12 Board Games from the Past That Few Remember
Here's a nostalgic journey through long-lost board games that briefly lit up living rooms before fading into obscurity.
- Chris Graciano
- 3 min read
Before screens took over family game night, board games were the ultimate entertainment. While classics like Monopoly and Scrabble survived the decades, others quietly disappeared. These forgotten titles had quirky concepts and creative designs, but never earned lasting fame.
1. Tornado Rex
2H Media on Unsplash
Players raced up a 3D mountain, dodging a wind-up plastic tornado that could knock pieces off the board. It was chaotic, fast-paced, and thrilling — until parts got lost.
2. Voice of the Mummy
2H Media on Unsplash
This spooky adventure included a talking mummy whose mysterious voice came from a record player embedded in the board. Players searched for jewels while dodging curses.
3. Stay Alive
Steve Berry on Flickr
This was a suspenseful survival game where players pulled pegs, hoping their marbles wouldn’t fall through the board. It was part strategy, part luck.
4. Big Foot: The Game
Scott Beale on Flickr
Set in the wilderness, players hunted for evidence of the elusive Bigfoot. It came with footprint tokens and a Bigfoot figure that stomped around the board.
5. Dark Tower
Miss Shari on Flickr
This electronic fantasy game featured a towering centerpiece that lit up and played sounds as you battled enemies and gathered treasure. It was innovative for its time but pricey and prone to malfunctions.
6. Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur
Mike Mozart on Flickr
Players moved pieces around a board while trying to avoid a spring-loaded dinosaur that spun out of control. It added slapstick chaos to basic gameplay.
7. Electronic Talking Battleship (Original Version)
Pavel Ševela on Wikimedia Commons
An upgrade to the classic, this version called out hits and misses in a robotic voice. It was high-tech for the time, but the novelty wore off.
8. Lie Detector
Anderson’s All-Purpose on Flickr
Marketed as a crime-solving game, it featured plastic lie detector strips and accused suspects. It blended board play with faux forensic tech.
9. Mr. Game Show
Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
Players competed in a fake game show hosted by a battery-powered machine that read questions aloud and kept score. The host’s voice was grating, and gameplay grew repetitive.
10. Don’t Wake Daddy
Rusty Blazenhoff on Flickr
This was a tension-filled game where players tiptoed around a sleeping dad in bed. Trigger the alarm, and Dad would spring up.
11. Which Witch?
Vladimir Srajber on Pexels
Set in a haunted house, kids navigated rooms while dodging a falling “whammy” ball. It had spooky vibes and simple mechanics.
12. The Splat! Game
cottonbro studio on Pexels
Using Play-Doh, players molded characters that could be flattened by a giant plastic hand if they lost. It was more fun to squish than to win.