Wasn’t I surprised to see this incredible game pop up in my neighborhood Facebook group this weekend. Some people’s trash is truly other people’s treasure, and I will treasure this one for a long time. I’ve been looking for a copy of this Godzilla board game for over a decade, and to have it practically fall into my lap while eating breakfast was surreal — now if I could just find the matching King Kong game…
Ideal released this game in 1963 when Godzilla was in his heyday and was raging across Tokyo and the world. This game is said to be the first Godzilla toy produced for the US market, and only the second Godzilla toy ever made, after a dart gun set that was released in Japan in 1955.
Like most of the board games of the time, the rules were simple and the board was fairly basic–but the graphics are definitely frame-worthy!
There are no dice here, just a nifty tri-colored spinner. Check out the eye-melting orange insert!
Too bad the playing pieces aren’t tiny little Kaiju, but these colorful cones get the job done.
The instructions are printed on the inside of the box lid, so that’s one less piece to lose. The object: “To get your marker to the Rocket Launch Area in order to fire the missile at Godzilla’s vital spots.”
This Godzilla board game is truly shelf-worthy, maybe not for its gameplay, but definitely for its looks. She’s a beauty, Clark.
That’s awesome! Love stuff like this
Wow, this is an awesome find. I had never heard of this game. The oldest Godzilla stuff I got is a copy of that orange Godzilla book by Ian Thorne from the late 70’s.