Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but this game is very much in the holiday spirit.
Today’s Game: The Dating Game, 2nd Edition.
Copyright Date: 1968.
Manufactured by: Hasbro. The box also describes the company by its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers.
Recommended Ages: The box doesn’t give any. Presumably, Hasbro intended it for teens and adults–it requires two male-female couples to play.
Game Board: The TV show logo takes center stage on a board with a groovy lavender, orange, and mustard color scheme.
Game Play: Players roll the dice and move around the track, trying to prepare for a date along the way. “Guys” and “Gals” have separate appointment cards which list the date requirements they must fulfill.
The guys get off pretty easy compared to the gals, who have to buy fur coats!
When a player lands on a Question square, he or she takes a question card and reads it aloud. The two opposite-sex players then draw Answer cards and read them aloud. The questioning player decides which answer best matches the question.
The question and answer cards definitely offer the most potential for fun in this game.
A player must match five cards with an opposite-sex player and check off all the date requirements before heading to the Make a Date square. Then, he or she can wait for an opposite-sex player to arrive. The first couple to meet at the Make a Date square wins the game.
My Thoughts: This game seems like it could be fun under the right circumstances. I’m not sure how often those circumstances–two couples sitting around with nothing better to do–would arise, however. My game is almost pristine condition, which tells me its owner didn’t play it much.
My husband thinks the “gal” on the box looks frumpy. Of course, the “guy” doesn’t look like any great prize either.
Bonus Materials: My game included this flyer for “12 Reading Treats in One Big Volume.”
The Lassie cover story might qualify, but I’m not sure about some of the other titles, like “Peanuts are Not Nuts” and “The Sounds We Hear.”
And, just for fun, here is a Dating Game segment from 1968 that includes both Richard Dawson and Bill Bixby among the bachelors. A bachelorette couldn’t go wrong here–even the unknown third guy is cute!
Other Spin Again Sunday Posts you might enjoy:
Embarrassing Treasures 
Oh gosh, look at the girl’s appointment list! I never did any of those things on my first date.
You mean you wouldn’t buy a whole new outfit, including hat, dress, shoes,handbag, and fur coat? Slacker!
Wait a minute. Does it actually say “Buy Fur Coat” on the Girl’s appointment card?
I think the girls are definitely shelling out more moola for this date than the guys!
Yes, a fur coat is mandatory for this date. Maybe the date’s talking place in Siberia or something!
We watched the dating game every time it was on…loved it, as I think they often featured famous people, which was fun! Plus it was TINY bit racy, …lol
OMG..I had a subscription to “Best in Children’s Books”…it actually was like a reader’s digest for children as you can imagine. BUT it was wonderful getting mail in MY name(lol) at a young age…my parents were huge readers and thankfully instilled in us, the love of reading…
The Dating Game was fun to watch. For some reason, my fourth-grade teachers let us watch re-runs of it on the classroom TV in the “cold lunch room.”
How cool that you actually subscribed to that book club. I belong to one also–I think it was the Weekly Reader book club–and I remember how exciting it was to get books in the mail.
Thanks for commenting!