Stratosphere as stated on the box "A journey through space with a catapult" has players launch 2 wooden balls with a small catapult towards an angled stand with 3 holes. The middle hole has a cup that gives the player extra shots. Either side of this are "Through Space" holes. If a player catapults his ball through these holes, it then rolls onto a scoring board with scoring hole planets at the bottom of the game. Player with the highest score is the winner. Whitman Publishing produced two box art versions. One version had a spherical rocket with a large porthole, while the other box art had an elongated egg shape rocket with 3 portholes Parker also produced a game called Stratosphere earlier in 1932 inspired by the record-setting high altitude balloon ascent into the stratosphere by Auguste Piccard and Charles Knipfer on May 27, 1931. The box cover depicts a very tall, billowy balloon such as used in the actual ascent with the word STRATOSPHERE displayed across it in a very typical for the 1930's typeface. Around the same time a German board game celebrating the amazing feat of Piccard and Knipfer was produced by Klee called Stratospharenflug and found elsewhere on BGG

We may earn a small commission when you buy through these links.