Thursday, December 13, 2007

Go play a Star War!

Continuing our holiday theme, we must address the fact that what's under the tree is almost as important as what's decorating the tree. For the past three decades, Star Wars has been one of the most successful movie franchises. Not only has it remained a box office smash, but Star Wars tie-ins have remained popular for kids of all ages. No toy was more desired in 1983 than this game based on Return of the Jedi. Return of the Jedi: The Play-For Power Card Games, manufactured by Parker Brothers, was released the same year as the film. There is some extra information on this game at BoardGameGeek and StarWarsCards.net

I suppose I should point out that these are all trademarked characters.

First, the baddies (a few more obscure):


This set includes Jabba the Hutt; his great pal, Salacious Crumb; and something called a Yuzzum.


A menacing Gamorrean Guard, Barada, and a Weequay.


My favorite Star Wars character of all-time, Bib Fortuna (he wasn't all that bad, actually); a hideous Rancor; and Squid Head/Tessek (aka The Master, as I used to call my beloved action figure).

And from another game in the same set:


Yoda (I'll abstain from a joke about Yoda's annoying rearranging of sentences); Chewbacca peeking out of an AT-ST; Darth Vader


The Return of the Jedi logo on the backs of the cards and card number one: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian.



If you prefer your toys not to come from 'a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away' you can give these board games a try:


Here we have a completely terrestrial advertisement from Selchow & Righter Co., makers of well-known games like Scrabble, Parcheesi, and Chess. This ad also features some of their other games, including Troke, Go For Broke, MacDonald's Farm Game, and Gingerbread Man. Here's a list of some Selchow & Righter games.

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