X-Entertainment.com X-Entertainment UGO
You are all doomed. Why not surrender? We might let you live.

08/07/2005: Games In Pens!

Strange, stupid little article for you today, and it’s all about Games In Pens. What are Games In Pens? Classic board games and other much-loved toys, miniaturized and stuck on pens! I picked up eight different this weekend, from Pop-O-Matic Trouble to the Play-Doh Fun Factory. Sure, it’s not the feature the world’s been waiting for, but if I’m going to spend fifty bucks on novelty pens, I damn well better get an article out of them.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Bookmark and Share


Discussion Thread: 158 comments

I think I now need the Lava Lamp one and the nerf-gun one.

Anyway, Michael’s is a good place to buy art-supplies, but I usually get them at the drug-store, because I don’t live close to one.

Ghosted by Tetsu Deinonychus @ 08/08/2005 3:17 AM EDT


These look like perfect kid gifts–anyone want to toss out a few ideas on where to get them OTHER than Michael’s?

Ghosted by KillerTofu @ 08/08/2005 4:24 AM EDT


The people that post on your website Matt…are on crack..some of them :P its funny…

Ghosted by Mr. Digitizer @ 08/08/2005 5:20 AM EDT


I remember some pretty epic battles over connect four, and I refuse to believe that there’s no strategy involved.

My version of trouble was circa 1970, so it didn’t have the same feel when used as a backdrop for third earth.

Ghosted by keens @ 08/08/2005 5:34 AM EDT


The packaging of these pens is pretty hilarious. "A game… in a pen!" No shit!?! And you can’t even see the logo on the Play Doh one because the pen is so huge.

My wife is a big fan of both craft stores and fabric stores. Luckily I rarely have to tag along. I share the same uneasiness and impatience. It’s the same for her if I drag her to look at tools.

Ghosted by Jimbalaya @ 08/08/2005 8:11 AM EDT


Ha! I thought I was the only one to dread those mother son shopping trips in that place. If sadness was in a store, michaels sold it. A bunch of unfinished dull colored stuff, that only old ladies should be interested. That place reminds me of old people and stuff. LAME! ^_^

Ghosted by Michael from Denver @ 08/08/2005 8:42 AM EDT


Knegative–

I totally forgot about "flipsiders"! I had Mall Madness and I LOVED it! That might be one of my most played with toys of my youth. I bet I still have that thing somewhere. And for some reason, I was the only kid around that had one. I was cool for once in my sorry little life!

Ghosted by bitchpants @ 08/08/2005 9:37 AM EDT


Besides Michaels, there’s some stores called Hobby Lobby here. That’s where I go.

I also remember Flipsiders and had a couple. They used to get advertised alot during Nickelodeon gameshows. Those Nick games RULED.

I also second an article on video game watches. Never had one but always wanted one. Since it’s becoming popular to play video games on cell phones I don’t see why they can’t make a comeback.

Also, how about an article on those handheld video games from companies like Tiger Electronics. I don’t think I ever played a good one. Burger King had a Spyro the Dragon one recently in one of they’re kids meals. Blech.

I used to have a colored ink vibrating pen that was fun. You put batteries in it and it vibrates to make sqiggly lines. Pen was big and hard to hold on to, but fun.

Ghosted by JLAJRC @ 08/08/2005 10:52 AM EDT


Mr. Digitizer: Crack is wack, yo.

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 08/08/2005 11:03 AM EDT


My mini-Lincoln Log pen is just about the only good thing my sister has ever given me. It’s pretty neat, but it only builds one friggin house, and getting that house to stay up while you’re building pretty much requires the patience of a saint. That, and the little Lincoln Log pieces look like tiny malformed stick pretzels. Or dog poop. Definitely dog poop.

