VCR Games: you just became the Luke Skywalker of the new Star Wars.
November 28, 2014 3:47 PM   Subscribe

"With Christmas not far away, you may start seeing ads for video games that try to marry the VCR with traditional board games. Unhappily, that marriage more often resembles the bickering Lockhorns than the mild-mannered Nelsons. Here's a look at three of the games now out in 1986." But that's only a snapshot of the dynamic world of VCR board games, which peaked in the early 1990s with the Atmosfear series, known as Nightmare in Australia, where the game series was a huge cross-media empire, bigger than "Crocodile" Dundee. Another significant game was Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game, if for no other reason that it is canon and expands the story of the second Death Star. There are less than 100 VCR board games, and the videos for many of them are currently online, with more game documents and details on Board Game Geeks. By the end of the 1990s, the VCR was on the way out, replaced by DVD board games. Let's browse the isles of toy stores past, thanks to the crowd-sourced nostalgia that is the internet.

According to the release dates cataloged on Board Game Geeks, the first VCR games came out in 1985. They were generally more of a toy company fad than a game designer's dream, beyond the huge hit that was Nightmare/Atmosfear and some other interesting efforts to make a linear video format viable as support material for more dynamic games. Still, people have taken the time to digitize and/or review a broad range of these VCR games, so let's dig in!

