Amplified by the almost permanent presence of The Hobbit on ‘70s and ‘80s English Lit. syllabuses, Dungeons & Dragons offered those who were unpopular in the playground some solace in an imaginary Tolkein-esque world that they could control. ... more>>>

Battling Tops? Why, ‘tis a grand olde European folk game, sir, as famously depicted in 16th century paintings by Brueghel and his ilk. However, we suspect his Battling Tops weren’t housed in a blue plastic arena, presumably didn’t go by such wrestling ring monikers as Hurricane Hank, Dizzy Dan or, er, Smarty Smitty, and were certainly far from Ideal. ... more>>>

Way before The X Files, partwork magazines like The Unexplained and telly shows like The Crazy World Of Arthur C. Clarke (he invented satellites, you know) cashed in on our periodic fascination for paranormal phenomena, although it was actually Charles Berlitz who wrote a book in 1974 called “The Bermuda Triangle”. That renewed interest, perhaps also spurred on by the Barry Manilow hit of the same name, made this a very popular game in the early ‘80s. ... more>>>

Does it not now seem that, in the ‘70s, the marketing people were trying to sell to parents, not to the kids? What else can explain the prevalence of TV ads throughout the decade saturated with cowboy imagery - the likes of Golden Nuggets, Texan Bars, the Milky Bar Kid… and Buckaroo!? The thing is, mums and dads had most likely been children themselves in the post-WWII era and would’ve been brought up on Saturday Matinees, John Wayne flicks and Wild West adventure serials. Somebody, somewhere decided that these were the folk who had the disposable incomes (nobody having yet invented the concept of “pester power”). ... more>>>

Many board games - Kensington springs to mind - usually bear a trite slogan on the side of the box along the lines of “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master”. Surely, then, the motto for Cascade was “A lifetime to set up, a minute to play”. But what a minute it was! Made by mini-car kings Matchbox, Cascade was one of those games where eventually no one really played by the rules, a bit like just reading out the questions from Trivial Pursuit without the board. ... more>>>

“Chutes” be damned. This was, to all intents and purposes, Carpet Bombing For Fun, as evinced by the explosion noises made by playing kids as they dropped the “chutes” on the revolving target, curiously painted up to look like some presumably inconspicuous fictional landmass, although it did resemble a sort of pre-continental drift Africa, now we come to think of it. ... more>>>

Cluedo seemed to appear out of nowhere as some murdery-mystery rival to Monopoly. The posh kids had it first, probably because it featured a “study” and a “drawing room” but it wasn’t long before the whole street was testing their detective skills with plastic tools of death and cards that you had to keep in little wallets like After Eight Mints. ... more>>>

Milton Bradley (which we’re still not sure wasn’t the name of that comedy alien bloke off of Fast Forward) had tried before with a plastic push-peg version of the pen and paper grid-based classic. But it was with the addition of flashing LEDs and whistle-boom! sound effects that they hit upon the deluxe, truly sought-after edition. ... more>>>

Traditionally the arena of combat wherein eldest son would best dad (as depicted on the front of the box) in some gaming rites of passage (“look dad, diagonally!”), Connect Four was the insanely addictive board game destined to split families asunder across the globe. Originally marketed as The Captain’s Mistress on account of a rumour traditionally linking it with Captain Cook (he was playing it, not shagging it, so the story goes), the definitive ‘70s edition is part-owned by – and why are we not surprised by this? - David Bowie. ... more>>>

There’s something about the sheer size of so many toys and games of our era; they weren’t just played in the house, they took over the house. Nowadays, everything’s been reissued in petite “coffee table” versions on sale in the Gadget Shop. Back then, you needed French windows just to get the likes of Crossfire indoors. ... more>>>