''Voice of the Mummy'' is a three-dimensional

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

produced by

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

in 1971. It used an actual

record player A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

to instruct the players during the game.A Sears Wishbook Advertisement Page from 1971
(JPEG)

Method of play

According to the description inside the game's boxtop, the game takes place in an ancient

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

's tomb, which has a three-level pathway scattered with jewels. Using a single

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

, and directed by a voice - presumably that of the pharaoh's mummy - the players (called "Explorers" in the instructions) travel up and around the steps surrounding a

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

collecting jewels, in an attempt to be the first to arrive at the mummy that lies inside the sarcophagus to receive the "great jewel," that also comes with the evil cobra "spell." The game uses sound to direct players and control the strategy of play. The sound is produced by a record player concealed inside the mummy's sarcophagus on the playing board. When an Explorer lands on certain areas of the board, they must move a lever which starts the record. The ominous voice speaks out one of 40 recorded messages, telling the Explorer what they must do, e.g., ''"Avoid the paralyzing touch of the slimy snails of Arro. Return at once to your temple,"'' or ''"Listen to the lost souls whispering in eternal darkness. Take one jewel,"'' etc. In the television commercial which promoted the game, the message was, ''"Look out--the unholy snakes of Amon reach from below! Move up one level."'' Some messages may help the player, whereas others may be harmful to the progress of the Explorer. Players have no way of knowing which message they will hear. Once an Explorer acquires the "great jewel" and the "cobra's spell," the record is then turned over. Still controlled by the mummy's voice, Explorers, in a scramble to avoid the Explorer that is attempting to get rid of the spell, try to get out of the pharaoh's tomb with the highest value of jewels to win the game.

References

Board games introduced in 1971 {{game-stub