Talk:The Mad Magazine Game

Sources

Hi @Cunard, I think this one might have the sources to bring back. This is the last existing version:[1] and I do see one review in a French magazine:[2]. Do you see anything else? BOZ (talk) 14:21, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

Just wanted to add that this one is meaningful to me because I've had this game since I was a kid, as wacky as the game is. :) BOZ (talk) 14:55, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

It's certainly an interesting and wacky game based on how players win by losing all of their money! :) Cunard (talk) 04:55, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi BOZ (talk · contribs). Here are some sources I found:

1. Brancatelli, Joe (June 1979). "The Comic Books". Creepy. No. 108. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The article notes: "At the annual American Toy Fair in New York recently. Parker Brothers, the "Monopoly" people, announced plans for a new board game called — you guessed it, tradition lovers — "The Mad Magazine Game." Moreover, Parker reported, the game will be advertised on the inside front cover of the October issue of — need we write it?— Mad magazine. The game itself seems to be a pretty fair translation of the magazine. Or, as Parker publicity says, the game concentrates on "zany fun which pokes fun at traditional board games." Players move counter clockwise on a game board studded with such Mad regulars as Spy Vs. Spy, Alfred E. Newman and characters from the strips of Don Martin, dave Berg and other Mad artists. To win the game, the player is supposed to lose all his "Mad money." The game, which should cost about S7-S8, even has an original color drawing by Jack Davis on the box."

2. Salen, Katie; Zimmerman, Eric (2004). Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0-262-24045-9. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The book notes: "Although cultural rhetoric will always be intrinsically present in a game, it also can be actively incorporated into a game design. For example, the Mad Magazine Game takes a typical board game winning condition (accumulating the most money) and turns it on its head: the actual way to win the Mad Magazine Game is to lose all of your money .This simple formal reversal has a strong impact on the cultural rhetoric of the game. Parodying a Monopoly-style winner-take-all game, the Mad Magazine Game calls attention to conventional ideologies of greed and economic power. Just like Mad Magazine itself, the game pokes fun at American institutions and values."

   The book further notes: "Whether a game's cultural rhetoric is unconsciously implicit (Monopoly's capitalistic ideology) or consciously playful (The Mad Magazine Game's satiric reversal), it involves the play of cultural values. ... It is not entirely clear whether The Mad Magazine Game ultimately undermines or reinforces the capitalistic rhetoric it parodies. But the fact that it plays with such ideas at all reveals the presumptions of more rigid structures involving economics, competitive conflict, and even game design. By highlighting the rigid structures it puts "at play," a game can shed light on the operations of culture as a whole."

   The book further notes: "The parodic inversion of the Mad Magazine Game is premised on the idea of play as frivolous, even while its very reference to Monopoly-style games invokes the rhetoric of play as power."

3. "Fair Game for Holiday Giving". The Winchester Star. 1979-12-06. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The article notes: "This daffy board game scored a "go-directly-to-store-and- get one" rating from our team. The board is covered with illustrations from Mad Magazine, whose staff collaborated on its development. Players travel counterclockwise and must always roll the dice with the left hand or suffer a penalty. The game is a spoof on board games, with such directions as: change money with anyone, everyone move one chair to the right, and go ahead 27 spaces. The object is to be the first to lose all your money. By the way, one of the instructions tells you to move anywhere if you are magnificent. Who could resist? All egotists from age eight to adult are invited to try it. The list price is $7.50."

4. Lane, Randall (1998). P.O.V. Living Large: The Guy’s Guide to Getting Ahead, Getting It Right, and Getting by with Style. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 188. ISBN 0-06-273521-7. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The book notes: "Instead, try to find the deeply stupid Mad Magazine Game (no longer available in stores, but infesting the garage sales of America), which announces that you've embraced your inner Alfred E. Neuman — and should remain in the closet until you are both very, very drunk. Beyond that, follow these basic rules:"

5. Orbanes, Philip (2004). The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing. pp. 167–168. ISBN 1-59139-269-1. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The article notes: "Dohrmann and his licensing assistant also made hay with games based on two popular TV shows, Happy Days and The Six Million Dollar Man, and one based on a humor magazine—The Mad Magazine Game. This game turned game playing on its ear. Its object was to lose all of one's money by moving backward around a board (sometimes while clucking like a chicken). Licensing had provided a controversial source of endorsement since the era of "pep" and the awakening of American culture. In theory, a popular personality or movie or program already had a core audience willing to buy products endorsed by their favorites. But the game-buying public is fickle. Not every program or celebrity engenders the kind of competition that makes for a compelling game. That these three games all sold many hundreds of thousands of copies was a distinctive achievement. Collectively, they added $2 million of profit to Parker Brothers' bottom line."

6. "The Mad Magazine Game". Mad. No. 105. July 1995. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The article notes: "In 1979 Parker Brothers released a board game inspired by Mad, entitled The Mad Magazine Game. Artwork on the box lid was by Jack Davis. A popular game upon introduction, it even outsold Monopoly for a time; the objective, however, was to lose all your money. The game was unavailable by the mid 1980s, and in 1988 a new edition in a slightly larger box was brought out, as the What-Me Worry? game; the Mad logo appears prominently on the box. Foreign versions exist; the example shown is a Canadian product that was exported for sale in Japan (with a tipped-in instruction sheet in Japanese)."

