I knew about a few TV-based board games, but when I discovered that there was a Secret World of Alex Mack game, I wondered what else could be out there. As it turns out there are a ton of board games based on TV shows. I tried to be discerning but I could not pare the list down anymore than these 21 games.
The Secret World of Alex Mack
In this board game, you get to be Alex Mack and use her powers! The object of the game is to “morph” everything from Alex’s backpack to her house without the chemical plant who doused her with GC161 noticing. Because in this game, Alex can’t just morph the whole backpack to her house or morph herself and go get the backpack undetected. Come on, she needs your help!
ALF
Kind of like the Alex Mack game, the object of the ALF game is to sneak through the house undetected by Mrs. Ochmonek. I can’t remember who Mrs. Ochmonek was in the show because I rarely watched ALF due to the fact that he was crass and looked like an ROUS (rodent of unusual size).
The A-Team
OMG I am so confused by this game play description, that I’m just going to leave you with the premise and call it a day. So basically, B.A. Barakus is the focal point of this game, but you cannot play as B.A. (more commonly known as Mr. T.) Since this game is 80’s and corporate, it is about a stolen soda recipe. The recipe is being held for ransom on an island, since obviously there is only one physical copy of this recipe that must be locked away and surrounded by water on all sides. The soda thief is a crafty fellow and he makes a deadly game (the one you are about to play right now on this board!) to keep the A-Team at bay. B.A. has gone ahead of the rest of the team and is already with the recipe, so now you have to find B.A. No, B.A. cannot just leave the way he came in and bring the recipe with him. You have to save him! It’s called the A-Team not the B.A. Barakus show–except he was kind of the entire show, sorry George Peppard.
Cheers
This is one of those board games that is actually just a trivia game about the show, which I always find a little disappointing. But I love Cheers, so oh well. You move around the board and get tokens for answering trivia questions correctly. There’s also something called the “Normie Olympics” which makes the trivia game a little more interesting. If you land on the appropriate space for the “Normie Olympics,” then you can challenge someone to a “flip-off.” In order to win the “flip-off” you have to flip a plastic version of fan-favorite Norm without spilling his beer. If you win the flip-off, then you can take a token from whomever you challenged, which helps you get closer to the five tokens necessary to win the game.
Full House
Everyone moves around the board to different neighborhoods trying to collect character cards for all of the main characters. Once you have a complete set, then you have to race back to Alamo Square and be the first to arrive back at the Full House house.
Happy Days
What do you think of when you think of Happy Days? If you said the Fonz magically lighting up a jukebox, then you win! The object of this game is to impress Fonzie with how “cool” you are. To accomplish this, you must be the first person to obtain enough “cool points” to turn on the jukebox.
Kojak: The Stake Out Detective Game
Just like a real cop, this game puts pressure on you to meet quotas. The person who makes the most arrests wins! Everyone moves cars around the board, trying to solve crimes by collecting cards. A “contact card” gives you your case and then you must collect the other cards to book the criminal. Lollipop not included.
Laverne & Shirley
In order to win this game you must spend the most time on dates. The person who dates the most wins because that’s what making your dreams come true and doing things your way as an independent female means. Duh.
M*A*S*H
The point of this game is to try to get out of Korea and head home. You have to collect a jeep or helicopter and then be the first to reach the finish space in order to get a transfer home. Yeah, it’s a little depressing.
Murder, She Wrote: A Game of Strategy and Pursuit
Every player gets to be Jessica Fletcher, except one is secretly the murderer. This is all rather fitting since I often wondered if Jessica Fletcher was secretly the murderer…either that or the angel of death Anyway, to play this game you have to determine which Jessica Fletcher is actually the murderer. If you are chosen to be the murderer, then you can still win by murdering five witnesses and leaving the game board undetected. So it’s sort of like a bloodier version of Clue.
The Partridge Family
This is a track game like CandyLand but with David Cassidy instead of gum drops. The object of the game is to be the first person to reach the family bus.
