Video Game Board Games [part 3]: Q*BERT (Parker Brothers, 1983)

 

You have to admit, Q*BERT was one of the most unique video games invented during the Golden Age of arcade games, and it was an extremely popular one.  The little potty-mouthed guy was a hit with fans, too.  The game spawned sequels, and he even starred in his own cartoon as part of SATURDAY SUPERCADE for two seasons.

But can a board game replicate the gameplay of such an unusual design?

Initial set-up (note that some of the bad guys should be at the top, since they travel top to bottom).

Actually, yes! This is accomplished by taking turns (and needing two players), and having Player 1 be Q*Bert the first time, while Player 2 is the (what the instructions call) "Nasty" guys, and then vice-versa.

Q*Bert and his "nasty" enemies!

Another unique feature to the board game was the inclusion of special dice, and a rolling tube to keep Q*Bert's number secret until after your turn.

Also, the "nasty" (I keep thinking of Janet Jackson every time I type that) characters all move in different ways, just like the actual game. There are even flying discs to take Q*Bert back to the top of the pyramid.

Overall review: As I said, the game does its darndest to bring the specific mechanics of playing Q*Bert into your own home, as a board game.  This of course is not without some negatives:

1) No matter how successful you are at mimicking the actual actions of a video game, it is a much slower process when played as a board game, and kids (or excitable adults) can notice this...and they should probably just go play Q*BERT and get it out of their systems.

2) It's an oddly-shaped game (large and square), and doesn't stack or store well (hence my copy).  Pieces mostly fit into the tray, but the "rolling tube" needs to be disassembled every time and unfolded to actually store it. This leads to them wearing out and the tabs tearing over time. Also, since the game doesn't require a traditional flat board, and must be played in the box, if yours gets crushed, it will really screw up your experience.

3) This is a standard complaint with these (or any board games really), but if you lose enough of the special pegs, you won't be able to play the game correctly.  But this is true for all of the parts.

Once again, here are the (very detailed) instructions for the game, just in case anyone has lost theirs:

Stay tuned for another Video Game Board Game in the near future...

THE CANTINA COMPENDIUM (2024, complete video documentary)

 

What did you do on your summer vacation? Well, I produced a three-and-a-half hour long, thirteen-part video documentary series, all by myself!

Sample thumbnail!

This documentary brings to life my book (found on this very blog for free download by the way), which covers the ten chapters in thirteen videos.  It's a comprehensive study that collects every scrap of information about the original Mos Eisley Cantina from the first Star Wars film (later called "A New Hope" of course).

Sample Chapter 8 thumbnail!

Every nuance is examined, including the writing of the scene and changes over the various drafts, the teams that created the masks, filming the Cantina, and A to Z encyclopedic looks at every single alien and customer.  After that, there is a chapter on Cantina playsets over the years, the dreaded Star Wars Holiday Special, and a look at the Cantina's appearances in other vintage media.  

And here is what the thumbnail for Chapter 10 looks like!

You are sure to learn something, and if you are remotely interested in the subject, you should check it out! The documentary is available in Chapters (that follow the chapters of the original book), as well as one video altogether, for those with plenty of time!

People ask me what I learned from this months-long endeavor, and the answer is:  this works so much better as a documentary.  Here is a link to the playlist. Enjoy!

LINK: The Cantina Compendium [complete playlist]

GODZILLA: MONSTER OF MONSTERS Permastruct Instructions (V.I.D. Video, c.1988)

 Here is an item that may instantly take you back to that moment of standing in your local movie rental store, looking at a wall of NES games, and trying to decide what to rent for the weekend as quickly as possible...because you parents already had picked out  OUT OF AFRICA for the 13th time and were ready to go home.

This product is called PERMASTRUCT, short of course for "permanent instructions," and that's exactly what they were, labels made to attach to the plastic cases for NES games, which meant that stores didn't have to worry about instruction manuals getting lost or destroyed. If they used clear(ish) cases, then the label was two-sided, and showed what game was housed inside.  Here is an example:

FRONT: Ah, the first Metal Gear!

And this is what was visible inside the box.

Which brings us to today's (very unusual) Godzilla item. Here is a Permastruct label for the first NES Godzilla game, GODZILLA: MONSTER OF MONSTERS (here called just GODZILLA), that is, somehow, completely unused!

Still attached to its original backing, the front image is therefore a little hard to see. It's better with a light source behind it.

And here is the back, er, front, of the label, with the condensed instructions.  That strange hole in the upper-right corner where the spacing of the text is all screwed up seemed to be on all of the other labels for other games that I looked at on Ebay, so maybe it served some purpose.  

Either way, instructions or not, this game was hard!

SHOGUN WARRIORS Promotional Iron-On with Godzilla & Rodan (Fall 1979)

 

While catching up on my reading, I came across this full-page ad in a Marvel Comic dated November, 1979.  The artwork (incidentally, done by Herb Trimpe) shows something that had never gotten my complete attention before, for some reason...here is a bigger look:

By sending in proofs of purchase from Shogun Warrior items, fans would receive this awesome 5" x 7" iron-on transfer, including Godzilla and Rodan! Which got me to thinking...did it exist? Did anyone ever order it? And if so, are there any unused, anywhere?!?! (This is an item that will have to be added to our Vintage Godzilla Guide for U.S. items, for sure.)