1985
  1. Rich Little's VCR Charades (Board Game Geeks) -- "Rich Little acts out Charades on a video tape and two teams have to guess the charade before the team on the video tape guesses correctly. Teams also act out charades for scoring on their own."
  2. Commercial Crazies (BGG) -- "Watch a commercial and then answer a question regarding some minor detail in the classic 80s commercials (including Sedelmaier, the guy that brought us "Where's the beef?" and the fast-talking FedEx guy) you just saw. You need to answer three questions correctly to win."
  3. Clue VCR Mystery Game (BGG)-- "The classic whodunit brought to life. Over-the-top acting and scripting along with a clever deduction game in the tradition of the original Clue. 18 different cases (games) hosted by the butler, Mr. Didit."
  4. Eyewitness Newsreel Challenge: A VCR Game (BGG) -- "As and 'eyewitness,' You'll watch newsreel clips from yesteryear - clips that are always interesting and often hilarious. Take good reporter's notes, because when each one - minute clip is over, you and your teammates must create questions about what you've just seen and heard: 'What number did you see on Babe Ruth's football jersey?', 'Did you catch the name of the canary who bicycled though Central Park?' "
1986
  1. Flash Match VCR Jr. (commercial; BGG) -- "Test your memory and bluffing skills. Match cards from your hand to pictures, which flash on the screen, to win more cards. The player with the most cards, when the deck runs out, wins the game."
  2. Ellery Queen's Operation: Murder (game description, no video found; BGG) -- "Ellery Queen is faced with the most difficult case in his career. And he is turning to you for help. This you-solve-it video mystery lets you solve the murder. After watching the 30 minute videotape, you'll have to make deductions from all of the evidence, and determine who killed Abby Doorn." Part of the rather large Ellery Queen universe.
  3. The VCR Quarterback Game (review with some game footage; fan-made/remade video?; BGG) -- "You shuffle the cards, roll the dice, call the plays and your favorite NFL teams run them for you. No two games are EVER the same, so you get hundreds of hours of fast-paced game playing."
  4. The Honeymooners VCR Game (commercial; intro; BGG) -- "Watch an actual scene from the Honeymooners, then race to be the first player to unscramble a short word puzzle and answer two memory-teasing questions about that scene. You score points for each right answer, and bonus points if you get them all right. The player with the highest score after five rounds wins."
  5. Flash Match (commercial; BGG) -- "How good is your memory? Good enough to remember 20 pictures if they flash briefly on the screen? What about 34 pictures? Or 41? What if they flash at a rate of 10 per second? Could you pick them out of a crowd? And could you make your opponents think they saw pictures that never really appeared? You'll need all of these skills to play Flash Match, the VCR game that tests your ability to concentrate, remember and bluff."
  6. The Three Stooges VCR Game (game video in parts; BGG) -- "Imitate the actions of a particular stooge seen onscreen by passing or tossing the appropriate action card at the appropriate fellow stooge. the first player to get rid of all their cards ends the round. At the end of five rounds, the player with the lowest score is the winner."
  7. Doorways to Horror (BGG) -- "The object of the game is to win Gold by casting magic spells on some of the creepiest creatures that ever crept out of a crypt. A roll of the dice lets you quickly Colorscan (TM) ahead on the videotape to your first Doorway to Horror. There you may meet vampires, werewolves, witches, zombies and other menacing monsters -- all who come alive in classic film clips."
1987
  1. The VCR Golf game (Spoony Experiment review, also on YouTube) Spoony says, after being sent this game to play and review: "Now I understand our relationship. You love my pain, you love to see me suffer." (BGG) -- "The object of VCR Golf game is to use the least amount of strokes, over 9 or 18 holes of golf. Exciting gameplay, combined with a VHS tape that includes over 250 shots featuring the premier PGA TOUR golfers, results in the most realistic golf game ever. And using your own ball and favorite putter, you can sink green shots with free putting cup included. Fore!" (Not to be confused with the 1988 game, Epyx VCR Golf)
  2. Hi-Ho! Cherry-O VCR Game (BGG) -- "Children will be charmed and challenged as they play this delightful counting game which combines live-action and animation."
  3. Let's Go To The Races (Drunken game play-thru/review; BGG) -- "Players buy horses and then bet on them in various races. The video is full of real film of real horse races. Each horse has different odds listed for every race. Also included are special forms to use once you've been through all the races on the tape so you can give it a random ending and continue playing."
  4. VCR College Bowl Game (intro only; BGG) -- "Enjoy hours of fast-paced college football action, the CFA College Bowl game includes 120 actual plays of your favorite college teams nationwide on a VHS video cassette. Enjoy the thrill and rivalry inherent in college football. "
