Monday, October 9, 2017

Haunted Operation

It's 1977 and I'm playing with my neighbor who's a couple years younger than me.  He pulls out this game that looks like Operation (you know, the one where you disembowel a drunken, naked man with tweezers), but this has a completely cool and different design (I swear that kid had everything). The premise is you "dig" for treasures while being careful not to wake the Sea Captain's Ghost (a buzzing red light).  I remember loving the art on the game and the box. I'm not sure what happened to the game, because I don't remember ever playing it again.  For years, I wondered what the heck that game was.  I came across it at a garage sale this past year.



Milton Bradley's "Haunted Treasure Hunt" dates from 1975 and sports some really nice artwork, reminiscent of pretty much any episode of Scooby Doo.



Players move by the roll of a die up to the next undug treasure spot.  On the same turn, the player tries to remove the treasure without waking the sea captain. Player with the most treasure at the end wins.


Side by side, you can see it's the same board as Operation with a couple holes (anklebone and wishbone) covered.

  
Contrary to what I believed, the buzzer isn't an audio speaker, but a small electric motor with an off-center weight on the drive shaft, similar to the same way a cellphone or game controller vibrates.


That's right, I destroy games so you won't have to. Kidding. That's a bad motor from a parts Operation game that was already missing pieces.

7 comments:

  1. Wow - the exact same board! Nice find.

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  2. That is pretty wild, haven't seen that one before.

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  3. Nice!! I would love to play this thanks to the dang Knee bone being covered! Dang you Knee bone dang you!

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  4. @Bob: Do I detect a little dislike for that Knee bone?

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  5. Wow - I hadn't ever seen one of these before. Very cool find!

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  6. Wow! I'll have to keep an eye out for this. Great find!

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    1. Thanks, Alexis! They are pretty hard to come by. They were apparently made in a fairly small run. I'm not sure why.

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