Sandy Becker - THE CHARIOT RACE GAME (RCA, 1959)

 

"Mommy! Daddy! Take me to see SOLOMON AND SHEBA, with Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida, please, pleeeeeease! I'll be good, PLEASE!" 

Those were the words spoken by exactly ZERO children in 1959, when this 7-inch record came out.  But what we are looking at isn't a kids' record, right? The back of the sleeve gives you your answer:

Oh.

None of this matters, anyway, because what we have here is another "magic record," or as RCA specifically called them, "Secret Spiral Records," records cut with multiple grooves that give you a surprise outcome when you drop the stylus!

We have looked at a couple of these before (here is a fun Hanna-Barbera one), and there have been quite a few over the years, from one that enabled you to play Bingo (where seemingly random numbers were called), to even one that was a Roulette wheel (were you supposed to gamble with these things?).  

Here, though, we have an exciting chariot race on side 2, where each one of four differently-colored chariots can be the winner! The first side gives you some instructions, and then sets the scene in the context of the movie...then it's on to Side 2, to play the game!

Speaking of the movie (which is regarded as a clunker--making it killed Tyrone Power, even), a keyword search of its lengthy plot on Wikipedia does not even contain the word "chariot." Is it any coincidence that BEN HUR came out right at the same time? I think not.

I can only imagine some fist-fights, drinking games, or at least small bets that were lost, involving this record.  It's always tough to convert these types of records, because invariably there's that last groove that you are trying to randomly hit, and it just won't come up! But fear not, I have provided them all here for you.  Listening to these digitally may not be as fun or random, though, but I'm sure there's a way!

LINK:  Sandy Becker - The Chariot Race Game (1959)