Party Past Midnight!!!

 Ok, I'll admit that I'm at an age where this happens fairly rarely (except if I'm playing in a band that night) and I prefer to be in bed an hour or more before then. Still, that's the name of this week's spoooooooky game, "Midnight Party," by Ravensburger! Ravensburger is actually a German company, which has been producing toys and games since the 19th century. In the 80s and 90s, a lot of German games were marketed in the U.S., and this is one of them.

This game, released in 1989, was actually my daughter's and we played it fairly regularly. Want to get the gist? Have a look at the back of the box!

Yes, that ghostly Hugo just loves to party! And to chase people. One can only assume that he's trying to sound and act scary while doing it, but he looks fairly cute, so the fright factor is pretty low. Here is the board set up to start the game...

And here's Hugo! The paint on his eyes, mouth and hands looks like it glows in the dark, and it does, but since nothing else in the game glows, it really doesn't make any difference. Still, it's fun to check out every now and then...

"How do you play?," I hear you all asking. Well, here you go! These are the official instructions!

Here is the setup. Hugo is so "not scary" the Lords of the castle (whose title sounds a little creepy to me) throw him a party every year! The highlight? A game a hide and seek, which is also kind of like musical chairs!

These pages describe the object of the game and how to set it up. This game is weird in that you're trying to get the fewest penalty points, so, in effect, lowest score wins!

The next pages describe how to move, special room rules, and scoring. It's sort of sounds complex, but it's really not. After three rounds the scores are added up and that lowest penalty point total wins!

All in all this is a pretty quick moving, fun game! I remember we enjoyed it quite a bit. It's really lighthearted for a ghost themed game, which is nice. 

Weirdly enough, this game sells for a fairly high amount on eBay, with examples usually fetching about 65.00 including shipping. I had no idea about that until I started this post and checked. I guess since it's really a "post-boomer" game it slipped under my radar.

Still, I have good memories of dodging ol' Hugo with my daughter, so it's a keeper!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Key to the (Haunted) Kingdom!

 Well, it's October again, so I thought I would spook it up around here a little! I plan to feature spooky games for the rest of the month, but today I have an item that I've owned for over thirty years, but I never thought to post about before. May I present to you: The Haunted Mansion keychain!

Here it is, being modeled by our "hand model," Thing!

This keychain was purchased around 1990 at the cart outside of the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World. As I recall, they had two styles, one in gold and one in silver. It's fairly heavy metal, and feels like a real skeleton key. The "Haunted Mansion" logo is on a small ceramic disc, which is a nice touch, I think. It only appears on this side.

I've never used it as a keychain, and won't. I prefer to think of it as my personal front door key for our favorite haunt! 

These are fairly hard to find now (although there is a newer version that is shaped like a bat that is much easier to get). The ones I've seen tend to go for about twenty bucks, which is still a bargain in my book!

So there you have it! Be sure to check back in next week for our first spooky game!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!