Game Review: Northpole Rooftop Drop

Last January, I found myself in a Toys R Us, which isn't all that unusual for me (that's where you find all the toys, after all). I came across a bin of discounted merchandise, including a handful of Christmas items. One of them was a bizarre looking game called "Rooftop Drop" branded as part of Hallmark's Northpole line. It had a sticker reading $9.99 on it, but I was skeptical - it was too long past the holiday, and things have a tendency of getting marked down in the system without being updated on the packaging. So I took it over to a price-check machine to see how much it was actually going for.

It was $0.03. Assuming the $10 price tag was accurate, that means this was approximately 99.7% off.

There's some flavor text on the box to make this more appealing. The game rules are spelled out in their entirety on the back of the packaging: there are no rules beyond the scoring guidelines. I'm not saying that means it's legal to bludgeon an opponent - I'm just saying the game offers no rule to the contrary.

This is a simple beanbag toss game: the package contains three beanbags which sort of look like wrapped gifts and a two cardboard cutouts. You also get detailed setup instructions:

I'm not saying this takes an engineering genus to put together, but some clarification on which end is up on the roof would have been appreciated. Regardless, I managed to throw this together. Here's a picture of it completed.

In case anyone's curious, the roof measures about six and a quarter inches tall. The base is twelve deep by nine wide.

Here are those beanbags:

The ribbon decoration is only on the front, and the tags are a little annoying. They're not filled fully, but my guess is that was intentional - it makes the game slightly more challenging and they're unlikely to break the cardboard base.

Lindsay and I played for a while and discovered we both suck at this game. There goes our sense of self-worth.

It might actually be fun as a party game - preferably a party where alcohol is abundant. I can also imaging a kid having fun with this. Unless, of course, that kid was born after the year 1985, in which case they almost certainly have an X-Box or something. Also, it's worth noting that is just a glorified cardboard box with three beanbags. At three cents, I'm happy enough with that, but I'd feel ripped off if I paid anywhere near suggested retail.

But - again - I got this for 99.7% off, which almost set an all-time record for the highest discount I've received in more than a decade of toy collecting. In fact, it would have, had this been the only thing I picked up from that Toys R Us....