Ebay Browsing: Board Game Edition

It's been awhile since I last did one of these, and was reminded I did one about a year ago (I've done some since), but it gave me a reason to look on EBay.  This is a feature where I find stuff on the selling site that is either really cool or brings back memories from years gone by.  As always, this is not a solicitation to buy, and I am not endorsing the product or the seller by showing these, it is purely for entertainment (and to relieve my boredom which luckily a free trial to Netflix might cure).

The theme for today is board games.  I remember going to my grandmas house every Sunday growing up and my uncles would be there and it was a lot of fun.  Usually when all the adults would be there, they would break out board games.  It was always fun seeing them laugh and fight over the games.  I was usually too young to play, and by the time I got older, the tradition kinda stopped, but I still remember it to this day.  Even at our house on rare occasions we would play games as well.  Before I show stuff on EBay I wanted to mention our all time favorite game.  It was called Truckin' Fever.  I have never found the game anywhere else, but if I remember the story right, one of my uncles knew a guy who had a prototype of this game he was hoping to sell.  It was a board game where you were truck drivers and your goal was to raise money by hauling various loads across the United States (and some of Canada) while avoiding pitfalls along the way (engine trouble, weigh stations, food poisoning).  Once you had enough to pay off your promissory note on your truck you had to declare you was going home.  Unlike regular hauls, you had to land on your hometown exactly or else you had to keep trying and if you didn't have enough to pay you note off you had to go back out and haul more loads.  Since it was a prototype, I think I remember seeing the board one time and I don't remember what it looked like.  So my dad who had great drawing abilities, decided to make a replica of the board.  So we had a homemade board, and then he type up all the other cards needed for the game (the notes, two sets of trap cards, and of course the load cards called Dispatch cards).  Our game was completely made from scratch as it also included money my dad made from construction paper.  If I ever saw the real version I don't know if I could play it since this version is all I know.  I've dug around some and I've never saw this version of the game anywhere.  It appears there were a few versions of very similar games going around, but none really made it to mass production.  I always hoped to one day find a way to make a version of the game for the Nintendo, because my dad played the NES for a long time after it was out of style, into the early 2000's even.  I always wished I could find someone to make it for NES so he could play whenever.  He already played Monopoly on there often (and Dr. Mario).

Anyways, lets get into what I did find on eBay.  While I don't advocate for these games or these sellers, I will put a link up in case you are interested.  Here we go.

This first item is not a game I ever played.  In fact I never even heard of it.  My whole inspiration for this blog is based on this game.  I was trying to find some Royals stuff so it would fit into my blog, and found this, which in turn led to a post dedicated to board games.  Brett Ball sounds like an interesting concept, and if it was cheaper I would get it, but its not like I play many board games anymore, so no need to get it.

Next up IS a game I played.  It was one of my favorite games ever, and possibly one of the simplest.  Rack-O was a game where you were given cards to put in a plastic holder in the order they were given to you.  The object was to get all the cards to go from lowest to highest first.  It was simple but I loved it.  In fact I still have the game but its locked away in storage so it might be a while before I can get to it.  I have this version of the game shown (same box and all, but the box I have it busted to bits).

Now PayDay was one of the games I mentioned I'd watch the adults play at my Grandma's house.  It always seemed so fun, but to be honest, to this day, I've never played it.  It's not a game I see around too often, but if I did find it at a garage sale I would pick it up.  I'd also need to find a few friends to play it.  I have a couple that like board games, so that's a start.  I will say that this seller could have made the inside of the box look better by straightening it up some.  This version I believe is the one that my uncle had that they would play.

This is another game I don't think I've ever played.  The difference though is I OWN THIS VERSION!  I bought it I think at Walmart dirt cheap one day in hopes of playing it, but never got around to it.  Part of the problem is I don't think anybody could beat me at this game except maybe my sister.  However if I played this SNL version of Trivial Pursuit today, I wouldn't get too many right I bet.  I do like how up to that point, all the decades were featured on it.  I love that Gilda Radner was front and center too.

