Playing Ghost (and Other Halloween Treats) 

by Alex J. Coyne © Gifts for Card Players

Halloween has almost arrived at the doorstep. That means it’s nearly time to carve faces into pumpkins and hang decorative skeletons from the roof … Nobody said that Halloween traditions weren’t strange!

There are particular things associated with this October holiday (like the colour orange, bobbing for apples or playing the card divination game Ghost) that might need some explanation. 

Why do we associate these games, colours and traditions with Halloween and this time of year? 

We’ll talk about how to play Ghost and why games like these often match up well with this time of the year but first – 

Let’s Start with … Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is another famous tradition that some cultures and countries associate with the same month as many do Halloween. Traditionally, the first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Bavarian Prince Ludwig – and today it’s still a popular commemorative festival that’s about celebrating cultures and having fun.

Long before the Bavarian Prince’s wedding celebration, the Oktoberfest time period was closely associated with the autumnal equinox or harvest festival celebrations.

Halloween is also associated with Samhain, a traditional Celtic festival and modern Pagan commemoration that marks the seasonal change.

Because the Wheel of the Year is associated with hemispheres and seasonal changes, many people use the appropriate equivalent for where they are in the world.

• The Northern Hemisphere (White Wolf Journeys)
• The Southern Hemisphere (Spells8)

Halloween traditions like trick-or-treating and horror movie marathons have become traditionally associated with October for many people – yes, even writing this from South Africa where there are many Halloween events in October!

Apple Bobbing

Bobbing for apples is a traditional party game associated with Halloween, where participants have to grab hold of an apple using their teeth – and of course, without using their hands.

Why on earth would people do that in the first place? 

Apple bobbing traces back to Celtic traditions: it was a method of divination similar to picking names from a hat.

Traditionally, only unmarried women would play the apple-selecting game. Each floating apple was named after a potential suitor – someone they might have been interested in. Whichever apple you catch, may prove to be your future relationship partner.

Apple bobbing resurfaced in popularity during the Victorian era, and then eventually became part of Halloween traditions with people forgetting about its origins and turning it into a casual party game. During the Baby Boom years of the 1950s in Canada, apple bobbing was a staple at Halloween parties. Although, sometimes, the apples were tied to the ceiling with strings with celebrants attempting to get a bite without touching the apple.

Games like charades – guessing someone’s word or phrase with creative mime – were also particularly popular during Victorian times.

People would also play games like The Minister’s Cat, a guessing game where people would add various descriptive words (starting with the letter A) to the phrase “The Minister’s cat is an animal that is…”

There was one more traditional Victorian game whereby you had to pinch someone’s noise, and the rule was that they couldn’t laugh – or they were out of the game. 

Apple bobbing might have survived the test of time, but nose-pinching party games didn’t quite catch on as much. 

Ghost and Other Divination Games

Seances and spirit communication parties were also popular during the Victorian era, and eventually came to be associated with the list of Halloween traditions. Halloween is still commonly associated with horror tropes and slasher movies today.

The Victorian era had many new inventions and scientific discoveries, which made people curious about how things might work for others who had passed on. 

For all the advancement, many diseases (like tuberculosis and smallpox) still had high mortality rates in Victorian times – and this only added to why seances, spirit communication and divination games were at an all-time height.

Apple bobbing wasn’t the only game of its type. Victorian-time people would also peel apples, and then throw the peel to the floor and interpret what it’s shape might have to tell them about their question.

Divination games, along with spirit communication, was a natural means for people to calm their anxieties about Victorian era life.

Cosmetics still contained arsenic due to a lack of knowledge about just how dangerous this was to their health, and people drank beer over water due to the potential dangers associated with water contamination.

Playing Ghost

Ghost is referenced on WikiHow as “a spirit channelling game” and appears in /r/Paranormal as a potential paranormal card game for otherworldly contact. 

However, there aren’t many other references out there to where the game might have come from … Or who originally invented this spin on pendulum divination and Ouija boards.

According to the WikiHow description, the game sets out a standard 52-card deck of playing cards around the participants. Players are encouraged to shuffle nine times, and cut the deck six times – and then lay cards out in front of players in a protective circle.

It very much sticks to the traditions of seance-like communication parties that might have been popular in Victorian times. 

Players then move their hands over the cards, and pick up the first cards which they might feel omits heat. Intuitively, the WikiHow description implies, players will know which card they are guided towards the most.

The rules for Ghost says that the player’s answer is related to the suit for the card they have picked up. 

According to WikiHow, these are your suit-related meanings:

• Hearts (♥) – Yes 

• Spades (♠) – No 

• Clubs (♣) – Maybe
• Diamonds (♦) – Unsure

Does the game of Ghost really put players in touch with smart, supernatural or outside forces? 

Perhaps not, but it’s still fun to imagine what could happen after you’ve just watched a Halloween movie marathon and gotten the group to sit together in a circle … 

Halloween Solitaire

Halloween isn’t just about ancient traditions and old Victorian divination games at parties. Let’s remember that Halloween is a time to have fun and get together with people you enjoy spending time with – in fact, that’s what most holidays should be about!

Solitaire is traditionally played alone, but also exists in multiplayer format … Or you can play the regular version and have friends or family members tell you why you’ve just made the wrong move over your shoulder.

Halloween Solitaire rebrands the game and deck, but keeps the rules pretty standard.

if you’re looking for a mixed bag of different solitaire games with a Halloween theme, you can find that at HalloweenSolitaire.com. Solitaire.org also hosts this fun Halloween-themed solitaire game that you can play directly in your browser.

Solitaire: Halloween Story has 120 different match-based solitaire levels. The game is available from Steam.

Bonus: Halloween Movies for 2025!

Unsure what to watch?

The Monkey (2025) is a film adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name, which was originally published back in 1980, The story centres around, well, a haunted toy monkey that should have been left alone. Watch the trailer for The Monkey below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it5gsM7bgSs

R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead (2025) is a standalone horror story that expands the vast R.L. Stine universe. Some might remember the book Attack of the Jack-o-Lanterns (1996) – and will surely love what’s up next! Watch the trailer for R.L.Stine’s Pumpkinhead below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqmrfVrPJlY

Let’s not forget all the classic Halloween-themed movies you can also choose from – including Monster House, Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown!

What are you planning for Halloween 2025? We’ve also put together this list of Creepy Card Games for Your Halloween Extravaganza. Have fun!