Spotlight: Planet of the Apes Game by IDW

This past week when I went to my local shop, (World's Collide BTW)  I was presented with this Planet of the Apes tabletop game by IDW.

 I like games and if you pair them with an established property, well I'm an easy mark, so even though I didn't sincerely recall ordering it, it sounded like something I'd do and I went on my way.

What it is: Planet of the Apes is a cooperation game, meaning all players work together rather than pitted against each other. I like this concept a great deal although I've never been particularly successful at it. I'm a big fan of Star Trek Cattan BTW....

How it's played: Each one of the up to four players is Taylor, albeit in a different emotional state, there is Clever Taylor, Defiant Taylor etc.  

The game works sequentially in the film's timeline as you race against time to go through the various stages of the film.  Each area has different challenges and relies often on dice to get you through. 

If the Soldier Ape or the Statue of Liberty gets to the bottom before Taylor, well, you blew it up you maniacs.

How it Looks- It's a pretty darn gorgeous game, the box art is by Jason Edmiston, a super talented dude I got to have a beer with a few years ago and have been a fan of ever since. The interior art is equally as beautiful, this is a joy to look at.

I got an early edition of the game and it came with plastic figurines of the Icarus, Taylor, a Soldier Ape and the Statue of Liberty but honestly, the cardboard pieces are super nice. I'm an Ape toy geek, so these do make me happy, I admit it....

So do you like it? Honestly, i've had a lot of fun but I'll freely admit this, I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly. 

Planet of the Apes is ambitious and a little complicated, even on my second play, I had some questions. Now, that isn't a bad thing, the game rather new and I expect more and more Youtube videos of actual game play will probably answer all my questions.

I do see myself playing this a few more times as I've enjoyed the experience thus far.

Where to get it?

The absolute best place to get this is your local brick and mortar comic or game store. Keep them in business, spend your dollars locally.

Failing that, you can get it on Amazon or Ebay and if you click these links, you help out this site. Which would also be awesome.

Monster Hunt Game

I found this game at a toy show a while back, it's dated 1977 and is made by Hasbro but I have no recollection of ever seeing it before.  The vendor was a friend and told me to take it for five dollars, i hadn't bought anything that day so it was a pretty quick purchase...

I was mostly captivated by the weird off brand monster designs on the box, Dracula resembles Canadian game show host Pierre Lalonde from the "Mad Dash", (youtube it, you'll be glad you did) . The other monsters make me wish this was an action figure line.

The game itself is cheap, I thought the Monster Squad board game was chintzy but it looks fabulous compared to this thin board and spinner. The art on the board is funky and the main reason I bought it, note the Barnabas Collins looking Dracula.

And here is the spinner, I really shouldn't end the tour with this.

War of the Daleks

TOTALLY TRUE STORY: When i was 15 years old I found a copy of this game at a "Toys and Wheels" store at the mall in Canada. I don't know how it got there but this store used to buy a lot of close out stock like Action Jackson uniforms and the like so maybe it was a sample.

All i can say is, as a 15 year Doctor Who fan, I thought I was dreaming.

The game is lost to time (and to the fact that I moved like 20 times from the age of 19 to 28) but I still have one of the chubby l'il daleks on my desk.

1978 Mattel Electronic Games Catalog

Electronic games have come an incredible way since 1978 but it's hard not to fondly remember the simple pleasure of these awesome hand helds by Mattel. Without the sophistication available today, these games were not only fun to play but affordable as well.

1978 was a year of modest but popular offerings including a game I would consider the best hand held game of all time:

Click here to play the 1978 Mattel Electronic Games Catalog

 TOY SHOW REMINDER!
I'll be setting up at this Sunday's Toronto Toy Show (A link to a $2 off admission coupon is here) selling vintage junk, commercial DVDs and more Mantooth than most can handle. Hope to see some of you there, please do stop by and say hi.

If it's too much of a drive for you, be sure to check out my twitter account for live updates from the show floor starting Saturday night.

Superhero Games

These Hasbro Hero games from 79 look really fun and colourful but what the hell is Wonder Woman fighting? A tree?

 

Chutes Away!

Gabriel's Chutes Away was one of those games I often requested but never received. It's pre video game functionality is something we don't see much anymore.

Spoooooky Games

While Monster Toys often get the shaft in department store catalogs for being too seasonal , the one place where that doesn't seem to happen is the games section which always have a few monster items in for good measure.

Take this 1971 spread for instance, we've got the classic Green Ghost game , something called "Which Witch" and a TV boardgame from the popular daytime horror show Dark Shadows.

Da-Dun Da-Dun Da-Dun

I got the Ideal Jaws game one year for Christmas, the movie itself made me to timid swim in the ocean, lakes and even pools. I never said I was a bright kid.

It was a pretty inventive game but I really only remember playing it once or twice before Jaws became a supervillain for my Mego Superheroes to fight. Great game but an even better action figure.