The Best Classic Board Games – The Six Million Dollar Man: Bionic Crisis (1975)

Growing up in the 70s and watching TV was awesome, with shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk, Space: 1999, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Mork & Mindy, Wonder Woman, The Shazam/Isis Hour, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Happy Days, The Bionic Woman, and The Six Million Dollar Man.  Parker Brothers was quick to capitalize on the popularity of many of these shows within their own target demographic by releasing games based on each series.  Some were terrible, the board game equivalent of shovelware, but one in particular was a classic – The Six Million Dollar Man: Bionic Crisis.

Box art for The Six Million Dollar Man: Bionic Crisis

Bionic Crisis was invented by Paul J. Gruen, who invented such classics as This Game is Bonkers!, Gambler and Payday.  He was also the game creator behind some of Parker Brothers’ television properties, such as Battlestar Galactica and Barney Miller with the 12th Precinct Gang, as well as the designer of  some lesser known games, such as Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Dungeon Dice.  Truly, the man was a prolific creator of board games (he passed away in 1993). For such an amazing talent, not a single picture of him can be found on the Internet – except his gravestone. What a crazy world we live in.

Paul J. Gruen’s only picture on the Internet

Bionic Crisis was a game that contained both elements of chance and deductive reasoning.  To set up, each player took one of the four Console Boxes and inserted a Console Card into it.  The red and yellow board pegs are placed somewhere where everyone can reach them. Then the deck of Bionic Circuit Cards was shuffled, and one was dealt to each player, who kept it hidden from his or her opponents.  Finally, the deck of Number Cards was shuffled, with each player given three cards and the rest placed face down for everyone to draw from during gameplay.  Once set up, the play began.

Sample Number Cards for Bionic Crisis

The object of the game was simple: be the first to use the Number Cards to duplicate the Bionic Circuit of the player on your left.  Each turn a player called out a number from one of the Number Cards.  If number was on his left-hand opponent’s Circuit Card as one of the ten red spaces, he got a red peg.  If the number was adjacent to a red space, a yellow peg was given instead, and if the number completely missed the mark, then the player ended his turn empty-handed. (Yes, I realize you now want to chant, “You sank my battleship!”…but control yourself.)  This process continued until the Bionic Circuit Card was revealed.

Sample Bionic Circuit Cards from Bionic Crisis

A shortcut to winning the game was to simply map out the entire Bionic Circuit Card by making a guess.  If you were correct, you won the game.  However, if you were wrong – even by a single circuit – you were no longer able to win, though you still had to answer questions from your opponent.  This consequence were so severe that guesses were rarely worth the risk.  We had a House Rule that granted up to three guesses to each player, which added more deduction and less random chance to the gameplay.

A completed Bionic Circuit Card in Bionic Crisis

Parker Brothers labeled the box for ages 7 to 14, which is quite accurate, as Bionic Crisis was clearly not an adult’s strategy game.  However, the game still brings back fond childhood gaming memories, and must be judged for what it was: a child’s game based on a television property.  It was fun then, and if you can bring back your inner child, it can be fun to play even today.  Only the best classic games can do that!

What’s In That Game Box? – Dealer’s Choice (1972)

Ever scoured the Internet looking for what exactly you were missing from the old board game you pulled from your closet, only to find no one who could give you the answer?  Well, stop that fruitless searching through endless google results, as this week we look at Parker Brother’s wheeling and dealing used card game, Dealer’s Choice.

Dealer’s Choice game from Parker Brothers.

The contents of Dealer’s Choice are as follows:

The game box (with a picture of a fast-talking used car salesman working a deal to sell a corvette to a little old lady).

