Milton Bradley's Boogey Man Card Game

Around the start of Fall, I set up an eBay saved search for Halloween games to try and find something fun. The Halloween game scene has started getting better in recent years even if tthe big box store offerings are just Halloween rethemes of classics like Twister or Bingo.

Occasionally, I manage to find games that might not be specifically Halloween themed but would be a great fit for the season. And so I preset Milton Bradley's Boogey Man!

While the box says "Just for Kids" the art can get nightmare inducing under the right lighting, as you'll see. Clicking on an image will take you to its Flickr page where you can download your choice of size to use as a desktop image, if you're weird like me.

He doesn't look so scary, right?

 It was released in 1987. I don't know if it's because I'm getting old but that's about 5-10 years later than I would have pegged it at based on the box art.

Pillow tokens, flashlight chips and cards

All 60 cards are dealt out and they consist of the Boogey Man and four other images that have similar colors and/or shapes. Players also get 5 flashlight chips. Lastly, a number of pillow tokens are placed on the table, using one less than the number of players.

Everyone flips the top card of their pile at the same time and looks to see if anyone revealed a Boogey Man. The first person to see one shouts "BOOGEY MAN!" and grabs a pillow token. Everyone else then has to scream and grab a pillow token. The person that doesn't get one, loses a flashlight. Aka the Musical Chairs Dilemma.

How does a HATRACK look EVIL?!?!

You also lose a flashlight if you: don't scream before taking a pillow, call Boogey Man where there isn't one, or you're not the first to shout Boogey Man and don't scream before taking a pillow. The game ends when one person runs out of flashlights and the winner is the person with the most flashlights remaining.

Here's my reimagining of the game "story"...
A group of kids are having a sleepover. They turn off all the lights and arm themselves with flashlights to search the house for the Boogey Man. Each time they find him, the slowest kid's flashlight loses some battery power. Eventually, one kid's flashlight is totally drained, leaving them alone in the dark for the Boogey Man. The rest of the kids all celebrate.

Sounds fun, doesn't it? If you're going to play this game with kids, I would recommend not doing so under blacklight unless you want them to have nightmares...

Below is my favorite image, sleep tight.
Forget bedbugs, don't let the Boogey Man get you!

Be sure to get more Halloween goodness at Countdown to Halloween and Blog-O-Ween!