I love discovering vintage games that I didn’t even know existed. It’s part of the fun of hunting at charity shops and second hand sales for this sort of thing. That’s exactly what happened with Tell Me. A quiz game produced by Spears Games in the 1960s.
A family favourite game of ours is the modern game Scattergories. The general idea is simple. You roll a dice to get a letter for the round. You then have to write down a certain number of specific things that begin with that letter before the timer runs out. Depending on the list of things you’re working off at the time it could be everything from something you find in a school to a footballer. You score if you get a correct answer that no one else has also written down. It’s brilliant fun with a family group and some of the answers given are unintentionally hilarious. And it was Scattergories that I thought of when I opened up Tell Me.
The aim of Tell Me is quite similar, but less involved. A question master turns over a card and reads from it what the other players have to name. This could be a country, a colour or a film star for instance. He or she then spins the spinner and the first player to shout out something that fits and starts with the letter the spinner stops on wins the card. At the end of the game the player with the most cards wins. Incredibly straight-forward and easy to play with any number of people from 3 (including the quiz master) upwards.
I think what makes me like Tell Me quite so much is the vintage look and feel of it all. From simple matt cards (in three different colours, although I’ve no idea why as they’re not categories or anything) to the gorgeous metal spinner that looks like it would have been so at home in my Gran’s house. Some of the things you are asked to name also date it beautifully – a holiday resort for instance.
Tell Me is very much the kind of game that you can imagine being brought out at Christmas or after a family gathering. A sort of educational bit of fun for all the family. What family games should be in my opinion.
If you want to get hold of a copy of Tell Me then some are often available on Amazon or Ebay. Just read the description. carefully to establish if it is one with a metal or plastic spinner.
If you’re interested in vintage board games then why not head over to Facebook and join our new vintage board games group.
For more vintage board games and toys here on Penny Plays take a look here.
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