Today we are going to look at a rare one, that being "PITFALL!" (you have to scream it, apparently). We all know Pitfall, right? That's the game that launched Activision and revitalized the Atari 2600, so therefore, it's based on this:
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| Admit it, the vine-swinging fanfare just played in your head! |
Right? Actually, no...this board game is really more closely based on this:
As in, the Pitfall segment of the SATURDAY SUPERCADE Saturday morning cartoon show! (There was a time, as a kid, that this hour was the single most important thing in my life.) Well, at least the board game says that (and depicts that Pitfall Harry, too):
In reality, the board game has no niece or pet mountain lion, like the cartoon has...so, I guess we are back to the Atari 2600 after all. You will see what I mean when we look at the mechanics of the game.
Come to think of it, all of this shows what a runaway success Pitfall was. It was the only segment in the cartoon that wasn't based on an arcade machine, but rather a title for a home system. Likewise, it's the only vintage Video Game Board Game I can find that fits that description as well. Moving on:
This is what gameplay looked like. Note the lines coming out from the center of the board, like spokes. The players actually traverse the yellow areas, and can fall through to the purple ones (where the scorpion lives), just like in the game.
Here are the playing pieces. This is one of those games where everyone gets to be the main character, so there is less punching your brother and getting into trouble. The scorpion is used strategically, to block your opponent, and moved by playing the correct card.
No Pitfall incarnation would be complete without treasures (see, we are back to the Atari version again), and here they are. A player must collect 1 gold bar, 1 silver, and 1 bag of money before racing to the Diamond space on the board, allowing you to collect the giant diamond and win the game!
But it's a little more complicated than just rolling the die, because you also have to use cards to get past obstacles, or get permission to move the scorpion.
Here is an uncluttered look at the board. It looks very busy until you know what is going on. The animals in the center serve no purpose, other than to give you something to look at while your sister is taking twelve minutes to make up her mind about her turn.
Here is the insert and inner box. I always like a good game that includes a printed insert, rather than waste the space on a blank one. It's also crucial to have the smaller inner boxes to keep parts in. You would think this was always done, but sadly, no.
Overall review: You have to give the game designers credit here, because they really tried to design a board game that played like the actual Pitfall game. The clock-face-like path that the players travel looks very weird, but works much better than if it was straight across, although it could have been a bit less busy, which probably confused small children ("why can't I just go around the hole, there's plenty of room? Oh look, there's a monkey!"). The main negative is that the game can bog down with a player's path getting blocked, waiting until they can draw the right card to be able to move again. Hey, the original Pitfall had a 20-minute time limit!
For completeness, here are the game rules, which are printed under the box lid:
More vintage Video Game Board Games coming up sporadically in the near future. But sadly no official home video release for Saturday Supercade, ever.
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