The Mork & Mindy Board Game

Before film and T.V. tie-ins used to play on consoles and cost forty quid, the humble board game was the only way to step into the world of your favourite show. I have here the Mork & Mindy board game from 1979. How cool is that?
The game is presented as a game of Splink, which is an Orkan game that Mork brought with him to win over Earthlings everywhere. You basically move around the board doing such out-of-this-world things as "splinking" and "grebbling up" all the while trying to win some coins known as Grebbles. Everything clear then?
Inside the box you get a colourful board depicting Mork in a variety of costumes, plus one or two token Mindy's. There's also a Splink Blinker, a gleek card, 2 Orson cards, 4 Orkword cards, 50 Grebbles some markers and dice.


The game starts with 50 Grebbles stored in Orsons nest which you can try to win by landing on certain spaces that trigger events. The first is the "Na-No, Na-No! Everybody Splink!" space.
Apparently splinking is bluffing on the planet Ork, so you must engage in a game of bluff with your fellow gamers. You drop the dice into the Splink Blinker (which hides the roll) and then try to bluff the others about what numbers are showing. Everyone playing has a go. The winner gets 2 Grebbles. There is a variation of that theme with the "Splink with any other Earthling" space, which is the same thing but not everybody playing has a go.
The "Roll them wumpers in daylight" spaces require an open dice roll on the board which everybody can see. Add the numbers together and help yourself to that many Grebbles from an opponents pile thus ensuring petty rivalries build during gameplay.
"Mork Calling Orson" spaces are for making mental contact with Orson by guessing what he is thinking. Sounds tricky, right? I mean, I don't have E.S.P. or any other telepathic powers, so I initially thought this was a sign that the game designers had been enjoying the 70's a bit too much. However, it turns out that an opponent sticks a card bearing such wisdom as "You're a wurble!" onto your forehead and you have to guess what it says. 2 Grebbles if you get it right.
If you land on "You're a Nimnu" you have to put two of your Grebbles in Orsons nest and the "One, two, three...wump!" space everybody rolls one die and and shouts out a number. If your number comes up you win 2 Grebbles.
The person with the most Grebbles by the time Orsons nest is empty, wins. My friends and I never made it that far. About five minutes in people started drifting off and I found them stealing beer from my fridge and smoking cigarettes in the garden. To be fair the game is pretty tedious and isn't much fun for a group of thirtysomethings looking for something to do. Actually, it's probably not much fun if you're thirteen either. Maybe if you're a big fan of Mork & Mindy.