The characters from The Addams Family television series joined family game nights in 1965 thanks to Milton Bradley.
Based on the characters created by Charles Addams in 1938, the original Addams Family television series ran on the ABC network for only two seasons from 1964 to 1966 but left a big impression on viewers.
Fashioned after the classic War card game, The Addams Family Card Game pitted members of the Addams household against each other. The game was created for two to four players, ages seven to 15. Packaged in a cardboard box displaying a portrait of the television family, the game cards featured four “suits”: Gomez, Morticia, siblings Wednesday and Pugsley, and a Lurch and Uncle Fester wild card. The back of the cards were decorated with a line drawing of The Addams Family home.
The entire deck was dealt facedown to the players. Gameplay began as each player turned over the card from the top of their deck in hopes that it would trump the cards of their opponent(s). Gomez bested Morticia, Morticia bested the children, the children bested Gomez, and the wild card bested them all. The player who ended up holding all the cards won the game.
Other Addams Family games have been released over the years, including: The Addams Family Game from Milton Bradley (1974), The Addams Family Creepy Mansion Action Game from Pressman (1992), The Addams Family Reunion Game from Pressman (1991), and The Addams Family Find Uncle Fester Card Game from Pressman (1991).
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