Ora and Theo Coster created this guessing game for Milton Bradley that had each player pick a face from the 24 cards in their set while the other tried to work out whose face it might be, by asking a series of Yes and No questions in turn.
The game came with two trays, one blue and the other red. Within each of these sat a set of plastic flippers into which the game’s 24 face cards would be inserted. Players would pick a character from another set of cards and place it into a slot at the front of the tray. It was then game on!
The main differences between the faces were the size of their nose, the presence of hats and spectacles, different coloured hair (or none at all), styles of moustache, and the colour of the eyes, cheeks, lips, hats and spectacles.
“Are they wearing a hat?” answered in the affirmative, for example, would instantly eliminate everyone but Eric, George, Maria, Bernard and Claire. Eliminated face cards were satisfyingly flipped down in a clap of plastic-on-plastic.
The victor was the first person who figured out the identity of their opponents face first. An incorrect guess meant you lost instantly.
Of the 24 faces on an original Guess Who? board, there were just five women and only one from an ethnic minority. Diversity wasn’t a strong point in games back then.
