# Do you remember the game Ker Plunk? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 15, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663 "2009-11-15T16:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/1 "2009-11-15T16:27:21Z")
I guess it still exists, in some new incarnations. I actually don’t remember it. I’m scanning some childhood photos that I haven’t seen…in some cases ever. I’m on one now from about 1973. I blew it up so big that I noticed something in the background…looked like a game of some sort. I zoomed in at 100% and it’s “Ker Plunk,” whatever that is. It looks just like this: [http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/697/977/96/o\_ZUuFuGh8G7SKMk4.jpg](http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/697/977/96/o_ZUuFuGh8G7SKMk4.jpg) Three words that did NOT go together for me back then were “tantalizing,” “nerve,” and “skill”!! I can’t tell if this is my birthday or Christmas in the photo. I’m leaning towards birthday just because we opened presents around the tree. On the other hand, I’m only three here, so maybe they let me open a few before I went to bed. Either way, I don’t remember playing this game. Hope it was a fun one 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/2 "2009-11-15T16:29:42Z")
I remember it for its name (which has always made me chuckle, for I associate it with what one does on the toilet). I only played it a few times, and never took to it. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/3 "2009-11-15T16:39:10Z")
I remember the adverts for it, but don’t think we had it or that I ever played it. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/4 "2009-11-15T16:44:39Z")
We played it often. I wouldn’t care to now. There are sticks in a cylinder with marbles over them. Pull out a stick for your turn and collect the dropped marbles. The person that dropped the least marbles when the marbles have all dropped is the winner. The base went under the sub pump last year to let the water flow in better. The cylinder went in the trash and the stick and marbles disappeared years earlier. My good and super noisy game was Popcorn. A plastic doom over 4 colors of balls with a spinner paddle in the bottom. The balls bounced all over in the doom. The up to four players had to get their color in their three slots and pop out the bad colors. There were some variations. This game was loved by us kids and hated by the adults. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Why\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@The\_Why\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Why_Bird)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/5 "2009-11-15T17:08:28Z")
I remember Kerplunk. It always seemed like a lot of set up (putting all the little sticks into the cylinder, putting on the marbles, rescuing any that fell through prematurely) for a fairly short game. I think we thought it was just OK. Seems like an odd choice for a three year old though, considering the small marbles and fiddly gameplay. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/6 "2009-11-15T17:37:38Z")
We had the game at our house. The sticks were always getting lost or broken because as kids we would often use them as weapons. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/7 "2009-11-15T18:19:43Z")
We had this and **loved** it - partially because my mom **haaaaaated** it. It was SOOO LOUD. Other awesome loud games to drive your parents batty: Cat’s Eye and Hungry Hungry Hippos. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/8 "2009-11-15T18:24:51Z")
Did anybody every have [Careful](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/104351)? My parents hated this game because it was loud…and we had to play it in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/9 "2009-11-15T18:38:30Z")
I think I still have my Kerplunk down in the basement! Not the top-tier favorite game, but we played it alot…and I bet we have all the sticks and marbles, becauseMom was anal about accounting for all parts before putting a game away! ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/10 "2009-11-15T18:52:35Z")
> [@The\_Why\_Bird](#): > > Seems like an odd choice for a three year old though, considering the small marbles and fiddly gameplay. Yeah, but my family members were sadists. (You know how some people hope they’re adopted when their family members are nuts? I actually was!) These are the same people who bought me Operation a year later. To this day I _hate_ that game. Scared the shit out of me whenever I touched the metal. Of course, the anticipation of being frightened was worse than actually touching the metal. My dad would get pissed at me for crying, and then FORCE me to play the game with my brother. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/11 "2009-11-15T18:59:15Z")
Of course [Ker Plunk still exists](http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-37092-Ker-Plunk-Game/dp/B0000205X3)! The classics never go out of style. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/12 "2009-11-15T19:02:29Z")
Since this is about games, I’m moving it to the Game Room. twickster, MPSIMS moderator, who doesn’t remember Ker-Plunk, fondly or otherwise ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/13 "2009-11-15T19:03:05Z")
We had a Ker Plunk game. One thing I well remember is that when the marbles dropped and hit the plastic at the bottom of the cylinder, they made a heckuva noise. Not a game you could play quietly! ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/14 "2009-11-15T21:20:50Z")
I’m sure if I dug around in the cupboard under the stairs at my mother’s place, I could find our old Kerplunk set. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/15 "2009-11-16T17:52:22Z")
I played it now and then as a kid, and generally enjoyed it. But the version they make now is even more cheaply made than it was in my youth. The plastic sticks now bend so easily that it’s tough to get them through the holes on the other side of the cyllinder. So, setting it up is a bigger pain than ever before. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/16 "2009-11-16T18:21:14Z")
When I was nine or so, I bought one at a garage sale down the street. Their grandchildren happened to be friends of mine–the oldest was a year behind me–and they asked for it when they found I had it. I would have if they had offered to reimburse me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/17 "2009-11-16T18:41:04Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > Three words that did NOT go together for me back then were “tantalizing,” “nerve,” and “skill”!! Tantalizing, huh. From the Greeks: Tan·ta·lus (tnt-ls) n. Greek Mythology A king who for his crimes was condemned in Hades to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink, and with fruit hanging above him that receded when he reached for it. Makes the game a bit more sober…😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/18 "2009-11-16T19:01:56Z")
Never owned it myself, but I had friends who did. Played it a few times. Seemed to take longer to set it up than it did to play it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-game-ker-plunk/517663/19 "2009-11-16T20:23:40Z")
We had it in our Sunday School, which kind of tells you what demographic it was designed for. I remember playing it only once, then wondering what the point was–there didn’t seem to be much strategy there at all.