Every New Years Eve, a group gets together at the Ks and eats, drinks, puts together puzzles, and plays games.
This year there was a chance my folks would be here, so I borrowed a game from them I’d not played in many, many years: Probe, by Parker Brothers (1964, with a redesign/re-release in 1982).
Probe is sort of a combo of Hangman/Wheel of Fortune letter/word-guessing game. Up to four can play. Each gets a plastic tray with 12 spaces, of varying scores, as well as a box full of letter cards and “blank” cards. You build a word (no hyphens, no abbreviations, etc.), pad it (or not) with blanks at one end or the other, and put it face down in your tray.
Play goes around the table, drawing an action card (that may add score, deduct score, multiply correct guess scores, or require you or someone else to reveal a card), and you guess at hidden letter on another person’s tableau. If you guess correctly, you get the points for that space and can ask that person (or another person) another letter (only one letter of a kind need be flipped over on a correct guess, so they person may indeed have another “T”). There are extra scoring variations for guessing someone’s word, being the last person unrevealed, and being wrong when asking if someone is using a blank.
It’s really a very easy game — like most word pattern games, it doesn’t rely on intelligence per se, but pattern recognition, and very simple words can be difficult to deduce (especially with blanks involved). It’s limited to four (though the rules graciously suggest that you can buy multiple sets and play with more people). And it’s fun, and clocks in at about 30-45 minutes/round.
At the very least, folks who like that sort of thing will find it the sort of thing they like.
Now, the reason this was so cool is that we used to play this game on our “cabin” vacations. It was one of a select set of board games that would travel with us (along with decks of cards) to help us while away the evening hours. Indeed, my mom found inside the box a score sheet I’d kept, probably twenty-five years ago, complete with doodles. Neat.
Now to see if I can find a copy for myself, since my mom called specifically to ask for their copy back … :-
Plenty of them on ebay.
Copies described as “complete” and “mint” are being offered at starting bids of $2.99 up to $22.98. Shipping may set you back more than the game itself!
I like Scrabble’s “3-D” game, RSVP. Picked it up at a yard sale for $1.95. It’s only a two-player game though, and there aren’t as many on ebay.
Probe was a family favorite in my family too. I think it encourages vocabulary and spelling: there was a big penalty in our family if you didn’t use a real word or if you misspelled it. We also used to play Yahtzee, which perhaps teaches probability, but only at a basic level.
Thanks for reminding me about Probe. I’ll have to try to get my family to play again the next time we’re together.
Glad to share the memories. 🙂
I think the rules have a 100 pt penalty for misspelling a word (or having an improper word), which is generally enough to knock one out of the game.
And, yes, I discovered many copies out on eBay. In fact …
I just found the game Probe (1964 edition) while cleaning out old boxes, and also love the game! I played it a lot as a kid in the 1970s, and I’m hoping to get my kids interested in it now that I dug it out from its hiding place.
Thanks for description of the game! It’s really accurate — better than the Wikipedia entry for Probe!
You’re more than welcome. Still brings back good memmories.