The Organizer (a red circular plastic tray with a picture of the little old lady taking the corvette out for a test drive, with nine slots to fit the various game papers inside)

Five Blue Books (these are the pricing guides to use to determine the value of the cars you deal)

Ten Value Cards (these are inserted into the Blue Books and have 24 random vehicles and values ranging from Junk to $10,000)

45 Dealer’s Choice Cards, consisting of:

BUY Buy a car from Auto Exchange for $200. [x3]
BUY Buy a car from Auto Exchange at 1/2 List Price. [x2]
BUY Buy a car of your choice from any dealer for 1/2 List Price. [x2]
BUY Buy a car of your choice from another dealer. [x5]
CANCEL Cancel one Insurance Policy of another dealer. [x2]
CAR STOLEN Force another dealer to return one of his cars of your choice to the Auto Exchange. [x3]
COLLISION Force another dealer to return one of his cars of your choice to Auto Exchange or he may pay repair bill of 1/2 List Price to bank and keep the car. [x3]
FIRE Car destroyed.  Force another dealer to send one of his cars of your choice to Auto Discard. [x3]
FORCE SALE Force another dealer to buy one of your cars of his choice. [x2]
FREE Receive one free Insurance Policy. [x2]
LOT CLOSED No deal required. May be used to cancel either a “FORCED SALE” or a “BUY” card when it is played on you. [x2]
SELL Sell a car for Blue Book price. [x5]
SELL Sell a car for List Price. [x4]
SELL Sell a car for List Price plus $2000 [x2]
SELL Sell a car for List Price plus $3000
STOLEN CAR FOUND Pay towing fee of $100 to bank and return car to your lot.
TAKE Take a Dealer’s Choice card from any player. [x2]
TAX Force another dealer to play Excise Tax of $5000 to the Bank.

24 Auto cards, consisting of:

1 List Price $5,000 1941 Lincoln Continental
2 List Price $3,000 1956 De Soto
3 List Price $9,000 Indianapolis Racer
4 List Price $2,000 1971 Volkswagen
5 List Price $10,000 1925 Mercedes-Benz
6 List Price $6,000 1932 Stutz Bearcat
7 List Price $3,000 1956 Oldsmobile
8 List Price $4,000 Tank
9 List Price $5,000 1912 Mercer Raceabout
10 List Price $8,000 1971 Lincoln Continental
11 List Price $6,000 1971 Jaguar
12 List Price $4,000 1905 Reo
13 List Price $9,000 1971 Cadillac
14 List Price $2,000 Checker Cab
15 List Price $8,000 1935 Duesenberg-SJ
16 List Price $4,000 1971 Corvette
17 List Price $2,000 1959 Edsel
18 List Price $8,000 1938 Bugatti
19 List Price $3,000 1947 Chrysler Town & Country
20 List Price $5,000 1956 Lincoln Continental
21 List Price $4,000 1931 Model A Ford
22 List Price $2,000 Harley-Davidson Motorcycle
23 List Price $3,000 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk
24 List Price $6,000 1910 Stanley Steamer

Ten Insurance Policy cards, consisting of:

COLLISION insurance (Collect List Price) [x2]
COMPREHENSIVE insurance (Protection against FIRE, THEFT, COLLISION Collect List Price)
FIRE insurance (Collect List Price) [x2]
FLY BY NIGHT insurance (Protection against LEAKY GALOSHES No Value)
FLY BY NIGHT insurance (Protection against RANCID POPCORN No Value)
FLY BY NIGHT insurance (Protection against ROVING BANDS OF CHICKENS No value)
THEFT insurance (Collect List Price) [x2]

A supply of play money in the following denominations: $100 (fandango fuchsia); $500 (green); $1,000 (yellow); $5,000 (dark orange); and $10,000 (light orange)

The Rules sheet.

Aside from the inner cardboard filler to help hold all the pieces in an orderly fashion, that’s it.  Dealer’s Choice is a quirky game, but also a lost classic.  More on this game can be found here: The Best Classic Board Games – Dealer’s Choice (1972).

Blue Book from Parker Brothers’ Dealer’s Choice

Dealer’s Choice Blue Book Value Cards

Dealer’s Choice Blue Book Value Cards

Dealer’s Choice Blue Book Value Cards

Contents of the 1972 Dealer’s Choice game.

What’s In That Game Box? – Disaster (1979)

Ever scoured the Internet looking for what exactly you were missing from the old board game you pulled from your closet, only to find no one who could give you the answer?  Well, stop that fruitless searching through endless google results, as this week we look at Parker Brothers’ Disaster, the 1979 do-it-yourself catastrophe game.

Box art for the 1979 Parker Brothers game Disaster.

