When I was a kid, I unfortunately had the mindset (which I think I got from my dad) that if I was unlikely to win there was no point in entering. If I could go back I would enter every contest/sweepstakes I saw.
I entered these sweepstakes and contests all the time! My older sister, too! We loved it! She won a lot because she was really good at drawing. I won some Bazooka Bubble Gum once. Another time I won two Blow Pops, and one last time, I won 4 packs of watermelon Bubble Gum. My sister would win AMAZING prizes that were so real stuff! Oh my goodness! The waiting was both fun and nerve wrecking...Such fun memories! Thank you so much! These videos that you do mean so much, and they do so much more for others than you realize.
@@godschildyes Thank you for sharing those great memories of contests in your youth! And we greatly appreciate your kind words. We enjoy being able to bring a little nostalgia and joy with these videos.
In the 80s (1988/1989) when I was in 4th grade, I won the first 10 books of sweet valley High school series. My daughter, now in 4th grade in the fall, and a reluctant reader (hard for her to find stuff she likes) found them AND my entire collection of Choose your own adventure (the ones edward packard started) now she won't put them down.
My older brother and I were always excited for these things, then we bothered our folks to buy one of the things being in a contest that we didn't win. Didn't always work but they understood the amount of mail ins and phone calls we made to put up the effort lol
I won a contest from a local TV station in the early 80s that resulted in me getting an army duffel bag full of the entire first wave of 3-3/4" G.I. Joe toys. That was one of the greatest days of my young life. I vividly remember dumping the bag out onto my bed (I may have had my Garfield blanket on there by that point) and going hog wild. Sigh. Those were the days!
I always wanted to know who won the MEET A REAL GHOSTBUSTER contest from Ghostbusters Cereal. That was my dream. Especially since I wanted to meet Maruice LaMarche.
I never entered any of these contests but this is an awesome video. I did a double take for the Activision one and I can't believe that's Phil Hartman.
I’ve been lucky enough to win several contests 1 during childhood and several as an adult. The childhood one was through Teen Beat magazine, I won a Newsies movie soundtrack on cassette. It was also really exciting to see my name in print in the list of winners. As an adult, I won a TV in an office winter holiday party raffle, I won 2nd prize in a writing contest and got a metal vintage style lunch box full of delicious Gen X candy, and most recently, I won a Giant Deadpool Funko Pop from a podcast called 1980’s Now!
When I worked at a radio station, in the 1990s, I got to the contest line thingy...ahem..."YOU'RE CALLER NUMBER ONE, SORRY!" CLICK.."YOU'RE CALLER NUMBER TWO! SORRY!" CLICK! and so on and so on...until I got to the winner...."YOU'RE CALLER NUMBER 12, CONGRATS! hold on" (and transfer the call to the studio" Even it was some dumb toaster, or umbrella, or 10 bucks at McD's people were so excited! "A free car warsh?! Well hell that's jus fine I reckon!", people acted like they won the lottery. 😃
cool to see you back at it! I have one though it's a little bit more recent. back in 2010 SEGA had an amazing promotion for the wii release of Gunblade NY and LA machineguns, two cursor-based gun games sega released in the arcade! the grand prize was a legit GBNY cabinet, the big screen version, no less! luckily entering was as easy as leaving a comment on the contest post, so imagine my shock when I got the email saying I was the winner! haven't been to my parents' house in many years but I can only hope it's still there in the corner of their garage... maybe I'll make my way back up there someday. PS. on fabulous photog, is THAT was that is on the little smurf logo? I've always wondered, haha.
I tried the Nick Takes over Your School. (Didn't get squat)! Still enjoyed the Nintendo Power Mega Man Robot Master Contest. My sister tried for that she had some insane art talent.
those Nick sweepstakes: 1st place: Cringy. 2nd place: cool toy that's probably still worth something today. 3d place: a flying toy razorblade that would lacerate your fingers.
Oh man!! I remember the Activision patches! I was able to get a qualifying score on H.E.R.O. I waited and waited for the patch. A patch finally came with a letter apologizing that they did not have any H.E.R.O. patches left and they sent me something else. I don't even remember what game the patch I got was from. I kept it for a long time but I think it is sadly lost to time. I still like H.E.R.O. though!!
I won wrestling tickets I believe off Nickelodeon in the early 90s my name was aired and my mom had a certain amount of time to call and pick up the tickets this was in the early 99s in New York
Sounds like Activision patches and achieving the goal to get them is like what we do now today with trophy achievements on todays consoles PS4/PS5 and Xbox achievements
What happened with people attention? It was hijacked. Yeah, back in the day we would enter in to a contest, and it could have taken a month to find out the results. For example: one candy shop has a gumball counting competition. 30 days from today, they will release the number and find the winner. Candy store down the street notices the competition and decides "i'll go with 25 days instead of 30 to ensure customers come here first". Rinse, repeat. Eventually, these companies brought the timw frame down soo much, they are now fighting for our 1 minute attention spans.
