Old Black Cat Dexterity Puzzle Game

Here's a Halloween themed dexterity puzzle from my collection (click on the "dexterity puzzle" label at the bottom of this post to see some more). You have to ring the black cat's tail in the order specified to win. I can attest that it's really, really hard!

Vintage Disney Haunted Mansion Game

If I had to choose one vintage board game as my most favorite of all time, this would be it: the classic Disney Haunted Mansion Game made by Lakeside in the 1970s. Based on the beloved attraction at Walt Disney World, the game beautifully recreated its scenes and specters.

I had this game as a child, and my sister, cousins, and I played it over and over, until the game literally disintegrated. Last year, I finally decided my nostalgic yearning was strong enough to justify paying the steep asking price for a decent example. Now, we play it again, but very, very carefully!

Vintage Casper the Ghost Wooden Pull Toy

Here's one of my favorite toys for Halloween-time: a wooden Casper the Ghost musical pull toy made by the American Pre-School Toy Company around 1962. Great graphics cover the base of the xylophone, which Casper plays as he's pulled along. I love this toy!

Antique Halloween Postcards

I've been fortunate enough to find some beautiful antique Halloween postcards at reasonable prices. These all date between 1907 and 1914. My favorite is the first one, with all the jack o' lanterns.


The message on the back of the blue card, penned by an aunt to her little niece in 1914, reads, "I hope the goblins don't get you!"

Antique Fortune Telling Games

Here are some of my favorite antique fortune telling games.
The first two are Halloween themed, with a great design of a witch and her cauldron, and date to the 1940s.

The "Fortune Telling Favor Set" is a small box that contains a set of tiny metal charms. The hostess would insert these charms into a cake, and the guests would hopefully find the charms and not swallow them! Each charm has a corresponding fortune: there's a pipe, which predicts "your pipe dreams come true"; a thimble
(spinsterhood); a baby (that's an obvious one); and several more.

The large witch game of "Hallowe'en Fortunes" is a simple spinner fortune teller. You spin the wheel, and the number that shows up in the cauldron matches a fortune printed below. I tested it this morning, spun the number 6, and it said: "Your fortune is good, you see, For you will contented be." Whew! Glad I didn't get 9: "At 50, you'll be grumpy, fat, round and very stumpy."

The last game has a very ponderous title: "Fortunescope: The Prognosticator of Human Destiny." It's another spinner type, and was printed in 1935. I love the graphics on this one, of a mysterious swami and his crystal ball.