesteryear.  My only concern is that the doctor in the image on the old bag is wearing a bandage on her arm.  What could she possibly have done to herself? 

image source:  Fisher-Price (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=product&pid=35175)

Sega Genesis + Aladdin

I'm exhausted from a very long shopping trip and a night without sleep earlier this week, but I owe it to my loyal fans to post something new, so here it goes.  Today we discuss Sega Genesis and the greatest game created for it, Disney's Aladdin.

Alot of people might think that the Genesis deserves an entire week's worth of blogging, but seeing as I found this system to be sub-par to other systems of its time, I think I could fit this into one day's worth of commentary.  Debuting in the U.S. circa 1989, this system was actually rather sleek looking compared to its competition.  Unfortunately for Sega the look of the console was pretty much the only thing Genesis had going for it.  Apparently, in almost every other part of the world Sega Genesis was known as Mega Drive.  Both names build up alot of hype, and apparently Genesis was Sega's best selling game console ever, so I guess in part, it lives up to that hype.

Of course everyone who owned a Sega Genesis also owned Sonic the Hedgehog.  I believe it may have been bundled with the system, but correct me if I'm wrong.  Sega Genesis actually belonged to my brother and I simply mooched off of his system as much as possible. I distinctly remember playing hours of Sonic the Hedgehog, but I don't think I ever got past the 4th level.  My skill level had nothing to do with this utter failure.  Rather, there were parts of the game when there would be what seemed like hundreds of those gold rings you had to collect all over the screen.  Well, this at times was too much for the 16-bit console to handle.  Whenever there was too much going on in one frame, the game would lag as if in slow motion.  I'd either get mad and quit or I'd be surprised when it returned to regular speed and instantly run myself off a cliff or into a bad guy.  And don't get me started with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 when Miles "Tails" Prower showed up.  That freakazoid fox with two tails did nothing to help matters and was often the cause of many deaths in my ventures into the Sonic the Hedgehog world.  I'm complaining, but now I really wish I knew what we did with that game, because I have a strong urge to give it a go .  That is, of course, until the screen freezes up again.

And now onto the game that made this system worth owning:  Aladdin.  Sega was the first to release this game after the movie came out in '92 (game release 1993).  First let us analyze the box for this game.  Please note that the snake is breathing lightening bolts.  I can't for the life of me figure out why, because I cannot recall any point in the game when this happens, but its been a few years, so I could be wrong.  On the back of the box, Aladdin's sword is described as a "shining scimitar," which I think is a very fine choice of words.  Now, on to the game.  The background music was phenomenal.  It was taken directly from the movie, so there's no going wrong there.  The basic idea of the game was that a player would control Aladdin through the streets of Agrabah to the palace and ultimately defeat Jafar (ala movie script).  Though Aladdin was equipped with his scimitar, I found that at times the best form of defense was the trusty apple.  One could collect apples in each board and throw them at enemies.  Things got pretty amusing when you would strike a palace guard and his pants would fall down, revealing his heart-patterned boxers.  For me the hardest board was the escape from the Cave of Wonders.  Thanks to that damn monkey who followed you around, the cave caves in (no pun intended) and you're left to use a flying rug (some may refer to it as a magic carpet) to dodge waves of lava.  Honestly, it's not very clear where the lava comes from because there is no indication of a nearby volcano, but Virgin Games and Sega were just being true to the movie, so we'll let that one slide.  Many a time I'd fly through that board dodging rocks and molten lava, only to forget that I shouldn't try for that Abu face taunting me from the lower portion of the screen.  Inevitably, I'd slam into a rock and have to start all over again, or, if I was lucky to get far enough, I'd start from the halfway point.  The Abu face awarded you a bonus level where you could control Abu for prizes.  There were also Genie faces.  I know you could rack up extra apples and lives with the Genie faces, but I don't recall exactly how.  I just remember whenever you collect a face, the Genie would say "YEAH!"  To this day, I still remember the cheat to this game (ABBAABBA).  If you pressed those buttons, something cool would happen (maybe you skipped a board), but I can't quite remember.  I just now googled this cheat to see if I could find out what it did and discovered that you could use a cheat TO SKIP THE RUG RIDE!! ugh, oh well.  I don't really like to use cheats anyway.  That's all for now.  I'm tired.  I'll leave you with an image of Sega Genesis and Aladdin joined together, as they should be. 

Monster Mash

Today we discuss Monster Mash

This Parker Bros. game is a real gem.  Copyrighted in 1987, this game had everything going for it.  The concept went as follows:  2-4 players (ages 5 and up) each select a red "THWACKER" with a suction cup fused "hand."  27 cards picturing unique monsters are spread out on the table.  One player presses the button atop the Monster-Maker Machine, then the three panels spin and stop to reveal a monster.  The players search for the card matching the revealed monster and use their THWACKERS to claim the card. 

So that was the boring description I wrote.  Here's Parker Bros.' version from the included directions sheet:  "Imagine that you're a hunter in the deep, dark jungle.  But it's not just any jungle.  This one is filled with big, blobby monsters that run wilde.  Shhh! They're hiding everywhere.  But not for long.  Press the button on the Monster-Maker Machine and...aha...one appears in a flash!  That's the one you've got to mash with your THWACKER hand.  Can you do it before the other hunters do?  If you think you can, then it's time you started off on this slap-happy adventure called MONSTER MASH.  Happy hunting!"

My sister and I recently played this game over a bottle of wine and let me tell you, it is still hours of entertainment.  The suction cups work fairly well on their own (even after 23 years), but I distinctly recall giving them a lick before playing back in the 80s.  I guess we figured that gave you that extra edge.  Amazingly, not only have we retained the instructions after all these years, but we also have all 27 cards.  And no, I didn't learn that we had all the cards by counting them.  My sister and I played until every monster appeared on the Monster-Maker and never once did the spread of monster cards leave us empty handed.  Things could get a little violent in this game.  As soon as one player "mashed" a card, regardless of whether it was correct or not, every other player felt the need to slap the same card in the hopes of releasing the suction. 

The instructions say that a player wins once he has collected 5 cards.  Our hours of entertainment come from a varied version of the rules.  We decided that there would be no winner until one person had collected ALL the cards.  Also, if a monster came up and someone had already captured it, you could steal it by mashing the card in from of him. 

For your viewing enjoyment, here is a few video of the game in action: