More Cool Games from Childhood

My sisters and I have often discussed the top 3 games from our childhood during our weekly Google Meets, and Ice Cube, the game I discussed in a post two weeks ago, ranked third. Today I will share the top two cool games.

Let’s go back to the late sixties. The number two cool game of my childhood is Poppin Hoppies as seen and explained in the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyTcFL_SX-g.

If you don’t watch the video, here’s more information. The colors of the Poppin Hoppies pieces are reminiscent of the decade. It was the time of love, flower power, and psychodelic. The gameboard’s orange background is detailed with bright, bold pastels: lemon yellow, lime green, hot pink, deep blue.

The actual Hoppie could be described as a monopod. Its figure is all plastic except for a rubber suction and metal spring that connects its domed head to the circular base. The Hoppie has three distinct features: head, spring core, circular foot.

It’s a lively game that keeps you on your toes. It starts with all Poppies being sprung down. They pop up randomly, and when they do, you want to be the first player to catch it. A caught Poppin results in a body part that matches the color of that Poppin Hoppie. The first player to complete their colorful person, is the winner.

And the number one game is….GREEN GHOST. This was a thrilling game you played in the dark. There was quite a bit of assembly to the game. The plastic board needed to be charged in order for it to glow in the dark and there were a lot of black pieces you couldn’t see. The board stood atop four orange legs that raised it approximately 4 inches off the floor. The purpose for the height was so that three topless boxes could be inserted under the mystery trapdoors. The object was to unlock the doors, reach your hands in boxes filled with bat feathers and mini green ghosts, bones and mini green ghosts, and finally, snakes and mini green ghosts. When all the ghosts were caught, players put them under the head ghost (who was modeled after The Blob, according to Wikipedia), to spin and see who was the lucky winner under the ghost’s extended arm.

PROMO PHOTO MAGNET~Thin Flexible 4 X 3 in.

Man, these games were a blast to play. I don’t know if they’d be worth it today, though. Prices range from $16.99 to $500 on eBay and other assorted sites.