In 1979, Kenner Products released three retail items designed to capitalise on the then recently released ALIEN movie. While the famous 18 inch tall children’s toy was the main item in this range of merchandise a (2 to 4 player) board game and a manually operated crank handle one minute movie viewer were also made available to the public.

Here we will be focusing on the board game, specifically some of its curious features along with exploring other international variants of the well known item. One particular feature of note is the cover of the board game which depicts a cropped image of one of Kenner’s 18 inch toy appearing against a still shot of the three Nostromo crew members about to enter the newly discovered derelict space craft of unknown origin.

In this regard, it is notable all images appearing on the package art of these items featuring the famous ALIEN toy and logo have all been censored, permanently disfiguring and concealing prominent evidence this figure was actually a prototype. It is possibly either a hard copy or test shot of the toy which differs from final retail samples and reflects Kenner’s frequent use of such prototype use during promotional exercises of their products. Here, conspicuously absent from the image, is the translucent nature of the dome on the head through which the glow in the dark paint application of the creature’s “evil brain” is normally visible.

An artist has modified the image making the dome appear opaque on all samples of Kenner’s ALIEN product line merchandise and logos. Nothing remains of the luminous paint application visible beneath the dome that would even suggest a prototype of the figure was used as the artist modifications cover the entire upper expanse of the head.

The top of the head isn’t the only edited feature present on the figure appearing on these items. Inspecting the box top above for example any you’ll find Kenner removed the creature’s iconic death dealing tongue as well. It is believed these details were edited for more than solely aesthetic reasons. These details were considered too grotesque for children resulting in them to be subsequently airbrushed out. Thus an attempt was made to render the image of the creature on the box top to appear less intimidating for a family oriented market. While this meant the game was released with children in mind it meant the image of the Alien toy appearing on the game box was missing some of its signature features. What exactly were these features?

Fortunately, an original photograph source image used in the creation of the box top artwork still exists and it’s possible to demonstrate how the details on this item were modified to make the box art more child friendly. The image.gif below depicts both the board game and the source image. The toy depicted in the original photograph has a glow pattern on the head that differs from what the toy actually possesses when it was released and from this detail we know the sample used in this image is actually a prototype of the toy. This same prototype is the one Kenner frequently used throughout their campaign to promote the ALIEN toy line. It differs from the final version of the toy distributed to stores in late 1979.

To further demonstrate this extensive modification, below is the box top of the Australian version of the ALIEN board game. Of all the international versions of this specific product – and at least four different versions were published – the Australian TOLTOYS licenced edition is the only known uncensored version.

For unknown reasons, the Alien’s head remains untouched and free of any airbrush work that has been applied to other editions of the game – and for that matter, all other versions of the ALIEN logo Kenner employed on their products at the time. Here, it is clear the image has not been tampered and both the translucent head revealing the glow in the dark paint pattern and “gruesome” tongue remain unmodified.

Not only did Kenner censor the box top of almost all versions of the board game but all of Kenner’s ALIEN logos appearing across all three of their product lines were modified in this same way. Here, for example, is the familiar Kenner ALIEN logo as it appears on the board game, the movie viewer and on the box for the original 18 inch toy. Updated variations of this logo can also be found on more recent ALIEN tribute products made by companies such as (but not limited to) Medicom, Super7, Gentle Giant and NECA. The deleted features of the tongue and modified head covering dome are obvious.

Knowing that the Alien appearing on the logo and box top have been modified to be less gruesome, it does raise an interesting question: What would this logo have looked like had it not been censored by Kenner in the first place? 

Fortunately, unmodified samples of it exist on the sides and on the back of the Australian version of the ALIEN Board game. The ALIEN logos appearing on this product are the only known uncensored samples of the image made available to the public.

Other versions of the board game also exist; and these too have had their details obfuscated in the same manner as the US version. This includes a bilingual English/French version printed in Canada.

Here is the box top for the Canadian edition of the game. Note it is very similar to the US edition with the Alien’s head edited but features text in both French and English throughout the item.

The internal contents of these board game variants are common across all versions of the product but print material is published in the language of the country of their manufacture. Much like the Australian Toltoys version, this item was possibly published under licence by a third party, this time by Canada’s Irwin Toy company

Nonetheless, below is the wonderful alternate green themed Italian version of the board game which once again prominently features modified versions of both the Alien toy and the ALIEN logo on the box top. Of all four versions of the board game, this is the only known sample that features the ALIEN logo on the box top.

The ALIEN board game was released only in 1979. While Kenner’s original 18 inch tall ALIEN toy and MPC’s ALIEN model kit have both enjoyed multiple iterations and been republished since their releases in October 1979, no publisher has yet re-issued the ALIEN board game. No reprints have ever been made and only this quartet of four decades old samples and variants are known to exist.

-Windebieste.