6Stelab9 Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 This morning, in a toy fair in my town I bought this toy named Station astrale, which I think was made in the 50'S in France. It is made with cardboard, wood and a mirror. The rockets are made of plastic. The principle is quite easy and a bit desappointing but it probably entertained childs from the 50's: you look throught the holes on one side, pull the wood stick so it releases the rocket, which falls down to the ground and as the mirror reflects the fall so you can briefly imagine that it's a take off to Earth from an orbital station . Anyway, it's a very nice toy with great art which will perfectly fit with my SFA saucer and rocket from the same period. And I'm always very happy to discover an old french space related toy. If someone have more informations about it, I would be very grateful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ervino Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Hi! The piece is from the French version of the game "Rockets Away: Sensational Space Travel Game" - (1952) by AMSCO. The game has some known variations: the original USA edition, an Italian ("Eroi del Futuro: Sensazionale viaggio tra i pianeti" ‐ (1953)), a French (name unknown) and a Spanish ones ("J-15: Estacion Astral de Aeronaves" - (1956)). Here is the BoardGameGeek link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26045/rockets-away-sensational-space-travel-game/versions Cheers Ervino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6Stelab9 Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 Thanks for those precious informations Ervino. Now I understand why the game was a bit disappointing as it's just a part of a spacey dart gun. And thank you for the link. It's funny because one of the photo mixes an italian box "Eroi del Futuro" with a french version of the space station. Well, Now I have to investigate on this french version, find its name and find an uncomplete box to fit with my station astrale and my rockets. The game illustrations are wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ervino Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 AAMOF, the image of the "mixed" box is one of my personal set! I suppose (but don't have proofs as now) that the maker of the French and of the Italian versions of the game coud have been the same, i.e. "EG - Editrice Giochi", one of the most famous games producer in Italy, now and then. EG in the same years produced both an Italian and a French version of a game "inspired" by the Disney movie version of "20.000 Leagues Under the Sea": https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193534/20000-leghe-sotto-i-mari/versions (using, BTW, the CoMa 1" Pattuglia Marziana spacemen figures as deep-sea divers). Anyway, here are a couple of images: one for the AMSCO version game "board" and one of the Italian TM application from EG for the Italian name of the game: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6Stelab9 Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 I have found that the french version of the game used the original name "rockets away" and was published by Capiepa a french game company (which will release in 1978 the french Star Wars board game version). I don't think that both the italian and the french version were produced by the same maker as it 's marked made in France on the station astrale and made in italy on the rockets cardboard. I suppose both the french and the italian compagnies produced their own version of the game from the original game licence. Ad from a 1955 French toy catalog From the Nouvelles Galeries 1954 christmas catalog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ervino Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Thanks for the info on the French version! Now I must try to understand why the copy I have is a composite of the Italian and French editions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6Stelab9 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea EG - Editrice Giochi 11 hours ago, ervino said: Thanks for the info on the French version! Now I must try to understand why the copy I have is a composite of the Italian and French editions... You have done a big part of the job, Ervino. Here is a picture of the french uncomplete game from an old vectis auction There is something strange about your copy, the red cardboard which hold the rockets seems to be written in French (or am I mistaken?) May be you're right and there was an actual link between EG - Editrice Giochi and Capiepa (which apparently published the french version of the 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea game). It's seems that toy makers around the world had many links between them, buying or exchanging licences and mold. The spanish version is quite nice either (especially the launching station) but I prefer the design of the amsco version . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ervino Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 You are right: my copy of the game has both the rockets-holder and the rocket-laucher marked "Made in Italy" but have French names for the items, so I can suppose that the two companies, EG and Capiepa had at least some kind of collaboration back then (here is another non-space game produced in the '50 both by EG and Capiepa: "Il Giro del Mondo in Vespa" - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33878/tour-du-monde-en-vespa/versions ). Lets us keep in mind that we are speaking of games produced in Europe in the early '50, so not so many years after the WWII. This considered IMO it is possible that both the companies had, e.g., their stuff printed and produced in the same factory, with (somewhat mixed up...) customized printing targeted to their respective national market. E. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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