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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 on 08/07/2005. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 156 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.

Chestnuts roasted by Tetsu Deinonychus @ 08/08/2005 3:17 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by KillerTofu @ 08/08/2005 4:24 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by Mr. Digitizer @ 08/08/2005 5:20 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by keens @ 08/08/2005 5:34 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Jimbalaya @ 08/08/2005 8:11 AM

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! ^_^

Chestnuts roasted by Michael from Denver @ 08/08/2005 8:42 AM

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!

Chestnuts roasted by bitchpants @ 08/08/2005 9:37 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 08/08/2005 10:52 AM

Mr. Digitizer: Crack is wack, yo.

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 08/08/2005 11:03 AM

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 :)

Chestnuts roasted by Miss @ 08/08/2005 12:05 PM

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?

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/08/2005 12:22 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Lori @ 08/08/2005 12:29 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by aint_baroque @ 08/08/2005 2:04 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Andrew @ 08/08/2005 3:12 PM

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?

Chestnuts roasted by Andrew @ 08/08/2005 3:18 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by RAS @ 08/08/2005 4:24 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/08/2005 4:45 PM

"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?

Chestnuts roasted by tanta07 @ 08/08/2005 5:27 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by rebecca @ 08/08/2005 5:58 PM

Maybe a Micheal’s in China.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/08/2005 5:59 PM

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?

Chestnuts roasted by Nooker @ 08/08/2005 6:33 PM

I’ve got a briefcase full of blues!

This was a great article! Just like them all!

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 08/08/2005 6:38 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Gabbylicious @ 08/08/2005 7:08 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 08/08/2005 7:17 PM

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"…

Chestnuts roasted by Lazy Girl @ 08/08/2005 8:09 PM

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 7th, 2005 at 3:41 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.