Parker Brothers Video Games

I had three of the four games on this page, I'll leave it to your imagination which one I passed on.

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Some day you will be mine Nerf Man!

Parker Brothers Video Games

Parker Brothers really seemed to dominate my video game purchases in the early eighties and seeing this toyfair ad from '83 made me smile.

They had my favourite arcade game of all time (Tutankham) and the Star Wars license, so my loyalty was assured...

If I didn't have one of their games, it surely was on my wishlist, someday you will be mine Spider-Man!

1979 Parker Brothers ROM: SpaceKnight Press Kit

One of the biggest splashes in the toy industry is when game (and nerf) giant Parker Brothers decided to make an action figure.

Not just any action figure but an electronic space hero with bells and

whistles not seen before. Rom was truly a toy ahead of his time and while he didn't prove to be the smash that Parker Brothers hoped, thanks to a relationship with Marvel comics, he became a much beloved comic book character.

Click Here to read all of the 1979 ROM Press Kit

More ROM stuff:

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I thought he'd be taller

I always figured Nerfman would be 6' 4" at the very least. I would really love to see photos from a Nerfman appearance.

Rom Com

I find it really funny that ROM's tie in comic book would prove to be the more popular item and actually the thing folks remember more than the toy line. I doubt either gentlemen at this meeting thought that would be the case at the time.

 

For more ROM visit the 1979 Parker Brothers Electronics Catalog

Nerforama

Water damaged catalogs always make me sad but lucky for me I salvaged this great pic of a Nerf store display. Come to me Nerf Man, obey.....

1978 Parker Brothers Electronics Catalog

Parker Brothers was already a household name for board games and in the 1970s, like a lot of other toy manufactureres, they were attempting to the name in the growing electronic game market.

Competition was fierce but Parker in 1979 had some memorable concepts like Merlin and Wild fire Pinball. While ROM: Spaceknight was a cool concept (and an even better comic book) it didn't get the sales it probably deserved. Click on the pages for a better view of the 1979 Parker Brothers Electronics Catalog.

Other Fun Links:

1976 NERF Catalog

NERF stands for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam (thanks wikipedia!) and was first introduced to households in 1969 as the the first indoor ball, With it's success, saw many other application for this fun and safe material. 40 years after it's introduction, NERF is still widely available which is a testament to how timeless an idea it really is.

1976 was a good year for NERF, we've go planes, cars and missiles as well as NERF's own Superhero in NERF MAN! This catalog is kind of special to me as it belonged to my dad and you can see some of his pricing notes on some of the pages. Click on the pages for a better view.

THE 1976 NERF CATALOG

Related Linkage:

Buy, Sell or look for vintage Nerf Toys at our trading post

Rom Space Knight Trading Card

The Age of Rom has come!

Card #23 is Rom: Space Knight by Parker Brothers

Rom is such an iconic piece of 70s lore and I find it funny how many people tell me they never knew he was a toy! That's because while Parker Brothers did an admirable job of marketing the toy, Marvel did an even better job with Rom as a comic. That book lasted until I was in high school!

I was one of those kids who never saw ROM in toy stores, as this card shows, he was pretty pricey for 1979, that may have been why.

In the UK, they made ROM part of the action man line, which made a lot of sense.

Rom deserves a comeback, come on Hasbro and Marvel, get it together!

World's Coolest Cage Match

Alien VS ROM: Spaceknight

That would have made Steve Austin VS Bigfoot look like a tickle fight, I somehow feel cheated I never got to play this as a kid....