“With Pop-O-Matic automatic cube shaker”
Released by Kohner in 1968, Headache featured the company’s signature Pop-O-Matic bubble in a game that emphasized direct pursuit rather than a traditional race to the finish.
GAMEPLAY
Headache used the Pop-O-Matic bubble as its movement mechanism, with two dice enclosed beneath the clear plastic dome.
Each player selected a set of four coloured cone pawns. Pawns began the game off the board and entered play as players popped the dice. Once in play, pawns travelled around a dual-track board, with the option of switching between the inner and outer tracks at junctions marked with an “X”.
Rolling a single red dot granted the player another turn. For added strategy, players could opt to treat the “X” spaces as safe zones where their pawns could not be captured.
Players pursued one another around the board, capturing opposing pawns by landing directly on them. Each captured pawn was stacked beneath the capturing pawn, creating increasingly tall stacks as the game progressed.
Play ended when one player captured all of their opponents’ pawn stacks.
IN THE BOX
A complete game included the plastic game base with built-in Pop-O-Matic bubble and 16 cone pawns (four each in red, green, blue, and yellow). Game instructions were printed on the back of the box.
KOHNER TOYS AND GAMES
Kohner’s time in the toys and games industry produced many opportunities for family-friendly play. While Trouble, the company’s original Pop-O-Matic game, became one of its best-known releases, its catalogue also included the Busy Box series, Loony Links, Hats Off, and Snakes in the Grass. Together, these products helped establish Kohner as a notable toy and game manufacturer of the era, with many of its releases continuing to attract collectors today.
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