Don't Wake Daddy

Don't Wake Daddy is a children's board game originally published by Parker Brothers, now a subsidiary of Hasbro. It is intended for two to four players.

Players take the role of children sneaking to the refrigerator late at night, trying not to wake their sleeping father (who lies in the middle of the board on a large bed). Movement is determined by using a spinner and moving accordingly. If players make one of several "noises" (that is, if the color of a noise space does not match the color of a preassigned card that they hold), they must push an alarm clock next to "Daddy" a certain number of times; after enough pushes, the clock will go off and "Daddy" will suddenly jerk upright from his bed (as if just having awakened from a nightmare), at which point the player claims the corresponding color card from a player that has it, then returns to the beginning of the board.

Parker Brothers introduced the game at the 1992 American International Toy Fair.^[1] It was picked as the sixth best toy of the year (third-best among girls^[2]) in the Duracell Kids' Choice National Toy Survey^[3], and was one of the best-selling games of the 1992 Christmas season.^[4][5] Parker Brothers spokesperson Ronni Heyman described the game as "a real sleeper".^[6] The game's success was cited as a contributing factor in Hasbro's 46% increase in net income after the fourth quarter of 1992.^[7] Parker Brothers later released a smaller travel version of the game.^[8]

The game served as the inspiration for a series of 1990s works by German artist Martin Kippenberger. Kippenberger used the symbols for the different "noises" in the game to plan a cycle of wood-carvings and oil paintings.^[9] A children's book based on the game, Don't Wake Daddy: Late-Night Snack, was published by Scholastic Corporation in 2001.^[10]

Notes

1. ^ "Stuff kids buy". Newsday. February 28, 1992. 109.
2. ^ Sally Deneen. "I want that!" Sun-Sentinel. November 26, 1992. 1E.
3. ^ Dorsey Conners. "Modern kids redefine toys". Chicago Sun-Times. December 6, 1992. 2.
4. ^ "Which Christmas toys sizzle?" San Antonio Express News. December 2, 1992. 8D.
5. ^ Alice Kahn. "Shopping goes into high gear; the toys kids want". The San Francisco Chronicle. November 27, 1992. B3.
6. ^ Michael Preckler. "The big business of fun and games". The Dallas Morning News. February 16, 1993. 1C.
7. ^ "Business Brief: Christmas Sales Boost Hasbro's Net Income 46% for 4th Quarter". The Wall Street Journal. February 9, 1993. B4.
8. ^ "Check in - new car games for kids". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. June 30, 1996. H.
9. ^ Roberto Ohrt. Introduction to Kippenberger. Taschen, 2007. 28.
10. ^ Jackie Glassman. Don't Wake Daddy: Late-Night Snack. Scholastic, 2001.

External links

• Don't Wake Daddy at BoardGameGeek
• Frederick J. Augustyn. Dictionary of Toys and Games in American Popular Culture. Haworth Press, 2004. 40.