  5. Clue II VCR Mystery Game: Mystery in Disguise (BGG) -- "The butler, Mr. Didit, is back in an all new mystery of 18 new cases. The over-the-top acting and scripting is still there, along with a clever deduction game in the tradition of the original board game Clue. Includes characters from both the original and the Master Detective versions."
  6. VCR 221B Baker Street (YouTube description: "Not for Holmes purists, but still a fun game" / BGG) -- "10 cases presented on a VHS video tape, each with 3 chapters. At the end of each chapter, each player has an opportunity to earn extra turns by correctly answering a Quick Quiz question about the chapter."
1988
  1. TV Play-along Wheel of Fortune (Game preview/overview video, including some decent recording of the video play itself; BGG) -- "The first handheld electronic device made to play Wheel. No puzzles are stored in the device's memory. Players could use the device during syndicated episodes from August 31, 1988 through "at least" September 1, 1990 to read puzzles directly from the television screen, or with either of the two VHS tapes available. Point the device at the television set while the VHS tape is playing and the device will be programmed with a puzzle. Puzzles can also be programmed manually using the keyboard.
  2. RoboCop VCR Game (BGG) -- "This VCR game is based on the RoboCop movies. You watch the game video (uses actual RoboCop movie footage) and get action cues to make moves. The goal of the game is to be the first to make four arrests and return to the Police Station."
  3. The VCR Wrestle Mania Game (commercial; short review; Spoony's review; BGG) -- "Players vie to win the championship belt by moving to the end of the game track. Player's take turns being on the offensive, driving their opponent back while pushing forward themselves. The game uses a VCR tape directing some of the action starring your favorite 1980's WWF stars."
  4. VCR California Games (quiet commercial catering to teen boys in the 1980s; full video; BGG) -- "Players roll the dice and decide which way they want to move on the board which represents the tangled highways of California. There are numerous spaces that help or hinder the trip. In addition, players are sometimes instructed to draw cards that change game play even more. On top of all that players must earn money to pay for their trip by competing in various beach style games. Landing on a competition square brings the VCR sequence into play. The tape consists of short clips of various sports that either end well and result in a cash prize or crash and burn and that’s not good. "
  5. VCR Baseball (Christmas 1989, featuring the most honestly excited recipient of VCR Baseball, ever; BGG) -- "Become an actual player and see the outcome of your hits on TV as you watch the video tape containing footage of professional slugging action. Home runs, double plays, triples, fielding errors, pop-ups...it's all there for you to see and experience!"
  6. Isaac Asimov's Robots VCR Mystery Game (BGG) -- "Robots is easy to play. Just watch the video tape, and uncover each of the six photo clue cards as the story unfolds. You can play Robots hundreds of times and may never play exactly the same game twice. After the tape is over, review the clues and make your accusations. If you're right, the perpetrator goes to jail. If not... you've convicted an innocent person and Earth will be destroyed. This is the only video game based on Isaac Asimov's Robot novels. It features fast action, special effects, and a cast of some of the most ruthless characters you'll ever meet. 'Robots adds a new dimension to my novels- it's great fun.' -Isaac Asimov"
1990
  1. Gone Birding! (Spoony clearly isn't a birder; BGG) -- "a niche boardgame directed at the birdwatching/birding community that combines board game action with real-world bird identification skills."
1991
  1. Nightmare (Atmosfear outside of Australia; BGG) -- "A race against time and the game's host, The Gatekeeper; collect 6 of your character's keys and then race to the center of the board, The Nightmare Square. If the tape reaches 60 minutes The Gatekeeper Wins!"
  2. Nightmare / Atmosfear II: Baron Samedi. Zombie (BGG) -- "He's coming back for more! More frightening fun! More atmosfear! He's the outrageous Zombie, Baron Samedi and he's going to thrill you with another hour of HI-FI shock treatment in this lightning-fast Sequel Game."
1992
  1. Nightmare / Atmosfear III: Anne de Chantraine. Witch (BGG) -- "Welcome to the witching hour! Another 60 minutes of spell-binding interactive entertainment with Anne de Chantraine. Nightmare III- the Sequel to The Video Board Game Nightmare that turns a maiden into a monster!" (The franchise grew to be an international hit, big enough to get promoted on the Jumbotrons at Time's Square & Toronoto's Superdome.)
  2. Rap Rat Video Board Game (BGG) -- "Just press 'PLAY' and you're on the way, rappin' with a little rodent with a lot to say! RAP RAT - the host of this innovative, interactive Video Board Game for two to six kids who just want to have FUN! Sensational! Recreational! Inspirational! Educational! That's a FACT!"
