A year or so ago, someone I knew was auctioning off their copy of the Family Ties boardgame from the 80s. I flaked out and missed the end of the auction, but kept my eyes out for the next year in case someone else was selling their game for a reasonable price. A month or so ago over on BoardGameGeek.com, I picked one up for $15, shipped. Probably a bit much for a game like this, but hey.
And, it should go without saying, I made sure to invite Pinger Matt over for the inaugural playing of this game.
On the surface, the premise is ridiculous. The goal is to get the whole Keaton family together for a family photo, have a $100 to pay the photographer, and keep Skippy from sticking his head in the picture (poor Marc Price). When we actually dug into the rules, though, we found it was more complicated than just making one’s way around the Monopoly-esque board. It involved using “GOTCHA” cards to thwart other players, making decisions about which path to take on the board, and rolling dice for games of chance (will you win $10 in the supermarket sweepstakes? or will you spend $10 on groceries?). It didn’t help that certain key elements were left out of the rules, which were written for people that can’t figure out that “rolling doubles” means “rolling two dice showing the same number” but can determine when certain cards are allowed to be played.
Nevertheless, the game proved to be quite enjoyable, considering it seems like it was slapped together at the last minute by people who said, “We have a board, we have stock photos from the show, and we have dice. Let’s make something up.”
Oh, and I won.
Posted in Board Games, Pop Culture, Television, Movies, and Music
bill December 28, 2007, 4:16 pm
Do you have the complete instructions? I am in need as someone just gave me the board game for christmas, but the rules are missing.