Friday, April 27, 2012

Nintendo Marble (マーブル, 1966)

Today we take a look at another one of Nintendo's 'grey band' games.

Nintendo Marble (1966)

It is one of the licensed games Nintendo released in the mid 1960s.


The game is called Marble (マーブル).


Nintendo acquired the rights to produce this game from Milton Bradley (MB).


The original name of the MB game was Skill-it, an obvious play on words on 'skillet', referring to the game's frying pan shape. Nintendo decided to go for the more simple Marble name instead when they brought it to the Japanese market. The box art was also completely redesigned.

Skill-it by MB, the game Marble was based on
(Above image courtesy of The Lilly Library)

The tagline 'The Frying Pan Maze' remained, though.


The Marble set includes the plastic 'frying pan' and a black glass marble. The frying pan is about 19 centimeters in diameter.


The objective of the game is to drop the marble in the hole near the center, and then guide it to through the maze towards the exit in the handle.


Marble was available in two colors: red and blue. Both versions were made from translucent plastic.


It retailed for a modest ¥300.


Marble is a mix of puzzle and dexterity game. The top of the frying pan can be turned to alter the shape of the maze.

A Nintendo Game logo is pressed into the plastic

This creates the puzzle element. It requires some trial and error before a clear path is found.

Both versions of Nintendo Marble - blue and red

Other games Nintendo licensed from MB include Home Bowling and Twister.

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