SPIN AGAIN: Board Games From the Fifties...

SPIN AGAIN: Board Games From the Fifties and Sixties by Rick Polizzi and Fred Schaefer (Chronicle: $16.95). The minimal text of this campy survey reveals that board games have a surprisingly long history in the United States: The oldest known game, the didactic “Mansion of Happiness,” was issued in 1843. Most of the volume is devoted to capsule descriptions and color photographs of postwar games, especially the spin-offs based on such popular films and television shows as “Perry Mason,” “Route 66,” “Gidget” and “Surfside 6”--as well as “The Beatles, Flip Your Wig Game,” “Twister,” “Barbie: Queen of the Prom,” “Clue” and “Green Ghost.” This brightly colored book would make an excellent hostess gift/ice breaker at baby-boomer holiday parties, provoking delighted cries of “Remember Lie Detector?” and “I used to play Mouse Trap!”