Probe Board Game: The Classic Hidden-Word Challenge

By the early 1970s, Probe was already a few years old, but it fit perfectly into an afternoon of beanbag chairs, Dad's Root Beer, Screaming Yellow Zonkers, and records by Three Dog Night and the Doobie Brothers. It has remained one of my favorite word games ever since.

More than 60 years after Parker Brothers first published it, Probe is still a sharp mix of vocabulary, deduction, memory, and a little nerve.

Ted Leavitt's route to Parker Brothers

Ted Leavitt loved word games, but he thought he could make a better one. He did, and Probe eventually became a major Parker Brothers success.

Leavitt had an unusual connection that helped put his game in front of the right person. His uncle was Pierre Monteux, the French conductor who led the London Symphony Orchestra during the 1960s. Randolph P. Barton, then a Parker Brothers vice president, was also a classical-music fan. Through Monteux, Leavitt met Barton and brought along his word game.

Barton liked it enough to put Probe in the Parker Brothers catalog in 1964. The game is still listed in BoardGameGeek's Probe entry, where its hidden-word premise and activity deck are documented.

Early Probe editions and international success

The first release had a plain design that collectors call the "teal box edition." Within a few months, Parker Brothers appeared to recognize it had a hit and replaced that simple package with an image of suburban adults playing at a card table. It looked like a game meant to challenge grown-ups at a cocktail party.

Production lists suggest that Parker Brothers made millions of copies over the next several years. Around 1970, the company gave the box a modern typeface and brighter colors. However, it also reduced the quality of the components. The small letter cards disappeared, and players wrote their letters in little paper notebooks instead. (That was not the edition we played in the ‘70s.)

By then, Probe had become an international game. It traveled well anywhere the Latin alphabet was used, and it sold strongly in Germany as Tschick. Later German editions appeared as Super Tschick, following a path much like the American releases.

Ted and Betty Leavitt reportedly lived in a castle in Spain that Probe paid for. Yes, a castle.

Setting up a hidden word

This version of Probe uses letter cards, not the notebook-based edition. Before play begins, have a running-score board ready. New Venture Games scoreboards work for Probe and other games that need ongoing scoring.

Each player receives a flat word holder and a 96-card set in their chosen color. The activity-card deck can stay off to the side for now.

At the start of a round, every player chooses a word that is:

• Between three and 12 letters long, because the holder has 12 spaces.
• Not a proper noun.
• Spelled without apostrophes, hyphens, or other nonalphabetical characters.

Players find the needed letters in their card sets and place them face down on the holder. Each set also includes six blank cards, which can make a word look longer than it is. Blanks may go before or after the word, but never between its letters.

All cards must face the same direction. Position the holder so the baseline of the letters faces the other players, allowing them to read revealed cards correctly.

Once everyone has built a hidden word, the active player names another player and asks for a letter. The idea resembles Go Fish, except every successful request exposes part of a secret word.

If the targeted player has that letter, they must turn over one matching card. A player with duplicate letters chooses which copy to reveal and keeps any extra copies hidden. Only one card turns face up for each request.

A successful guess gives the active player another chance. They can ask the same player again or pick someone else. Their turn ends only when they ask for a letter the target doesn't have, then play passes left.

Players may not take notes about letters that have already been requested. Remembering those guesses is part of the game.

A successful requester scores the value printed beside the revealed letter on the target's holder. Asking for a blank can score points too, but only if the target has one.

Scoring, penalties, and the final rounds

Probe can be generous with points, but it also punishes careless play.

Keep a dictionary close by. A player who spells an invalid word loses 100 points.

The endgame begins when one player has only one face-down card left. Two more rounds remain unless every letter and blank becomes exposed before those rounds finish. At the end, players add the values of their remaining face-down cards to their scores. A player with five or more hidden cards gets a 100-point bonus instead of the individual card values.

The interruption rule and activity cards

A player who thinks they know an opponent's partly hidden word may interrupt the regular flow of play. However, their own holder must still have at least five face-down cards.

A correct interruption reveals every card on the guessed word. The player scores all of its previously hidden letters and adds a 100-point bonus. A wrong guess costs 50 points, while the target's remaining cards stay hidden.

The activity deck is optional. At the start of each turn, players may draw an activity card that causes a random effect, such as revealing a card or adding points. The rules don't require those cards, and leaving them out keeps the game focused on words, memory, and deduction.

Even familiar words can prove difficult. Stitch and pinky may look easy until only a few letters are visible.

For two players, each person sets up two word holders and plays what amounts to half of a four-player game. When a player asks for a letter, the answer applies to both holders owned by the targeted player.

For a larger party game, friends can bring their own copies and combine the sets to create more words. Keep each player's colored cards separate, though, so everyone goes home with the pieces they brought.

Probe's later years

In 1980, Games magazine named Probe one of its top 100 games after the title had sold several million copies. Parker Brothers brought letter cards back in 1981 and improved the holders and word trays. Games included Probe again in its 1982 top 100 list.

Parker Brothers updated the game one more time in 1982 with a square box, new components, and small, thin letter cards. Then Probe disappeared. The exact reason isn't known. Parker Brothers merged with Kenner Toys in 1985, or the Leavitts' license may have ended without renewal.

Vintage Probe prices can be wildly different. A 1976 edition appeared on an auction site for $350, while another copy turned up at a local thrift store for less than $10.

Check the edition and condition before paying collector prices. A brief history of Probe at Wikipedia adds a little more detail to the Probe story.

Ted and Betty Leavitt published another word game in 1982 called Flambuzzle. It appears to be a two-player crossword-style version of Hangman. I have not seen nor played Flamboozle; I’ve only seen photos on BoardGameGeek and Pinterest. It looks like an interesting follow-up to Probe.