Dark Shadows was an American Gothic soap opera that originally aired on the ABC network from June 27, 1966, until April 2, 1971. It aired, at my house, at 4 pm every weekday. I had to run up the driveway, after getting off the school bus, to be able to get a snack and seated, with Mother, in time to see each episode.
We started watching approximately nine months after the start because it wasn’t long until they introduced Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, the star vampire. I was hooked and didn’t miss an episode and I have gone back and watched the entire series from the beginning.
The price tag, on the front of the box is “Galaxy Drug” and the price was $2.00. Mother bought this back in 1968. The only thing missing from the game are two of the little plastic stands that hold up the token pieces (should be four).
Doyle
The game is by Whitman (starting in the early 1900s, a book and game publisher that primarily produces coins and stamps collecting books and materials) board game made in 1968 to capitalize on the popularity of the show.
To win the game you need to be the first player to move your token, either the long way around or by using shortcuts to the finish. 2-4 players are dealt 4 cards to start then the remainder of the deck is placed on the spot marked “Draw” (in the open coffin). The discards are placed on the spot marked “Discard” (the open grave).
You draw a card and then must discard one whether you can move or not. To move, you need to have a card that matches the next square, like a bat, dagger, spider or poison goblet, red, black, vampire or Barnabus. You can take shortcuts using a vampire or Barnabas card which is the main strategy involved in this game.
The “Mysterious Maze” game board has a wrought iron gate at the start (clever – starting gate) and a vulture (obviously waiting on your dead body) at the finish.
There is also bats, scared cats, rats, female ghost descending a stairway, a graveyard, a dog (maybe a werewolf?), chains and shakes, a haunted house, a coffin with a mummy inside, and a bloody hand coming out of the graveyard dirt.
The card backs are green and display the spooky graphic “Dark Shadows”. There are two Jonathan Frid (Barnabas) photo cards that say “For Your Wallet”, so you can keep them or use them as Barnabus cards in the game. The token pieces to move around the board are a grandfather clock, a candle, a wolf, and an open grave.
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