It came in a box roughly the size of a Ford Fiesta.
It required approximately 37 hours of setup time.
But it TALKED.
It came with CREDIT CARDS.
It drove my brothers absolutely CRAZY.
And now, my favorite game from the early ’90s is readying for a 21st-century rebirth.
That’s right, 30-something, Target-running, Amazon Prime-shopping moms: Mall Madness is coming BACK!
Prepare to get your real (and fake) credit cards ready, because Mall Madness is coming back! https://t.co/u3KiAbIOHQ
— Parents (@parentsmagazine) February 22, 2020
If you were a girl of a certain age in the late 80s and early 90s, you definitely played a round or 80 of the 3-D shopping mall game at a sleepover with your BFFs (when you needed a break from MASH, that is). You’d get a shopping list, pick out a slick cardboard credit card, and poise your little plastic tween figurine at the mall entrance.
When that weirdly modulated electronic voice announced, “There is a SALE at the sunglasses store! There is a CLEARANCE at the jewelry store! There is a SALE at the boutique!” the mall madness began. You had to visit stores like “M.T. Wallet’s Department Store” and “Frump’s Fashion Boutique” using your Quick Draw Card from the Dollar Daze Bank to complete your shopping list and win the game, and that’s basically what adulting has proven to be, right?
I mean, it’s genius.
RELATED: Why I Loved Being a Teen in the ’90s
If you need a little refresher as to what made this game so awesome, have a little look and listen down memory lane:
The original Milton Bradley game was released in 1988, with updated versions following mostly in the 90s, but the game has been off the shelves for 15 years. Hasbro will reportedly have the throwback game for sale in October, just in time for holiday shopping.
Savvy shoppers can still get their hands on copies of vintage versions, but it’ll cost you—Amazon has new and used listings beginning at over $100.
Nevermind the fact that our kids probably don’t even know what a mall is, I’m definitely going to be making room under my bed for a copy of this rerelease to play with my kids.
With throngs of grown-up ’90s kids likely to do the same, I’ll have to have my shopping game on point come October because I definitely don’t want to hear those dreaded words:
“I’m sorry, we’re out of stock. Try again later!”
Long live the ’90s!