A board game based on the never released Smile album by the Beach Boys, the Smile board game is one of the rarest finds in rock memorabilia. A prototype was made, but since the album itself was cancelled, the board game never made it out the starting gates.
By the mid-sixties, the board game industry was suffering some declining sales due to the popularity of rock and roll. In an effort to boost sales and tap a new age-group market, the Milton Bradley company developed the "Smile" game in the fall of 1966. It was to be the first tie-in between the toy industry and the 'serious' rock and roll crowd. Sure, Beatlemania had spawned many cheap cash-ins, but what about a game that mixed rock and roll with the hip 'heads'? The market group was teenagers and college students.
Little is known of how the game was played or even its rules. Supposedly, it was heavily based on the themes within Smile and the artwork of the album and its accompanying book. Plus, it was an interactive game in that you had to have the album to play along. Supposedly, Brian Wilson himself received one of the protoypes to try out at his Bel Air home in the fall of 1966.
The only clue to the games existence is an advertising slick prepared in 1966.
