Hūsker Dū?
Hūsker Dū? is a memory game that can be played by children and adults. Published in Denmark[citation needed] and later Sweden[citation needed] and North America in the 1950s, the game is currently owned and distributed by the New Jersey company Endless Games. In Danish and Norwegian "Husker du?" means "Do you remember?"
Game play
The game board consists of a surface with holes in it, laid on top of a dial which contains small pictures. The dial is rotated before the start of the game, so that each image falls under a hole. Each hole is covered up by a marker. On a player's turn, he or she removes two markers to reveal the pictures underneath. If the images match, the player gets to take the two markers as their score. If there is not a match, the markers are replaced and the next player takes his or her turn. The winner is the player who takes the most pawns.
Controversial advertisement
The American version of the board game was first distributed in the 1950s by the Pressman Toy Corporation. The board game proclaimed itself a game "in which the child can outwit the adult."
A notorious advertisement for the game that aired during the 1973 Christmas season featured subliminal cuts, with the phrase "Get It." Even though subliminal messages are commonly believed to be ineffective, the FCC received complaints about the ad and issued a public notice calling subliminal advertising "deceptive and contrary to the public interest."[1]
The Premium Corporation of America voluntarily removed the commercial from the air, claiming that the subliminal message was inserted by a misguided employee.
Another early ad featured a voiceover by pro wrestling announcer Mean Gene Okerlund.[2]
References
- ↑ One of William Poundstone's Big Secrets books
- ↑ K-tel "Husker DU?" commercial