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If there’s one thing in this world I am a sucker for it’s snouts, fat bellies and squiggly little tails! It’s great in real life, but it’s even better when it comes in the form of a TWAG! What’s a TWAG you ask? It means Toy With A Game… TWAG!
In this episode number 40 of the Dandy Fun House we’re gonna make pigs fly! And we’re not just gonna make ’em fly, we’re gonna make ’em bounce too as I review the TWAG known as PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES! Let’s step into the Fun House!
Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog where we use our delicate snouts to sniff out the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff!
I’m your host Neil Dandy and before we begin I want to acknowledge a milestone! Since this is just a monthly show (other than the fact that I do post daily snippets online), there are some that have expressed to me that if this show were to reach 40 episodes… then pigs will have flown!
Well, not only has the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog Officially reached 40 episodes as of the episode you’re currently consuming, but we’re going to celebrate by making pigs fly or at least bounce because I’m gonna unbox, assemble, play and review an awesome looking game from PlayMonster called PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES!
But first I want to let you know that the brand new DANDY FUN SHOP online merchandise store has officially launched!
You can find it on the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and just click on “SHOP.” You may also visit it directly at dandyfunshop.com .
As of now you’ll find the all-new awesome looking DANDY FUN HOUSE t-shirt with both a front and a back (because we don’t Want you to get cold) which I’m real proud of! I think it came out looking great. You’ll also find some other novelty designs I’ve created not necessarily Connected to the show just some crazy designs I like to make when I’m not cranking out these episodes.
I’m hoping that as the shop grows, it will help promote this show and this show will help promote the shop in what we in the Industry refer to as cross promotion.
But enough about me! Let’s learn a little bit more about the company behind PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES, PlayMonster!
PLAYMONSTER
Now I don’t really recall hearing of this company before, but with a game called PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES bouncing out at me from the Walmart shelf, how could I not get this game and learn more about this company?
So I log on to their website at playmonster.com and before I can even see or do anything I’m instantly disrupted by this horrible pop-up right in my face asking for my name and email address so they can add me to their mailing list before I even don’t anything about them! It’s like an over eager first date and I’m in my nice prom dress. (You know what I’m talking about).
I don’t know who at PlayMonster marketing needs to hear this but PlayMonster we need to talk. Come here…
(soft music plays)
We just met and you’re already asking for all my personal information. It’s just too much too fast I’m not ready for that type of commitment at this place in my life. Let’s get to know each other a little first. We’ll take a walk down the beach maybe to the park. It doesn’t need to be all on you either. I can pack a nice lunch for two and we can just sit and talk and see where things go and if the feel is right… NO PLAYMONSTER! NOT THAT TYPE OF FEEL!
Where was I? Oh, yes, if things go well maybe we can hang out at my place and watch the Hallmark Channel together and maybe… MAYBE then I’ll let you hold my hand and well… you’re making me blush PlayMonster! There goes my heart again!
PlayMonster are you hearing me? I hope so! I’m just not that kind of toy and game reviewer! I have morals and values and boundaries which need to be respected!
Okay…
So I click the annoying pop-up away and start checking out their featured image showing their most featured products and I’m having a gander over what they wish to put out front and center for their company which remains on the screen for exactly five seconds. (Yes I timed it) before the image changes to yeah, you guessed it… ANOTHER SOLICITATION TO SIGN UP FOR THEIR EMAIL LIST! PlayMonster! We just talked about this! Didn’t we just talk about this!?
At this point, I’m not just annoyed, I’m downright ticked off! I feel violated and cheap! My mascara is running and I think I tore my dress. PlayMonster! Let me out of the car! Just let me out!
This company is literally doing everything it can to make me run screaming but I decide that I must persist, put my big-girl pants back on (don’t ask) and proceed forward for the sake of you, my audience.
Upon further exploration I see something familiar; the TOTY (Toy Of The Year) award-winning game, Yeti In My Spaghetti which I actually had the pleasure to give a favorable review to just about a year and a half ago! (episode 22 if you’re playing along at home).
I’m also reminded that PlayMonster is currently the purveyor of the classic toy brands Spirograph, Playskool, Koosh, Fashion Plates and Colorforms along with a good handful of others I’ll admit I’m not familiar with, but look interesting. So I actually HAVE encountered the “handsy” PlayMonster before! I must have just blocked it out like that creepy balloon twister from my fifth birthday party.
Diving in further, I learned from their ABOUT US page (which thankfully does not bludgeon me to sign up for their spam list) that this company began in 1985 by a pair of brothers named Ryan and Bryce Patch under the name PATCH PRODUCTS. They started with kids puzzles before expanding to toys and games and eventually acquiring other brands and growing their offerings henceforth targeting both youth and adult demographics.
