First Archive Additions of 2026!

Happy 2026 everyone!

Now that the holiday season of 2025 is behind us and the winter months do their work, what better time than to browse the auction sites for video game licensed board games? (VGBGs)

One of the first games that was obtained this year is also one of the rarest. I've only seen it one other time about 5 years ago. And that is:

Puckman Game

Yes, I KNOW its just a re-theme of Mr. Mouth, which was released in the mid-1970s. But, in all fairness, Mr. Mouth IS basically Pac-Man. Or, rather, Puckman, before Pac-Man's name was changed very very early on to avoid vandalism and during our favorite ghost gobbler into fuck-man.

That would be a very different game indeed.

There is a later version in Japan that is Pac-Man in name with less of the early character design of Pac-Man (let alone no more fuck-man). But this particular version is so rare to see. Additionally, this copy is new old stock. Which is neat that I will be the first person to play it, despite it being made before I was even alive...once I get the motor working anyway...

Mighty Bomb Jack

I will say that I am somewhat unfamiliar with Mighty Bomb Jack. Its not unusual that a decent number of games I purchase are based on video games or video game franchises I have never played extensively. I have played it on the NES and have it in the Nintendo collection. But the game is a platformer that is a sequel to the arcade game Bomb Jack, and was released in 1986. It has 16 levels and the goal is to defeat a demon named Belzebut & rescue the royal family.

The board game is one of numerous video game board games developed by Party Joy in Japan (think of Hasbro or Milton Bradley), although Party Joy primarily dealt in licensed content, be it a TV or video game IP or, in other cases, celebrities and pop culture icons. Most games are a Sugoroku, or roll & move, where you are moving across grid based boards that mimic the levels to get to the end of the series of levels to defeat the big baddy.

Subway Surfers

I will be the first to admit my knowledge of iOS games is pretty rough. I know of the bigger games through cultural osmosis and my main knowledge of this game is the almost meme-like usage of it for awhile to keep someones attention while the poster was making a talking point or discussing something. I.E. that the viewer, unless they have shiny keys dangling in front of their face in the form of the movement and color of a game like Subway Surfers, they simply UNABLE to pay attention.

That aside, Subway Surfers is a 2012 mobile game that is in the Runner genre. Runner video games typically have the player maneuvering someone or something that is endlessly moving in one direction and they have to navigate hazards to get a high score or avoid something chasing them. In the case of Subway Surfers, you play as someone who was caught graffitiing and must run away from an Inspector and their Dog. You must avoid subway trains and other hazards will evading capture. You do this endlessly until capture or death occurs.

Dont forget the microtransactions! * barf *

The impetus for picking this game up now is that it didn't get a lot of distribution to begin with and was already scarce on the second-hand sites so I wanted to snag a copy before it got truly hard to find.

Interestingly enough, Subway Surfers will be getting its first official sequel to the 2012 game in 2026, titled Subway Surfers City.

Its not the first Runner game to get a tabletop adaptation as Temple Run got a board game & card game (not to mention a set of kids meal toys at Sonic Drive-In restaurants in 2015). Additionally, Doodle Jump got a board game as well, published by Ravensburger no less. Further, Jetpack Joyride saw a massivly sucessful Kickstarter campaign for its tabletop adaptation.

It would be interesting to see how other Runner games such as Flappy Bird, Robot Unicorn Attack, and Google's Dinosaur Game could be adapted to the tabletop.

I hope the start of 2026 goes well for everyone. Stay safe and keep on keepin' on!