Post by hbkjason on Jun 2, 2020 4:35:33 GMT -5
Wrestling Memories: WWF Board & Card Games
Today I am going back to 1991 when I got not one, but three games based on the superstars of the WWF. There had been WWF games before and after this, but for whatever reason 1991 was the only year I got WWF board games. The four games I am talking about (well five) were all readily available here in the UK when I was a kid. One of these games, in particular, it was like if you had the slightest interest in wrestling, a family member bought you it for Christmas or your birthday.
The very first game I want to talk about is a card game. I had seen these advertised in WWF Magazine as a kid and while on vacation in Scarborough I found all three sets. I was only allowed to get one so I picked The Ultimate Warrior vs Mr. Perfect. I tried to reason with my dad so I could get the Jake Roberts vs Ted Dibiase set as well (there was also a Hogan vs Earthquake) but he was having none of it. He said, “we will get this one see if you like it and then we can talk about getting another”. This was a good call by my dad as this card game was not exactly as exciting as I thought it would be. Now when I think about it, the WWF Superstars Card Game was the first card game like this I ever played. It was pretty simple and the coolest thing about it is the box that it came in. I would love to track one of these down mint in box to have as a collectible.
The next WWF game I got I purchased with some birthday money I got in November 1991. This is a game called WWF Wrestling Tops and it is a game I remember being sold by the truckload in Woolworths here in the UK. I freaking loved this thing and the weirdest thing about this game was that I played it by myself all the time. Ok, so that is super sad now that I think about it, but hear me out. This was a spinning top game you had a set of good guys and a set of heels. You would spin the tops into the “ring” and the last one standing would be the winner. I would spend ages pitting wrestlers against each other and despite the fact I had a collection of Hasbro, Galoob and LJN Bendies. I had my own fig fed going with this thing. I was really into it as well, I would write down the win and loss records of each match. Looking at images of this thing now, it looks like trash and it was probably one of the most cheaply made pieces of merchandise I had as a kid, but man I loved it.
Next up we fast forward to Christmas of 1991. Under the tree that year were some really cool gifts, but one that I was very excited about was the WWF Wrestling Challenge Board Game. I knew I was getting this because I was going to purchase it with my birthday money and my dad had to talk me out of it as they had already purchased it for my Christmas. This was a fun game that had all the big stars of the WWF at the time. You had to collect Championship belts if I remember correctly. The coolest thing was these massive cards that it came with which once I was done with the game would display in my room. This is a game that pretty much everyone had back in the day. It was also a game that I could manage to get my mum and dad to play as well so I did not have to play it by myself.
Also on Christmas morning, I got another WWF game that I did not know existed and that was a set of WWF Playing Cards. These were the coolest playing cards around as they had big pictures of the wrestlers on them. I would play things like snap and pairs with these as those were the only card games I actually knew how to play. I was surprised to see online that this set of playing cards is pretty popular, so popular that people have gotten some of these cards graded. I also had a set of WCW trading cards/game around this time too which was way better than the WWF Superstars Card Game.
It is kind of crazy that in such a short span I got all those WWF games. The WWF really hit a peak around 91-92 here in the UK so there was merchandise pretty much everywhere you could imagine. That would be it for me and WWF board games until 2002 or 2003 when I randomly came across a game called, WWE Undisputed. This is a game that I still have in my collection. It is cool in that it comes with four mini-figures, a mini-ring, a set of championship belts and some weapons too. The game is pretty damn complicated and when I busted it out for a family game night a couple of years back the rest of the family were not as excited as I was to be playing it. Still, it is cool to have in the collection.
What WWF games did you play as a kid? I have always wanted to try out the WWF VHS game that was released in the 80s, but I am not sure it was ever released here in the UK. I do remember there being a trivia game which was advertised in the WWF magazine I think around 97-98 if I remember rightly, but I never got my hands on it.