In the year 2014, Patch Products were themselves acquired and in 2016 changed the name to PlayMonster. They are based right here in the good old US of A in Beloit, Wisconsin and are distributed all over the world. They support the charitable foundation the TOY BANK FOUNDATION distributing joy and happiness to children in need wherever they may be! Well, there you go! Good PlayMonster! Awesome! See… I DID find something nice to say about PlayMonster after all!
Okay onto this awesome looking game…
PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES!
THE BOX
Here we are! PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES and let’s have a look over the box. I just love the graphics they did on it and it’s got like a soft look to the whole thing. It’s set out in the middle of a green field and you’ve got pigs bouncing on trampolines and landing in the mud puddles and they just they did a bang-up job on this!
You’ve got different pigs on different sides of the box which is great because what most companies do is they just mail it in and put the exact same graphic on every side of the box.
On the back you’ve got the obligatory kids actually playing the game Which everybody does, but then you need to do that because you have to see what the actual product looks like and not just the marketing graphic.
The product looks great on the box. “Yippee jump for joy with Pigs on Trampolines! Use the trampolines to bounce your pigs into the pigpen and try to land in the mud puddle. Every pig you land in the puddle earns you a mud pie! Keep bouncing your pigs until all the mud pies are gone. The muddiest piggy wins!
UNBOXING
Sounds good to me. Well, let’s open it! Without further ado… (THIS is the part I love!)
Whoosh
Here we have color instructions! The instructions are awesome-looking. They show you how to put it all together and it appears to be in very plain English and very simple gameplay. I think we get the idea. You try to get them into the middle of the mud puddle and you collect mud pies.
we have three trampolines right here and they make great little tom-toms! And The legs are all different different lengths so that the trampoline can sit at an angle to bounce the piggies the proper direction.
You’ve got the mud puddle platform trunks(which hold up the mud puddle platform) which just snap together. It’s a durable plastic. I don’t think there’s a great risk of breaking it. Not like that brittle plastic you get in some games.
We have the cardboard graphical platform for the mud puddle which fit into slots in the top of the platform. You have the mud puddle itself which is just a brown plastic cup that fits into the middle of the platform and the object is you want to try and launch your pigs into that cup.
THE PIGS
And last but not least we have our piggies! I’m a little disappointed that PlayMonster didn’t give our piggies names or any sort of fun bio. I think that would have added a real special touch. So I supposed we’ll have to give them our own names!
We have:
THE MASKED PIG!
BALLERINA PIG!
BICYCLE PIGGY!
SUPER PIGGY!
TROLL PIG!
and…
DAREDEVIL PIG!
These are your beloved PIGGY BOUNCERS! GIVE ‘EM A HAND!
MUD PIES AND HOW TO PLAY!
What you win if you actually get your pig into the middle of the mud puddle are mud pies! They look like little brown plastic splats. And you get seven of them so there is no chance for a tie game. You can also play an easier version for small children where a mud pie is awarded for simply bouncing the pig onto the platform or if an adult is playing with a small child, to make it fair the adult would have to make it into the cup and the child just has to get it onto the platform. The secret which they reveal in the instructions is to bounce the pigs on their tails. I had more than a few frustrating go-rounds before I finally discovered this pointer along with aiming the angle of the trampoline correctly.
Out of the six piggies, I landed two in the center cup and won two mud pies! Yay for me!
FINAL RANKING!
PIGS ON TRAMPOLINES! More fun than a bucket of mud!
PATHETIC GROVELING FOR MONEY
And speaking of buckets… I could really use a bucket of begonias about now to help pay for all this dandiness as well as all the behind the scenes stuff I do and encourage you, dear audience that if you have found any value at all in this program to please support future productions by becoming a DANDY FUN HOUSE SUPPORTER! Just visit the patronage page at dandyfunhouse.com where you can also visit the newly launched Dandy Fun Shop, which I’m currently filling with wacky stuff, t-shirt designs (including the all-new Dandy Fun House t-shirt, which I just know you’ll love!)
SUPPORTERS receive access to exclusive bonus features not available to the general public
and
SUPER SUPPORTERS gain access to that exact same stuff plus I’m gonna mail you something awesome from right here at the Dandy Fun House Studios if you send me your mailing address!
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And FIVE STAR REVIEWS, LIKES and SUBSCRIBES wherever you enjoy this show (including all the major social networks) always receive my undying gratitude!
Okay, well it is time for me to bounce like a winged sow! Come back soon right here to the Dandy Fun House where everything is always… Fun and Dandy!
