Battling Tops
Battling Tops was as close to watching gladiatorial
combat as most kids got (except those kids whose dads took them to
illegal cockfights!). Once you sent that top into the arena of battle,
all you could do was watch, cheer, and hope your little spinner was
the last top standing. It was a brutal sport for the tops, what with
all the spinning and knocking together, but oh, what a thrill for
their gladiatorial masters.
Ideal's 1968 Battling Tops game had six fierce
spinning warriors (all with non-threatening names like Dizzy Dan,
Twirling Tim and Tricky Nicky, but don't be fooled), four of whom
could enter the combat arena at any one time. The round arena had four
top-launching areas, wherein the battle-ready top could fit snugly
until it was time to spin. Four 'Battling Top Pullers' started the
action - wind the string around the top, hold the puller outside the
arena, then give puller a solid yank to send the tops flying.
 Out
the tops went into combat, ramming against each other until only one
remained spinning. Alas, there was no time for the victorious top to
enjoy its glory, nor for the losers to lick their wounds
(metaphorically - the tops didn't actually have tongues). The melee
went on until one top scored ten victories, enough to make any top
gladiator bruised, exhausted, and very, very dizzy.
Battling Tops quickly became a family favorite in
many homes - so easy that even the littlest siblings could play (as
long as some kind soul wound their tops for them), yet compelling
enough that even the oldest member of the household couldn't take his
eyes off the spinning dance of death (the hypnotic patterns of the
tops' surface may have had something to do with it).
In the late 70s, Ideal redesigned the game in the wake
of Star Wars mania as Battling Spaceships. Redesigned tops and
a new space-themed gameboard around the arena added a twist or two,
but the name of the game was still last-top-standing. Marx took over
the Battling Tops title in the 80s, but by the end of the decade, the
game had disappeared from toy shelves. And while the embattled tops
themselves may be grateful, the rest of us fondly remember one of the
most enjoyable spectator sports in the family game room.
|
|
