Sales of ouiji boards up by 300%

Kidchameleon · 01-12-2014 12:20PM

NoCrackHaving wrote: »

FFS, they're board games made by Hasbro, as in the toy manufacturer.

It was invented by a guy called Ellijah Bond in 19th century as basically a grown up s toy. It wasn't until a mumbo-jumbo 'talk to your dead relative' spiritualist began using them in the 1920's to fleece gullible idiots out of their money that it took on the 'evil'/Satanic overtones.

Frankly, ouiji boards have no place anywhere but not for religious or occult reasons but to stop idiots having their pockets picked by retailers.

Nope, Bond just saw the commercial potential. They have been around in some form or another for centuries.

Nodin · 01-12-2014 12:21PM

conorhal wrote: »

TBH ouiji boards have no place in smyths, toyshops generally don't tend to have an occult section and I can't see parents being that enthuastic about trying to summon the devil or talk to granny from beyound the grave with the kids after a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos.....

Ouija boards belong in smiths, because they're a toy. You can't summon the devil or talk to the dead. If you want to see some unholy event, drink a lot of whiskey.

Summer wind · 01-12-2014 12:24PM

Somewhere out there a marketing executive is rich, fat and happy.

The_Captain · 01-12-2014 12:25PM

The demographics on this forum are more heavily weighted towards young, educated people than Ireland as a whole.

If this is the type of crap people here think about Ouija boards, I'm actually terrified to know just how thick the rest of Ireland is about them.

Adults being scared of a game for children ffs

Magnate · 01-12-2014 12:27PM

Bigus wrote: »

300% could mean they sold 3 instead of 1 over a certain period .

That would only be a 200% increase. :pac:

Greenmachine · 01-12-2014 12:35PM

I tried to buy one of these for the crack, some time in the mid 90's and found they were not commercially available in Ireland at least. Independent.ie ran an article recently too. The discussion following the article got pretty heated. For me they are just a bit of fun, but a classmate swore that a board had driven his brother crazy.

paulbok · 01-12-2014 12:37PM

What else can people use if there isn't decent broadband?

conorhal · 01-12-2014 12:39PM

The_Captain wrote: »

The demographics on this forum are more heavily weighted towards young, educated people than Ireland as a whole.

If this is the type of crap people here think about Ouija boards, I'm actually terrified to know just how thick the rest of Ireland is about them.

Adults being scared of a game for children ffs

Who's 'scared' exactly? It's simply not an appropriate 'toy' for children, it was never a childs toy in the first place and if they want to summon invisible beings and talk to the dead then they can go and be bored in mass like I was as a child.

shruikan2553 · 01-12-2014 12:40PM

The_Captain wrote: »

The demographics on this forum are more heavily weighted towards young, educated people than Ireland as a whole.

If this is the type of crap people here think about Ouija boards, I'm actually terrified to know just how thick the rest of Ireland is about them.

Adults being scared of a game for children ffs

I would agree with this. The crap some people I know believe makes ouija boards look perfectly normal. The likes of ouija boards make you talk to the dead as much as monopoly makes you own a railway station.

etoughguy · 01-12-2014 12:41PM

Id imagine in this day and age with all the phones with cameras etc that if someone somewhere ever recorded something happening as a result of using one of these thingys it would be all over youtube by now
Everything on the internet is real so I would believe it instantly

o1s1n · 01-12-2014 12:54PM

conorhal wrote: »

Who's 'scared' exactly? It's simply not an appropriate 'toy' for children, it was never a childs toy in the first place and if they want to summon invisible beings and talk to the dead then they can go and be bored in mass like I was as a child.

Actually at one point they were seen as a bit of fun and used by the whole family.

It was only later that they became associated with the occult - mainly due to popular culture and religious fundamentalists.

I find it hilarious (and a bit mind boggling) how superstitious Irish people are about them.

conorhal · 01-12-2014 01:34PM

Greenmachine wrote: »

I tried to buy one of these for the crack, some time in the mid 90's and found they were not commercially available in Ireland at least. Independent.ie ran an article recently too. The discussion following the article got pretty heated. For me they are just a bit of fun, but a classmate swore that a board had driven his brother crazy.

I'd suspect that they're not commercially available because anybody I know that's fooled around with one made it themselves using scraps of paper with the letters of the alphabet arranged in a circle on a table with an upturned shot glass. To actually buy a Ouija board you'd have to be a combination of both lazy and credulous!

Phoebas · 01-12-2014 01:38PM

seamus wrote: »

How many parents do you think sit down with their children and play a nice family game of GTA 5 where they beat up hookers and go around torturing and murdering people?

Me. But I stuck to mowing down farm animals and they're beginning to get over it now.

c_man · 01-12-2014 01:49PM

At what point in the production process of the board games, are they endowed with magical powers? Is it all done in the one factory?

etoughguy · 01-12-2014 01:55PM

c_man wrote: »

At what point in the production process of the board games, are they endowed with magical powers? Is it all done in the one factory?

