Sunday, April 19, 2009

Spooky Board Games

From way up on a dusty old shelf in the Haunted Closet, here's a random sampling of spooky board game box art.

The Addams Family Card Game (1965, Milton Bradley)


Alfred Hitchcock's WHY (1961, Milton Bradley)


Alfred Hitchcock's WHY (1967, Milton Bradley)


Barnabas Collins Dark Shadows (1969, Milton Bradley)


Bats In Your Belfry! (1964, Mattel)


Bewitch! (1964, Selchow & Right)


Big Foot (1977, Milton Bradley)
The "giant snow monster"?

Boris Karloff's Monster Game (1965, Game Gems)


Casper The Friendly Ghost (1974, Schaper)
I never cared for Casper. There's such a thing as being too friendly. But the game looks cool!

Creature Castle (1979, Whitman)


Dracula Mystery Game (1963, Hasbro)


Frankenstein Mystery Game (1963, Hasbro)


The Funky Phantom (1971, Milton Bradley)


Ghosts! (1985, Milton Bradley)
Any similarity to the film Ghostbusters is for Milton Bradley's lawyers to worry about.

Godzilla (1978, Mattel)


Green Ghost (1965, Transogram)


Haunted House (1962, Ideal)


WDW Haunted Mansion (70s, Lakeside)
I used to have this game when I was a kid and kept it in perfect condition for many, many years, before finally giving my parents consent to donate it to Goodwill, for a reason that could only make sense to a child: I didn't think it was that much fun to actually play... IDIOT!

Hexed! (1960, Tryne Games)


Jaws (1975, Ideal)
In this game, you used a hook to take turns removing plastic sea-junk from the shark's mouth until it snapped shut. On the one hand, I loved this game. On the other, there was a concern that it might come into my bed at night and eat me from the feet up.

Journey To The Unknown (1968, Remco)


Ka-Bala (1967, Transogram)


Kreskin's ESP (1966, Milton Bradley)


Milton the Monster (1966, Milton Bradley)


Mind Over Matter (1967, Ideal)


Monster Old Maid (1964, Milton Bradley)


The Monster Squad (1977, Milton Bradley)
Based on the Saturday morning live-action kids show that is scheduled to hit DVD this summer.

Mostly Ghostly (1975, Cadaco)
I had this one. It was basically Cootie Bugs but with glow-in-the-dark skeletons.

The Munsters Card game (1964, Milton Bradley)


Mystery Mansion (1984, Milton Bradley)
You built the mansion one room at a time as the players explored, looking for hidden chests.

Mystic Skull (1964, Ideal)


Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1973, Milton Bradley)


Seance (1972, Milton Bradley)


Spider and the Fly (1962, Whitman)
He-e-elp me-e-e-e!

Sunken Treasure (1976, Milton Bradley)
Like Operation, except with sunken treasure and sharks. Awesome!

Superstition (1977, Milton Bradley)


The Twilight Zone (1964, Ideal)


Various Monster Games (70s, Lakeside)


Voice of the Mummy (1971, Milton Bradley)


Voodoo Doll (1967, Schaper)


Which Witch? (Milton Bradley)
Isn't that what we're all asking in our own lives?

Yipes! (1976, Ideal)


The above images came from the excellent Board Games and More Board Games (both by Desi Scarpone for Schiffer Books). Highly recommended.

And if you enjoy vintage board game graphics, you might get a kick out of the CD sleeve art from instrumental surf-band The Bomboras' 1998 album, Head Shrinkin' Fun. Not only is the cover a send-up of board game advertising graphics, but each track is represented by a different board game box on the interior sleeve.

12 comments:

Enchanted Productions by Joyce Stahl said...

WOW! What a great trip down Spooky Memory Lane! Thanks for posting these Bill!

Enchanted Blessings,
Joycee

Dave said...

Wow. I never knew there were so many great Monster Board Games. I just found one last year on ebay called "Monster Madness".

See It Here.

Dave

Brother Bill said...

Dave:
Is it THE Dave from Mostly Ghostly? I LOVE your blog and am glad to see your actively posting again. Thanks for paying a visit!

-Brother Bill

Herman said...

What a blast from the past! I had several of these games and wanted several more. Two that I owned and had forgotten about were, "Creature Castle" and "Mostly Ghostly".

Dave said...

Yes it is me Brother Bill. I had trouble with an Internet Troll last Summer, and I had to move my sharing to a private Yuku Forum located here:

MOSTLY GHOSTLY MUSIC SHARING FORUM.

I just sold my "I Vant To Bite Your Finger" Game. I still have "Monster Madness" for sale though if anyone's interested. I had bought them from my Grandkids, but our Daughter told them not to bother that they wouldn't play board games. Kids today.

Love your blog here.

Dave

Kirk D. said...

Great job assembling all these! I've never seen them all in one place before and some I've never seen period. So pleasing to my eyes.

Dave said...

I checked ebay, and many of these are avialble there for quite reasonable prices.

Brother Bill said...

Kirk D.: Glad you enjoyed them. Needless to say I'm a big fan of the Secret Fun Spot.
Thanks for visiting!

Anonymous said...

What a fun listing of games! Maybe someone here can help me find a game I used to play at my Grandmother's house. I've always thought it was a Boris Karloff game, but can't find it anywhere. It was probably made in the l940's and I really can't remember much about it except that it was spooky-fun to play! I think there was a graveyard involved and monsters (not the one from 1965)...probably a mummy. Sorry I don't have much more to go on, but I'd REALLY love to find this game!

fishfly said...

I just finished playing Creature Castle game w/my 7 yr. old. It's a little worn but still playable. Was one of my favorite games when I was a kid. I enjoyed the list of games and I recognized 2 games that I had as a child but had completely forgotten about!!

Anonymous said...

Anyone remember a Glow in the dark skeleton game (not Mostly Ghostly) basically it was plastic Glow in the dark skeletons and you could place them in different positions on a black cardboard game board. I can't remember the name of it.

Joan Jordan said...

This is nice! I have always been intrigued by spells and other witchcraft related, and then I found this collectible Lagim card game. It is all about defending your baryo against mythical creatures and enchanting beings. Check out here: https://lagimcardgame.com/