For a short, golden period of time, there was a crop of video board games on the market in which an “interactive” tape was included to be played alongside the game. In the case of Nightmare (one of the first and best), the tape is left on to play without stopping as the mysterious “Gatekeeper” (who bears a striking resemblance to Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard) leads the players through the game. Some games (such as the Gargoyles VHS game) required players to fast forward and rewind to various points of the tape in a choose-your-own-adventure style, which seemed like a good idea, but beat the tar out of the tapes and machines used to play them.

We have a mint and very playable copy of Nightmare at the studio. Send us a message if you ever get the courage to give it a try…