For those who weren't there, unlike today, where we just buy a T-shirt with anything we want on it, in the 1970's, you bought the IRON-ON and applied it to the T-shirt of your choice! The idea was the same, but you--or your mom--did all the work. 

Wouldn't it have been awesome to walk around sporting that shirt, and be the coolest guy you knew? 

Never let it be said that we don't take care of you around here.  The image has been scanned at 600 dpi, and painstaking trimmed out of the ad, so all you have to do is add it on the website of your choice. Which is exactly what I am going to do! Enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE: T-shirt sites will often need a PNG of a certain size, which I have added to my Google Drive here.

GODZILLA vs. BIONIC MONSTER promotional stills! (Cinema Shares, 1977)

Here are scans of some newly-acquired, awesome movie stills for GODZILLA vs. (THE) BIONIC MONSTER, very soon after to be changed to COSMIC MONSTER.  Ironically, we looked at the "Cosmic Monster" version of five of these stills on this very blog, ten years ago!

   

Prism Home Video Preview Tape: GORATH, HUMAN VAPOR, INFRA-MAN & More! (1985)

 

Here is a really cool--and super rare--videotape from December of 1985.  This was not only a time when people began to have the ability to own scarce Toho classics in their homes, but also when some of the fancier manufacturers would actually issue "Preview Tapes" to video store owners.

No doubt, Prism sensed this batch of science-fiction-oriented films were going to be movie rental money-makers, so they went all-out with this tape! 

Also, this is one of those "wrap-around" boxes
with flaps on both sides!

Instead of just stringing together existing trailers, this video has sleek graphics, an intense narrator, and a Gary Numan-ish soundtrack! You know right where you stand, immediately.  

Included are: INFRA-MAN (one of my all-time favorites), the awful ESCAPE FROM GALAXY 3, the hilarious OCTAMAN, and Toho classics THE HUMAN VAPOR and GORATH, all but extinct today.

It really is an amazing look at the past---oh wait, you want to see it, don't you? Do you think we would let you down? Enjoy!!!

KING OF THE MONSTERS / RODAN Handing Store Display (Vestron, 1983)

 

This post won't be heavy on the photos...but here is both sides of an awesome hanging display for the debut release of GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS on home video in the United States, in 1983 by Vestron Video.  This piece measures 12 by 24 inches, and is printed on a thick, heavy cardstock (I expected this piece to be much thinner). There's a small hole at the top, because it's made to be hung from the ceiling of your local video store (and it probably was!).

On the flip side, another film receiving the same treatment, at the same time, RODAN! Vestron went great guns with both releases, offering them on VHS, Betamax, CED....AND Laserdisc! You can see these individual releases in our Godzilla American Home Video Guide, which you can download a PDF of for free at this link which you can download a PDF of for free at this link!

Movie Monster Mazes (Tempo Books, 1976)

 

Here's a great "honorable mention" to the list of vintage American Godzilla items--this fun book is packed full of cool mazes based on dozens of classic movie monsters. They're all here, including Frankenstein's monster, his bride, Mighty Joe Young, the Hideous Sun Demon (wow!), the Blob, and even Donovan's Brain!

And right there in the middle are the original big three--Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan! Lots of vintage books like this might throw in a Godzilla maze, but to have all three of these is unusual indeed!

And now here for your printable enjoyment are...well, the photos of my Ebay seller, but I have cleaned them up as much as I possibly could. The mazes are still plenty workable! Enjoy!

BONUS! This one was so good, it had to be included here!

Columbia Record and Tape Club Magazine (January 1978)

 

Do you remember the Columbia House Record and Tape Club? Do you remember the little sheets of stamps crammed into infinite junk mail, or the cards in your Sunday newspaper that you were supposed to tape a penny to?

Lots of people use the word "scam" in the same paragraph when talking about the Club.  I was lucky enough to find out ahead of time that they begin sending you albums each month--that you didn't order--and then expect you to pay for them because, hey, remember? They gave you some free (or 1 cent) records for joining? Otherwise I would've been one of the unsuspecting teenagers jumping on board. (Wikipedia tells us that this business practice is known as negative option billing.)

What I didn't know was that they sent out a monthly catalog, and here is one with a cover promoting the hugely-selling STAR WARS soundtrack! Going through this catalog is interesting, because while there is stuff you will know (some of it kept on life support over the years by "classic rock" radio), there's also a quite a large amount that you will not know! You will hear yourself saying "who in the world is that?" quite a bit.

Here are the highlights, and I left the order form in there so you could sign up if you wish (just kidding; the Club is now long defunct, and I got dizzy keeping track of the number of times the company has been sold or absorbed...see aforementioned Wikipedia page for the full story!)

Huh. Neil Diamond in the "Rock" category...