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The VHS board game where the TV was the enemy. A ghoulish host called the Gatekeeper glared out of your screen, barking orders and taunts, while a 60-minute tape counted down and you scrambled to win before he did. You played in the dark, against your own television.
The blue-and-yellow torn-ticket empire where Friday nights meant wandering the new-release wall, hoping the big movie wasn't rented out, and dreading the late fees. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster dominated home entertainment with 9,094 stores worldwide—until Netflix and streaming dismantled the whole business model.
The big furry alien who ate clocks — the mascot of a language course your parents saw advertised on TV. Muzzy came as a set of VHS tapes (and cassettes and workbooks) that promised to teach kids French, Spanish, German, or another language the way they'd learned their first one: by watching a cartoon. Whether it worked or not, that green clock-munching creature is unforgettable.