It's a "No Board Wednesday" Special Feature!
T.H.I.N.G.S. Wave 3
Manufacturer: Milton Bradley
Year: 1988
This is the final entry in my three-part review for the Milton Bradley "T.H.I.N.G.S." line of wind-up games. You can find part one HERE, and part two HERE.
Wave three of the T.H.I.N.G.S. games came out in 1988. It was comprised of only two games this time. These two games are by far the most difficult to track down, and as a result the most expensive to buy when you do find them. Unlike waves one and two there are sometimes months between ebay appearances.
Game: Jack B. Timber
Personal History:
While this game is one of the most rare, I was actually able to purchase two copies of it at roughly the same time, and very early in my collecting. It was an oddity to be sure, and I've only seen it on Ebay a few times since.
One of the two copies was broken, and I actually took it apart and repaired some of the inner mechanism. It was neat to see how it all functions. I ended up selling one of my two copies, and I honestly don't remember if I kept the repaired one or not.
Gameplay:
The goal of Jack B. Timber is to chop all of the tree segments out of the tree before the timer runds out. To set up the game the player stacks the segments on top of the center stump, and slides the tree core through them. To add to the game's difficulty, tree segments should be placed in varied positions.
When the game is wound the tree rotates. The Jack figure has a tab which, when pulled back and released, send him swinging his axe towards the tree. When timed correctly Jack's axe will hit small nodules on the tree segments which will send them shooting out of the tree. With the loss of each segment the bird on the top of the tree lowers.
If Jack is able to chop all of the tree segments off of the tree before the timer runs out the bird will lower all the way and the game will stop. If Jack cannot chop out the pieces in time the tree pops off of the base of the game.
Thoughts:
This is one of the better games of the range. The mechanism works well, and it's certainly a skill based game that you can get better at after playing for a while. The ability to vary the tree slice positions adds to the replayability as it can alter the difficulty quite a bit. The visual style is also very clear and attractive. You know exactly what this game is supposed to be and it's therefore easy to connect to.
Probably what I like best is that the game stops once you complete it. This feature also exists in "Egg-Zilla", but as I've said I'm not a huge fan of that game in general. While most of the other games just sort of slowly end when they wind down, sometimes well after the player has finished playing, Jack B. Timber has a very clear final moment. It's one of my all-around favorites.
Game: E-E-Egor
This is the final entry in my three-part review for the Milton Bradley "T.H.I.N.G.S." line of wind-up games. You can find part one HERE, and part two HERE.
Wave three of the T.H.I.N.G.S. games came out in 1988. It was comprised of only two games this time. These two games are by far the most difficult to track down, and as a result the most expensive to buy when you do find them. Unlike waves one and two there are sometimes months between ebay appearances.
Game: Jack B. Timber
While this game is one of the most rare, I was actually able to purchase two copies of it at roughly the same time, and very early in my collecting. It was an oddity to be sure, and I've only seen it on Ebay a few times since.
One of the two copies was broken, and I actually took it apart and repaired some of the inner mechanism. It was neat to see how it all functions. I ended up selling one of my two copies, and I honestly don't remember if I kept the repaired one or not.
The goal of Jack B. Timber is to chop all of the tree segments out of the tree before the timer runds out. To set up the game the player stacks the segments on top of the center stump, and slides the tree core through them. To add to the game's difficulty, tree segments should be placed in varied positions.
This is one of the better games of the range. The mechanism works well, and it's certainly a skill based game that you can get better at after playing for a while. The ability to vary the tree slice positions adds to the replayability as it can alter the difficulty quite a bit. The visual style is also very clear and attractive. You know exactly what this game is supposed to be and it's therefore easy to connect to.
Probably what I like best is that the game stops once you complete it. This feature also exists in "Egg-Zilla", but as I've said I'm not a huge fan of that game in general. While most of the other games just sort of slowly end when they wind down, sometimes well after the player has finished playing, Jack B. Timber has a very clear final moment. It's one of my all-around favorites.
Game: E-E-Egor
Personal History:
There's fairly little information about this line of games to be found online, and even less about this third wave. E-E-Egor was game that, for a while, I only knew the name of but had never seen even a picture of. There was a guy online who had worked on toy development at some point, and listed the T.H.I.N.G.S. games on his page, and there was a photo of all of the boxes lined up such that I was able to read the title of E-E-EGOR.
Some time after that I was able to see a full photo of the box, and then even longer still to see a picture of the game itself. It was probably at least two years of skulking around to finally catch one on sale, and because it was the only game I did not yet have I pretty much was willing to spend whatever it took to get it. Fortunately for me it only took around fifty dollars, which definitely felt like a lot of money but also put an end to a years long search, so I was happy to pay it.
Gameplay:
E-E-EGOR is a flipping game, similar to Flip-O-Potamus. As the timer winds down Egor pops in and out of his grave. The player's task is to shoot the little white skulls into the hole on the top of the grave when Egor is under ground.
Thoughts:
So while the flipping mechanic in Flip-O-Potamus is horrible, they seem to have fixed it a bit for E-E-Egor. The aim is much better, and while it's not perfect you do actually feel more in control than before. Egor moves up and down at a fairly regular interval, making timing possible and allowing for the player to improve through practice.
The look of this game is pretty unique, with an eye-catching color palette and fun little creature. The real standout element here though are the little marbles, each of which is actually molded to look like a skull. It's a great little aesthetic touch that adds a lot to the overall vibe of this game.
So there they are, all nine of Milton Bradley's T.H.I.N.G.S. wind-up games. This is a very fun little collection, and definitely a product of its time. It's almost hard to remember how many little wind-up pocket type games existed prior to the invention of cellular phones and portable video games. This line, if attempted today, would probably fail before the initial pitch was finished.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little diversion from my regular content. As always, happy gaming!
Some time after that I was able to see a full photo of the box, and then even longer still to see a picture of the game itself. It was probably at least two years of skulking around to finally catch one on sale, and because it was the only game I did not yet have I pretty much was willing to spend whatever it took to get it. Fortunately for me it only took around fifty dollars, which definitely felt like a lot of money but also put an end to a years long search, so I was happy to pay it.
Gameplay:
E-E-EGOR is a flipping game, similar to Flip-O-Potamus. As the timer winds down Egor pops in and out of his grave. The player's task is to shoot the little white skulls into the hole on the top of the grave when Egor is under ground.
Thoughts:
So while the flipping mechanic in Flip-O-Potamus is horrible, they seem to have fixed it a bit for E-E-Egor. The aim is much better, and while it's not perfect you do actually feel more in control than before. Egor moves up and down at a fairly regular interval, making timing possible and allowing for the player to improve through practice.
The look of this game is pretty unique, with an eye-catching color palette and fun little creature. The real standout element here though are the little marbles, each of which is actually molded to look like a skull. It's a great little aesthetic touch that adds a lot to the overall vibe of this game.
So there they are, all nine of Milton Bradley's T.H.I.N.G.S. wind-up games. This is a very fun little collection, and definitely a product of its time. It's almost hard to remember how many little wind-up pocket type games existed prior to the invention of cellular phones and portable video games. This line, if attempted today, would probably fail before the initial pitch was finished.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little diversion from my regular content. As always, happy gaming!