I had the mini-Twister pen too. The little twister dots looked like multi-colored pepperoni. Where mini-Twister really scored was in the stick-ability of the dots. You could lick the back of those suckers and stick them anywhere–even human skin. Many great pick-up lines were born of that Twister pen :)

Ghosted by Miss @ 08/08/2005 12:05 PM EDT


Ah, yes! Back-to-school time, when stores get the jump on the next quarter and Wal-Mart sets up all the Clearance racks. Bought a Atari Flashback for 15 last night. Didn’t see any novelty pens, just keychains. This year’s Expo was all right, not great. The suicide booth is still in our parking lot. Never buy a Bacon Cheeseburger from a stand crawling wih junebugs. The Super-Carny Chick Squad(tm) running the joint only added to the mystiqe of infested fast food. I had two Power Penz: one with a "Sonic Ear" kind of listening device, and one that launched helicopters. Bacon cheesebugger. Juneburger?

Ghosted by kingklash @ 08/08/2005 12:22 PM EDT


I was given the Scrabble pen as a gift. It’s pretty neat, but one of those games that has too many pieces to translate completely. Besides, I’ve already poured too much money into the keychains, I can’t very well justify rebuying all those games in pen form…or can I?

I totally understand the Michael’s thing. My mother couldn’t get enough of that place (probably still can’t) and she’s pretty paranoid to shop alone, so I’ve spent a lot of time there. I remember she used to lure us out of the house for one thing, and once she had us captive in the car we’d end up at Michael’s. She was sneaky like that. I don’t know about the ones where you are, but I can tell you why the one we would go to was so depressing. It was in an old store space (I’m pretty sure it used to Bradlees) in a nearly forgotten little shopping center. The automatic doors had to be propped open because they didn’t work anymore. There’s never a large crowd there (and, consequently, no energy in the store), just middle-aged to elderly women shuffling around like they have no idea why they’re there. (If they’re like my mom, they know exactly why they’re there, they’re just completely unfamiliar with the concept of getting what you want and getting out – they have to see it ALL.) There’s no color in the walls or floor – they’re all just a dirty white. The kicker at my local store is that the store music is just one (rather short) looping song. If you’re there long enough (and I usually was) you’ll hear the same distinct parts of this easy listening instrumental over and over and over… it’s like if John Tesh wrote video game music. I kept waiting for one of the employees to turn homicidal – preferrably when I wasn’t there. My vote would be for her to unleash her wrath on the puffy paints and do the world a favor.

Ghosted by Lori @ 08/08/2005 12:29 PM EDT


Hi everyone,
Long time reader, first time poster. I can’t say that I’ve ever noticed anything particularily depressing about the Michaels in my part of the world (Vancouver, Canada). It’s basically just another brightly lit, vaguely impersonal big box store a la Home Depot or Staples. Mind you, my wife is not the arts and craftsy type, so I’ve been spared having to make frequent trips there.;) On an unrelated note, I just got back from China a few weeks ago and had an absolute blast there. If any of you have ever considered visiting, don’t hesitate, just go.

Ghosted by aint_baroque @ 08/08/2005 2:04 PM EDT


CONNECT FOUR in a PEN? Those checker pieces must be the size of a newborn baby’s pinkie nail! Umm…I dunno if it’s worth my soul, or even two bucks for me, considering how hard it would be to play, but I’d probably pick one up if they were giving ‘em out for free. Maybe.

Ghosted by Andrew @ 08/08/2005 3:12 PM EDT


Ah-hem. Sorry, but I really didn’t mean any harm by that comment. It certainly would make an interesting conversation piece, but even for a 15-year-old Volvo, the ideal novelty pen would have to have something edible. Maybe a Pez dispenser. Probably already been done, though.

P.S.: Does that fish contain your actual soul? You know, like they say the briefcase that guy carried around in Pulp Fiction contained his soul, or how Naraku (the main villain in the manga Inuyasha) keeps his heart inside an extremely well-protected baby. Y’know, sort of for safe-keeping?

