Monday, May 26, 2014

Mystery Game -- No Longer a Mystery!

Not so much a game about mystery as I just don't know what this game is.

I picked it out of the "free box" of a garage sale last summer and just came across it again while organizing my finds.  I liked the graphics on it and it looked like something I would have played as a kid, but I've never seen it before.

It appears to be played with marbles and I would imagine this playing board sat inside something.

Despite googling "marble game" and some of the more obscure destinations in the game such as "Viper Vale" and "Blood Lake", its name would not reveal itself.


It also has such generic stopping points as "Ghost Town", "Bat Cave" (no trademark infringement there), "Haunted Mountains", "Tiger Valley", "Poison Desert" and "Devil's Pass".  I would guess it dates from the early 80's and was riding the D&D wave.


So, how about it readers?  Anyone know this game?

***UPDATE***

Well, that was solved faster than I expected.  Thanks go out to FrankO and his masterful Google-fu for nailing this one down.  This is a game by Hasbro called Marble Maze.  And apparently this actually is all there is to it (minus the marble and the original box).  I feel stupid for not figuring out the game play before: you navigate a marble from start to finish by tilting the playing surface while holding it.  Sort of a more basic version of Labyrinth.  Apparently, mine dates from 1974 and is the "English" edition.  I'm not sure if that means as opposed to a foreign language version, or if it was released in England.  Here's a shot of the alternate version still in the original box.

6 comments:

  1. this looks like part of a larger something for sure. i certainly don't remember it. my google-fu has turned up this, which looks darn similar. do you think it's from the 60s, and not the 80s?? or maybe it was an 80s reboot of a 60s game... http://tinyurl.com/l4xeaej

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    1. Wow! You're definitely on to something there. Even has a lot of the same graphics. Interesting that they only have that piece too. You've provided enough of a clue to get me started again! More research to come!

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  2. I'm holding mine on my lap as I type this. I've had it since roughly 1975 and was probably bought at a dollar store or possibly a 'Five and Dime' such as F.W. Woolworth's. My parents got it for me. I would have been about 9 or 10. Loved the graphics as a child - still do! I live in Queens, Co. NYC by the way.

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    1. Cool to hear from someone who had this game when it was originally made. I agree, the art on it is great. Thanks for stopping by, Ed!

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  3. I had this exact same toy when i was a kid and I'm looking to buy it again.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Rod, and good luck!

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