The contents of Disaster are as follows:

The game box (showing scenes of an airplane crashing, an ocean liner sinking, an earthquake, and a fire engulfing an office tower, presented in 1970’s-style art).

The game board (featuring an extremely busy presentation of the four disasters in many, many colors. Really, it’s gaudy.)

Six plastic humanoid tokens (blue, brown, green, red, white, yellow)

Two six-sided dice

A set of Disaster attachments (1 ship, 1 plane, 2 earth, and 2 fire pieces)

30 green Survival Chips

A deck of 20 Disaster Cards, which consist of:

Arsonist sets Skyscraper on fire
Boiler explodes in Skyscraper
Careless smoking in Skyscraper
Earthquake hits [x5]
Faulty wiring in Skyscraper
Fire in Plane engine
Huge waves swamp ship
Plane flys into tornado
Plane hijacked
Plane hit by lightning
Plane wing breaks
Restaurant fire
Ship hits Iceburg
Ship sabotaged
Ships collide
Ship’s engine explodes

The Game Rules

Aside from the inner cardboard fillers to help hold all the pieces in an orderly fashion, that’s it.  There are few games that I’ve seen that are so completely out-of-touch with their potential offensive nature as Disaster.  Come on kids, let’s play the game that reminds us all how grandma died last year! Still, it’s an interesting perspective on the ME culture that was the late 1970s.  Have fun!

Box contents of the 1979 Parker Brothers game, Disaster.

What’s In That Game Box? – Wide World (1962)

Box front for Wide World (1961)

Ever scoured the Internet looking for what exactly you were missing from the old board game you pulled from your closet, only to find no succor in your time of need?  Well, stop that fruitless searching through endless google results, as this week we look at Parker Brothers’ Wide World, the hard-to-find 1961 Air Travel Game.

The contents of Wide World are as follows:

The game box (with images of a globe, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Statue of Liberty, the Sphinx, the Taj Mahal, and a traditional Japanese temple gate, all on a red background).

The game board (featuring a 2-dimensional representation of the world overlaid with a grid pattern)

A transparent “Weather Guide” which is a 9 square by 10 square grid, each corner marked with a compass direction (N, S, W, E)

Six metal airplane tokens (black, blue, green, red, silver, yellow)

Two six-sided dice

A deck of 20 Destination Cards, which consist of:

Alaska
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
Egypt
England
Hawaiian Islands
Holland
Iceland
India
Ireland
Japan
Mexico
Peru
Philippine Islands
Russia
Turkey
United States
Venezuela

A deck of 28 Travel Agent Cards, consisting of:

CHANGE POSITION OF YOUR PLANE WITH ANY OTHER. [x2]
CHANGE POSITION OF YOUR PLANE WITH PLAYER ON YOUR LEFT.
CHANGE POSITION OF YOUR PLANE WITH PLAYER ON YOUR RIGHT.
FLY FIVE SPACES.
FLY FOUR SPACES.
FLY THREE SPACES.
FLY TO CAPE TOWN. TAKE A PRODUCT CARD.
FLY TO DESTINATION. [x3]
FLY TO LITTLE AMERICA. TAKE ANOTHER TURN.
FLY TO MADRID, SPAIN. TAKE ANOTHER TURN.
FLY TO PARIS. TAKE ANOTHER TURN.
FLY TO ROBINSON CRUSOE’S ISLAND. TAKE ANOTHER TURN.
FLY TO SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. TAKE ANOTHER TURN.
FLY TO VALPARAISO, CHILE. MOVE FOUR SPACES.
ROUGH WEATHER! GIVE ONE OF YOUR PRODUCT CARDS TO THE PLAYER ON YOUR LEFT.
ROUGH WEATHER! GIVE ONE OF YOUR PRODUCT CARDS TO THE PLAYER ON YOUR RIGHT.
TAKE A PRODUCT CARD. [x2]
TAKE A PRODUCT CARD; FLY FIVE SPACES.
TAKE A PRODUCT CARD; FLY FOUR SPACES.
TAKE A PRODUCT CARD; FLY THREE SPACES.
TAKE ONE PRODUCT CARD FROM ALL PLAYERS.
WEATHER CHANGE, MOVE WEATHER GUIDE TO POSITION “E”
WEATHER CHANGE, MOVE WEATHER GUIDE TO POSITION “N”
WEATHER CHANGE, MOVE WEATHER GUIDE TO POSITION “S”