Perry Mason: Case of the Missing Suspect
Here’s another television detective game! Everyone moves around the board collecting clues. Each clue card has a point value, and these points will add up to correspond to a suspect. You could have the same number of points as someone else, so you might be going after the same person. In order to win you have to be the first person to bring your suspect to the courthouse. This game, released in 1959, is actually The Game of Dragnet (released in 1955) but with Perry Mason instead of Sergeant Joe Friday.
Saved by the Bell
There are actually two different Saved by the Bell games. The first one is from the 90’s and requires you to be the first person to get thirty points. There a
re question cards with truth-or-dare questions and trivia. You move around Bayside High School and get points for dating Zack and Slater. The other game was released in 2010, and it’s a time travel game back to the Bayside of the 90’s. It’s sort of like a bizarro mystery date. Zack and Kelly tell you who you will date, where you are going, and what you will be doing. The player who goes on the date wins.
Miami Vice
This game is pretty cool in that you get to play as either the Vice Team or the Criminals. If you are a cop then you want to arrest the criminals. If you are the criminals, then you want to get to the drop point before the vice cops show up. Typical, Miami whack-a-mole stuff.
Double Dare
This game lets you recreate a little of the Double Dare magic in your own home by doing your own physical challenges with these pretty lame game pieces. There are also trivia cards, of course, and the first team to reach the $250 space wins.
Family Matters
The point of this game seems to be primarily to embarrass your friends. You need to collect the most bow tie cards to win the game and collecting them is as easy as rolling a die. But you can lose bow tie cards if you do not do the Urkel on command. Any player can make any other player do the Urkel at any time. 
The Love Boat: World Cruise Game
Every player has a Love Boat pawn. Each person draws a “star” from the pack of cards at the beginning of the game. Then you try to collect the appropriate cards for your star on the cruise and at the ports of call. For example, the star athlete would want sporting cards whereas the movie star would not. The game ends when the first player gets his or her Love Boat to San Francisco (which also gives said player a 500 point bonus). The person with the most points total wins.
Family Ties
Like the iconic opening credits, the point of this game is to pay for all of the family members to have a portrait painted together. Players take on the roles of Keaton family members and each try to collect $100 dollars to pay for the portrait. This requires having the necessary cash and getting everyone in the same spot.
Baywatch
Players get to play as the Baywatch lifeguards. You move around the game board (“the beach”) and collect discs by answering questions, doing physical challenges, and “gambling” (not really sure of the context of this one.)
Charlie’s Angels
Every player has his/her own team of Angels…so basically it’s like every player is Charlie but you are all operating in alternate universes simultaneously. If the Angels in your universe trap the bad guy first, then you win and emerge as the ultimate Charlie. To trap the bad guy you physically surround him with your team’s game pieces.
Clarissa Explains It All
In order to win this game, you need to be the first player to have at least one key and a driver’s license. In order to obtain these things, you move around the game board and answer a series of questions family-fued style (“in a survey of Clarissa’s friends). You also collect rescue cards to be used in the unfortunate event that you land on a crisis space, but don’t worry because there are also spaces that require you to get a snack or just hang out.
I am sure there must be a million more of these games. Let me know in the comments if you noticed any that I missed! Did anyone have any of these games? Were they any good?
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Murder She Wrote sounds awesome! I had the A Team game, but it was lame. I spent most of my time playing the Mad Magazine board game and UNO.
I seriously want to find the Murder, She Wrote game. I was like “Oh, I could blog about it!” which seems to have become my excuse for doing things that I want to do anyway and creating some sort of artificial purpose behind them. But yeah…maybe I’ll get it…and blog about it…what was the Mad Magazine board game?
Murder She Wrote is as low as ten bucks on ebay! You need to get it and tell me if it’s better than Clue. The Mad game is based on the mag w/Alfred E. Newman. Might be before your time. Cartoony stuff for rebellious grade-schoolers. I liked the game because you had to roll the die with your left hand, switch seats with people, and do generally rude things.
I love rude games! I don’t believe anything can be better than Clue, but I’ll have to do my due diligence and check it out.
My Christmas list just got longer.
These would certainly make unique gifts!