Toys of the Eighties, T.H.I.N.G.S.
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Description
These were wind-up games that were pretty small, almost hand held. "T.H.I.N.G.S." was an acronym for something, I don't remember now. The two I had were (1) a guy (you controlled with a button, moving up and down only. As you pressed the button, he would release one barrel at a time) rolling barrels across a bridge and getting them safely across into a holding tank, while a gorilla (this was the wind-up part) jumped up from under the bridge and tried to knock them off by hitting the underside of the bridge (the bridge was two pieces that flipped up every time the gorilla hit it). You only has a certain amount of time to try to get all the barrels across the bridge before the wind-up gorilla finally jumped up and kept the bridge up so you couldn't send any more barrels across. The other was a knight (controlled with a button) that had to try to catch the rings (moving up and down only, you controlled his movement depending how much you pressed the button)with his lance as 4 bats (they were the wind up part) flew in a circle overhead with small metal rings they carried with there magnetic feet. The bats would pick up the rings at one side of the game (the rings were stood up in a little holding place so the bats could just brush them enough to latch on to them one at a time) and the bats would fly in a circular motion over the knight. If you didn't get the ring off of the bat's feet and on to your lance, it would "drop" then off into another holding place, ( this was a piece on the game that stuck up just enough, so when the bats went over it, it would scrap it off into the holding place) and you lost that ring. When the wind-up bats would stop, you counted to see how many rings you got on your lance.
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I have about a dozen of these. The acronym stood for:
Totally
Hilarious
Incredibly
Neat
Games of
Skill
Good times.
O that's what they were called. I loved these games. I remember playing Sir Ring-a-lot.
My cousin had Sir Ring-a-Lot. I had Eggzilla and Astro-nots. Eggzilla- a little baby Godzilla type thing sat in the middle, and you had a short period of time to put his shell together around him like a puzzle. If you got it together in time, the top part would push a button on it's head, stopping the game. If you didn't get to it in time, Eggzilla would jump up and send the pieces flying. I don't remember as much about Astro-Nots, other than it had little men that rotated around a base, and you had to use a magnetic spaceship arm to pick them up.
I have been trying for years to remember what these games were called. Mostly cause noone has a clue what I was talking about. My favorite was Go-rilla. You had to send logs across a bridge as fast as you could, but a big (Donkey Kong looking) gorilla kept lifting the bridge in the center. Does anyone know if these are sold anywhere (Ebay does have sir-rings-a-lot)?
Totally Hilarious Incredibly Neat Games of Skill.
WHY oh WHY do I remember that? Eggzilla was dzope!
I had one called Sir Lance-A-Lot...or something!! and i remember there was a knight and he had a lancer thing and you had to get little hoops on it somehow...it was fun. really cool stuff...
I loved my T.H.I.N.G.S.! I had Sir Ring-a-lot, Eggzilla, Flip-o-potamus and one other which I can't remember now - it's not in the pic above or previously mentioned. I loved the buzz that the clockwork motors made. Happy days!
I loved collecting these games. I have the whole set packed away in a box in my basement. I had to save up my babysitting money to buy them when I was a kid. Too bad they stopped making them.
Thank you! I've been looking for the name of these. I loved them, but my mom only bought us one each. I'm gonna get them all!
Im from NZ and I had Eggzilla - loved it! I also had another one that had a rotating tree with little "flys" that you had to grab - i cant see it here! In NZ only 4 got released -would love to buy some of these again - they were so cool!!
Dang, I had forgotten all about these...amazing what short lived, forgotten parts of 80s childhoods you can find on this site..I had the Eggzilla, Flip-o-potamus, and Sir Ring-a-lot...These were pretty neat toys to have been completely forgotten like they pretty much are.
Oh man been looking for these THINGS for ages! I had sir-ring-alot and grabbit (I think it was called that). You had to push the button that would make a frog jump out of its hole and the object was to try and eat the flies hanging from a tree as it spun round. If you didn't do it in time the tree would pop off. Ah, they dont make em like that anymore!
Loved these! I just found 2 in my mom's attic. I'm pretty sure I had more, but no idea where they are.
I LOVED my T.H.I.N.G.S. I used to get them from John Lewis. I had Sir Ring-a-lot, Flip-O-Potamus, Grabbit and Eggzilla. They kept me entertained for hours. I'd practise until I could ace them.
Yes I too and from NZ and i had the one with the Tree with the flys that you had to grab, cant remember what it is called but yes i cant seem to find it here. SO COOL!! I had the Eggzilla one as well. would love to get them again
I'm the founder/owner of Nextoy, the company that created these and can answer any question probably. The Tree with flies was Grabbit...
If anyone is still reading these--I've been looking for this game for years, and just found one of the above posts. The one with the gorilla holding up a bridge. That's the game! I'm not sure it's called "Go-Rilla" though. I can't find anything about it, if it is. Does anyone have any info on this? Thanks!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Vtg-1987-Milton-Bradley-MB-T-H-I-N-G-S-Go-Rilla-Game-Original-Box-/291772537574
I had a few of these games! The T.H.I.N.G.S. acronym had what it stood for on each box: "Totally Hilarious Incredibly Neat Games of Skill."
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