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#5453 Space Exploration Game Box Top
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A fairly simplistic game, the object was to explore the moon for signs
of life. The first astronaut who returns to the space ship and can
identify the location of three signs of life is the winner.
The game contained four astronauts, Major Matt Mason, Sgt Storm, Capt.
Chuck and Lt. Len. There are four matching command posts to go with each
explorer, and twelve Moon cards, (four each of: Moon Flowers, Moon
Bones, Moon Skull, and No Sign of Life). The spinner displays a really
cool picture of the Major riding belly-down on a red sled... perhaps the
precursor to the Reconojet.
Game Components:
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Board
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Instructions
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Tokens/Black Stands
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Spinner
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Moon Crater and Chits
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The colorful board was molded in Vacuform, with spots corresponding to
steps, or locations on the spinner.
It is covered with mountains, craters, and small images of MMM riding
vehicles or doing "tasks." A really interesting spinning volcano rested
in the center. Two to four players would have had a blast playing the
game, or at least enjoying the graphics of the board and pieces.
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Box Bottom
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Unused Contents
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Box Back
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#5453 Space Exploration Game Box Front
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Packaging:
The box is two-colored litho with a full-color, process-printed label.
The image is quite stunning... in a 70's LeRoy Neiman-esque loose
painted style. The box is an unusual, clam-shell type where the top
inserts into the edges of the bottom. The bottom pictures stylized
renderings of all four games offered (see below). As with most pizza-size boxes these often suffer from caved-in lids from having items stacked on top. Dimensions are 19" x
19" x 3" Copyright is 1967.
Mattel Catalog Specifications:
(First appearance: Mattel Toys January 1968 Catalog Page 54)
NEW! THE Major MATT MASON™ SPACE EXPLORATION GAME #5453
At the foot of a spinning "live" volcano, Major MATT MASON and 3 space
pals trek across molded moonscape for signs of life. Players secretly
check moon cards to identify where life exists!
- 3-D molded plastic game boards 18" x 18"
- Real-action parts that move
- Washable vinyl playing pieces
- For 2, 3, 4 Players
- All complete playing equipment included
- Each in Std Pack: 6/12 Doz. Wt: 9 Lbs.
Variations:
- The game could come with different colored bases for the game tokens. I've seen black and green.
- Some game boards have a different image in the lower left
corner/edge. Most have the Space Ship with Space Exploration Game
written across it. Some have a Crawler instead of the Space Ship (I remember seeing a photo but haven't owned one so take this with a grain of salt).
John's Notes:
The game was released with 3 others, each with some type of gimmick:
For some reason, Mattel released these games in their January Catalog
(sometimes called the Spring Introductions Catalog) with a single page
ad. This was expanded to two pages for the Toy Fair Catalog, then back
to one page in their regular Fall offering. It's my guess that the
interest in these large, expensive games was lukewarm, as the game was
only offered in 1968. They would have taken up quite a bit of shelf
space, and the 3-D board was a novelty that would quickly wear thin on
the public.
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Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images
and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors
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please contact John Eaton.
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