1977: Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 34

  Sometimes when I can find anything good to write about a day in history in regards to 1977, I just thumb through web pages looking for inspiration. That's the case with today's article. While in my research, I stumbled across a couple of board games that I used to own that debuted in my favorite year. So, sit back, enjoy this trip down memory lane, and hope to roll double sixes.

Really looks like hours of fun don't it? It isn't.

    The Amazing Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four Game
     I remember this game being on store shelves for years after it debuted in 1977. The main reason for this was because of how amazingly dull it was.The object was to get your member of the Fantastic Four to the middle of the board which was designed to look like a web, and free Spidey from it's clutches. Why would Spider-man get caught in his own web? 
     Anyways, you played with colored markers. They didn't even look like the Fantastic Four! Plus one of the pieces was green. So if you had that piece, you had to play as Doctor Doom?! 
       I bought my set in the late 80s in original packaging at a local pharmacy. They still had 6 sets. They couldn't give this lame-o game away! 

   The Captain America Game
      I really wanted this one but I never could find it. The box said it featured Falcon, Cap's sidekick and the Avengers! I'm kinda glad that I never did get this one as it was just as uninspired at the Spider-man game. 
      The wasn't Captain America's first foray into board games. In 1966, Milton Bradley released a Captain America inspired game. It looks just an uninteresting as the 1977 set did. But I would much rather have it over the '77 version and have it complete because the 60s set also came with a free comic book!

I'm glad that the makers of this game
opted to not include a torso of the Kitner boy.

    The Jaws Game
   Technically, this game came out in 1975-76 and technically, it's not a board game. But in 1977, it was still on store shelves, capitalizing on the still popular blockbuster JAWS, which was still in some theatres and drive-ins 2 years after it was released.
     This game had a big blue shark with a gaping mouth. Inside were all kinds of things like bones and ocean garbage. With a set of tweezers, you had to remove the items from the shark's maul. But watch out! One wrong move and this fish would bite back!
     Now I never had this game. But I had a game very similar to it. In 1980, Lewis Teague released a film called Alligator, about a gator that gets giant sized and terrorizes the sewers of New York City. 
     Ideal (who also made the JAWS game) made a game based on the film and similar to the JAWS game, the gator would bite down on you if you weren't careful. Only, I think you had to put stuff in it's mouth instead of taking out. Regardless, I remember playing with that thing at my grandmama's for hours. I loved that thing.

Ideal's Alligator game based on the 1980 film.

    Star Wars- Escape From the Death Star and the Destroy the Death Star Game
      With the release of Star Wars, the licensing opportunities were unlimited. In 1977-78, Kenner released at least 2 board games based on the film. The Escape from the Death Star game is the most common. The board shows a wedge of the Death Star with tons of dots. It looks similar to the Spider-Man game and from what I hear, it was just about as complicated. But at least the markers looked like characters from the movie. 
     The second game is much more rare and it's the one I remember playing with for hours on end with my dad or just by myself. The board is a maze around the Death Star and with every turn, you moved the space station. Doing so allowed entrance into the Death Star's trench to randomly appear, so you could begin your run to blow it up. 
     I'm pretty sure I was too young to play the game right but with playing pieces that were actual tiny versions of X-Wings it was too fun to pass up. Add to the fact that the game would fight back as if you landed on a Tie Fighter square, you'd lose one of your squad- it was challenging. If you ran out of ships, the Empire won! It was the best board game ever- that is until 1983 when Kenner released a totally awesome game that had you dangling your favorite Return of The Jedi characters over a Sarlacc monster! 

    

I want another one so bad. 

     In those days, things didn't go on clearance as often as they do now. So if s toy store couldn't sell the item, it would sit on the shelves for years. Plus, my parents loved yard sales and the flea market and I'd sometimes find the cool games there for just a couple of bucks. 

     Looking back, I'd love to have a few of these games to play with again. Especially the Death Star and Alligator! But I bet they aren't cheap. Who knows, maybe this article might inspire you to scour eBay for a classic game to play with your family. 

 Well, I think that's a good stopping point for now. I enjoyed looking at some classic 1977 toys that I ended up playing with and I have a feeling I'll be returning to the realm of 1977 toys sometime again soon.

     Until tomorrow...