Katharina Buczek
Every Halloween season, fans of horror and all things freaky whip out their ouija boards in hopes of connecting with the ghostly, paranormal, or simply unknown.
In fact, the board game has become a staple of fall time fun for many and is a popular trope in horror folklore, comics, and movies.
But when was the first ouija board created, and where did the idea come from?
Well, the first advertisement to ever publicize the ouija board people know and love today popped up in local Pittsburgh newspapers in February of 1981.
The ad touted “Ouija, The Wonderful Talking Board” as a supernatural device equipped with the ability to “answer questions about the past, present, and future with marvelous accuracy.”
And shockingly, the first iterations of the ouija board were essentially the same board being sold in chain stores today.
It was a flat board made of wood with two semi-circles spelling out the alphabet and the numbers zero through nine. The board also had the words “yes” and “no” in the upper corners, whereas the word “goodbye” was at the bottom.
Additionally, the teardrop-shaped device ouija board players place their hands on today was also the same. Known as a “planchette,” this tool normally had a small window to display the letter or number below.
In turn, the only real difference is that ouija boards sold today are made of cardboard instead of wood– likely making this one of the least updated games of all time.
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