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T.H.I.N.G.S. Wave 2

Manufacturer: Milton Bradley

Year: 1987


This is a continuation of last week's review of the Milton Bradley "T.H.I.N.G.S." line of wind-up games. If you haven't read that yet it can be found HERE, and probably should be read first.

Wave two of the T.H.I.N.G.S. games came out in 1987. It was comprised of three different games and displays a very clear attempt to increase the complexity of the line. The results of this added complexity are mixed, as you'll see with the reviews.

While these three games are more rare than the first wave, they're still common enough that they don't cost all that much and are fairly easily found online.

Game: Astro-Nots


Personal History:
Astro-Nots is the first wave one game that I was able to get a complete copy of. I had incomplete versions of this and Dr. Wack-O which I obtained in a mixed lot which sat around for a while mostly unplayable, but eventually I scored a complete one of these. I'm pretty sure I actually bought it off of Etsy which is a little off the beaten path, but sometimes yield results.


Gameplay:
The goal of Astro-Nots is to use the space ship to deliver all of the astronauts from off of the planet before the alien reaches them. To begin all of the astronaut pieces are placed in their spaces on the planet surface. A small platform is attached to the side of the game and serves as a depository for the astronauts once they are retrieved.


The alien figure is pulled back and released. This activates the game's mechanism which simultaneously winds the alien closer to the game and rotates the planet's surface.


As the alien creeps closer the player moves the space ship, pressing down a button which lowers a magnet on the ship's tip. The player attempts to touch that magnet to the tops of the astronauts' heads, picking them up, and then carrying them to safety on the blue platform. When the alien reaches the planet time is up.


Thoughts:
Astro-Nots is by far the best functioning game of the entire T.H.I.N.G.S. range. First, it is the only game powered by a pull cord, and therefore one of the only games on which I've experienced no random stoppages or slow spots. Every other game has a slider which winds the game up, and they all seem to either slow down and speed up erratically at parts or come to a dead stop at times.


This pick up and deliver mechanism also works very well. If you time it correctly the ship picks up the astronauts almost without incident, and they drop pretty reliably onto the little platform as well. Timing and planning pay off with this one, and it's very satisfying to play.



Lastly, the visual design is great. The little astronauts are adorable, the alien has a great, wacky look, and even the space ship has elements which are very familiar but create a unique all together. This is definitely one of the best T.H.I.N.G.S. games.

Game: Dr. Wack-o


Personal History:
So as I mentioned earlier, I had pieces for this game for a while before getting a complete one. Even this complete one was formed by joining that partial one with another partial one as the little magnetic discs are pretty easy to lose.


Dr. Wack-O seems to appear for sale pretty frequently online, or at least as frequently as Astro-Nots. I can't remember how I got the remaining pieces to make this whole, but it's likely from an Ebay auction.



Gameplay:
Small magnetic discs are placed in little cups, magnet side down, on the game's rotating disc. The Dr. Wack-O figure is placed in the center of that disc.


The game really requires the player to manipulate two different things at once, both with the same button. When the game plays the pots rotate. When a pot is directly in front of Dr. Wack-o the player must press the yellow button, flipping the small disc in the pot over to show the magnetic side. Then, once the pot is behind Dr. Wack-o and in front of the hammer the player presses the button again, picking the small magnetic disc up and depositing it in a trough along the side of the game. The player attempts to get all of the discs into the trough before the timer winds down and Dr. Wack-o explodes off of the game.


Thoughts:
While last time I complained about the inability to aim in the Flip-o-potamus game, it's actually Dr. Wack-o which wins the title of "Worst T.H.I.N.G.S. Game". The problem is that you have one button working two mechanisms at the same time, neither of which function correctly. What actually happens most of the time is that you press the yellow button to flip a small disc in the front, but the hammer comes down in the back way too hard flipping random discs over, sometimes right out of the cups and onto the table. So you try to press the button lighter but then the mechanism in the front doesn't quite have enough power to flip the discs like it should , so you're unable to capture any in the back.

Really there's no win with this game, but even if you did manage to win the guy in the middle blows off at the waist for some reason anyway. It's pretty disappointing all around.

Game: Go-Rilla


Personal History: 
This was the hardest wave two game for me to track down. For whatever reason when I was looking for it there wasn't any to be found, and it was a better part of a year before I grabbed one online, probably for much more than I ought to have spent because I was so happy to finally see it available. It seems to appear more frequently now, but the T.H.I.N.G.S. line in general seems more available now than it used to be.


Gameplay:
You play as an explorer who is trying to send barrels across a bridge to the other side of a ravine. Beneath the bridge is a giant gorilla who keeps pushing the bridge up in the middle. Pushing a button by the explorer releases a barrel which, when timed correctly, can roll across the bridge to a receiving spot on the other side. If not timed correctly the gorilla will push the bridge up, disrupting the roll of the barrels, possibly sending them falling off the bridge.


Thoughts:
The action here is simple enough to describe, but it doesn't work as smoothly as it seems like it should. Part of the problem is that the barrels all have small sprue remnants on them, and therefore don't roll as well as they ought to. They're also super light and so don't have quite enough weight to assure a nice straight path across the bridge. What happens sometimes is that a barrel will stop wither because it doesn't roll straight, or because of the gorilla lifting the bridge. It then sits at the bridge's hinge, and when the bridge goes back down it doesn't have enough weight to make it continue along. So really it just ends up blocking all future barrels unless you pick it out with your fingers, and this sort of ruins the flow of the game.


This game is more or less fine, and about average among the T.H.I.N.G.S. range. You can definitely get a nice rhythm going if you play it enough, but occasionally the barrels will not work properly no matter how good you are at it.


So next week we'll take a look at the final wave of T.H.I.N.G.S. game, the ever elusive wave 3!!