Toys of Christmas Past - Part 17 - Mother Hen Target Game

Mother Hen Target Game

Various Manufacturers: 1950's - 1970's

Knickerbocker's  version of the toy

This was a indoor target shooting game from the 1950's, 60's through mid 1970's.  

Dart gun, suction darts and plastic eggs

The object was simple, you load the eggs into the back of the game and using a suction cup dart gun, you shoot at a "egg" target on the hen's body.  When you hit the target an egg would pop out of the rear of the chicken and land in a basket.  That is if you hadn't lost or broken the basket.

Directions from one version of the toy.

Throughout the years this toy was passed along from manufacturer to manufacturer.  Makers were Knickerbocker, Eldon, Lakeside and others.  Originally the toy was made mostly of tin, but some of the 1960's versions were also made of plastic.

Tin Version of the toy

Here is a late 1950's or early 1960's toy add shows that this toy cost $2.69, which would be about $21.00 in 2013 dollars.

Here is another ad from 1974 (Portland Chronicle).  This time the game is made by Lakeside and is on sale for $2.33 ( $11.58 today ).

A friend of mine (and I can't possibly believe it's true, LOL) claimed that her bothers and sisters would use the dart gun for things other than it's original intended use.  Gasp !  They would line up their mothers Christmas Elves and shoot them off the back of a bench with said dart gun.  Needless to say I'm sure they were just trying to get a little extra practice to get better at the game....   Poor little elves..... :-D