KAR-A-A-ATE MEN (1975)

Kar-a-a-ate Men is a unique, hard to find game from the mid 70's. Each player has a movable platform with a Karate champion action figure, roughly a foot tall, attached to the end. The platform has three control levers which allow you to left jab, right chop or right kick. Each figure has two pressure or impact points (one on the head and one on the chest). The object is to strike a blow to your opponent which triggers the pressure point and causes them to fall backwards. The Karate champions both have a brown belt to begin with. If you win the match (first player to four points) you get to trade in your brown belt for a black belt. The neat thing about the game is that it doesn't use batteries. It also has tightening screws on the bottom of the platform to ensure the spring like mechanisms work correctly. The rules are quite simple, however, they also include penalties for cheating (ex. lifting the platform during the fight).