Hobbies And Interests
Rock'em Sock'em Robots
Rock'em Sock'em Robots was made in 1964 by Marx toy company and is now made by Mattel. It is a two-player game that has robot boxers. The robot boxers are set in a raised platform that gives the impression of being in a boxing ring. Each player uses a pair of joysticks to move the robots and presses a buttom on top of each joystick to make the robot punch. If one robot hits the other robot's head at the right angle, the robot's head pops up. The player who made the opponent's head pops wins.
The Game of Life
Technically, The Game of Life actually came out in 1860 but the version everyone knows today was released in 1960. The game allows players to go through the journey of Life. Two to six people can play the game, and each begins by choosing to start a career or go to college. Once finishing college, players also choose a career and a salary. Certain careers require a degree which is why the college spaces can be useful. Players earn money and can purchase insurance, stock, houses or cars. Players also reach a point to get married and potentially have kids. At the end, the player with the most money is the "Millionaire Tycoon" while everyone else goes to the "Poor Farm."
Trouble
Trouble is a game for four players. Each player has a color -- red, blue, yellow or green -- and four playing pawns in a start base. The goal is to move all four of your playing pieces around the board and into your home section. A dome in the center of the board holds a dice, and players press on the dome to "roll" the dice. A six allows the player to move one piece out of a base and into the start space. You can pass another player, but if you land exactly on a player, their piece is in "Trouble" and is moved back to base.
Twister
Twister is a fairly simple game that was extremely popular in the 1960s. Twister is played with any number of players. A large mat with colored circles -- red, blue, green and yellow -- is placed on a floor. A caller spins a large wheel to give directions. Each foot and each hand has four color options. For example, the caller could say "right foot blue" and every player has to put their right foot on a blue circle. Players can share a circle. Then the caller spins again and might say "left hand green." Players have to keep their right foot on blue while putting their left hand on green. As players try to twist their bodies to move the right circles, they may fall over. The last player with all his body parts on correct circles, without falling over, wins.
Mystery Date
Mystery Date was a very fun game from 1965. The game was for girls, and players took turns choosing cards that had different pieces of an outfit on them. If you collected all three pieces of a date outfit, you could spin the wheel on a door in the center of the board, then open it to see if your outfit matched your mystery date. Dates were bowling, the beach, skiing or a formal dance. If your mystery date matched the outfit, you won. If not, the door was closed, and play continued until another outfit was collected and a perfect date and outfit were matched.