25,26 -- 22,12,16,26,22,12 -- 9,26,7,5,11,12,3,2

Today we're going to join four of our intrepid Electric Company cast members as they match wits with the diabolical Mad Scientist, who has devised a devious code to spread his web of evil throughout the world! That's what it says on the box, kiddies..."web of evil" We're definitely a long, long way from Sesame Street... there were no webs of evil being spun over there!

Along with a colorful gameboard, the "Fargo North, Decoder Secret Word Game" also includes four handy dandy decoders...

...four Decoder Scorers...

...a pile of coded word cards and our players, from left to right: Easy Reader, Paul the Gorilla, Jennifer of the Jungle, and Julia Grownup. Having Jennifer & Julia together in the same game means that actress Judy Graubart probably got twice the royalties! Morgan Freeman hated her for that.

First step, according to the directions on the inside of the boxtop, is to place all four Secret Decoders on the table with their Decoder switches in the 'off' position. Failure to do this could result in a Decoder going off prematurely during gameplay and fatally wounding a player.

Next we select one game card at random and place it in the center of the game board. That's ours up above, being propped up by Jennifer of the Jungle who was the only character short enough that her head didn't peek out over the top of the card. Trivia!

Let's get our contestants to the starting line and get this game under way! Jennifer is up first...

...and she rolls a '5!' Way to go Jennifer! Please follow the arrows and advance five spaces!

Next up is Paul who rolls a measly '2.' Monkeys suck. Take your two sad little spaces Paul, we don't have all day.

I'm so bored. Let's cut to the highlight reel...

Oh, boy! Easy Reader has landed on a light bulb! That means that he gets to decode one letter of one of the words on our game card! Easy is currently in the 'Red Zone' so he'll be decoding one letter of the red word with the help of...

...the red Decoder! Cast your eyes back up to our game card and you'll see that the first letter of the red word corresponds with the number '11.' With the switch still in the 'off' position, rotate the Decoder's dial until the number eleven is visible in the lower window. Then switch that switch to 'on'...

...and we can clearly see that the number eleven represents the letter... 'u?' Or possibly 'j' Or it could be an 's?' Decoders are precision instruments! Decoders are precision instruments?

The game pieces were too small to prop up a Decoder, so it's being held up by a King's Island souvenir shot glass. Trivia!

Meanwhile, Julia Grownup has landed on a shortcut space which means she can cut across the game board to...

...the library, where she... oh my god! Mrs. Peacock!

Looks like Julia has stumbled unto yet another murder! She's gonna be busy locking horns with her on again/off again boyfriend Sgt. Pete Brisco until this mystery is solved... I guess we're down to three contestants. Speaking of whom... let's see what they're up to-

Oops, looks like Easy is putting the moves on Jennifer. Doesn't he know about Paul's violent jealous streak?

Oh, Paul!

That does it! Jennifer has had all she can stand of Paul's possessiveness... she's out of here!

Paul's the winner!

"The Fargo North, Decoder Secret Word Game" gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up from this reviewer! Thrift it today! And remember, always be the monkey!