''Green Ghost'' is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

for up to 4 players, first published in 1965 by

Transogram Transogram was an American producer of toys, games and other leisure products from the early 20th century to 1971. It is best known for such long-produced games as Tiddledy Winks and Game of India, as well as such baby-boomer favorites as Green ...

. Green Ghost is the first board game designed to be played in the dark.

History

Transogram mass-produced the game in 1965, then sold its toy interests to

Marx Toys Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are Rock' ...

in 1970. In Australia, the game was distributed by the

Ideal Toy Company Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Bets ...

. In 1997 Marx Toys produced a 30th Anniversary edition of the game (MCMXCVII, Item #3905). This box has "Find Kelly the Ghost... if you DARE" printed on it. Green Ghost remains collectible, but with so many different editions it is difficult for collectors to know if they have a complete set.

Features and gameplay

Original

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s for the game encouraged players to play it in the dark. The 1965 box has printed on it "THE EXCITING GAME OF MYSTERY THAT GLOWS IN THE DARK." The central character in the game was modeled on

The Blob ''The Blob'' is a 1958 American science fiction horror film directed by Irvin Yeaworth, and written by Kay Linaker and Theodore Simonson. It stars Steve McQueen (in his first feature film leading role) and Aneta Corsaut and co-stars Earl Rowe ...

and the design was aimed at the campy horror genre of shows like

The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over a ...

. The board is of the 3D type in that it features standing scenery and is designed to appear as a spooky town. The

luminous Luminous may refer to: * Luminous flame, a flame emitting visible light Music * Luminous (group), a South Korean boy band * ''Luminous'' (EP), an EP by Cesium 137 * ''Luminous'' (John Hicks and Elise Wood album), 1985–88 * Luminous (The Hor ...

plastic board is elevated on six stilts and underneath are three boxes, covered by locked

trapdoor A trapdoor is a sliding or hinged door in a floor or ceiling. It is traditionally small in size. It was invented to facilitate the hoisting of grain up through mills, however, its list of uses has grown over time. The trapdoor has played a pivot ...

s. The pits contain either plastic bones, "bat" feathers or rubber snakes, plus a number of hidden "ghost kids" (one of which is "Kelly", the Green Ghost's child).Fan revie
"Lights Out"
/ref> Spinning the large Green Ghost gives you the number of spaces you can move your pawn: vulture, rat, cat, or bat. Players use trapdoor keys to collect ghost kids and increase their chances of winning. When all twelve ghost kids have been retrieved from the traps, they are placed in little holes on the Green Ghost spinner (players need to remember which ghost kids are found). Then the large Green Ghost is spun one more time, pointing to the little ghost it identifies as Kelly. Whoever found the one pointed to wins the game.

References

* * {{cite news, title=

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

, Volume 42, Part 6

External links

Green Ghost
at

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.
Home video of game board
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

. Board games introduced in 1965 Children's board games Horror board games