Toy Soldiers

TOY SOLDIERS: Middle East War
JimQ


My kid just came in with a game his friend had brought him from a recent trip to Israel.
He asked if I wanted to play “Middle East War ” with him. “How do you play?”, I asked. He
replied, “Dad, you just set your men up and you roll a ball across the floor and the first one to kill
all of the other guy’s soldiers wins.”

My mind went back to the days I used to play with my brothers. We would set up a battle field on
the living room floor. Each would stand his small metal soldiers with tanks, trucks, and planes
on opposite sides of the room. We would flip a coin to see who went first and then each in turn
would get a ‘roll’ to send a small rubber ball across the floor to destroy the other’s army. The
first to knock over all the enemy pieces won. I said “Sure, I’ll play, son.”


With great delight my son starting unpacking all the games pieces from the carton. I noticed on
the box it said, “Reality Game Concepts.”


We pulled out an Arab Muslim holy man. The instructions said he was a mufti. If we pushed on
his belly we heard, “Jews are monkeys and pigs” and “Allah, kill the infidels.”


We dressed the leader of the Arab Muslim army with a checkered table cloth on his head. If we
pushed on his belly he screamed, “We are marching to Jerusalem, We are marching to
Jerusalem.”


We continued unpacking and setting up the Arab Muslim Jihad warriors. Their limbs were
jointed so they could be placed in a kneeling position with their faces to the ground as in prayer
to Allah. When their noses were pressed to the ground you could push on their backsides and
hear their chants, “Allah kill the Jews, Allah Kill the Jews.” We continued until all seventy-five
of the Arab Muslim pieces were in place.


I looked in the bottom of the game box and I found only one piece for my side, one IDF soldier
with a Blue and White Flag with the Star of David. I started to pull it out and my son said, “No,
Dad. That’s my man.”


“What do you mean,” I said, “Why do you want to play with only one soldier?” My kid replied,
“Dad, didn’t you read the box?” “It says it’s a Reality Game; you know: The Jew always wins!”

©JimQ 1997