Most of the posts on this blog feature vintage Nintendo toys and games from my personal collection. When I acquire items, I photograph them and document them here.
Today, we are going to take a closer look at an item that I do not own. In fact, I do not know anyone who has one, including the recently opened Nintendo Museum.
We do believe that this toy exists, and the source for this belief comes from a couple of magazine advertisements from the mid-1960s.
The first magazine is called Weekly Shōnen Sunday (週刊少年サンデー), one of the many weekly or monthly "boys" ("Shōnen") magazines that started appearing in Japan in the 1960s. These magazines featured a mix of (serialized) manga, gags, and stories about adventure and sports.
The particular issue we are interested in is number 27 from 1966, published on Sunday, July 10th.
On the inside cover of this magazine is a full-size, full-color advertisement by Nintendo.
It presents a new release (新発売), called the Poitan Game (ポイタン ゲーム), which was offered for ¥500.
According to the text in the ad, Poitan is a fun game for the whole family to play at the pool or beach.
The game consisted of five colored rings, each with an increasing diameter, and five similarly colored fish. These rings and fish are made from a plastic (called Eternalite or エターナライト) that is resistant to heat, light, and floats well in water.
The text states two play options. Float five colored rings on the water and throw fish into them. Or alternatively, float the fish and throw the rings.
The name of the game is derived from this, as "poi" means tossing or throwing in Japanese.
A scoring scheme is also proposed: the rings are worth 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 points, from the largest to the smallest, and only the items that land in the rings are scored.
At the bottom of the ad, the Nintendo Ace of Spades logo can be seen, together with the company name written in kanji (任天堂). To the left and right of it, the company locations are listed (Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Okayama, Fukuoka).
The second magazine is the September 1966 issue of Shōnen Punch (少年パンチ).
Shōnen Punch was another of the 1960s boys' magazines, though less long-lived than Weekly Shōnen Sunday, which is published today.
On page 22 of this magazine, another full-page ad for the Nintendo Poitan Game is included.
Somewhat surprisingly, it uses new art for the entire ad.
Two month after that previous ad, the game is still presented as a new release.
The text is identical to that found in the first ad.
This ad also uses the same Nintendo logos to represent company.
Now, the big question remains: why haven't any of these surfaced yet? Was it a flop, only sold in small numbers? Or has the fact that it was used outdoors contributed to the reason it seems lost in time?
If anybody has any more information or has played Potain Game in their youth, I would love to hear from you!
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