Hi Kindertrauma-maniacs, I wanted to bring up a game that haunted me as a child.
Two actually.
One was the ever so scary Mr. Mouth game…a big yellow head with a flip top (Black Dahlia) mouth that you have to flip coins (I think) into. And those goofy eyes staring at you, geez.
The other game was Mostly Ghostly, a skeleton building game with a spinner made out of what else…skeletal arms I think. With each spin, you can choose another bone appendage to build your spooky skeleton.
Does anyone else remember these games…nightmares!
Your friend and fellow fiend,
Thunderknight
We had the Mostly Ghostly game, and I remember my grandma getting mad when we would switch the arms with the legs to make mutant skeletons. I wonder if my Mom still has that game somewhere in her basement, and more importantly — would it still glow in the dark?
We had that Mr Mouth game for awhile! I now wonder what happened to it – although Im pretty sure I gave it to my nephews. Im one of those moms we all hate: When I clean the house I toss and give away a lot of shit so when something becomes eBay gold 20 years from now you aint gonna find it in MY crawlspace! I am a big cleaner, but I think that stems from the fact my Moms a hoarder.
I dont remember Mostly Ghostly. I dont even remember ever HEARING about it.
I remember a few years back we had Captain Bones Gold which was a kick-ass game. You're little men searching an island for treasure and theres a treasure chest with a skeleton hiding in it that pops out and it spins around in a way that you dont know WHO he's going to attack until he finally does! And when he steals your gold you have to start all over again. (I KNOW I gave that one to my nephews: My mother in law still has it in her living room).
This was the "Build a Glow-in-the-Dark Skeleton" game for my generation – and you got a pair of vampire fangs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa9cFpF5tWI
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OK, this is a little bit off subject, but I noticed that the Mr Mouth YouTube vid comes from fuzzymemories.tv (aka The Museum of Classic Chicago Television). This site is incredible! I've gotten lost for hours and hours many times watching loads of super cool classic commercials, PSA's, bumpers, and even clips of Son of Svengoolie! Bored? Check it out.
I remember that Mr Mouth game. Only the cool kids down the street with permisive (read probably swingers) parents got great toys like that. I recall that year was my mother's "prairie Christmas" kick. Wood geegaws, Jacob's ladders and lots of gingham. Blecth. Now *there's* a kindertrauma.  I've never seen that skeleton game, but I want it!
@eugeniepetite – Whoa there! Son of Svengoolie!? OK, well, I know where you hail from. WGN was the bomb – loaded to the gills with kindertrauma. 10 points to Gryffindor for mentioning the Koz. As far as Mr. Mouth – he always reminded me of a Sid and Marty Krofft "fun character" (translate: "terrifying monster").
Hey, awesome! Thank you for the posts, these were cool. I remember getting Mostly Ghostly at a Greenbacks Stamp Store back in '82 or so. Kinda scary for a 9 year old. And Mr. Mouth…just look at those eyes, lol!
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I love this site, you guys are great!
Ya know, he does kinda looks like…wait for it…Pac-Man, lol!
How is it that I remember Son of Svengoolie? Closest I ever lived to Chicago was Indiana! Did it make it out that far? So confused….
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The thing I remember most about Mr Mouth is how his half-lidded eyes were surrounded by dark shadows… always kinda creeped me out.
Yep, I admit I've been to Fuzzy Memories every now and then. 🙂
I do remember seeing a "Mr. Mouth"-type game which was based on the anime character Munchlax from "Pokémon"-
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/353758
Though upon inspection, it looks like he's about to crawl out of the thing, ready to eat everything in the fridge…
While I don't remember the actual game Mr. Mouth, I do remember that tune. Thanks for the refresher. 🙂
Also, a big thanks to Eugenie for pointing out Fuzzy Memories is based around Chicago programming (I had no idea). Many hours are gonna be spent there for sure, mostly with the Son of Svengoolie stuff. ÂÂ
Chuckles-  Believe it or not, I'm a Texan and only stumbled upon the goofy Svengoolie on the Fuzzy Memories site fairly recently.  Man, I wish they had that kinda programming down here.  All we had was something called the Saturday Night Screamers, which wasn't quite as cool.
Chris-  be prepared to lose hours of your life!
@eugeniepetite – Hmmm. Texas eh? Well, the Son of Svengoolie still loves you. This show was a really low-budge local affair but immensely popular – anybody remember the "Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3D" promo?
I have not yet visited "Fuzzy memories" but I can already intuit that there will be plenty of Frazier Thomas on there. I have this really powerful memory of seeing "The Canterville Ghost" on Family Classics……
Eugenie – I almost woke up late for work this morning due to the addiction to the site last night. 🙂
Chuckles – I definitely remember watching Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D (Ah, 7-11. How many glasses did my dad swipe from your stores?), not quite the promo though. I do remember the St. Patrick's Day viewings of Night of the Living Dead however, when instead of black and white, the film would be shown through a green filter.
Now I have a place to actually view Hardrock, Coco & Joe without having to wake up early on Christmas morning in hopes to catch it on the WGN morning news!
Chris: You can always watch Hardrock, Coco & Joe with us:
https://www.kindertrauma.com/?p=3258
@Chris: Yeah – the 3D airing was what I was talking about – I thought that there was some promo attached but maybe not. I think that 75% of the kids in my class had those glasses though.
I totally forgot about the St. Patty's NOTLD Green Screen. Good God man.ÂÂ
Anybody here actually from Berwin?
@Aunt John- See? That'll learn me for not searching through Kindertrauma's vast archives. I had no idea it was part of the site! Now it makes me curious to see what else I've been missing here. Guess I'm gonna be nearly late again for work AGAIN tomorrow! 🙂
@Chuckles- The Creature 3D viewing was an event in my house! We had snacks, soda, my dad dressed up in a Gillman mask… it was one of the many defining horror moments of my childhood, and first experience with Svengoolie. Sadly though, I'm not from Berwyn. But I've driven through it several times. :DÂÂ
My fave childhood-haunting game is Ka-Ba-La. Not for the gameplay–it was basically a dumb two-person tilting Quija board with mini "Tarot cards"–but because it was glow-in-the-dark green, had a big blue marble that made a creepy sound as it rolled around the board, and a giant black-and-glow-green eyeball in the center of the board that FOLLOWED THE MARBLE AROUND.
My oldest sister had KaBaLa! She used to put it in her closet and lock my middle sister in there with it! Luckily Mom threw it out before I came along.