As Double Dare became an overnight sensation, various companies got on the bandwagon to reproduce DD, hoping to cash in on the show's success. Several items were made, including board games, books, video games, and home videos. (Links below take you to pictures.)

For more information about game show home games, please visit Matt Ottinger's extremely extensive and thorough website, The Game Show Home Game Home Page!

DOUBLE DARE & WET 'N' WILD DOUBLE DARE by Pressman

Courtesy of Matt Ottinger.

These board games were yearned for by most fans of the show during the late 80's. Unsurprisingly, within a few weeks' time, most toy stores sold out. The big yellow box (Wet 'n' Wild's box was blue) contained 50 question cards with a round of 10 questions on each side. At the bottom of the 2nd round, 3 numbers were given, which corresponded to the physical challenge cards. There were 100 of these, on 50 double-sided cards (stunt card #1, stunt card #2). Three of these constituted one obstacle course. All stunts were timed with a mechanical timer, with 10 second increments called "Do-Its." (The "Do-It" timer is featured prominently on the box, in the lower right corner.) Instead of feet, measurements were in "squeezits," which conveniently was one of the many props (other props included 3 discs, 3 rings, a cup, 3 balls, etc.). Speaking of props, the only component that caused any problems was the helmet, as it broke or wouldn't fit for a lot of people. The 2nd version of the board game, Wet 'N' Wild DD, had a few differences from the original. For starters, the nice mechanical clock was replaced with a cheaper and dull mini hourglass timer, which was nearly impossible to set at 20, 30 or 60 seconds (no longer "Do-Its"). The featured prop in this game was the "Hydrant Pump," a water shooter which eventually broke if used frequently. Overall, the original board game was better because of the timer and the simplistic and ingenious stunts (the 2nd version ran out of ideas, being forced most of the time to involve water).

GREEN SLIME SHAMPOO licensed by Nickelodeon
"Gets you clean, won't turn you green!
Now you can get slimed in your own shower."
Made popular by the Canadian-based Nick series "You Can't Do That on Television", this infamous product was a parting gift for most of the Philadelphia-era of DD. Once Harvey decided to clean Marc's hair with this shampoo due to it looking "a little bit soiled." This product is featured in the Barber of Seville stunt.

THE DOUBLE DARE GAME BOOK by Parachute Press
Not many game shows are translated into books, but DD managed to have 2 books published albeit they're nearly the same. Written by Daniella Burr, the first one from 1988 depicts a player running the Hamster Wheel obstacle on the cover. Most all the pictures inside the book are posed, rather than taken directly from an actual show. The slim 76 page book is more of a play along, not dwelling too long on facts from the show. There are about 20 pages of questions and 30 pages of physical challenges you can set up at home. Oddly, around 10 pages are devoted to recipes, with the "treats" having names like "Funky Fondue," "Green Slime Split," and "Marshmallow Mess Ice Cream Soda." The rest of the book deals with how to "have a Double Dare party," complete with a couple home made obstacles. Scattered throughout the book are "DD Fast Facts." The 2nd version of the book, published by the same company, was retitled "The All-New DD Game Book" and was filled with even more facts, stunts, and yes, even more of those needless recipes that should be entered in the "Million Dollar Pillsbury Bake-Off." And just for your information, the first edition of the book sold for $2.95.

DOUBLE DARE by Gametek
Nintendo was at its peak in popularity during the late 80's as they held a near monopoly over the competitors. Gametek also held a monopoly, that of game show video games. In addition to Double Dare, Gametek also produced the WoF and J! line of games, Hollywood Squares, Family Feud, and many others. Gametek also manufactured DOS-based games for the PC. So, DD was made for both the PC and the NES. The game was very well designed, and what might've been very awkward controls for the physical challenges turned out nicely. Nearly all of the stunts used a couple bars in the corner of the screen to control the strength or the height of whatever was being accomplished (i.e., putting a ball, catapulting a kangaroo). All the questions used a multiple choice format, which didn't hamper gameplay one bit. In the NES version, Marc is drawn somewhat crudely; this was solved in the PC version by not including a shot of Marc or the main podium at all. The obstacle course was well done also, the only complaint being that there really wasn't a lot of obstacles for the game to choose from. Overall, people have said that the obstacle course was too hard in the NES version yet too easy in the PC version. I find it very easy, the only real obstacle is to jump up and capture the flag in the right spot. This excellent game would've been perfect if it weren't for two mistakes. They should've of course used red and blue teams (the PC game had red and green teams) and they should've revealed the correct answer after a team wanted a physical challenge. These 2 unimportant nit-picking mistakes however don't mar the game at all from being one of the best games produced by Gametek.