  3. Wayne's World VCR Board Game (game footage, without some SNL clips, due to NBC copyright controls; BGG) -- "Players spin the spinner, moving their game pieces on the game board, collecting Babe or Hunk playing pieces, a backstage pass, answering Party On! and Pop Quiz cards and collecting Party maker discs. Don't get caught with the mustard jar or you cannot enter Party Central."
1993
  1. Party Mania (game video in parts; BGG) -- "It's Saturday and the Keller Twins are having a party. Absolutely everybody's going to be there- but you can't go unless you can't go unless you get all your chores done first! And you've got to Get Ready! And you've got to get your mom's stamp of approval! And you've got to get it all done by 6:00 PM." (Look closely, and you can spot a young Jewel Staite)
  2. Nightmare / Atmosfear IV: Elizabeth Bathory. Vampire (BGG) -- "Once bitten, twice shy! Take a turn for the worst and sink your fangs into another 60 minutes of HI-FI fright with The Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory! - the Sequel to The Video Board Game Nightmare that's literally shocking the world!" (At the end of this tape, there's a reference to fifth game in the series, and a ghoulish hip-hop-style music video. Khufu the Mummy [10 minute clip of the game video] was finally released in 2006 as the second and final DVD game in the Nightmare/Atmosfear series, after Atmosfear: The Gatekeeper [clips from the English and French versions of the DVD game], which came out in 2004.)
  3. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Interactive VCR Board Game – A Klingon Challenge (BGG) -- "Board is set up in view of a television/VCR and players watch a videotape of simulated action and narration filmed on the set of the Star Trek series. Players assume the roles of the few remaining on-board crew members of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which is docked for repairs. The players (watching the tape) see a renegade Klingon (named KAVOK) hijack the ship with only themselves aboard with him. He periodically appears on the television screen (which is a simulation of different communication view screens aboard the ship) and talks to the players during the game."
1994
  1. SpyQuest (BGG) -- "Put your spy tactics to the test. In SpyQuest(TM), you'll watch one of three action-packed espionage adventure movies on your own VCR. Each of these half-hour long Hollywood-quality motion pictures was produced exclusively for SpyQuest(TM) and bridges the gap between live-action adventure and you, the player. Next, you'll be traveling the world uncovering clues to a secret location. Sound easy? Not so fast...."
1995
  1. Gargoyles the Movie Game (only 6:25 of the cut scenes; BGG) -- "Bonus game included with the VHS and Laser Disc release of Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken (trailer of the compilation of the first five episodes). Players were instructed to keep the video running after they finished watching the movie. The video would occasionally flash, and the player whose turn it was would have to follow the orders of the character (Xanatos, Elisa, or Demona) that appeared on screen."
  2. Atmosfear: The Harbingers (BGG) -- "The aim is to collect 6 different key stones and return to the hub, where you need to enter exactly at your own number. Then you should NOT draw your own piece of paper from 'the Source of the Fear.' " (Wikipedia currently says this is "a major update to the Atmosfear series.")
  3. Atmosfear: Booster Game Tape Set (Game videos in parts; or in lower resolution, tape 1 and tape 2; BGG) -- "This is an expansion VHS tape set for Atmosfear: The Harbingers game consisting of two 45 min. VHS tapes."
1996
  1. Atmosfear: The Soul Rangers (YT playlist; BGG) -- "Continue the experience! The Gatekeeper's been banished to a Black Hole by the deeply disturbed and demented dentist, Dr Mastiff and the Provinces have gone to the Dogs! Get down and dirty with your new Game Host, Dr Mastiff, live from the depths of his dental surgery set in the stinking wastes of the sewers of The Other Side, in this exciting New Add-On game to Atmosfear 'The Harbingers,' with unique 'Scabby Dog Ranger' gameplay."
  2. Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game (BGG; Wookiepedia) -- "The tape contains scenes from the original trilogy mixed with footage shot specifically for the tape by Gil Taylor, cinematographer for A New Hope. The footage features David Prowse and James Earl Jones reprising their roles as the physical presence and voice of Darth Vader respectively. In the tape, Vader arrives onboard the second Death Star to take command of the station to destroy a Rebel Alliance supply base on the planet D'rinba IV. The player's characters are tasked with the mission to stop him."
1997
  1. The X-Files Trivia Game (First Edition) (commercial; BGG) -- "This X-Files game is based on season 1-3. Players watch the VHS, then respond to a question about the clip from the tape, or other topics related to X-Files."

