The Home for Odd, Ugly and Neglected Toys

Dodo Bird Discovered

Dodo Bird Discovered

So, over the past several months, I’ve been posting random toys hoping to gather insight on what they are and where they come from. I’ve been successful in a lot of cases, but other times I ask the readers to speak up and help me out. While doing this, I’ve accidentally become the weirdo toy “expert.” I now have people coming to me asking about the origin of random toys they’ve found.

Well, one such toy is the topic of my entry today. This toy was actually provided to me by my buddy, John (who has had this thing for a while now), and he was really hoping to find out what it is.

I was a bit hesitant to feature it at first, but luckily, upon seeing the toy, I thought it was pretty freaky too (and now it’s all mine John! Sucker!! 😉 ).

(Click to enlarge)
Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece

At first glance I thought, “What the hell is this thing?”

An ostrich?

A giraffe?

The bastard offspring of an interspecies love affair?

Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece

So what do we have? At first, it looks like a simple bobbing bird toy – Yellow body, green tail and… red eyes and neck? Uh-oh. Could be something freaky.

(Click to enlarge)
Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece

A dangly tongue? Um, yeah. Kinda weird.

Ears? On a bird? Definitely weird.

An Adam’s Apple? What the hell.

All that accompanied with the freaky looking, rubbed-off paint job definitely makes this thing qualified to be here.

There is a clue on its tail feathers luckily: “1966 Deluxe Reading Corp. 7003-0415 1B1”. Apparently Deluxe Reading Corporation has gone through some name changes over the years, and they’re best known for making dolls and stuff… and even Johnny Lightning cars.

After some annoying research and matching the toy’s serial number to a Deluxe Reading Corp. catalog i found online, I discovered this guy is actually a game piece of some old board game called Silly Safari.

Silly Safari Jungle Game
Silly Safari game box photo courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com.

Silly Safari Jungle Game
Silly Safari game pieces photo courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com.

It looks like the paint on the bird piece might’ve been a custom job.

Man, I’d love to get my hands on that alligator. Anybody wanna give him up?


5 Responses

  1. Matty says:

    We need to have a weirdo toys board game night… Can anyone find that game? It looks like Mouse Trap on crack! What are the feet pieces for?!

  2. John Brogdon says:

    Thanks for your dedication and hard work researching this abomination. I can’t believe, after all these years, this bird has been identified. I also have one of those feet (the yellow one) in a box somewhere but never knew it had any affiliation with the bird. I may have picked them up at the same time-can’t remember. I’d love to see what the climbing orangutan looks like up close. The alligator is definitely worth keeping an eye out for. I’ll let you know when I find one. Maybe we can play with it in the toilet.

  3. Justin says:

    My pleasure John. I didn’t think I would find out what it is either. Luckily there are obsessive collectors out there that digitally archive old toy company catalogs.

    And, yeah, that alligator is awesome-looking. I did just find a near-mint condition Silly Safari game on eBay. It came with every piece, but it ended up selling for $55 or something. Screw that.

  4. Bob says:

    Recently purchased a pair of plastic vintage gas pumps .Made by Deluxe Reading cat.no.3042
    Thought perhaps you would know what these pumps came in .A play gas station maybe ?
    One is red and the other turquoise on a white base .
    not really what you would say as weird but seeking info Thank you Bob

  5. mel says:

    that burd is to funny thanks for the picture of the board game and all the info I found the giraffe today and and I had no idea what it went to now I know what it goes to

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