Ghosted by Andrew @ 08/08/2005 3:18 PM EDT


soul in the briefcase? Gold foiled wrapped money is not his soul.

Ghosted by RAS @ 08/08/2005 4:24 PM EDT


The case was full of the world’s best gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 08/08/2005 4:45 PM EDT


"Hi everyone,
Long time reader, first time poster. I can’t say that I’ve ever noticed anything particularily depressing about the Michaels in my part of the world (Vancouver, Canada). It’s basically just another brightly lit, vaguely impersonal big box store a la Home Depot or Staples. Mind you, my wife is not the arts and craftsy type, so I’ve been spared having to make frequent trips there. On an unrelated note, I just got back from China a few weeks ago and had an absolute blast there. If any of you have ever considered visiting, don’t hesitate, just go."

Michael’s, or China?

Ghosted by tanta07 @ 08/08/2005 5:27 PM EDT


I’ve never really been to Michael’s. I had a bad experience at JoAnn Fabrics where an old lady told me my "boobies" were too big for a pattern I was looking at. Yes, this woman actually said BOOBIES and she actually worked for the place. I much prefer Hobby Lobby. I get all my yarn and shit there. I heart crocheting!

Games in pens, though. I avoid them because I’m annoyed at how shittily they are made. I usually end up breaking them the instant they’re out of the package.

Ghosted by rebecca @ 08/08/2005 5:58 PM EDT


Maybe a Micheal’s in China.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 08/08/2005 5:59 PM EDT


ugh! I cannot find any decent webages on old 70s and early 8s Nerf stuff? I’m looking for those tater tot-looking ammo things. Does anyone remember those?

Ghosted by Nooker @ 08/08/2005 6:33 PM EDT


I’ve got a briefcase full of blues!

This was a great article! Just like them all!

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 08/08/2005 6:38 PM EDT


My favorite pen ever was given to me by my best friend Shannon. It was pink and had a doll’s head on top and made everyone look at me weird because the doll’s head was freakin’ huge. Sadly, it dried up. But then Shannon went to Germany a brought me a pen shaped like a gargantuan human finger from some weird German haunted house.

Ghosted by Gabbylicious @ 08/08/2005 7:08 PM EDT


Ooooooh, must go to Michael’s. Not for the pens, which I’ve seen there before, and automatically imagined you walking around that section of the store as I read – but, for the Halloween stuff. I’ve been dying for some good Halloween stuff to surface!

TRU has also had those pens. They are usually stuck on a side cap somewhere in Imaginarium in a cardboard display box. At least, ours were. We have a lone Connect Four pen left in Board Games, and … man I can’t remember what that thing is – some kind of "Racers" car pen – I think. It’s huge.

I got my friend the Nerf pen a while back. OH! They also have a Super Soaker pen! :D

Ghosted by Ryane @ 08/08/2005 7:17 PM EDT


aint_baroque: what part of China did you go to? I lived there for 4 years and just got back from a month visit back to my "home" there.

Michael’s in China. now THAT would be weird… because I’ve never seen any of the stuff you can buy at Michael’s in China despite the fact that they ALL say "Made in China"…

Ghosted by Lazy Girl @ 08/08/2005 8:09 PM EDT


I used to love going to Michaels. I guess I still do, but I don’t go too often. My Grandma was a crafter, so I was doing the craft store thing before we had a Michaels and we were going to Franks Nursery and Crafts (which is now out of business). Michaels is still pretty fun, but Franks was really depressing, especially toward the end. I could never stand the smell there- fertilizer, yay.

I used to paint ceramic ornaments, but I kind of got burned out around 8th grade, and all I’ve done since then was an awesome gingerbread house thing that I gave to my other Grandma for Christmas last year. I also spent like a week painting this wooden box. I wanted to make it look good, even though it was only two colors.

I also have avoided the spoiler thread because I am currently avoiding spoilers for just about everything. No joke. Even if I have no plans of reading/watching/whatever any certain thing, I still don’t want to know because there’s always a chance.

