“Two frisky kicking mules in an exciting game of action & skill”
In 1965, Schaper released Kick Back, a game for two that challenged players to kick a ball into their opponent’s corral.
GAMEPLAY
Kick Back was a straightforward game accessible to most ages and abilities.
Players placed the plastic game between them, each with a corralled mule in front of them. Each mule balanced inside its corral on a central fulcrum. With the string-tied ball positioned at the hind feet of a mule, players took turns “kicking” the ball towards the opponent’s corral by flicking down on the mule’s front feet, causing its back feet to kick upwards. The force would propel the ball towards the opposite corral.
The goals was to land the ball inside the opponent’s narrow corral. The string’s tension as the ball was kicked played a role in how successful a player was at hitting their target and scoring a point. Those who mastered the precise force of the tap of the front feet were likelier to win the game than those who took an unmeasured approach.
Winning came down to luck and precision. The first player to progress the 20 notches to the top of the scoreboard won the game.
IN THE BOX
A complete Kick Back game included the plastic base with strung marker beads and moulded scoreboards along both sides, two mules in their respective corrals, and one string-tied bead anchored to the centre of the board that served as the ball. Instructions were printed inside the box top.
The box top also highlighted other Schaper games available for purchase, including Put and Take (1956), King of the Hill (1963), and others.
COLLECTOR CONSIDERATIONS
The game’s design was hard on the front legs of the mules, as they could forcefully hit the game base with overly enthusiastic flicking. The intensity of those hits could cause the mule’s legs to crack or break. For this reason, finding a mint-condition edition of the game on the secondary market may be challenging.
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