Vintage Halloween Games

Halloween fortune teller game with Witch and Pick A Pumpkin verse

Vintage Halloween Games
Once popular with partygoers and now popular with collectors, Halloween party games and score pads are an important segment of the vintage Halloween collectibles market.

Vintage Halloween Tally Cards
In the early part of the century, Halloween was celebrated at parties, typically by adults.  They would gather at each others’ homes and play social games like Bridge and Mahjong.  Consequently, there is a wide variety of collectibles in the form of tally pads.  These pads were used for keeping score and were often elaborately decorated including cut-outs in complex shapes. While many cards were flat or folded, some were much more complicated.  Mechanical tally cards were like modern day pop-ups complete with scene changes.  Denison made a popular card in 1929-30 that portrayed a witch’s head in a fiery cauldron.  When the tab was pulled, the witch disappeared into the brew.   Beistle made a three dimensional set with the characters sporting honeycombed crepe paper tutus. Tally cards were mostly made by American manufacturers.

Halloween Fortune Telling Games
Since Halloween in America has always been a holiday whose purpose is pure fun, Halloween games played a major part in any party. There were games of skill, chance, stunts and fortunes. The earliest games were made to be played by adults, which is why the Mystery Witch Answer Game asks questions such as “Will I own a home?” and “Will I become bald?”  The fortune wheel featured flaps that folded out and told fortunes.  The Crystal Fortunes game by Beistle (1942) featured a numbered spinner.  The player’s fortune was read from a poster with a dozen fortunes that corresponded to that number. Also by Beistle, the Halloween Stunt Quiz (1940s) asked questions that today could culminate in lawsuits like “Do I like old people?” and “Am I too fat?”

Goblo Pumpkin Face Halloween Jack-O-Lantern bag toss game

Vintage Halloween Stunt Games
Stunt games required that the participants complete such tasks as spinning blindfolded, pushing an apple across the floor using only the nose, whistling Yankee Doodle while wearing a sauce pan, or yodeling.  The names of the games were as clever as the challenges.  One could play Zingo Halloween Fortune & Stunt, I’m a Dumbskull Stunt Game, Owl Tell Your Fortune and Spin-O-Rama.

Vintage Halloween Skill Games
Games of skill were also popular.  Partygoers could toss rings or bags in the shape of donuts at witches, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the tails of growling black cats.  The Hitchy Witch game (Beistle 1940’s) had a ring on a string that players could hook on the witch’s nose, chin or hat for a variety of scores.  Other skills included tongue twisters, drawing and target shooting.  As with other Halloween ephemera, the games were meant to be used and discarded.  Often the pieces were printed on a single sheet and had to be punched out before use, so finding a complete game is as easy as pushing an apple with your nose.

-by p4A Contributing Editor Susan Cramer

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