Ka-Bala was a talking board game manufactured and released by Transogram in 1967. It was marketed under the slogan, "The Mysterious Game that Tells the Future." [1]
Ka-Bala was a talking board game manufactured and released by Transogram in 1967. It was marketed under the slogan, "The Mysterious Game that Tells the Future." [1]
The game board is molded from phosphorescent green plastic which glows in the dark. It sat upon a hemispherical rocker, and was operated by the players touching the "solary projectors", which were handles on opposite sides of the board. In the center of the rocking board, the "Eye of Zohar" was mounted; this plastic eyeball would spin as the board was agitated by the players.
Unlike most talking boards which are activated by a planchette, Ka-Bala uses a large black marble which ran within a circular track molded into the surface of the game. The marble serves as an indicator for three rings concentric with the track:
Each tarot card has two fortunes printed on the back, one at each short end. These are meant to be shuffled and inserted into the wells face-up with a randomized orientation (upright or reversed); the applicable fortune is read from the card indicated by the marble, on the end closest to the center of the board and hence the fortune depends on the card's orientation.
The name "Ka-Bala" and the reference to the Zohar indicate that the game was supposedly related to Kabbalah, an esoteric school of thought in Jewish mysticism. As they operated the game, the players were instructed to chant Pax, sax, sarax; hola, noa, nostra!
A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including families of related games. A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules may vary by region, culture, location or from circle to circle.
Everway is a fantasy role-playing game first published by Wizards of the Coast under their Alter Ego brand in 1995. Its lead designer was Jonathan Tweet. Marketed as a "Visionary Roleplaying Game", it has often been characterized as an innovative concept with limited commercial success. Wizards later abandoned the line, and Rubicon Games purchased it, and published several supplements. The line was sold again to Gaslight Press in February 2001. The line is currently with The Everway Company, which has released a Silver Anniversary Edition.
Tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot-playing cards spread to most of Europe, evolving into a family of games that includes German Grosstarok and modern games such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. Thus, there are two distinct types of tarot packs in circulation: those used for card games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille, originally intended for playing card games, are also used for cartomancy.
Fortune telling is the unproven spiritual practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.
The Magic 8 Ball is a plastic sphere, made to look like an oversized eight ball, that is used for fortune-telling or seeking advice. It was invented in 1946 by Albert C. Carter and Abe Bookman and is manufactured by Mattel. The user asks a yes–no question to the ball, then turns it over to reveal an answer that floats up into a window.
Battleship is a strategy type guessing game for two players. It is played on ruled grids on which each player's fleet of warships are marked. The locations of the fleets are concealed from the other player. Players alternate turns calling "shots" at the other player's ships, and the objective of the game is to destroy the opposing player's fleet.
Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. In South Asia, many clubs and cafés hold regular tournaments. Carrom is commonly played by families, including children, and at social functions. Different standards and rules exist in different areas.
In duplicate bridge, a board is an item of equipment that holds one deal, or one deck of 52 cards distributed in four hands of 13 cards each. The design permits the entire deal of four hands to be passed, carried or stacked securely with the cards hidden from view in four pockets. This is required for in-person duplicate bridge tournaments, where the same deal is played several times and so the composition of each hand must be preserved during and after each play of each deal. When bridge is played online, the functions of the physical boards are replaced by the software.
Minchiate is an early 16th-century card game, originating in Florence, Italy. It is no longer widely played. Minchiate can also refer to the special deck of 97 playing cards used in the game. The deck is closely related to the tarot cards, but contains an expanded suit of trumps. The game was similar to but more complex than tarocchi. The minchiate represents a Florentine variant on the original game.
Go equipment refers to the board, stones, and bowls for the stones required to play the game of Go. The quality and materials used in making Go equipment varies considerably, and the cost varies accordingly from economical to extremely expensive.
Karnöffel is a trick-taking card game which probably came from the upper-German language area in Europe in the first quarter of the 15th century. It first appeared listed in a municipal ordinance of Nördlingen, Bavaria, in 1426 among the games that could be lawfully played at the annual city fête. This makes the game the oldest identifiable European card game in the history of playing cards with a continuous tradition of play down to the present day.
The Ten of Swords is a Minor Arcana tarot card.
The Ace of Wands is a tarot card of the Minor Arcana, arcana being Latin for mysteries. The cards of the Minor Arcana are considered to be lesser compared to the Major Arcana because they discuss the minor mysteries of life, less important archetypes. Modern tarot readers interpret the Ace of Wands as a symbol of optimism and invention.
Green Ghost is a board game for up to 4 players, first published in 1965 by Transogram. Green Ghost is the first board game designed to be played in the dark.
RoboRally, also stylized as Robo Rally, is a board game for 2–8 players designed by Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) in 1994. Various expansions and revisions have been published by WotC, Avalon Hill, and Renegade Games.
Mystery Mansion is the name of a series of board games in which players search furniture and other objects inside a mansion to locate a hidden treasure or stash of money.
Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French name tarot are called tarocchi in the original Italian, Tarock in German and similar words in other languages.
Industrie und Glück is a pattern of French suited playing cards used to play tarock. The name originates from an inscription found on the second trump card. This deck was developed during the nineteenth century in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The earliest known examples were made in Vienna in 1815. After the collapse of the empire in World War I, it remained the most widely used tarot deck in Central Europe and can be found throughout the former parts of the empire.
The Fool is one of the 78 cards in a tarot deck. Traditionally, it is the lowest of the 22 trump cards, in tarot card reading called the 22 Major Arcana. However, in tarot card games it developed to be not one of the trump cards but a special card, serving a unique purpose by itself. In later Central European tarot card games, it re-developed to now become the highest trump. As a consequence and with respect to his unique history, The Fool is usually an unnumbered card with a unique design; but sometimes it is numbered as 0 or more rarely XXII. Design and numbering-or-not to not clearly indicate its role as a trump or special card in the specific game.
Transogram was an American producer of toys, games and other leisure products from the early 20th century to 1971. It is best known for such long-produced games as Tiddledy Winks and Game of India, as well as such baby-boomer favorites as Green Ghost and television tie-in board games for such characters and series as Atom Ant, The Flintstones, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Perry Mason and Tom and Jerry.
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