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Stop Buying Hideous Board Games Prices vary ebay.com

Compared to 30 years ago, today’s board games are pieces of junk. Last year I

bought three games I remember loving as a kid: Life, Kerplunk, and Trouble. I wanted my 8-year-old daughter to experience the fun I had playing them. But when I opened the boxes, I was disgusted with the shoddiness of the materials. The straws in Kerplunk were made of astonishingly flimsy plastic, making it difficult to push them though the holes. The pieces on the Life gameboard constantly fell off, forcing us to stop playing every so often to reattach components. And the cylindrical game pieces in Trouble bounced out of the holes every time you pressed the Pop-O-Matic die tumbler.

I couldn’t believe how lousy these formerly terrific games had become. I went to eBay to look at pictures of the old versions and discovered that you could buy the original games there, often at lower prices than the new, junky versions. A 1967 model of Kerplunk, with stiff sticks and a cylinder that doesn’t fall apart every time you touch it, can be yours for under $10. A vintage 1965 edition of Trouble, with pieces that stay put, is just $5. And a 1960 edition of The Game of Life, featuring Art Linkletter’s hearty endorsement and board pieces that don’t fall out, is $15.

The other bonus you get from buying old board games is the cheerful, well-designed package and gameboard graphics. The modern versions are so ugly that they depress me. From now on, eBay is the only place I’ll ever buy a popular board game.

Photograph by Tracey Jipson

—Mark Frauenfelder

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