To the best of my knowledge they outsource it to a factory in pixieland

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 01-12-2014 01:57PM

c_man wrote: »

At what point in the production process of the board games, are they endowed with magical powers? Is it all done in the one factory?

Ah, now you see you're makign the mistake of thinking that the people who create ouija boards actually think they're making a board game. Or Hasbro intentionlly making an object for occult use!

sbsquarepants · 01-12-2014 02:02PM

kylith wrote: »

Let me put it this way - They were developed by Milton Bradley, the board game company.

They work via the ideomotor effect - basically you move it without realising that you're moving it. This is the same effect that makes dowsing rods move. Penn and Teller do a very good debunking of Ouija boards.

Yea, yea. Devil puppets the pair of them.

idnkph wrote: »

Did one of these at college 20 years ago with 3 girls from my class. It spelt out pregnant a few times.
I went home and slept great but the girls lived in the same house and started hearing noises throughout the night. Next morning one of the girls parents was over and they told them what had happened. Mam freaked out and called the priest in to do all the hocous pocous crap.
within a year the 3 girls were all stuffed. Maybe a coincidence but makes ya think

It does.
It makes me think your 3 friends got laid and subsequently knocked up cos they lived away from home and could do as they pleased. Whereas you lived at home and your ma proved to be a very effective contraceptive, as they tend to!:D

sbsquarepants · 01-12-2014 02:23PM

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

I believe it has to be blessed by a priest. Or the horned antichrist, I can never remember which.

Reminds me of the joke about the Irish exorcism where they had to summon the devil to get the priest out of the child:D

Earl Turner · 01-12-2014 02:27PM

I used to go out with a girl who was a hardcore atheist (the absolute worst of the preachy types) and yet was genuinely afraid of Ouija boards. I thought it was funny how she could dismiss one part of the supernatural but completely accept another.

Phoebas · 01-12-2014 02:38PM

Earl Turner wrote: »

I used to go out with a girl who was a hardcore atheist (the absolute worst of the preachy types) and yet was genuinely afraid of Ouija boards. I thought it was funny how she could dismiss one part of the supernatural but completely accept another.

Aren't you just describing what every religion does?

eisenberg1 · 01-12-2014 02:41PM

I don't know what would possess you to buy one

ScumLord · 01-12-2014 02:51PM

We used to make our ouiji boards when we were kids, you'd draw it out on a piece of paper and use just about anything as the puck thingie. The big difference with the homemade one was that you were supposed to destroy it after you were finished with it or the spirits would be stuck with you. There's no need to pay money for a board the effect works perfectly well with something homemade, all you really need is people. We had great fun with them, we tried it in all sorts of places, even the graveyard on halloween.

We did it in school once during a study period and got caught. The teachers and nuns turned it into a big thing, called our parents and gave us detention. Par for the course in my school, ran by religious nuts.

The_Captain · 01-12-2014 02:52PM

c_man wrote: »

At what point in the production process of the board games, are they endowed with magical powers? Is it all done in the one factory?

From the MB website:

All our Ouija boards are treated with the blood of a goat that has been slaughtered by a virgin in our factory in Massachusetts. This blood is used as the basis for a hexing ritual by our witchcraft department in order to protect board users from demonic possession. If you have recently purchased one of our Ouija boards and have experienced instances of unintentional demon summoning, please contact Kevin Johnson, Withcraft Department Quality Manager at kjohnson@miltonbradley.com

Earl Turner · 01-12-2014 02:54PM

Phoebas wrote: »

Aren't you just describing what every religion does?

How do you mean?

Generic Dreadhead · 01-12-2014 02:54PM

Made a purchase of 200,000 of these recently, apparently they are going to be THE Toy this christmas

Phoebas · 01-12-2014 03:02PM

Earl Turner wrote: »

How do you mean?

"dismiss one part of the supernatural but completely accept another."

This is what all religions do.

jimgoose · 01-12-2014 03:03PM

Ooh-Jar boards. Paddlin' with the occult. Dancin' about without yer drawers on. That ain't real witchin', real witchin' is in the blood and the bone, and in the head. You youngsters don't know nothin' 'bout it. :cool:

Earl Turner · 01-12-2014 03:11PM

Phoebas wrote: »

"dismiss one part of the supernatural but completely accept another."

This is what all religions do.

Yes but, elaborate with examples please.

kylith · 01-12-2014 03:12PM

jimgoose wrote: »

Ooh-Jar boards. Paddlin' with the occult. Dancin' about without yer drawers on. That ain't real witchin', real witchin' is in the blood and the bone, and in the head. You youngsters don't know nothin' 'bout it. :cool:

I love you. Marry me. It'll be a joyous merger of bookshelves.

kylith · 01-12-2014 03:13PM

Earl Turner wrote: »

Yes but, elaborate with examples please.

Christianity maintains that its supernatural nonsense is real, but that Hindu's isn't. Repeat for all religions.

Sales of ouiji boards up by 300%

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