The wonderful world of celebrity board games
We almost forgot that back in the ’90s, Vanilla Ice had his own game, called The Vanilla Ice Electronic Rap Game. Jimmy Fallon reminded us of this amazing fact this week and for that we are forever grateful. If that game doesn’t scream fun for the whole family I’m not sure what does. Players had rhyming cards that they used to complete rap lyrics. It also came with a beat box machine that today sounds like it’s been through the washing machine a couple hundred times.
But Ice’s game isn’t the only almost-long-forgotten celebrity board game on the block. Actually, there are lots of strange and obscure — and awesome — games from yesteryear that are either collecting dust in an attic, or in the pile for the next garage sale. While it can’t be said that any of these are too educational, they were at least fun, if not hilarious to play. Check out all the celebrity board games we’d kill to get our hands on today.
1. Bruce Jenner Decathlon Game
Players had to compete in different decathlon games, and the player with the most points won. The board game edition premiered in 1976. Then, a computer game was released in 1996 in case you hadn’t gotten all of your Bruce Jenner Decathlon fix.
Which came first, the dance on Family Matters, or the board game? The game description suggests that it is “perfect for middle school boys!” Players needed to compete to win bow-ties, but to keep them they had to either do the Urkel, or say something Urkel would say. OK, this is amazing.
Uh-huh, dueling rap games. MC Hammer’s version was sort of like Vanilla Ice’s, but instead of a beat box machine, you got a cassette tape, where Hammer would give you instructions to follow. Then, you had to rap to accumulate points. Obviously.
4. Clarissa Explains It All Board Game
Considering Clarissa Explains It All was such a simple (and beloved) television show, the board game sounds incredibly complicated. There were questions, and then you had to make up your own questions, and then a “survey of Clarissa’s friends” answered the questions, You could also land on a “hang out” or “get a snack” space. The goal of the game was to get your driver’s license. Clarissa, please explain the logic behind this to me.
5. Sabrina The Teenage Witch Board Game
Melissa Joan Hart is so popular she’s got two board games. This one is the, “Cast A Magic Spell Game.” This game was much simpler. You had to complete your personal “real me” profile by rolling the dice and moving around the game board and performing spells. So the moral of this game was to be true to yourself, because that’s how you win.
6. Twister Dance Rave Britney Spears
The crazy thing is that this one can still be bought today online and at Target. Oh, did you want to see the commercial for it? It’s basically a combination of Twister, but without the Twister mat, and Dance Dance Revolution, but without the video game. Instead you got colored dots you had to dance on. You also got a remix of “Till The World Ends.”
This game was loaded with information about the guys you couldn’t find anywhere else (or so it said). If you answered questions correctly, you made it closer to the stage, and then if you solved the final secret password you got to go backstage! No, not in real life, but in the world of the game, which is almost as good. Almost.
8. David Dickinson’s Antique Chase
He’s British. He’s an antique dealer and historian. Maybe you’ve seen him on PBS before. For this game, you need the skills to be able to collect “antiques”—or, rather, cards that stand in for antiques. It’s sort of like Monopoly, but with David D. instead of the Monopoly man.
If you are desperate to get on Trump’s Apprentice, but don’t want to leave the comforts of your own home, this game might be the compromise. First, you have to negotiate to accumulate different properties. Then, you have to try and sell your properties for profit! It’s basically like the real housing market, and since this game was first produced in 1989, the players usually seem to end up with imaginary money anywhere between $400-$600 million dollars. It’s a warm fuzzy feeling game for people who like to roll around in fake money.
(Images via here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
