Released by Parker Brothers in 1984, Care Bears Warm Feelings was a spin-and-move board game that had players collaborate to achieve a common goal before they could compete to win the game.
The Care Bears are a popular franchise featuring colorful bears with symbols on their bellies that represent various emotions. Created in 1981 by American Greetings, the bears were initially designed for greeting cards but later expanded into toys and games, television shows, comics, and other entertainment media.
GAMEPLAY
The goal of Care Bears Warm Feelings was to counter the nefarious efforts of Professor Cold Heart to freeze the town by melting the icicles from the frozen rainbow and collecting Care Bear cards along the way.
Players chose a Care Bear pawn and corresponding guide card that stayed with them throughout the game. The guide card’s only purpose was to remind young players of which pawn they selected. With the pawns lined up at the designated starting space, the youngest player was the first to move.
Players spun the spinner and moved their pawns forward to the space that matched the colour on the spinner. There were three types of stops along the board: the rainbows allowed players to place a rainbow chip on the illustrated thermometer at the centre of the board, Professor Cold Heart forced players to remove a rainbow chip from the thermometer, and a patch of ice slid players forward one space.
Once the thermometer had a complete set of six rainbows in place, players could then begin to collect icicle cards as they moved along the board, keeping the cards face-down in front of them. If a rainbow was removed from the thermometer, the collecting of icicle cards ceased until the thermometer was full again.
The game ended when all the icicle cards were chosen. Players then turned over their cards and counted the total number of Care Bears in their possession. The winner of the game was the player with the most Care Bears.
IN THE BOX
A complete game included a game board, four pawns (Cheer Bear, Good Luck Bear, Birthday Bear, and Bedtime Bear), 16 icicle cards, four guide cards, eight rainbow thermometer chips, and a spinner. Instructions were printed on a cardboard platform inside the box.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
The Care Bear characters embody friendship, kindness, and positivity — traits similar to the characters of Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite, which were also created by greeting card companies and went on to embed themselves in popular culture. Care Bear collectors have multiple iterations of the characters to appreciate. Beyond the introduction of the franchise in 1981, the Care Bears characters have been frequently refreshed to align with the times, with new media released in sync. In October 2024, The Care Berry Switch was announced. The “retro-forward” Care Bear/Strawberry Shortcake animated crossover is a joint production from WildBrain and CloudCo Entertainment.
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