Description
The globe is essentially an illustrated spherical gameboard whose path takes players on a journey between planets of the solar system. The surface is illustrated throughout with brightly colored illustrations against a dark blue ground: the Sun at the top, each planet from Mercury to Pluto, and clusters of blue and white stars. Pictures of classical figures, astronauts, spaceships, a radio tower, and a comet also decorate the globe. Four dotted lines colored red, green, blue or yellow correspond to the colors of the rocket game pieces and represent the paths to be traveled by each player, which start and end on Earth. Up to four players move their rockets along the colored paths between one and nine dots after spinning the rocket-form arrow on the domed round base, with the objective of being first to complete a roundtrip journey through space. There are also spaces along the paths that have special codes denominated by a letter and number, such as A1. A key in the instructions indicates the significance of landing directly on that space; for example, landing on B2, associated with Jupiter, requires the player “to accumulate 10 points or more to continue on route to the next planet.”
Blast Off was one of three painted metal games offered by Replogle in the 1950s, together with the Quiz Game and Air Race Game. Collectively, they were produced as a marketing concept to connect the sale of globes to interest in space exploration and aviation. The instruction pamphlet credits Mercedes Guyette as editor, and states that the globe was “designed and illustrated” by Marcelline Stoyke (1912-1997) and Sylvia Sher. Stoyke was a prolific designer of images for decorative arts objects, most notably a series of red metal serving trays, c. 1950s, with stylized images of her husband as barbeque chef.
Cartouche: BLAST-OFF/ A space game of fact and fantasy mfd. by/ REPLOGLE GLOBES, INC., CHICAGO/ Copyright, 1953
Condition: Generally very good, the painted surface generally clean and bright, but with light overall scattered wear, crazing, and oxidation. Few very small indentations, unobtrusive.