COSMIC DEBRIS: Play Psychic Connection

Another one of many esoteric games advertised in Fate over the years. However, this one seems just as insubstantial as its subject matter: there's no photos of the actual product available online, and one reference claims that the game was never released. Google does have an entry for Laurie G. Larwood's patent application for the game, complete with schematics:

And a product abstract:

A game for evaluation and development of various psychic abilities between its participants. Objects are furnished which include bi-valued dimensional attributes, such as rough-smooth, solid-hollow, or heads-tails. A player concentrates on a chosen attribute and attempts to either transmit, receive, block, predict, or influence a given valued condition. A gameboard is provided on which a player's successes are marked by position of his player-piece or counter on the board. Counter positions are marked with the chance probability of reaching a given position from a start position in a given number of moves. Board layout is such that if the incidence of successes is greater than that expected by random chance alone, counters are moved toward another player, thereby establishing a higher degree of psychic connectivity.

Author Stacy Horn has an article on ESP/psychic board games on her EchoNYC blog, mentioning this game and also detailing some funny interplay between famous ESP researcher J.B. Rhine and colleague Dr. Louis D. Goodfellow, who tried his hand at creating his own ESP board game way back in 1939! Rhine thought it a tawdry bit of claptrap and said as much to Goodfellow.

As for Psychic Connection, weep for the loss to the ages: we could have had an 18 page instruction booklet, polymer game board, and a black candle all for $19.50 - that's roughly $60 nowadays!

Edit: see the comments for some updates! It seems there was a released version of this game, revamped by Laurie G. Larwood as a Dungeons and Dragons tie-in! Board game geek dot com has an entry for the retitled "Mystic Master" complete with this beautiful spread:

Oh what a tangled web ...

From Fate, Volume 34 - Number 6, June 1981.

COSMIC DEBRIS: Zodiac and Palmistry '77

At last! A wooden Ouija board! Though the Touch Palmistry Game looks far more interesting:

And Kreskin too!

The podcast Lunatics Radio Hour have episodes covering the game and its creator Maxine Fiel, one of those personalities who was a fixture of 70s pop culture but has the barest digital footprint nowadays. She passed away in April 2020 according to her obituary, at the incredible age of 96. 

From Fate, Volume 23 - Number 12, December 1977.

 

COSMIC DEBRIS: Dragon Mystique Fortune Telling Game

Another gimcrack fortune telling game, this time dressed up with ancient Chinese secrets. The now de rigeur defunct online listing provides these pictures:

As for the second ad, Catherine Ponder was a pioneering author in the Prosperity Gospel racket.

From Fate, Volume 30 - Number 12, December 1977.

COSMIC DEBRIS: The Galaxy Gazer

A combination of tarot and astrology to get you coming and going. There's some background information available on Morgan & Morgan, the publishers behind the tarot deck included with the game. The following game images were taken from a defunct online listing:

From Fate, Volume 26 - Number 9, September 1973.

COSMIC DEBRIS: Witch Hunt

"Become a WITCH armed with authentic EARTH MAGIC of the times!" And how! The game and its contents can be found listed under "Miscellanea" at Wayne's Books RPG Reference:

From Fate, Volume 37 - Number 4, April 1984.