When I was a child, I was often stuck in my great great aunt’s house on rainy summer afternoons with absolutely nothing to do but read the same two Mad magazines, engage my aunt and my great grandmother in a game of Carrom, or break out “The Game of Peter Coddle’s Trip to New York.” It was a form of what are now called “mad libs,” in which we would read the story of Peter Coddle from the provided booklet, and pull little pieces of cardboard with a variety of adjectives and nouns on them to fill in the blanks. Hilarity ensued.
The game (which had no scoring or winning, only amusement) was published as early as 1888, and by various game publishers. This edition, published by Parker Brothers, may be one of the earliest.
At one time I had coded a version of the game, but at some point that code broke so I can’t present it any longer; perhaps sometime I’ll upgrade it.
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