The games petered out by the end of the 1990s, and in the early 2000s, DVD board games came along, with Scene it? Movie game and others in 2002. This also tracked with the advancement of video games, from 8-bit, to 16-bit, and finally 32-bit with the decline of the VCR games.
posted by filthy light thief (37 comments total) 47 users marked this as a favorite
 
Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic!
posted by mazola at 3:52 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


Thanks! I had fun looking into these. I thought about them after watching the end of Community, specifically the "VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing" episode.

"These VCR games is where everything is headed. Can't you see that? You just became the Luke Skywalker of the new Star Wars."

Some of these are fun to watch on their own, while you could go as far as to re-create the games with help from the information posted on Board Game Geeks.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:02 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]


The infamous Night Trap was originally made for a VHS-based video game system which was never brought to market.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:04 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]


Nightmare

I had this game! It was simultaneously fun and terrible.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:08 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


I might provide my own reviews (and clips?) of one of the Agatha Christie board games, because my wife's family kept their copy of that, and of Party Mania. My family didn't get a VCR until people started getting DVD players, so this is all extra-novel for me.

The Star Trek TNG board game was covered previously, as was Dragon Strike, which wasn't an interactive game, but used a video as an intro to the game. In that thread, folks mentioned Atmosfear, which was the only place I've seen that game universe mentioned. Given that it was so huge (at least in Australia), I'm surprised I haven't found more discussion about it online, or more specifically on MetaFilter.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:10 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


So now we realize the beginning of the War Against Gamers was the downfall of the VCR. #gamercroc
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:26 PM on November 28, 2014


Standing ovation.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 4:31 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


NIGHTMARE

Oh god a friend of mine with TV had that and we had a very creepy sleepover with it probably cause his mom just gave us a case of soda and I was on a Pre-Teen caffeine high
posted by The Whelk at 4:41 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


I used to play the Star Wars VHS game all the time with my brother and it was super fun. Pretty amazing in its rediculousness, even as a kid, but did a fairly good job of keeping the game as random as possible with repeat viewings. We still repeat, "You, the player using the force..." to each other in Darth Vader voices.
posted by pugg at 5:01 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


Flash Match Junior! I remember playing that a lot when I was little. Listening to that manic soundtrack over and over and over and over is almost certainly responsible for my visceral hatred of boogie-woogie piano.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:06 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


Commercial Crazies: We had this one. I remember there was a commercial for some airline and I noticed the wine was burgundy. "I should remember that," I told myself. The question was: What type of wine was shown? BOOM! BURGUNDY! HAHA! My sister was not happy.
posted by dirigibleman at 5:13 PM on November 28, 2014


I have the Clue VHS game, and have also played Nightmare. I have also tried to play a DVD game based on 24, but it was so buggy as to be unplayable.

Somehow I skipped all these things when I was a kid.

There seems to be two major approaches taken here. One approach is to require you remember trivia from the video clip, as they do in the Clue game. The other is to mostly use the video as a randomizer, as they do in Nightmare.

Rich Little acting out Charades is an exception to both, I guess. Charades was already a game, but you never got to play Charades with Rich Little. Almost a shame it didn't kick off a whole series of celebrity Charades.

Video birding is a kind of marvelous idea.

And the "related videos" on Doorways to Horror shows this list left off Doorways to Adventure

What exactly was COLORSCAN? I'm a little fuzzy on that. Did you just fast-forward until you saw the right colour door or was there a technological element to this?
posted by RobotHero at 5:29 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]


So how would you replay the game, since the tape was the same each time? How did they ensure variation?
posted by dontjumplarry at 5:58 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


I also had commercial crazies. The questions were stupid obscure. You watch the commercial and then be asked "How many florescent lights were in the office? 5? 7? 10?"

As a kid I never played the game and just watched the commercials.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:17 PM on November 28, 2014


Well there was some intersection between the board and video.

So for example the Clue game, you could watch the same video 6 times, and it would have 6 sets of things you had to watch for, like who sat next to who during dinner, what did they all eat and drink, etc.

Nightmare, as I recall, you rolled dice to move around the board and the Gatekeeper would periodically appear to punish players based on their location on the board or other aspects.
posted by RobotHero at 6:18 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]


Having just watched the VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing episode of Community today for the first time, this post seems very appropriate. Thank you.
posted by dave*p at 6:34 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


known as Nightmare in Australia

I believe they prefer to be known as 'the Abbott government'.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:41 PM on November 28, 2014 [5 favorites]


I remember playing that Nightmare game as a teen (not sure what it was called in Canada). But long before that, my uncle had a horse racing game that was based on a multitrack phonograph record.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 6:48 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


sevenyearlurk, the amazing Unusual types of gramophone records Wikipedia page indicates that this may have been the 1975 game, They're at the Post.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:16 PM on November 28, 2014


That sounds like it! Nice work, detective!
posted by sevenyearlurk at 7:35 PM on November 28, 2014


I had Party Mania and played it obsessively with my cousins and friends. So fun to rewatch it and see Jewel Staite, never mind the totally outrageous music/clothes/hair on everyone.
posted by arcticwoman at 8:18 PM on November 28, 2014


"Bah now, you should have yer bullits, yer gold, an' two wahld west tokins. Hold on to those tokins, no matter whut!"
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:16 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]


I had Doorways to Adventure as a kid. You rolled a die to determine the color of your next door, and then fast-forwarded until you saw that color come up as a door.

