Board games #1: Hangman

Rummaging through my cupboards during a post-graduation clearout, I've unearthed some excellent games from my childhood. Since I'm now apparently incapable of devising a solitary thought without immediately posting it on the internet, I'm going to put together a collection of affectionate tributes to these pre-digital gems. Brace yourselves.

First in the series is the brilliantly pointless Hangman ("A classic American game for two", it says here). Not much to add about this, really: it's hangman. Except! Rather than using a piece of paper and a biro, you play using two huge plastic Guess Who-style secrecy racks, complete with dozens of fiddly letter tiles, and you rotate the dial to add bits to your gallows picture. This is presumably useful for people who aren't allowed to handle sharpened objects/trusted not to swallow crayons.

For players who are struggling to get to grips with the concept, off-puttingly lengthy instructions are provided (sorting your tiles into alphabetical order before starting is a handy time-saving device, apparently). Due to the physical limitations of the apparatus, selections are restricted to a maximum of eight letters. Thoughtfully, there's also a list of suggested words included. "Use these words or any others you can think of," runs the advice. Okay!

I can only assume that everybody at MB Games had been snorting a lot of cocaine before the committee meeting where this was approved for production. It was the eighties, after all.