A deck of 56 Product Cards (consisting of two decks: one with 28 cards worth 1 point, the other with 28 cards worth 2 points), which are:

AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ALASKA IS FISH (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ALASKA IS FURS (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF AUSTRALIA IS WHEAT (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF BRAZIL IS RUBBER (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF BURMA IS RICE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CANADA IS IRON (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CANADA IS WOOD (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CHINA IS RICE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CHINA IS WHEAT (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF EGYPT IS SUGAR CANE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ENGLAND IS WOOL (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF FINLAND IS WOOD (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF GUATEMALA IS COFFEE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF HAWAII IS SUGAR CANE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF HOLLAND IS FLOWER BULBS (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF INDIA IS RICE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF INDIA IS TEA (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF IRELAND IS WHEAT (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF MEXICO IS COFFEE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF PERU IS CORN (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The PHILIPPINE ISLANDS IS CORN (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The PHILIPPINE ISLANDS IS MANILA HEMP (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The PHILIPPINE ISLANDS IS RICE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The UNITED STATES IS CORN (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The UNITED STATES IS COTTON (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The UNITED STATES IS TOBACCO (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF TURKEY IS TOBACCO (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF VENEZUELA IS COFFEE (1 POINT)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ALASKA IS GOLD (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF AUSTRALIA IS GOLD (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF BRAZIL IS COFFEE (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CANADA IS FURS (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CHINA IS TEA (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF CUBA IS TOBACCO (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF EGYPT IS COTTON (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ENGLAND IS COTTON (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF HAWAII IS PINEAPPLES (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF HOLLAND IS CHEESE (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ICELAND IS FISH (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF IRAN IS OIL (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF IRAQ IS OIL (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF IRELAND IS POTATOES (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF ITALY IS OLIVES (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF JAPAN IS RICE (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF MEXICO IS LEAD (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF MEXICO IS SILVER (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF PERU IS ALFALFA (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF PERU IS COPPER (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF POLAND IS COAL (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF RUSSIA IS COAL (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF RUSSIA IS OIL (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF SPAIN IS OLIVES (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF The UNITED STATES IS WHEAT (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF TURKEY IS MOHAIR WOOL (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF TURKEY IS WHEAT (2 POINTS)
AN IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF VENEZUELA IS OIL (2 POINTS)

The Game Rules

Aside from the inner cardboard fillers to help hold all the pieces in an orderly fashion, that’s it.  I hope you traveling around world exploring new destinations (from a 1960s perspective), soon!

Box contents for Wide World (1961)

What’s In That Game Box? – Survive! (1983)

Game box for Parker Brothers’ Survive!

Ever scoured the Internet looking for what exactly you were missing from the old board game you pulled from your closet, only to find no succor in your time of need?  Well, stop that fruitless searching through endless google results, as this week we look at Parker Brothers’ Survive!, the still-popular 1983 game that promised a sea full of danger and oceans of fun.  (Not to be confused with the later – and better – Escape From Atlantis, detailed here: The Best Classic Board Games – Escape From Atlantis (1986).

The contents of Survive! are as follows:

The game box (with images of cartoony characters fleeing an erupting volcano with a sea serpent eagerly awaiting their arrival)

The game board (featuring a large playing surface of hexagons on an ocean background, with a small island land mass on each corner)

Five green plastic Sea Serpent tokens

Five navy blue plastic Whale tokens

Six gray plastic Shark tokens

Forty plastic “People” (villager) playing pieces (10 each of orange, purple, red, and yellow)

Twelve die-cut Boat playing pieces

Forty die-cut terrain playing pieces (16 “Beach”, 16 “Forest”, and 8 “Mountain”)

A special 6-sided die with symbols of the Whale, Shark, and Sea Serpent on the sides

The Game Rules

Aside from the inner cardboard fillers, one which holds the shape of the box and has more game art on it, and one to help hold all the pieces in an orderly fashion, that’s it.  I hope you enjoy attempting to rescue as many villagers as you can from certain death!

A selection of game pieces from Survive!

The game board for Parker Brothers’ Survive!