There is much to say about the supposed Pie Face game from Hasbro that was the subject of this morning's Video Link. Here's a couple of examples from the flurry of messages I've received, starting with this one from my pal Marvin Silbermintz, who has nothing better to do at the moment since he's a writer for Jay Leno. Before that, he was a game designer for Ideal Toys and he offers what he calls an educated guess…
I think it was actually manufactured. The product in the commercial doesn't seem to be a hand-made prototype:
The yellow base is made of two pieces, glued together at the very visible seam. So they actually made a mold, which is very expensive and not done unless the item will go into production. (Unless…..it was a cheap vacuum-formed mold that forms a sheet of plastic into the shape you want. That's a small possibility.)
The yellow base also seems to have inset screw-holes, which a modelmaker wouldn't have bothered to drill.
The red hand has a hole in the center, presumably to accommodate a 'pin' on the dish that guides the factory worker who glues them together.
The artwork on the board has a copyright notice below the name 'PIE FACE' — a detail that would be left out if it was just a prototype.
I can't see the box clearly, but it seems to have lots of detail, and cover art that was more than a magic marker sketch. More evidence that it was actually produced.
Toy companies as big as Hasbro expected about half of their new items to fail. So this could have been a real stinker that sounded great during the brainstorming sessions, but bombed. These items were shipped back to the manufacturer (it's not like the book business) who would sell them to junk stores. (Sometimes a deal was made with the original purchaser to sell them off at a very low price.)
And there were lots of reasons for it to fail…
- Parents would think it was too messy for their house.
- Parents realized the cost of whipped-cream would soon be more than the cost of the toy.
- Customers like to get everything they need in the box. (Except paper, a pencil, or water.) So why buy it and have to buy whipped cream too? You could have almost the same gameplay with a paper plate and whipped cream.
- The whole thing is just too clumsy. And big — the box looks like it's twice as big as the average action toy. That's extra cost for shipping and storing.
I guess I should be grateful this strike has given me more time for my true passion; Fifties Action Game Reverse Engineering and Retroanalysis.
And that's probably a lot funnier than anything Jay's going to be doing on Wednesday. Your deductions, Sherlock Silbermintz, are spot-on and though many an e-mailer joined me in wondering about this game we couldn't recall ever hearing about, it was real. A likeness of the box is posted above (thank you, Sid) and I have much testimony in e-mail, such as this from John Schwengler…
I seem to remember it from when I was in Grade Two (which would be around '67-'68) — a friend had gotten one for his birthday. Basically, it was a laminated cardboard screen with a clear plastic "bag" in the centre (gee, I wonder if the idea of a kid pressing his face into a plastic bag as he turned the spring, possibly asphyxiating himself may have something to do with it vanishing). If I remember (from the one time we played with it), the pie kept slipping off of the paddle after a couple of turns, it was messy and it turned into a war with the can of spray shaving cream (two cans of cream and a group of seven year olds — we didn't need a game!)
I do know that Hasbro re-released a product under the same name in the early nineties (I thought it was the original!) but it was more of a board and card game with no splat. Too bad.
Gary L. had this to say…
I saw your entry about Pie Face, and I can assure you the game actually did exist, because I owned it! I never saw the commercial you linked to, but I became aware of the game in a more interesting way: it was demonstrated by Johnny Carson, during a Tonight Show segment about new toys!
I was always a huge Soupy Sales fan, and thought this game was my best opportunity to get hit with a pie (as well as all my friends) without getting in any trouble. The game was actually a lot of fun, especially if you played without the protective plastic mask (strictly for cowards).
Alas, my Pie Face game is long gone, but I have seen it show up occasionally on eBay. That game, along with the Eldon Bowl-a-Matic (also a rarity), were probably my two favorite toys of the 60's.
Chris Smigliano remembers it, too…
I remembered those commercials, too, and yep, it existed. When I was a wee first grader in Catholic School, they actually used one of those things during a school fair. I don't think I tried it myself, but I remember someone complaining that there was no cream they could use for the pie. The only option was to be hit in the face with a plain round piece of foam rubber.
Which is always fun. Here's a message from Marc Thorner…
Here is a memory for you. I remember watching an episode of the old Merv Griffin Show when he use to demonstrate the latest gadget and toys for the holiday season. What I remember about this was that he played Pie Face with his cohort, Arthur Treacher. What I remember was that bit was funny in that Mr. Treacher was the one who got pied and that Merv made a big deal out of over doing it with the whipped cream. Man, the crap I do remember…
I think I do vaguely recall Johnny or maybe Merv showing the game. I'm just pretty sure I never saw the commercial and (speaking of remembering crap), I usually remember the commercials better than the shows. I think it's pretty obvious why this one never caught on. Isn't the premise of a pie-in-the-face that the person doesn't want to get hit with a puss full of cream? The game not only made it voluntary but inevitable…plus, of course, all the safety gear really made it sterile and non-spontaneous.
For the record: Soupy Sales used to get whacked with pie shells full of some brand of shaving cream that didn't sting the eyes. Some did but Soupy had found one or two that didn't. The shaving cream clung to the face better than anything edible and it cleaned up much, much easier. When I visited the set of his seventies show, I saw them using a Wet-Vac style vacuum cleaner to effortlessly suck it off Soupy's set and even his chest…and it wiped clean from his face with a towel without even disturbing his make-up that much. I got to lob one of the pies at him in a sketch that involved him being hit with around forty or so of 'em and I swear…two minutes after it was done, there wasn't a trace of shaving cream on the set or Soupy, and he was ready to tape the next spot. Isn't science wonderful?