Buzz
Back in the 1960s, we didn’t have video games like Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto, but that didn’t stop us from getting in some good ol’ hits during playtime. Instead, we relied on board games and used our friends and family as real-life targets for our beatings. The lesson here? No matter the time or the tech, kids have always loved smashing and blowing things up. How many of these games do you remember?
1. Swack
In this game, the goal was to extract a piece of plastic cheese without triggering the spring-loaded mousetrap. The winner was the player who managed to collect the most cheese while keeping all their fingers safe.
2. Booby Trap
This was another game where you had to remove a piece without setting off the trap. While your fingers usually avoided the snap of the Booby Trap, those little pieces were launched with some serious force. It was all fun and games—until someone took one to the eye.
3. Bash
Players took turns removing round and square plastic disks that separated the head from the feet. The aim was to knock out the pieces one by one until the head and feet finally met. Knock over the entire stack, and you’re out. But honestly, no one paid much attention to the official rules. The real fun came from watching the pieces fly everywhere. And once you were done picking up and restacking, the plastic hammer became the perfect tool for a game of ‘one lump or two?’ with your unsuspecting younger siblings...
4. Kaboom
Board Game Geek
This game by Ideal involved placing a balloon on the inflator device and gradually pumping it up, one pump at a time. However, most kids I knew didn’t really follow the official rules. Instead, it turned into a competition to see who could make the loudest 'pop!' by experimenting with the pump.
5. Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots
Back in the heyday of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, if you complained to a parent about sore thumbs or wrists after hours of play, you’d usually just get a shrug and a ‘it’s your own darn fault’ response. Nowadays, concerned moms have been so frequent in asking pediatricians about finger pain that conditions like ‘Texting Tendonitis’ and ‘Blackberry Thumb’ have officially become medical terms.
6. Fang Bang
Balloon HQ
This peculiar game came with frightening face masks for each player to wear, likely meant to both intimidate your opponents and shield your eyes from potential danger as everyone wildly swung their plastic snake-headed balloons. To clarify, each player inflated a long balloon, attached a serpent head to the end, and used it as their 'weapon.' The snake’s tongue was rough enough to pop another balloon if it hit just right. Think of it as a lightsaber duel, but with the added thrill of bursting balloons.
7. Slap Trap
This game was basically a recipe for a broken finger: The goal was to carefully grab a specific 'beetle bug' off the platter before the big bully controlling the domed lid slammed it down, trying to steal all the bugs for themselves to score points.
8. Dynamite Shack
Even in the 1960s, the word 'dynamite' in the title of a kids’ game triggered a safety disclaimer on the box to reassure parents that no real explosives were included with the game pieces. The game itself tested manual dexterity—players wore oversized plastic thumbs and used them to pick up small plastic bundles of dynamite, depositing them into a tiny chimney. The goal was to drop all your dynamite in before the roof of the shack blew off.
9. Cold Feet
I can imagine my dad laughing in a good-natured, 'Aw, you got me!' way if he were squirted in the face with water during a friendly board game—NOT! And I know my mom would have made us play this outside so we didn’t soak the ... (fill in the blank). And that’s why my parents never bought us a game featuring a water gun as the main attraction.
10. Bang Box
Is anyone else starting to think that someone in the balloon industry had a heavy investment in Ideal and Milton-Bradley? Bang Box is yet another balloon-based game, where small, inflated balloons are stuffed inside a plastic box with random holes, much like a magician's prop. Players take turns hammering plastic nails into the holes of their choice, hoping they don’t burst any balloons inside. One ‘pop!’ and you’re out.