Won $200 from Captain Crunch for finding the Captain. Had to solve clies & stick with it to get put into the drawing. Wonderful childhood memory
That is incredible! Man, what an awesome memory to have and prize to win. Thank you for sharing that!
I always wanted to run through Toys r Us on one of those 10 minute shopping sprees😅
Who wouldn't! That always seemed like an impossibility... like winning the lottery.
When I was a kid, I unfortunately had the mindset (which I think I got from my dad) that if I was unlikely to win there was no point in entering. If I could go back I would enter every contest/sweepstakes I saw.
That was the influence of our wearied parents, having lost so much in themselves.
I entered these sweepstakes and contests all the time! My older sister, too! We loved it! She won a lot because she was really good at drawing. I won some Bazooka Bubble Gum once. Another time I won two Blow Pops, and one last time, I won 4 packs of watermelon Bubble Gum. My sister would win AMAZING prizes that were so real stuff! Oh my goodness! The waiting was both fun and nerve wrecking...Such fun memories! Thank you so much! These videos that you do mean so much, and they do so much more for others than you realize.
@@godschildyes Thank you for sharing those great memories of contests in your youth! And we greatly appreciate your kind words. We enjoy being able to bring a little nostalgia and joy with these videos.
In the 80s (1988/1989) when I was in 4th grade, I won the first 10 books of sweet valley High school series. My daughter, now in 4th grade in the fall, and a reluctant reader (hard for her to find stuff she likes) found them AND my entire collection of Choose your own adventure (the ones edward packard started) now she won't put them down.
@@bluejedi723 That is awesome! The contest prize that keeps on giving through the generations!
My older brother and I were always excited for these things, then we bothered our folks to buy one of the things being in a contest that we didn't win. Didn't always work but they understood the amount of mail ins and phone calls we made to put up the effort lol
@@Benjamillion Got to appreciate the parent who is willing to help a kid out when they enter and never win. Bravo!
I might still have my Pitfall patch!!! Have to check!!!
@@tmapes1989 Very nice! Pitfall Harry is still proud. 😆
What a truly delightful video today!!
Thanks so much yall
(And get well soon Jon)
@@tedadamgreen Thank you so much Ted!
Great Content as usual. I look forward to this every Saturday.👍🏻🇺🇲
@@ZMAN_420 We are very happy to help make the weekend a little more special. ❤️
I won a contest from a local TV station in the early 80s that resulted in me getting an army duffel bag full of the entire first wave of 3-3/4" G.I. Joe toys. That was one of the greatest days of my young life. I vividly remember dumping the bag out onto my bed (I may have had my Garfield blanket on there by that point) and going hog wild. Sigh. Those were the days!
Holy crap! What an epic score! You sir, were to be envied!
Wow! That's awesome. That's like winning the lottery for us back in the day.
@@RetroDaze It was amazing! It was like ten years of Christmases and birthdays hitting all at once. 🤣
@@anthonyxavier6300 My mind was absolutely blown. So much loot at all once! I've never hit the jackpot like that again but it was totally worth it! 🤣
I won a triva contest In high school for coupons to panda express
I always wanted to know who won the MEET A REAL GHOSTBUSTER contest from Ghostbusters Cereal. That was my dream. Especially since I wanted to meet Maruice LaMarche.
Some of those old contests are hard to track down info on.
Great video. Love all of the retro footage!
Thank you for watching! We enjoy making them.
11:10 The late great Phil Hartman
Such a great talent gone too soon.
Alright, who won a trip to Australia to browse the filming sites of Young Einstein? Nobody? Ok, fine.
I never entered any of these contests but this is an awesome video. I did a double take for the Activision one and I can't believe that's Phil Hartman.
Right!? He looks so young in it.
I figured it out toward the end.
Thank you for the video. Love it
Thank you so much for that Stella!
I’ve been lucky enough to win several contests 1 during childhood and several as an adult. The childhood one was through Teen Beat magazine, I won a Newsies movie soundtrack on cassette. It was also really exciting to see my name in print in the list of winners. As an adult, I won a TV in an office winter holiday party raffle, I won 2nd prize in a writing contest and got a metal vintage style lunch box full of delicious Gen X candy, and most recently, I won a Giant Deadpool Funko Pop from a podcast called 1980’s Now!
We may or may not have heard of this 1980s Now podcast you speak of. 😉
I wonder if it was a early version of data collecting.
@@unbroken1010 Quite possible. If for no other reason than to add you to the mailing list.
Thanks!
@@ZMAN_420 Thank YOU Z Man! We really appreciate you.
I unfortunately never enter any of these contests on sweepstakes, and I actually regret not having the balls to do so back then.