Maybe I’ll pick up some of those pens for my cousins this year.

Ghosted by Rainbowfeet @ 08/08/2005 8:10 PM EDT


I once had this pen that you filled with water. There was a little submarine and 3 rings (mines), that you tried to get around the periscope. Damn that thing was cool.

Ghosted by Joe in OH @ 08/08/2005 8:55 PM EDT


Lazy Girl:
My wife and I got a chance to visit quite a few cities during our month long stay. Here is a list of the cities we visited: Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Tianjin, Shanghai,Wuxi, Beijing, and Harbin. The reason why we traveled so far north is because my wife is from Harbin. So, in a way, it’s become a sort of second "home" for me. Since you were living in China for four years, I suppose you must have learned to speak Mandarin quite fluently. I, on the other hand, can barely get by ordering food in a restaurant…;)

To the other posters:
Sorry if I caused any confusion with my previous post. To clarify, I had a blast in China and heartily recommend it as a potential vacation destination.

Ghosted by aint_baroque @ 08/08/2005 9:31 PM EDT


Matt: Now this is the kind of article I think of when I think X-E. Great job :)

DarthBudzy: I have a few of those Game and Watch toys. I got Donkey kong Jr. and Super Mario Bros. a long time ago, way before the GameBoy came into the world. They still work too.

I remember watching a kid play with the Legend of Zelda G&W toy once (two screens if I remember correctly, just like a certain handheld)… I begged and begged him to let me play it, and he strung me along for close to an hour but never let me even touch it. Motherfucker.

Anyway, I figure I’ll sell them someday on eBay, but I don’t know… I’m a huge packrat and I don’t want to get rid of some part of my childhood like that.

Ghosted by Night_Trekker @ 08/08/2005 9:36 PM EDT


China is cool. Too bad I’ll never go there. Anyways, I’m surprised all these novelty pens were in an art store. You know, instead of a useless crap merchant or a gas station or soemthing. Useless crap is cool.

Ghosted by Warx @ 08/08/2005 9:37 PM EDT


I always used to be dragged to Michael’s when I was little. It would always start out as a "little trip to the store" and 5 hours later my mom and I would still be in Michael’s. I hated that place, so depressing and musty. My mom’s now moved on to Hobby Lobby, which I always thought was a local Missouri place but now have found out differently. Hobby Lobby isn’t as bad as Michael’s, but something about it is still off, maybe the fact that I’ve never seen more than 3 people in the store at a time. There’s always lots of cars in the parking lot, but nobody inside.

Ghosted by Stacey @ 08/08/2005 10:13 PM EDT


the problem with Hobby Lobby (actually, there’s lots, but one of the biggest), is the incessant muzak. Now, if this was some quality music of Top 40 hits of yesteryear and easy listenin’ favorites, I could deal.

Nope. All day every day, from 9 A.M. to 8 P.M., I am subjected to Muzak renditions of all your favorite hymns done in such wacky styles as a "zydeco-calypso" hybrid.

Ghosted by Bonzo @ 08/08/2005 11:20 PM EDT


I work at Michaels and these things are a PAIN in the ass..lol. Every night I find dozens of them randomly scattered throught the store…Still they are cool. Is your girlfriend the kind of girl who likes to stay in the clay isle and squeeze all the little Fimo and Sculpey clays to see which ones are the best? That stuff is funny…

Ghosted by EsperAqua @ 08/08/2005 11:49 PM EDT


Us crazy canucks hav a chain of craft stores called lewiskraft, the one time i entered one was to buy wire so i could break into my car after i locked myself out of it, and i strangely felt the same sense demasculation that comes with entering such a store.

