People who know me, know that when I pick up a new hobby I tend to get quite serious about it and I guess you could say obsessed. Well before I realized you could actually own your own arcade games I was obsessed with collecting vintage Star Wars toys and memorabilia. I later moved onto classic videogame consoles such as the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision.

Once I began collecting arcade games I soon discovered that there was a bunch of arcade memorabilia. When rummaging through thrift stores, flea markets and browsing eBay! I would occasionally come across something like a Pac-Man coffee mug, Donkey Kong Boardgame or Pac-Man lunchbox and snatch it up. Since then, I’ve accumulated a few boxes of memorabilia, mostly related to Pac-Man and a few Donkey Kong items. However, some of the coolest stuff that I’ve come across has to do with that “Qrazy Qharacter from the Exciting Video Game”: Q*bert.


Q*bert has always been one of my favorite arcade games. Gottlieb released the game in 1982 and was really Gottlieb’s only arcade game hit. The company was one of the bigger Pinball manufacturers of the time, but only released a few video games. Gottlieb released a sequel to Q*bert, known as Q*bert’s Qubes as well as a pinball game, Q*bert’s Quest. Both games had were low production runs are very difficult to find nowadays. For more information about the history as told by its creator I suggest taking a look at the following site: The History of Q*bert.

Despite never reaching the popularity of Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, Q*bert was probably the second most merchandised arcade game of its time behind Pac-Man. As shown below, the funny looking character with had his own action figure line, boardgame, lunchbox, puzzles and even his own trashcan. According Q*bert’s creator there even was a short-lived TV show based on the game.

Q*bert Collectible Miniature Figures: Collect all six of them! Ranging from “Q*bert pitches a Qrazy Qurveball” to “Q*bert gets disQued Way”. These small figures were made by Kenner and released in 1983 and are just 2-3 inches tall.

Q*bert Boardgame and Card Game: Promoted as “Based on the Exciting Arcade Game”, these two games were released by Parker Brothers.

Q*bert Puzzles: I’ve found two of these so far, a 200 piece jigsaw featuring all the Q*bert characters by APC as well as a slide puzzle show.

Q*bert Lunchbox: What kid wouldn’t be complete without their Q*bert lunchbox? Thermos made this plastic lunchbox.

Q*bert Housewares: Some house related things that I’ve found include a very cool looking Q*bert trash bin and a Q*Bert tray. I’ve also heard of a Q*bert sleeping bag, although I’ve never seen one. My guess is there are a few more items like this I’ve yet to discover.

Q*bert Books: There’s at least two of them: The Adventures of Q*bert and Q*bert’s Quazy Questions (a riddle book), both released by Parker Brothers. Coloring books were also released.

Other Stuff: Some other random stuff I’ve come across include the plastic Q*bert bank, Q*bert pencil case (as pictured), Q*bert wristwatch and a Q*bert handheld electronic game.