Rebound the Game
Rebound The Game: An Overview
Players slide plastic pucks that encase ball bearings down a track that is about 32 inches in length. The puck glides down one half of the track, bounces off of rubber bands at the rear of the playing area, and then continues its way down the other half of the track toward the score zone. Watch out, though, if you slide too soft or too hard, you wont score any points.
Rebound offers an exciting, skill based dexterity game for up to four players who compete individually or as a team. This is a classic game that probably inspired more recent dexterity games like Sorry Sliders.
Vintage Ideal Rebound
I found my copy of the vintage, 1971, Ideal version of Rebound at a thrift store back in 2009. The box is large, about two and a half feet, which was nearly enough to make me want to purchase the game. Add in the nostalgic image on the front, and I was sold.
Sure enough, the game had all the pucks, the board, and some crusty, age-destroyed rubber bands. There
were no instructions, but the game seemed easy enough to play, so I paid $2.98 and took the game home and gave it a shelf in my game closet.
Originally, I had planned on selling it. The Ideal version of Rebound was bringing about $20 to $25 dollars on eBay back in 2009. But I liked the game, so I replaced the rubber bands and kept Rebound in my collection.
While the game is recommended for two to four players, I found that it plays well as solitaire. Of course, I am a grown man who still plays with my marble-labyrinth every couple of years, so maybe your experience would be different.
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Mattel Rebound
Ideal toys has undergone several name changes, as well as multiple changes in ownership in the last 50 years. It is currently a part of Mattel, which is fortuneate for those of you who still want to slide plastic pucks across a plastic playing field. Pick up your copy of the Rebound Board Game at Amazon for about $30.00 new, or $15.00 used, or keep your eye out for a vintage copy at a thrift store.
Rebound Board Game Instructions
You can find the full version of Mattel’s Rebound Board Game instructions online in pdf format (check the resource section for a link), or check out the quick version below:
Players start behind the foul line. Slide your puck forward, releasing it before it hits the foul line. Alternate between players until all players have thrown all of their pucks, leaving all pucks in play. You may attempt to block other players with your pucks, knock their scoring pucks out of the score zone, or bump your own pucks that lay outside of the score zone into the score zone.
After each player has tossed all of their pucks, calculate each individual player’s score for the round by adding up the number of points for each puck in the score zone. Play continues to 500 points.
Resources and References
All photos of the 1971 Ideal Rebound tabletop game taken by Michael Elkins.
The promotional image of the Mattel version of the Rebound board game taken from Amazon.com.
Complete Rebound board game Instructions are available in PDF form here: https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/37083%20-%20English.pdf
