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.

And finally, The Electric Company: The Blob!

From The Electric Company, episode #437 (originally broadcast December 24, 1974). Morgan Freeman returns once again as a Mad Scientist, trying to make a living blob out of "...protoplasm, ectoplasm, cytoplasm, and carrot juice!"

The so-called "Short Circus" singers follow-up with a song, "Here Comes the Blob" (an original song, not to be confused with the theme song from the 1958 film, "The Blob", performed by The Five Blobs, and written by Burt Bacharach.)