DOUBLE DARE HANDHELD GAMES by Remco
Many thanks to Matt Ottinger for the following review of a rare DD item I'm sure most people have forgotten about!
"In 1988, Remco released a series (I think there were three) of small handheld games. Each were plastic, and approximately five inches square. They had a very tiny LCD game screen in the middle, and a few buttons below it to play the game. Each game was different, and I'm told that each game was in a different color. The only one I actually have is red, and it's called "Pie In the Pants"."

DOUBLE DARE: THE INSIDE SLOP, THE MESSIEST MOMENTS, THE SUPER SLOPPIEST MOMENTS by Kids Klassics and Sony Wonder

Courtesy of Joey Wehmann.

These 3 direct-to-video releases weren't very successful, but they still contain a ton of the greatest DD clips throughout the years. In fact, most of the Snappy's you see scattered on these pages came from these specials. "The Inside Slop" tape is perhaps the best out of the three as it contains never before seen clips of the DD pilot and Marc's audition tape. But maybe the most interesting thing about "The Inside Slop" is its own title. Even though Marc and Harvey are always calling the video by its more familiar name, the main title and the box art use the title "Inside Scoop" for reasons unknown. Another misnomer on the box states that the video gives inside secrets to some obstacles. I personally didn't find "turning the crank in the right direction" (for The Wringer) or "don't get your feet in the chocolate" (for The Sundae Slide) very secretive. Disregarding this idea, the video really does show more variety of clips than the other 2 videos do combined. Also included are clips of the infamous "Nightmare" disaster and the funniest obstacle course ever described. "The Messiest Moments" is much more simpler, as it contains mainly just clips of physical challenges and obstacle courses with not much overlap. The physical challenges, which take up 3/4 of the video, are divided into separate categories, like Eggs, Water, Balloons, and Whipped Cream. Before each section Harvey and Marc perform a little comedy routine introducing what is to come. The finale of the video tries to top off the whole show by drenching Marc needlessly in some kind of yellow liquid which we all know must've been just dreadful for him. "The Super Sloppiest Moments," distributed by Sony Wonder in 1995, has special significance as being the final time some form of DD was produced by Nickelodeon. By this time most of the set was disassembled...what traces we see left of it in the video is limited to the tiled floor and the podiums. The video itself was pretty sloppy, especially when compared to the slick ones made in the 80's. Even the clips had a lot of cuts -- very rarely did any clip contain the full physical challenge or obstacle course, something the Kid Klassics tapes wisely avoided. But probably the most unkind cut at all (if there indeed was) was in the length of the video. The box cover mentions a length of "55 minutes." How untrue. The actual length turned out to be under half an hour.

HOW TO THROW A DOUBLE DARE PARTY by Elektra Video
Another direct-to-video special but unlike the above three in content. A makeshift living room was built on the DD stage so Marc and Harvey along with several kids could show how to play physical challenges in your home. Most of the cleanest stunts were used for obvious reasons. After each demonstration a screen popped up with all of the necessary materials. In addition, "Chef" Harvey had several segments where he concocted some gross recipes (as filler space for an otherwise brief video). The best part of the special comes at the end as a clean cut of the 60-second obstacle course is included along with an extended version of the "drumming" interlude.

FAMILY DOUBLE DARE LIVE TOUR ACCESSORIES

Courtesy of Joey Wehmann.