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OK, this game predates the 1980′s a little, but I remember having it as a child and enjoyed it immensely, so I’m going to tell you about it anyway. The game was a licensed game to accompany the classic movie Jaws, but instead of the aim of being to catch a killer shark, it was actually more like a playful approach to shark dentistry.
Probably the closest comparison to the Jaws game is Buckaroo, although it’s kind of a reverse Buckaroo as your trying to remove items instead of add them. The game consisted of a cool plastic shark with a flappy mouth that snapped shut thanks to a couple of elastic bands, and a variety of different objects such as a bone, a gun, a broken wheel, an anchor and various other martime related items.
To play the game you pulled the sharks mouth open and dumped all the items inside, which weighed it down enough to remain open. Players then took it in turns to carefully remove an item from the sharks gaping maw using a plastic hook, that did look surprisingly like one of those pointy tools that dentists use to scrape the plaque of your teeth. If you weren’t careful the sharks mouth would suddenly snap shut, trapping the hook and making all the players jump out of their skins!
August 29th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Ah, one of the regularly unfulfilled requests on my Christmas wish list (although Mr. Frosty still remains the leader in that department).
The only time I got my Jaws fix was during Games Day, usually the last day of school before the Christmas holidays, where you didn’t have to wear school uniform and you could bring games into school for everyone else to play/break.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:30 am
It was a very good game – far better than Buckaroo in my opinion. I mean, sharks are way cooler than donkeys, aren’t they?!
August 29th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
We had Jaws, I always remember some of the ‘junk’ you had to get out of its mouth was really fiddly and got caught on other stuff, I think there was a handbag?? and the bits that were chunkier and easier to get hold of were heavy and so caused the jaws to shut, (I also remember the elastic band that snapped the jaws shut used to come off! and I think we used to loose the hook as well.)
March 25th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
That game popped in my head today! LOL We had that game as well. I want to buy one or should I say I want one complete in box with all parts!!! I WANT IT NOW!!!
March 26th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I think eBay is probably your best bet shannel.
December 6th, 2010 at 4:57 am
I have a photo of me and my sisters playing Jaws!!! I loved this game!!
December 6th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Jonathan has a modern version of this game now
December 7th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I still have my jaws game in my mum’s loft!
December 24th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Does anyone remember how the rubber band goes on? We had ours out today and no one remembers how to put a new rubber band on!
Thanks!
December 24th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I believe there should be a little plastic hook on either side of the mouth part, and another two hooks tucked away inside the main body of the shark. Thread two elastic bands, one on each side, around the hooks and that should be it, although it might be highly dependent on having the right length of elastic bands.
Hope you get it going and enjoy a game or three!
November 29th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Does anyone remember a “game” from the late 70s/early 80s where there was a skindiver in a plastic jug and you squeezed it to make him go down and pick up treasures from the bottom???
November 30th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Couldn’t tell you what it was called but yes, it does sound strangely familiar. Sorry Jan, can’t yield any further info on it though.