Each weekend, I will forage into my vintage board game collection to show you a truly embarrassing treasure.

Today’s Game: Charlie’s Angels Game (“Based on the television series,” the box announces helpfully, so you know it’s not based on a Chekhov play of the same name or something.)

Copyright Date: 1978

Object: “Be the first to capture the culprit with your team”

Recommended Ages: 8-14. Realistically, this game probably appealed to girls age 8-10, while the Jaclyn-Smith-in-a-bikini game piece appealed to boys ages 12 and up.

Game Board: Better than most TV board games, since it featured real cast photos instead of vaguely related cartoon drawings.

Game Pieces: Cool! A team of actual Angels and a creepy villain beats colored plastic pegs any day.

Personal Notes: I never owned this game as a child, but it was my go-to birthday party gift in third grade. Board games always made a respectable gift, and if a TV show was popular, its board game would produce a satisfying response from the birthday girl and her guests.

Kelly mesmerizes the villain while Kris and Sabrina sneak up on him

Game Play: Whether the birthday girl would ever play the game was another matter. TV show games generally put the “bored” in board games, with simple “move 2 spaces forward,” “move 1 space back” instructions. At least in the Charlie’s Angels Game, the object relates to the show’s crime-fighting concept. To win the game, however, you have to trap the villain THREE times. I forced my daughter to play this with me, but we gave up before trapping him even once.