February 27, 2007

RE: Fun Village

Dear R.T.,

I had a recollection of a toy that I received from Burger Chef when I was a kid (probably around the late 70's era.)  I discovered your site on the net, and it seems to be the expert on the subject, so I thought I would ask you.  The piece as I recall was a large poster board size card- with the layout of a neighborhood on it.   The art work was very nice,  not the cheap cartoon work of many a give-aways. I assume that a person would collect different properties and install them on this board?, or somehow make additions to the neighborhood.  The years have fuzzed my perception-- do you know of anything like this?
Thanks,
Todd Martin


Dear R.T.,

I had the Fun Village Play Land.  You collected the houses off of the Fun Burger box and there was a mat you purchased with the punch out cars that were about the size of Hot Wheels.  The last house in the village was the Burger Chef.  I think this was around 1973-1974.  I remember I gave the whole village to a younger kid after I did not play with it for a while and I certainly regret it because I don’t even have any pictures of it.  Hopefully someone else who visits this site will remember it also.

Margaret Duhon


Dear Todd & Margaret,

Burger Chef distributed the Fun Village in 1975.  The mat itself included an instruction sheet and punch out vehicles, people, trees, etc.  There were 24 buildings to collect and place on it. I don't have them pictured on my site because I don't have any in my collection.  They're very rare and go for a substantial chunk of change when I have seen them.  There's a slightly unfocussed, black and white picture of the complete set in Tomart's Price Guide to Kid's Meal Collectibles (Non-McDonald's) .

--R.T.

January 02, 2007

The FunBurger

"The Hamburger with a Surprise of a Prize!"

This is the Funmeal that started them all... and not just at Burger Chef either.  This little box sparked a revolution industry-wide.  Sold in 1972, the FunBurger predates even the McDonald's Happy Meal.  Each would come with a small toy wrapped in a white plastic package.

Funboxside Side

Funboxtop  Top

"The Teddy Bear's Holiday" Funmeal

Copyright 1979

This Funmeal includes a set of stickers to place in the fold-out Teddy Bear House:

Xmasbear_frontXmasbearback Front & Back

Xmasbear_bottom Bottom

Xmasbear_house Fold-out scene

Xmasbear_kitchen Xmasbear_tree Kitchen & Livingroom Stickers

Xmasbearbed Bedroom Stickers

Xmas_bear_own Stickers to decorate your own gifts

"Happy Holidays!" Funmeal

Copyright 1979

This Funmeal includes all the makings for a Christmas livingroom scene:

Tree_front Tree_bottom Front & Bottom

Tree_whole Unfolded tree

The insert sheet contains the following extras:

Tree_dec Tree decorations

Tree_fire Fireplace

Tree_train Train

"Turkey Trot" Insert Sheet

Copyright 1979

This is an insert sheet that came witht the Turkey Trot Funmeal.  I don't have the box, but it would have contained a die and turkey-shaped pieces for the game.  This sheet was included in the box and features a game board and punch-out Indian head band.  The box would have also included a feather for the head band.

Thanks_game Game Board

Thanks_band Head Band

"Pilgrim Special" Funmeal

Copyright 1979

This Funmeal includes a punch-out model of the Mayflower.  Originally, it also included a seperate sheet from which to punch out sails and pilgrims to go along with it, but this sheet is missing from mine:

Thanks_front Thanks_back  Front & Back

Thanks_bottom Bottom

"Kid Racer" Funmeal

Copyright 1982

The box contains a spoiler to punch out and attach to the plastic car.  Kid Racer Funmeals would also come with decals, but this one is missing them.

Racer_top Racer_bottom Top & Bottom

Racer_model_front Racer_model_side Plastic Car

"Surfchaser" Funmeal

This Funmeal turns into a boat!  The cabin and deck pop out of the box.  These pieces attach to a plastic keel.  In order for it to float and balance properly, the instructions say to place about 15 pennies in the bottom for ballast.

Boat_bottom Boat_top Top & Bottom

Boat_sail Sail

Boat_bot_side Boat_bot_top Keel

"Funmobile" Series

Copyright 1979

No. 4

The Frontier: Oregon Trailer

Trail_front Front

Trail_back Back

Trail_bottom Bottom

April 05, 2006

TimeTraveler Funmeal Puzzles

Set of four TimeTraveler Funmeal puzzles.  Each is Copyright 1980 Burger Chef Systems, Inc. and measures 9"x6.5".

Dragon_puzzle_1 Dragon Wagon

Sub Bubbles The Sub

Wagon_puzzle Prairie Schooner

Space_puzzle Space Chaser

The back side of each is identical and looks like this:

Sub_back