When I worked at a radio station, in the 1990s, I got to the contest line thingy...ahem..."YOU'RE CALLER NUMBER ONE, SORRY!" CLICK.."YOU'RE CALLER NUMBER TWO! SORRY!" CLICK! and so on and so on...until I got to the winner...."YOU'RE CALLER NUMBER 12, CONGRATS! hold on" (and transfer the call to the studio"
Even it was some dumb toaster, or umbrella, or 10 bucks at McD's people were so excited! "A free car warsh?! Well hell that's jus fine I reckon!", people acted like they won the lottery.
😃
😂 Most of the time it really doesn’t matter. People just love to win stuff!
I forgot to add it to the script, but I also won one of those radio call-in giveaways once. Just a Spin Doctors cassette tape, but was still exciting.
1969 i won a Kelloggs cerial contest, second prize i think, it was a Fisher Price Airport set with plane, crew and cars.
That’s awesome! Please say you still have that. What a great memory to have.
cool to see you back at it! I have one though it's a little bit more recent. back in 2010 SEGA had an amazing promotion for the wii release of Gunblade NY and LA machineguns, two cursor-based gun games sega released in the arcade! the grand prize was a legit GBNY cabinet, the big screen version, no less! luckily entering was as easy as leaving a comment on the contest post, so imagine my shock when I got the email saying I was the winner! haven't been to my parents' house in many years but I can only hope it's still there in the corner of their garage... maybe I'll make my way back up there someday.
PS. on fabulous photog, is THAT was that is on the little smurf logo? I've always wondered, haha.
@@darktetsuya That is an INCREDIBLE prize! Very nice!
And yes, you are correct about our mascot’s head. We call him “Photog Smurf”. 😆
I always loved Disney Adventures Magazines
@@roygarcia4200 Still have any from childhood?
@@RetroDaze The ones I can think of that I have are the ones from 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, & 2007
Quite a collection! Nice!
I only like Tony The Tiger 🐅 He's Grrrrrrreat👍👍
This is true!
I once won a small fake tattoo from cereals box. It took 6 weeks to arrive at my place. The disappointment once i got it from the mail was there....😅
Yeah it sounds a lot more cool than it is at that age. 😆
I won and achieved the patches for Activision Laser Blast, Dragster, and Kaboom.
That’s awesome! Do you still have those?
Ice hockey guy looked like a young Bryan Cranston.
Actually that was a young Phil Hartman!
I tried the Nick Takes over Your School. (Didn't get squat)! Still enjoyed the Nintendo Power Mega Man Robot Master Contest. My sister tried for that she had some insane art talent.
@@Rob-rx3jw We take she also did not win?
those Nick sweepstakes: 1st place: Cringy. 2nd place: cool toy that's probably still worth something today. 3d place: a flying toy razorblade that would lacerate your fingers.
Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. LOL
Oh man!! I remember the Activision patches! I was able to get a qualifying score on H.E.R.O. I waited and waited for the patch. A patch finally came with a letter apologizing that they did not have any H.E.R.O. patches left and they sent me something else. I don't even remember what game the patch I got was from. I kept it for a long time but I think it is sadly lost to time. I still like H.E.R.O. though!!
@@TeamRiptide17 Aww, that’s too bad. Would be cool if you still had that!
I as an adult have to wait paitently and anticipate for orders of games I purchase from Amazon or eBay
True! There are still few things out there that require some patience and anticipation.
The first thing we need to remember is that you never apply for a contest your staff writer is applying for.
@@scotth4713 😂 😂 This is definitely sage advice.
I won wrestling tickets I believe off Nickelodeon in the early 90s my name was aired and my mom had a certain amount of time to call and pick up the tickets this was in the early 99s in New York
@@robertblake3360 What an awesome prize! Were the seats any good?
Sounds like Activision patches and achieving the goal to get them is like what we do now today with trophy achievements on todays consoles PS4/PS5 and Xbox achievements
You're right! Though the physical nature of the Activision patches make the others seem lame by comparison.
What happened with people attention? It was hijacked.
Yeah, back in the day we would enter in to a contest, and it could have taken a month to find out the results.
For example: one candy shop has a gumball counting competition. 30 days from today, they will release the number and find the winner.
Candy store down the street notices the competition and decides "i'll go with 25 days instead of 30 to ensure customers come here first".
Rinse, repeat. Eventually, these companies brought the timw frame down soo much, they are now fighting for our 1 minute attention spans.
Internet
Our instant gratification society is something we wish was a bit different. Sometimes waiting, learning patience... it comes in handy.
Had wonned a pack of Sea Monkies when i turned 4 in '84🤟🤟🤟🤟🗽🗽🗽🗽🌃🌃🌃🌃🌉🌉🌉🌉💯💯💯💯😼
@@bekaska6615 Ha! Nice. How’d they turn out?