I'VE GOT A SECRET
(Lowell 1956)
 
CONTENTS:
    Felt playing board
    Auto-Spin Secret Selector
    Thirty-two Secret Cards (eight each marked "I'VE", "GOT", "A" or "SECRET")
    Four Garry Moore Cards (one each marked as above)
    Six plastic playing pieces
    Wooden Rack
    Twenty inch-square cardboard markers

GAME PLAY:
        Complicated.  First, players spin to try to acquire one card out of each of the four decks.  The first to do so becomes the "guest" with a secret the others have to figure out. Then, the other players use the felt board, the remaining cards and questions for the "guest" to figure out the secret.  The secrets were based on what was on the cards, and became convoluted, supposedly comical sentences like "I am a Bow Legged/Baby Sitter/Who Stands on His Head/While Taking a Shower".

DIFFERENCES TO TV SHOW:
        The show's special magic came from the chemistry of the panel and the clever and unusual guests with their unique secrets.  None of that could possibly translate to the box game.  Instead, it's a poor variation of Clue, with players asking questions to eliminate specific possibilities and come up with the one pre-packaged "answer".

COMMENTS:
        The TV show was the top-rated panel show on television, so a home game was inevitable.  They went to a lot of trouble trying to make it interesting and funny.  They just failed.  Still, the name alone sold an awful lot of copies. A 1956 episode of the television show featured guest Don Ameche playing the box game with the panel.  Even that segment was awkward.