The Real Ghostbusters Board Game by Milton Bradley which is not related to the board games made by Triotoys and Casper, which share the same name. It was one of the first items released based on the The Real Ghostbusters Animated Series and most of the ghosts are from the Pilot of the show.
Also the front picture of the kids playing with the kit shows the ghostbusters all in tan jumpsuits like the movie and pilot. However the playable character pieces are colored like the later shows.
The object of the game was to obtain for ghost cards and make it up the stairs while avoiding the traps. The game was based on a previous Milton Bradley game called, Which Witch?
Contents of Game
Information from Troll and Toad .com [dead link]
- Game Board
- 4 Ghostbuster with plastic stands
- 1 Spooky spinner
- 1 Plastic skull
- 1 Label sheet
- 1 Die
- 4 "You've Been Slimed" cards
- 20 ghost cards
- 2 Horizontal Grin Ghost
- 2 Skeleton Pilot Ghost
- 2 Caterpillar Ghost
- 2 Big Spike Ghost
- 1 Slimer
- 1 Little Hopper Ghost
- 1 Eye Visor Ghost
- 1 Braided with Hair bows Ghost
- 1 Elephant with Bow tie Ghost
- 1 Big Mouth Ghost
- 1 Big Mohawk Ghost
- 1 Creepy Thing Ghost
- 1 Pointy Ears Ghost
- 1 (Yellow Cyclops) First of three not based on a ghost in the Pilot
- 1 (Orange Ghost with White Shirt) Second of three not based on a ghost in the Pilot
- 1 (Green Skull-faced Frog) Third of three not based on a ghost in the Pilot
German Version
In 1990, Milton Bradley GmbH released a updated version of the game that included redrawn designs on the walls and board. Among noticeable changes, Peter on top of the Ecto-1 is now correctly colored, also the proton packs and ghost trap(s) are now designed like the cartoon instead of the pilot for the show. Ghost designs also were updated to look more like pilot ghosts. The game however plays just like it's American counterpart.
The Series "Which Witch?"/"Ghost Castle"
The Real Ghostbusters Board game is part of a series of games that started being made in 1970. The first game "Which Witch?" was released in 1970. A smaller (horizontal) version was released a year later in 1971. The UK in 1971 also released through Denys Fisher "Which Witch?" with the new title "Haunted House". [1] There was a revamped version of "Which Witch?" (aka: "Haunted House") as "New Haunted House by "Denys Fisher".[2][3] During the 70's there were other international versions sharing a different updates to "Which Witch?" design.[4]
"Ghost Castle" which was released in 1985 was a different themed game from "Which Witch?" and gets rid of the witches turning the kids to mice to instead placing scare masks on the playing pieces. The Real Ghostbusters game a year later in 1986 follows slightly closer to "Ghost Castle" and uses a spinner and cardboard play pieces instead of plastic.
In the 90's, Milton Bradley appears to have sold the license. A company named "Flair games" in 2006 released its version of "Ghost Castle" which still reuses the staircase/tower plastic piece still in black. A third version of "Ghost Castle" was later released by "Goliath" in 2012.
Trivia
- On page 2 of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #5, the Museum section is used in a panel.
- On page 10 of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #17, the Milton Bradley The Real Ghostbusters board game makes a non-canon cameo in the Firehouse's R&D lab on the mini cabinet.
References
- ↑ The Cobwebbed Room Blog "DENYS FISHER HAUNTED HOUSE board game 1970's"
- ↑ The Cobwebbed Room Blog "DENYS FISHER 'HAUNTED HOUSE' - Another version 1970's"
- ↑ User Ghost's Comment on Forum "Universal Monster Army" thread "Which Witch classic board game remade again!"
- ↑ User Ghost's Comment on Forum "Universal Monster Army" thread "Which Witch classic board game remade again!"
External links
- Instructions PDF (from Hasbro, current owners of Milton-Bradley) (slightly skewed alt file)
- BoardGameGeek -The Real Ghostbusters Game
- Article on the Board Game
- Troll and Toad .com- The Real Ghostbusters board game (Milton Bradley)
- Which Witch? instructions
- Forum "Universal Monster Army" thread "Which Witch classic board game remade again!"