Friday, October 31, 2014

Fun and Games


Milton Bradley's Which Witch? (1970) was my favorite game when I was a kid.  It was destroyed and thrown away years ago.  I found this one at a garage sale a while back for 75 cents.





The object of the game is to navigate through the 4 rooms of a haunted castle.  The "Broom Room", "Witchin Kitchen", the "Spell Cell" and the "Bats Ballroom".  Each room is booby trapped.

Each player roles the dice and draws a card.  After moving the designated spaces, the card is acted upon.  The "Ghoulish Gerty" card instructs you to "Drop it down the chimney", it being the "whammy" ball which is a steel ball bearing.



If the ball comes out the chute in the "Broom Room" and you're standing on one of the "Danger" spots, you're swept back to the blue starting position.



In the "Witchin Kitchen", the ball will land on the toggling floor boards and send you flying back to the blue starting position for that room.  The toggling floor continues to the next room, the "Spell Cell".





I just realized I had the booby trap for this room installed backwards.  The bucket in the next picture should be on this side so a ball landing in this room goes in the bucket and dumps on you.

On this side, the wall panel will swat you.  There's also a chute at the top of the steps which will send the ball, and any players on the stairs, cascading down to the landing.

Ghoulish Gerty drops it down the chimney

Wanda the Wicked casts a spell

The "Wanda the Wicked" card turns your character into its color-coordinated mouse.  You cannot move until you draw a "Glenda the Good" card on your turn.



The first player to reach the top of the stairs wins.


A similar game by Milton Bradley which I found at another yard sale is "Superstition" (1977).  I'd never seen this game until then.


Much like Which Witch? (even using the same playing pieces), the player moves through a cemetery and can be snared by one of four booby traps based on various superstitions.

The object of the game is to proceed to the Wizard's Tomb, draw a "whammy" curse and a "charm" token and return to your starting position.



Along the way, as you encounter the supersitions, you have to pull one of two pegs at the end of the trap.  One is a false short pin, the other is connected to a rubber band underneath which releases the superstition and sends you back to your starting position.

Breaking a mirror

I guess the superstition associated with this is you'll get warts?

Walking under a ladder.


Stepping on a grave

Along the way, opponents can place a whammy in front of your path blocking you, unless you have the charm card to dispel it.






The first player to reach the Wizard's Tomb and return home wins.  More on Which Witch? and Superstition at Geek Vintage.


5 comments:

  1. Ha! Ha! Used to play which witch as a kid with the neighbors.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not sure if I ever played these, but they look like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love Superstition. The game board is gorgeous. I found a copy at a yard sale when I was around 10 or so.

    It's not quite the same, but there is a modern version of Which Witch? called Ghost Castle that I think is/was only sold at WalMart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This a blast from the past - I played Which Witch with my two youngest sisters here in Australia in the mid-1970's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I played with my 2 older sisters. These days, I play with my kids. It's their favorite board game.

      Delete