Nintendo Hopping Game (ホッピングゲーム, 1971)

Following the previous post covering the Nintendo Hockey Game, today we take a look at another game in the category "simple but fun".

Nintendo Hopping Game (1971)

The game is called 「ホッピングゲーム」.

Which is katakana, meaning "Hopping Game".

The front of the box shows a family, fully and happily engaged in a game of hopping. As with many Japanese games from around this time, the box-art features Western looking people. Nintendo took this approach from time to time, although they showed Japanese folks on most of its games.

I guess this was supposed to give the game an "imported" feeling. Many (popular) games sold in Japan were licensed games from the US and Europe, and showing Western people must have intended to imply that it was a game of similar quality.

Hopping Game dates from 1971, and had a retail price of ¥980. It is a game for two or three players.

The set consists of three "launch pads" (発射台) in yellow, red and blue; ten "rockets" (ロケット) in each of these colors; and a target with four concentric circles with a total of forty-eight holes.

A game consists of ten turns. In each of these turns, all of the players fire - at the same time - one of their rockets towards the target, using their spring-loaded launch pad.

The pointy end of the rockets is weighted with a metal ball bearing, which ensures it points down when it lands.

When aimed correctly - with the right angle and speed - these rockets fly in a graceful curved trajectory and land in one of the holes of the target, thus scoring points.

Scoring rules

According to the supplies rules, different points are awarded depending on the ring the rocket lands in; from 5 points for holes in the outer-most ring to a whopping 30 for the bulls-eye. Landing in a hole already occupied by one or more of the previously fired rockets multiples the score for the top rocket by the number of rockets already in the hole.

A smaller version of Hopping Game was part of the Nintendo Mini Game series.

Regular and Mini version of Hopping Game

This miniature version was for two players only, with five rockets per player and a smaller target.

Regular and Mini version of Hopping Game