Another game played at Grandma's often was Family Feud.  I can't remember if this was the exact version, but it is close.  I remember playing this a couple times, but mostly I watched.  I always enjoyed watching, so  I was never too mad I didn't get to play.  I can't believe the Feud is still on, and can't believe two of my favorite hosts of all time were both hosts in the 80s.  Richard Karn and Steve Harvey are okay, but to me Ray Combs and Richard Dawson were always the best.  I remember WCW wrestlers were on the show one week.  I think Sting and Rick Rude played but can't remember who else.

Speaking of still on the air, holy cow.  Wheel of Fortune was always a classic growing up, but its not one I watch too much these days.  We had the board game too, but not this one.  This is the DELUXE edition, and it has a really sweet wheel included.  It reminds me of the spinner in the Game of Life, and I wonder why they didn't do that for all the versions, it couldn't have cost too much more.  I miss the older versions of Wheel where they had prizes at the end and such.  Now is that second wheel and its okay, but not as fun to me.

Our version of Wheel had this wheel.  It's not the same, but I will admit, it wasn't too bad.  I remember playing a couple times with my sisters, and I loved it.  My sister Andrea tried to have Family Game Night with her boys each week before she got sick, I didn't join them too often, but looking back I wish I did.  We never played this, but it would have been fun to try once, maybe get the Junior version since they were still kinda young.

The only game I enjoyed more than Rack-O was Triple Yahtzee.  I think it was because I could play it alone or with other people.  I remember countless games against my dad and grandma.  I never won, but it was still fun.  This deluxe version (which I still have somewhere) was awesome because it held the dice in place.  It also all fit nice in the box each time.  Triple Yahtzee for those who only played the regular version, is really the same game but you had 3 columns to fill instead of one.  It took longer to play, but at times made it easier, but towards the end if you had no luck (or Yahtzee's) it sucked.  First column was worth regular points, second column was worth double, and the third was triple.  You could put the score from each row in any column you chose so of course first Yahtzee would go in triple, and so on.  It also was good for helping with math too, which was good.  I think it actually is why I can do some larger math equations in my head without diving for the calculator.

Remember how I said my dad made the Trucking Fever board game?  Well he made one for this game too.  We bought this game at a flea market or garage sale or something, and when we got home, realized THERE WAS NO BOARD!  It was also missing the game tokens too.  The only reason we knew what was supposed to be included was the back of the box.  So a couple weeks later we finally had a board, but we never really played it.  The game is somewhat similar to Trivial Pursuit, but the coolest part was where the questions were located.  The questions and answers were all located in books that looked like TV Guide's.  I thought I still had a copy or two of them but I didn't find them while cleaning.  I would like an updated version and would be fun to play, though again, I'm not sure against who.

So these next ones were ones I didn't have, but you find the darnedest stuff on EBay, so I had to include them.

WHAT THE????? Surely this is a mistake...  A CANNONBALL RUN BOARD GAME??????

ANOTHER ONE???? How come I never heard about this until now?  To be fair, I never watched the first one, but I love the second one.  The board looks a little confusing, but I would still play it once.  If I found it I would likely buy it.  I did find a Magnum P.I. board game once but that's about the closest I've gotten.

TIME-OUT!  They made a Saved By The Bell game too?  Okay, I can believe that.  From the looks of it though, this looks confusing.  I don't know if I would buy this game but it is kind of cool to find.  I think I've watched every episode of SBTB from the ones with Ms. Bliss to the ones where they went to college (they made trading cards for those).  I'm not sure though I would need the board game.

So this was a fun trip down memory lane.  There were other games I passed up, but maybe next time I can show more.  Earlier I spoke of NES so maybe a future one can be ones about games we had.  We'll see.  Anyways, thanks for reading and have a great night.