7. Gygax, E. Gary (November 1982). "Poker, Chess, and the AD&D System. The Official Word on What's Official". Dragon. Vol. 7, no. 6 #67. p. 63. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The article notes: "Using the relationship of games, think about this: Would any intelligent person purchase a copy of the Monopoly® game, add in some parts of The Mad Magazine® game, imagine it to be somehow "better" than either one alone, and then announce to everyone far and wide that the end product was not only superior, but it was still a Monopoly game? As ludicrous as that sounds, that is pretty much what happens when even well-meaning players of TSR games try to mix and match different systems. ... Notice that TSR owns the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game system. Well, they own the Dungeons & Dragons game, too — just as Parker Brothers owns Monopoly and The Mad Magazine game."

8. Scarpone, Desi (1995). Board Games: With Price Guide. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing. p. 132. ISBN 0-88740-725-0. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The book notes: "The Mad Magazine Game: Parker Brothers 1979. Created by the magazine. $5–7."

9. Whitehill, Bruce (1992). Games: American Boxed Games and Their Makers, 1822–1992, with Values. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Wallace-Homestead Book Co. p. 116. ISBN 0-87069-583-5. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

   The book notes: "The Mad Magazine Game, 1979. Board game with box cover by Mad magazine artist Jack Davis. Common, but liable to increase in value more than games from the same period. $25"

10. Robinson, Jo; Staeheli, Jean Coppock (1982). Unplug the Christmas Machine: How to Have the Christmas You've Always Wanted. New York: Quill-William Morrow. p. 207. ISBN 0-688-01319-8. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

    The book notes: "In the December 1981 issue of Consumer Reports, the editors published a survey of the favorite board games of 1,278 eight-to twelve-year-olds. Here are the top ten in order: Monopoly, Life, the Mad Magazine Game, Clue, Othello, Stratego, chess, Touché, backgammon, and Master Mind."

11. "Creative Computing article". Creative Computing. Vol. 5, no. 5. May 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

    The article notes: "The MAD Magazine Game is zany fun which pokes fun at traditional board games. It breaks all the rules as players move counter-clockwise on the board in an attempt to win the game by losing all their money. (Retail $7.00)"

12. Mergen, Bernard (1982). Play and Playthings: A Reference Guide Book. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 216. ISBN 0-313-22136-7. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

    The book notes: ""Board Games Kids Like Best," the editors report that 75 percent of 1,278 children, aged eight to twelve, who filled out their questionnaire liked Monopoly and 1,193 mentioned it as one of the games they play. Seventy percent liked the games Life, Mad Magazine Game, and Clue. Fifty-five percent liked checkers best, but it was the most widely recognized, being mentioned by 1,217."

13. Sauer, Beverly (2003). The Rhetoric of Risk: Technical Documentation in Hazardous Environments. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 116. ISBN 0-8058-3685-3. Retrieved 2024-01-29 – via Internet Archive.

    The book notes in a footnote: "In the most extreme example, MSHA (1987) proposes a "mad model" of writing derived from a Mad Magazine game that the authors describe for those not familiar with the reference. To play the game, readers are given a story line with parts missing and they choose from columns of words to fill in the missing parts. They provide the following example:"

14. Cerabona, Ron (2010-12-11). "Bored games: what a pity". The Canberra Times. ProQuest 1020461879. Archived from the original on 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-01-29.

    The review notes: "The Mad Magazine Game's goal was admirably clear: the winner was the first player to lose all their money. It was one of a kind: how many board games make you act like a rock, cluck like a chicken or swap places (and money) with other players?"

15. Keshet, Jamie (Spring 1995). "Fun and Games in Stepfamily Therapy". Stepfamilies. Vol. 15, no. 1. Stepfamily Association of America. p. 7. EBSCOhost 9504103830.

    The article notes: "Mad Magazine Game. This is a commercial game available in toy stores fashioned after Mad Magazine (c 1988, Parker Brothers, Beverly, MA). The goal of this game is to lose all your money, not get richer. It has very unusual directions, such as "everyone moves one seat to the left," leaving the money in place. Winning and losing in this game is unpredictable and it is a good measure of flexibility in a family. It also appeals to oppositional young clients."

16. Baity, David (1992-12-27). "Old Games Still Have Their Appeal". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-01-29.

    The article notes: "After dinner, Charles, Jesse and another friend, Philip Fieler, launched into a round of play with the Mad Magazine game. It's a zany contest that contrasts markedly with Monopoly. In Monopoly, you try to amass property, wealth and power. To win the Mad game, you have to get rid of all your money. Sometimes divesting yourself of funds requires making animal sounds, balancing a card on your head and walking backward around the playing table and doing other zany stuff. Each performance was greeted by a burst of laughter."

17. Wascoe Jr., Dan (1988-02-22). "Toy industry's offerings play to many constituencies". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-01-29.

    The article notes: "Tired of reality? Try games and toys based on fantasy. The re-launched MAD Magazine game requires players to move counterclockwise and lose all their money to win. Further heresy: Although the game is new, the box says, "Not New OR Improved.""

Cunard (talk) 04:55, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Spectacular, and thank you! That is more than enough to restore the article. :) I will work on this one during the coming week as time allows. BOZ (talk) 06:58, 29 January 2024 (UTC)