Thrift Treasure: Think & Jump
Have you ever been to a restaurant where they leave a wooden puzzle on the table for you to solve while you wait for your food? Around here, every Cracker Barrel has one. It is usually triangular-shaped with golf tees as pegs and does help pass the time while waiting for breakfast. I also recall having one of these growing up in the shape of a plus sign. The object was the same, fill up the puzzle leaving one blank space and then jump until there are as few left as possible. The ultimate win was to get down to one piece.
This week’s Thrift Treasure is a version of this type of game, but in a unique hexagonal shape. Think & Jump from Pressman is much more challenging based solely on the number of pegs.
Again, setup is the same. Fill the entire puzzle with pegs leaving only one starting spot. In this case a yellowish peg is used to mark your starting position. Remove the yellow marker and begin eliminating pieces by jumping over other pieces along the marked puzzle lines.
At first it seems rather easy to not strand a piece, but as you remove more and more pegs, it becomes much harder. The included scoring parameters attest to this difficulty by giving you a range to shoot for.
On my first try I didn’t do too bad, leaving only six pieces. One away from being a “True Talent”! Another game or two and I’m sure I’ll be well into that title, but getting to just one may take quite a while to master.
Our edition of Think & Jump was manufactured in 1984, but amazingly is still available new today on Amazon! Pressman Toy has been around since 1922 and was recently purchased by Goliath Games. I’m sure with the longevity of this puzzle we’ll see it make it into Goliath’s expanded product line.
If you like brain teasers and solitaire puzzles, Think & Jump will keep you busy for hours and hours. Consider picking up a used copy on eBay or your local thrift store!
We have something very similar here at home. I actually grew up with it and it moved out when I did! So much fun!
We like to get our games at our local thrift store too. They are so much more affordable there. This particular game looks like a great one to play. I’ll keep my eye out for it!
This sounds like a great game!
I have not seen this game before, sounds like a good one! I do remember those triangle wooden game from the restaurants.
I used to be the champ at the peg game at Cracker Barrel! I could ALWAYS get it down to one peg. This game looks a little big more challenging, but I’d be up to give it a try!
OMG – this reminds me of another game I grew up with and can absolutely not remember. Now I will think think of it until I remember. Anyway, this is a great one game to have around for a single play.
This looks like a fun brain treaser! I think I have played something similar on a smaller scale.
that looks like fun, my son would like it
Looks like fun!
I love all of the great games you’re always posting. I’ve found some really winners for our family. Thanks so much for posting these interesting games that make my kids’ minds work!
Had one of these in elementary school. For some reason it was easy for me to get down to two pegs but never just one. Well, that’s my IQ score for ya, ha. I’ve seen something similar at Cracker Barrel (there, I’ve admitted it).