Buckaroo was a real favourite game for kids of the 70s and has made something of a comeback today as a newer version is now available. The game centred on the Roo (who was a rather obstinate mule) who you had to load up with items without him tossing them all off again.

The mule begins the game standing on all four feet, with just a blanket on its back. Players then take turns placing items his back. They must do this very carefully, as a spring mechanism inside the mule will be triggered by the slightest vibration. When it’s triggered, the mule bucks up on its front legs, throwing off the items.

The player who made Roo buck is knocked out of the game and play continues with the remaining players. The winner is the last player remaining in the game. The items that needed to be loaded up on the mule were:

A bedroll
A canteen of water
A crate
A frying pan
A cowboy hat
A guitar
A holster
A lantern
A rope
A saddle
A shovel
A stick of dynamite

Of these, the saddle must be placed first. It has a number of points on which the subsequent items are hung. These other items may be placed in any order.

By the time our buckaroo eventually got thrown away, we only had about 5 items remaining to load up on poor old Roo. Unfortunately his spring was pretty much broken too (after years of cheating by my brother of course, not me) so you could load him up with all manner of items from the bedroom, making for a whole new game.