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Gecko23 — 2005-09-12T15:13:29+00:00

Overview of board. View the 80's arcade graphics goodness.

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Gecko23 — 2005-09-12T15:13:28+00:00

Board setup from Blue Player's position. Yep, those aliens are just mini-poker chips.

Thread: They didn't license the game, but it stinks anyways.

Gecko23 — 2005-09-10T16:49:04+00:00

This game appears to be an adaptation of 'Space Invaders', but it isn't actually licensed and doesn't mention 'Space Invaders' anywhere on the box or in the instructions. Which is noticeable different than the other Entex titles like 'Defender' and 'Turtles' which mention it explicitly.

Not a real surprise though, as anyone who was there in the arcade frenzy of the early 80s knows, bootlegs and knockoffs were often easier to find than the original machines.

Anyways, none of that has much to do with the game.

The game consists of a playing board, with some nice period graphics, very reminiscent of an arcade cabinet. 4 black 'pucks' with colored space cannon stickers on them for the players, and a pile of colored poker chips to represent both the alien invaders and the players 'defensive shields'.

Gameplay consists of using a spinner marked in the seven colors on the players 'cannon platform'. Players spin, then move to the indicated color, just like in candyland. Unlike candyland, they then get to blast whatever is in the column above them, including the opposing players. Aliens that get blasted get collected, players that get blasted move to the 'repair station' spot, and miss a turn. The 'aliens' themselves never move. The game ends when all the alien chips are gone, or the players decide they'd rather do something entertaining.

If you've paid attention this far, you'll realize that a) this game is almost completely random. The only player choice is whether or not to say 'zap'. and b) it'll go on forever since you've got a 1:7 chance of being able to 'zap' a column, so once there are few aliens on the board it'll become a snoozefest while everyone repeatedly spins until that color comes up. Just like the endless dice rolls in Cootie waiting for that last leg.

The only reason I can see to pick this up is arcade nostalgia, and even on that front its an oddity, since it only mimics a famous game.

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Gecko23 — 2005-06-06T14:13:19+00:00

Box cover

Game: Invader

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Thread: They didn't license the game, but it stinks anyways.

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