There’s Only One Blockbuster Store Left, But It's Getting a Board Game

By Joseph Myers

We're feeling irrepressibly nostalgic today thanks to Big Potato Games. That's because fellow lovers of the past and all-things cinematic can now play the Blockbuster Board Game, available at Target and at the last remaining Blockbuster Video store in Bend, Ore., with the amazing creation destined to have us rewind our brains to a different era of movie appreciation and consumerism.

Along with having logged a summer 1998 stint as an employee at a South Philly Blockbuster location, yours truly enjoyed frequenting different establishments within the Blockbuster family, because the offerings were always awesome. Yes, there were way too many copies of “Spice World,” for example, but the feel of every location made one want to go broke on rentals and candy purchases.

Big Potato Games, therefore, is looking to replicate that feeling now, six years after Blockbuster really began to die off. And if anyone has a thing for "Spice World" or any other flick, the board game will make a perfect addition to game night gatherings.

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Regardless of the objective, which Women’s Health Mag notes is the collection of one movie—acquired through describing, quoting and acting out selections—from each genre, we will be plotting a trip to make a purchase, such is the allure of the invention. We are trying to tone down our envy of the people in Bend who can venture to the last Blockbuster storefront to make a direct buy, but we feel a kinship with the Pacific Northwest-based film fans.

There’s a New Blockbuster Party Game That’ll Make ’90s Kids Go Crazy https://t.co/8zf3ZqHBvD pic.twitter.com/347RcTGgXl

— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) June 3, 2019

While DVDs came to dominate movie rental and retail spaces, anyone familiar with Blockbuster knows that the franchise made its initial bones on VHS rentals, and an homage to that is apparent through the board game’s packaging. Yes, everyone, that’s a VHS box that holds the contents of what should be hours of tributes to movies, with 90 percent of the films, according to Massimo Zeppetelli, head of marketing for Big Potato Games, being selections that “would feel right at home on an old-school Blockbuster shelf, including classics like ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Die Hard.’”

Just the fact that Zeppetelli mentioned those classics had us shouting “Yippie ki-yay,” as it gives us another reminder that though certain businesses might have lost their hold on their particular market, it is tough to forget about them forever. We might find them losing their presence in our lives, but then something like this game comes along, and it’s as if we are again teenagers looking for a part-time job or just movie enthusiasts looking to replicate the theater experience with a domestic treat.

Either way, we remember them like the McAllisters remembered Kevin in “Home Alone,” and we look for that comfort that comes with familiarity. We don’t know for how long the Oregon Blockbuster will last, but thanks to this game, should the store soon join its predecessors in becoming defunct, we will always have a chance to thank businessman David Cook, the franchise’s founder, for being such a blockbuster influence on our relationship with movies.

At the very least, the Blockbuster Board Game should serve as a nice little promotional marketing draw to get people to the store. It should fit pretty nicely with the rest of the store's branded merch.