Ghosts!!!

 Today's title says it all! Our spooky game for this post is the 1985 Milton Bradley game, Ghosts! Let's dive right in, shall we?

Here we have the box cover. Note that these ghosts look a lot like stars of a 1984 movie about a band of ghost hunters. I'm sure that's just coincidence (wink, wink). Actually, the game has nothing to do with Ghostbusters, but it does show how much that film influenced popular culture.

Flipping the box over, we get a pretty good rundown of the general idea. You have good ghosts and bad ghosts and you have to figure out your opponent's ghosts while protecting your own.

I like the box insert. Careful! The ghosties are under it!

Here we have the ghosts set up in their dungeon. Two spectral armies facing off... which reminds me that this game is kind of a simplified game of Strantego, really.

A player's eye view. Here you can see the blue and yellow dots on the backs of the ghosts. The blue dots are "good spirited ghosts" and the yellow are "bad spirited ghosts." You're trying to protect your good spirited ghosts while trying to get your opponent to capture your bad spirited ghosts.

A close up of one of the spooks shows that they are a little spookier than Hugo from last week. They're also exactly alike from this side!

So, how do you win? Well, there are actuslly three different ways! You can...

1: Capture all of you opponent's good ghosts, or...

2: Trick your opponent into capturing all of your bad ghosts, or...

3: Escape the dungeon through the side doors on your opponent's back row.

Confused? Here are the official instructions!

As you see, it's actually pretty easy (and quick) to play, which is probably why the recommended ages are 6-14. Still, it's actually a pretty fun game with a fair amount of strategy, so I would have put the ages at 6-Adult. Maybe they had a quota to fill on kid games? The world may never know...

So there you have it! Ghosts! is a fun gsme that's just slightly creepier than Midnight Party (in that there actually are "bad" ghosts, I guess). Still it's a fun and easy to play game that goes for about 20-30 bucks on eBay (with shipping), so not too expensive.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!