Blockhead! is a simple tabletop game suitable for children four years of age or older. It was invented in 1952 by G.W. "Jerry" D'Arcey and developed by G.W. and Alice D'Arcey in San Jose,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Originally consisting of 20 brightly colored

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

s of varying shapes, the object of the game is to add blocks to a tower without having it collapse on your turn.

Rules

The first player sets one of the blocks on a flat surface; this is the only block allowed to touch the base. Each player then takes turns adding a single block until the tower collapses. The player that knocks over the tower on their turn loses. A player who loses three times is eliminated. The last player remaining wins. Blockhead! uses

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and usage (language), linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of p ...

terms with a block theme: A player who has lost once is called a "

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

"; a player who has lost twice is a "

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

"; a player who loses three times and is eliminated is a "

blockhead Blockhead(s) may refer to: Films * '' The Blockhead'', a 1921 German silent film * '' Block-Heads'', a 1938 film starring Laurel and Hardy * ''Blockhead'' (film), a 1966 Italian film Music * Blockhead (music producer) (born 1976), American hi ...

History

The game was first published by G.W. "Jerry" D'Arcey in 1952. In 1954 Saalfield Publishing Company released the first 25-block version of the game. The design of the blocks has remained consistent through each edition, the only change being modifying the yellow “double hump” to be more heart-shaped. Currently, the game is produced by

Pressman Toy Corporation Pressman Toy Corporation is a toy manufacturer based in Richardson, Texas. Founded in 1922 by Jack Pressman, it currently focuses on family games and licensed products. History The company was founded in 1922 by Jack Pressman, who brought in ...

Editions

*1952: G.W.D'Arcey square box *1954: Saalfield tall box #7563 *1954: Saalfield square box #7563 *1969: Saalfield Executive Edition #6163 *1969: Saalfield Giant Edition #7625 *1975-76:

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...

*1982: Pressman *1992: Pressman Super Blockhead! - 30 Pieces *2001: Pressman Cylindrical Box *Current: Pressman ''Blockhead!'' was voted into

Games Magazine ''GAMES World of Puzzles'' is a puzzle magazine formed from the merger of Games and World of Puzzles in October 2014. The entire magazine interior is now newsprint (as opposed to the part-glossy/part-newsprint format of the original ''Games'') an ...

's Hall of Fame and appears on the GAMES 100 list.Games Magazine's Hall of Fame

References

* * * * Games of physical skill Party board games Parker Brothers games Pressman Toy Corporation games Board games introduced in the 1950s {{board-game-stub

Rules

History

Editions

See also

References