Games Children (and I) Used to Play

On a rare recent visit to Ebay, I ran into somebody selling a toy that I distinctly remember playing with back when. One more click. Then another click. Before I knew it, I was taking a virtual tour of my toy chest. And I thought about the fact that my parents had pretty much tossed all this stuff into the garbage. I hit the age of 13, so my childhood was automatically red-tagged for the trash bin. Now, I look at all this junk and see people selling it off for a few bucks. Unfathomable.

For instance, here's one of my favorites. Mousetrap. You spun your way around the board and built this intricate mousetrap that was very much like one of those domino tricks that are so popular on Japanese television. I loved this game for about two weeks until it came to an unceremonious end. If you might remember, one of the gimmicks would be this plastic figure diving into the bathtub when the metal ball hit the diving board. I decided to ramp up the degree of difficulty by filling the tub with water. You can guess what happened. The game board never did dry completely even after I left out in the sun for a month or so.

I loved to busy myself with play sets and this Remco version of a drive-in movie theater was perfect for me. You could actually show some sort of View Master movies on the screen. The only thing missing was some plastic figurines of over-sexed teenagers. This sucker is selling for almost 200 bucks on Ebay. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

My very earliest version of a baseball strategy game. Challenge The Yankees. There were a bunch of baseball All-Stars on one team and the Yankees from the 60s. Mickey Mantle either hit a homerun or strike out. There was no other result. It really didn't take a brain surgeon to play this game. It was so easy that even Grady Little could have won a few games. I was always envious that they never did a companion version of this. Slaughter The Mets. But, I was a lot more diplomatic in those days and open to owning things that had navy blue pinstripes on them. I lost interest in the game when, during a moment of losing disgust, I ripped Mickey Mantle's card in half. Of course, in real life, Mickey would get ripped many times during his career. And snockered. And liquored up. And stinkin' drunk.

When you're an only child, you have to naturally work a little harder to keep yourself busy. And your friends motivated to spend time with you. The Kenner Give-A-Show Projector was a perfect device for me. What friend on the block could resist coming over for a free show? We used to pile into my basement and run through these slide shows of popular cartoons or TV shows. The bad news is that we often have to do this while sitting amidst my grandmother's laundry drying on the clothesline in the cellar. But, the good news is that her corset provided quite a big screen for projection.

My earliest attempts at writing plot came when I got the Flintstones Play Set for Christmas. This was a huge toy and you literally got to lay out all of Bedrock on the living room floor. I would concoct whole episodes for the Flintstones and the Rubbles to play out. Indeed, this gift was a bittersweet one which I discussed here last Christmas. Unfortunately, my mother chose to hide this present at the neighbors and my wet blanket friend named Monte blew it all and told me that my toys were there and not being brought by the non-existent Santa. In reality, I probably could have figured it out myself. On the bottom of the Flintstones box was a Macy's sticker.

Dinner last night: Leftover turkey sausage with rice and beets.