Very high-tech.
posted by jeoc at 9:30 PM on November 28, 2014


Experience bish!
posted by vrakatar at 9:38 PM on November 28, 2014


We played the ST:TNG Klingon Challenge game earlier this year at hubby's birthday party. It was fantastic, and we won with 2 seconds left. He had the board game, and we had a digital copy of the video (no VCR in the house). Everyone thought it was a blast.
posted by xedrik at 10:08 PM on November 28, 2014


I had the VCR quarterback game! It was completely horrendous as a game. They just had the VCR part as a selling point so they didn't bother making it decent. Also I remember being sad that all the NFL footage was from the 70s; I was six and wanted to see Boomer Esiason and Joe Montana.
posted by Kwine at 10:19 PM on November 28, 2014


But long before that, my uncle had a horse racing game that was based on a multitrack phonograph record.

According to the IFC documentary, Monty Python once recorded a comedy album using the same system, without advertising or announcing that it was in fact two different albums, one on each track, and so which you heard depended on where you placed the needle. The idea was that you would listen to it, then go to play it for your friends and be super confused when a totally different album came on.

Monty Python at its finest, basically.
posted by Itaxpica at 10:29 PM on November 28, 2014 [4 favorites]


A word of caution about VCR games:

Many involve putting your VCR on pause to freeze the action of an accompanying tape while you play the game.

Although VCRs are designed to be put in pause, doing so repeatedly can strain a machine`s video heads. To prolong the life of your heads, you may want to turn your VCR off each time.


*shudders in horror*
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:14 AM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


It was definitely called Nightmare in Canada, as I have very fond memories of the first one scaring the ever loving hell out of me as a young teen in a dark basement.
posted by Palindromedary at 12:36 AM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


These somehow escaped my attention, and I was the perfect age to be targetted by these games. I did, however, play the hell out of another tape-based game: 2-XL, the 8-track version. Well, technically it wasn't a game so much as an educational tool, although some of the tapes were too fun to feel like learning. Figuring out I could play the tapes on my parents' stereo and have a GIANT ROBOT to play with was also pretty awesome.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:48 AM on November 29, 2014


Wow. I remembered the Clue VCR game but had never heard of most of these. My family played a lot of boardgames, but we never saw the appeal in VCR games; you play games so you're not looking at a television! And it always seemed like playability had to be pretty limited; I mean, once you've played one of these a few times isn't it like watching a rerun? (Actually, that's a serious question; I never played any of these but the rerun factor has been a long-held assumption of mine.)
posted by usonian at 5:59 AM on November 29, 2014


Rich Little acting out Charades is an exception to both, I guess. Charades was already a game, but you never got to play Charades with Rich Little. Almost a shame it didn't kick off a whole series of celebrity Charades.

A few lucky Gen-X Canadian kids did get to see Party Game, which was celebrity charades for certain definitions of "celebrity" -- no offense meant to the home team of Jack Duffy, Dinah Christie and Billy Van (who all seemed like very nice people) but I am sure even they would recognize that on the ladder of Canadian Fame in the Seventies, they were several rungs below Rich Little.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:43 AM on November 29, 2014


And to my delight* I discover that there are clips of Party Game on Youtube.

*Probably not actually delight. There is doubtless some hefty German term for this emotion... maybe Verlegenheitvergnügen.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:04 AM on November 29, 2014


Oh the Clue game was fun but man there was a big hurdle in convincing new people to play the game. That ultimately doomed it for us.
posted by mmascolino at 9:28 AM on November 29, 2014


Wow, I missed out on a lot of cool VCR games when I was a kid. Mom was always taping and watching soaps, so my brother and I didn't get a chance to use ours for that sort of thing.
posted by weathergal at 4:26 PM on November 29, 2014


A few lucky Gen-X Canadian kids did get to see Party Game

While us Gen-Yers got the relatively star-studded Acting Crazy.

(When a Canadian game show is star-studded, it's guaranteed to be awful. They'll pay through the nose for semi-recognizable F-list has-been Americans and zero dollars for anything else, like lights or microphones or writing or editing. See the current edition of Match Game -- or, better yet, don't.)
posted by Sys Rq at 5:29 PM on November 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


Itaxpica: "According to the IFC documentary, Monty Python once recorded a comedy album using the same system, without advertising or announcing that it was in fact two different albums, one on each track, and so which you heard depended on where you placed the needle."

This was The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:04 AM on December 8, 2014


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