This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/1/2025
Cardinal's Swami / The Talking Board. Brooklyn, NY: Cardinal Industries, Inc., ca. 1940s. Cardinal's Swami Ouija board complete with the original box, directions, and pointer finger planchette. The board's vertical layout is highly uncommon. Box 19 ¼ x 14 ½". Areas of loss to the box; cover image is intact. Slight staining to the board. Good. Scarce.
“Cardinal Industries of Brooklyn, New York, were one of dozens of manufacturers who mobilized to produce talking boards to answer the national demand of interest in Spiritualism and Ouija in the final year of the Second World War. Pitched as “The Sage of the Ages," the Swami was the company's first known product, and its unique vertical layout and evocative circus-style font set it far apart from competitors' boards. Despite its relatively late entry into the market, with its first ads appearing just as the national fervor for Ouija began to subside, the company's gamble on the talking board market paid off, and the board's success launched a legacy of board game innovation for the company that has stretched right up to the modern day."
– Brandon Hodge, The Mysterious Planchette