Thighs Wide Shut

quite possibly – THE only photo of all three Parker Brothers together - George Swinnerton, Charles Hanford, and Edward Hegeman

the history of Parker Brothers, written by founder George Swinnerton Parker

plenty more at – PARKER BROTHERS: A FAMILY HISTORY

and here are some of their earliest board games, from the late 19th century…

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what about this amazing logo (one of my favorites of BALLS thyme)???

the swirl was designed by Arnold Arnold, and was first used in 1964, and modified in 1972

(for no particular reason) a brief chronology of 70s bleeps & colors & patterns & fun & games & lames…

1974 – Atari’s Touch Me Touches Down In Video Arcades

Atari releases Touch Me, a screen-less arcade game where you have to remember sound patterns and push buttons to prove you remembered the sound patters.  Gamers say BLEEP THIS, and no one ends up touching it all that much

November 16th, 1977 – Humans Tone Home in Close Encounters of The Third Kind

Steven Spielberg, John Williams & François Truffaut communicate with aliens thru the use of 5 tones.  these ‘wild signals’ obviously do the job cause the aliens remove Richard Dreyfuss from earth 9ever!!

May 15, 1978 – Milton Bradley says Simon

Ralph H Baer encounters Atari’s Touch Me at a trade show in 1976 and thought ‘Nice gameplay. Terrible execution. Visually boring. Miserable, rasping sounds.’  Then he thought up Simon and Milton Bradley got all bleepin’ rich and stuff.  So they basically ripped off Atari AND the sweet sounds of John Williams!!

The launch of Simon was hactually held at Studio 54(!!!), where a four-foot model of the game hung suspended over the dance floor!!!!  Would probably donate our penis to science if someone could find pictures of a bunch of coked-up nekkid people dancing underneath a giant Simon at Studio 54!!!

1978 – Atari Gets Handy & Touchy Again with Touch Me

Atari releases ‘a little product called Touch Me, which was a hand-held version of Milton Bradley’s Simon, which was Milton Bradley’s version of Atari’s coin-op Touch Me.’ - Dennis Koble

Obviously no one really touched this product either, and so Atari’s Electronics Games division scrapped their plans for handheld versions of Space Invaders and Breakout.  Atari waited 11 years before releasing their next handheld system - 1989’s Lynx!!

1978 & beyond – The Copy Cats Meow

Simon‘s popularity brings on a rash of imitators.  One of them was Tiger Electronics’ Copy Cat, although it was probably more like Copy Crap!!

the one we played with as a child, was the Simon-esque Merlin by Parker Bros

remember kids, Parker Bros before hos!

first look at Rooney ‘Rule’ Mara AS Lisbeth Salander!!!!

[via Praylist/OTND]

PARKER BROS BE/WAS RACISTSZZ!!!!

another DeLorean flick in the werks!!!!

Charlotte Church is moving into our pants!!!!

Then & Now Retropective Of 90210!!!!

Atari Computer Designs!!!!

US Skins sez Baltimore is baltiLESS!!!!!!!!

and here’s a pic of the cast all sweaty

juss like the first UK group!