Mr Potato Head forgot the potato!

Mr Potato Head forgot the potato!
Shutterstock

What we now know as the beloved Mr Potato Head used to be a vegetable-agnostic dress-up toy. The original version consisted only of legs, arms, a few sets of eyes, a moustache (of course), and a corncob pipe. A player, however, had to provide the potato, or, as the box said, “any fruit or vegetable.”

Advertisement

One board game foreshadowed a freak accident

One board game foreshadowed a freak accident
Shutterstock

This coincidence is a doozy: on April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and costing the company over $40 billion in fines and clean-up costs. Bizarrely, in 1973, the company had released a board game titled BP Offshore Oil Strike, in which players navigated the “thrills of drilling, the hazards, and the rewards” as each raced to be the first person to collect $120 million in revenue from his rig. And yes, the fantasy rig could explode, just like it did in real life some 37 years later.

Video games inspire curfews

Video games inspire curfews
Getty Images

Playtime became a bit more precious in South Korea after the ‘shutdown law’ went into effect in 2011. The law made it illegal for children 16 and younger to play video games from midnight until 6am. To enforce this rule, the country’s online gaming websites block children in that age group from accessing their sites during the blackout period. That’s one way to get your kids to bed on time!

Sign up here to get Reader’s Digest’s favourite stories straight to your inbox!

Source: RD.com

Never miss a deal again - sign up now!

Connect with us: