Games Gone And Forgotten

Writen by Michael Russell

In the years of game making, there have been a number of games that have come out that have become classics. We continue to play them, even 30 to 50 years later, such as the great game Monopoly. But not every game in the world ever created has become a classic. Many a game has come and gone without making even a dent into the popularity market. While there are way too many of these "turkeys" to cover, we're going to review just a few of what many people consider some of the worst games of all time.

Back in 1969 there was a game by the name of "Radar Search" which consisted of an electronic board with two sides. The one side was the spy with his two ships trying to get to a certain place on the board and then back to his hideout. The other side is the agent who has a helicopter. He tries to find the spy before he gets to the location and back to his hideout. The game features a radar scope which the agent can use every other turn to "spot" the spy. The scope was a joke, the game was a joke and the people who created this disaster, IDEALogists LLC, should have been ashamed of themselves for every putting out such garbage. This game gets an average rating of about 3 out of 10 stars, which is actually quite generous.

In 1963, to cash in on the popularity of the TV series "Combat", Ideal came out with a Combat board game. But if you're looking for anything nearly as exciting as the TV show, this game is going to come as a big disappointment. The object of the game is to take over the enemy headquarters and capture all the enemy soldiers. There is a spinner that is used for moving your pieces and also for all escape and capture decisions. The game is quite honestly, pretty dull and didn't last long.

Probably one of the stupidest game of all time, though actually quite popular for a while, was the "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots". There was nothing complicated about this game. It contained a boxing ring with two robots. One red and one blue. The robots were controlled by the players using controls that were connected to them through the back of each side of the ring. The players would simply punch away at each other until one of the robots got hit in the head causing it to pop up. This was pretty mindless stuff, even for 1967 when it was released by Mattel. This game gets an average user rating of about 4 out of 10. Believe it or not, this game was actually released again in 2002.

These are just few of the really bad games that have come out over the years. The amazing thing about all these games is that somebody somewhere bought them. And as long as there are people to buy whatever junk comes out, that junk will continue to be made. Thank goodness for games like Monopoly.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Games