by Parker Brothers

The year was 1964. The game was Probe. “…the most provocative game of words since the invention of the alphabet.” So states the back of the box of Parker Brothers’ trademarked game of words.

There is room for two, three or four players with a single set, or you could combine two sets for up to eight players. This is a game of Hangman on steroids. This is a game of strategy. Parker Brothers says that played aggressively, this is a true party game for any number of people.

Probe is played like this: Each player selects a secret word of 12 letters or less. The other players attempt to guess the word letter-by-letter. In this game, all contestants remain playing the entire game. Even if a player’s word is guessed correctly, he stays in the game.

In Probe, any word is allowed with the following exceptions: no apostrophes, hyphens, abbreviations, proper names or words with more than 12 letters. With 384 letter cards, this game makes thousands of words available through more combinations of letters than any other word game of its time.

Equipment included in the game includes 4 flat racks, 4 96-card decks of different-colored letter cards, 4 letter card upright holders, 1 activity deck of 48 cards and 1 2-sided activity deck tray. Each complete letter card deck includes 5 cards with a single dot. These 5 cards are called “Blanks”. The activity deck contains 48 cards that affect game play. They range from “Opponent on your left will expose a card” to “Deduct 10…” or “Add 20 to your score”.

There is a unique “Interruptive Rule” that allows any player to interrupt the game, even when it’s not his turn, if he believes he can correctly guess any other player’s word. This rule is good only when the player he questions has 5 or more cards still unexposed.

Parker Brothers says that Probe is a game that can be played and enjoyed by adults and children. They note that since simple words are often hard to guess, it isn’t necessary to hide a long and difficult word in order to win.

We agree. This is a game for all ages. Fun in 1964. Equally fun and challenging today.