Ghosted by Diarrhea Dave @ 08/09/2005 12:45 PM EDT


wow that connect four game pen looks like it’s gotta be played with tweezers

Ghosted by annalala @ 08/09/2005 1:29 AM EDT


i am sure most will get fired from laughing to much at work from this

Ghosted by josh @ 08/09/2005 1:47 AM EDT


well, no one will read this post(probably) byt i just wanted to say that a lava lamp pen would be so cool.

Ghosted by flarekatana @ 08/09/2005 3:05 AM EDT


I HATE Michaels, because they got rid of all of the plastic models and model railroad stuff. Michaels sucks. The only time I’ve been in there in the last 5 years was to get something framed, which I will admit, they did a good job at.

Hell, most Wal-Marts now have a craft section. Why don’t you try going there next time? At least you can look at the toys whilst the Woman looks at crafts…

Ghosted by Cameron T. @ 08/09/2005 7:18 AM EDT


Well, most Wal-Mart craft sections are one aisle, two at the MOST, so his girlfriend would be horribly enraged by the lack of selection, and by the time they actually got to Micheal’s, Matt would have to spend 8 hours there…and that would not be a good thing.

I have a spoiler, but I don’t want to go back in that thread…it scares me!!

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 08/09/2005 10:10 AM EDT


I want the Lite Brite pen. I had a toy in the 80s that was kind of a rip-off of Lite Brite. I remind my mom how deprived I was, but the toy that I had was cooler–you stamp plastic cookie cutter cools and run pizza cutter tools across a black peg board with a light bulb in it. The lines and shapes you made were all different colors. To restore the board, you had to flip it upside down.

Ghosted by Allison @ 08/09/2005 11:02 AM EDT


I like running across the cheap imitators of things like Lite Brite. "Light Board," "Lazer Pegs," and the like. Maybe I’ll go play with the Astro-Lite gadget on HomeStar Runner.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 08/09/2005 11:34 AM EDT


There was an old WCW Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan pen kinda like the Rockem Sockem Robots pen. Except it had this huge ring with Hogan and Sting circa 1998.

I saw it on card at a flea market in Baltimore for a dollar a year ago . I still didn’t want it no matter how much wrestling garbage I have in my house.

By the way, if I may ask, is X-E going to do the Mystery Boxes at all in the future?

Ghosted by The Chad @ 08/09/2005 12:10 PM EDT


I think Play-Doh should replace dollars and coins as America’s currency.

Ghosted by Review the World @ 08/09/2005 1:16 PM EDT


Nooker, I remember those Nerf tator tot bullets. I couldn’t find any other info on them either, not even on eBay.

The set I remember having was a small rubber pistol that you stuffed the bullet into and squeezed to fire. It also had a holder for the rest of the bullets that you could attach to your belt.

Ghosted by cravipat @ 08/09/2005 1:19 PM EDT


I used to have the Hogan/Sting NWO pen, I got it as a goof from some friends who were into "’Rasslin" at the time. It was kinda cool though, the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em feature was that they would kick at each other, i don’t remember any head poppin though.

Ghosted by WonKa @ 08/09/2005 1:23 PM EDT


But then what would be do if our money dried out? Would all kitchen clay recipies (you know, the ones with flour and salt and water) have to be banned as counterfieting?

Ghosted by Freezair @ 08/09/2005 3:31 PM EDT


How could anyone hate craft stores? You’re home for models, both johnny lightning and disassembled plastic.

additionally where else are you going to find cork?

Ghosted by Deuce @ 08/09/2005 7:14 PM EDT


The Micheal’s around here was notorious among teenagers as a shoplifter paradise, but eventually they went out of business and now there’s a produce market there. There is a Michelle’s across town.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 08/10/2005 2:15 AM EDT


–>> ??..o you want $$.. ok i’ll write ya a check
..

you gotta ..

Ghosted by ~tOkK @ 08/10/2005 3:01 AM EDT


^^shaved her legs and then he was a she, she said hey babe, take a walk down the craft aisle.

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 08/10/2005 3:01 AM EDT


Add A New Comment!