Good topic. Love nostalgia threads. I feel a little guilty thinking about anything frivolous in the current climate, but at the same time some diversion helps a lot to maintain sanity.
Born in ‘67 and only 5+ when the 1st series came out, I can only remember becoming familiar with some of the titles. Not sure what the context was, but I’m sure I wasn’t yet buying them. By the second series, I remember it was closer to summer and ice cream trucks passing through our block had them. I was the youngest of four brothers and younger than the other kids on the block, and still had no real purchasing ability of my own. I would hound the other kids to give up a double, then try to trade with someone else for a title I really wanted. At that age, having even one desirable Wacky was a big deal for me. I specifically remember getting an 8-Lives and badly wanting a Boo-Hoo. I tormented one of the older kids to make the trade even though he already had an 8-Lives and didn’t have an extra Boo-Hoo. I guess it got to the point that he just wanted me off his back. The funny part is that looking at them now, 8-Lives is visually a lot better than Boo-Hoo, but I loved sugary drinks like Yoo-Hoo and that seemed to matter a lot more to me at the time. Hawaiian Punks was a big one for me from Series 3, for similar reasons.
Not sure about 3rd Series, like the 1st I remember seeing some of the titles, but probably less than half of them. The first time I remember buying with my own money was Series 4 and 5. By the time Series 5 was out I know I also had the freedom to ride my bike to a local candy store and buy them there. I had built up a nice stack of 4 and 5, and remember stashing them in the bottom of a closet garment bag because I usually had the bad habit of leaving accumulated stuff lying around the house, where they’d end up disappearing if I didn’t put them out of sight. I guess at that age you’re constantly distracted by the latest thing and lack the organizational skill and awareness to take care of your things. So this was an attempt to change that. But I think I was actually hiding them, fearing they’d get thrown out if they were seen or found no matter where I put them. In any case, that stack eventually disappeared too, and I remember rummaging through closets in the house every so often for years to come, in hopes that i’d just checked the wrong bag, wrong closet, maybe they fell out and rolled to the darkest corner of the closet, etc. It was quite some time before I finally gave up hope completely.
Oh, and by the way, there was probably at least two Choke Wagons in that lost stack. Not sure about Bum Chex, but I remember having Choke for sure. Of course had no idea at the time there was anything special about it.