Little Orphan Annie’s Treasure Hunt

Drink Ovaltine and win! Literally!

This amusing board game was created in 1933 as part of a corporate partnership between the Little Orphan Annie radio show and Ovaltine, a chocolate-flavored milk additive. (Fans of the film A Christmas Story will recognize Ralphie’s decoder as another example of this co-branding).

Rules on the back instruct players to move their tokens (not included) by spinning on a color using the wheel in the lower left. Landing on ‘Drink Ovaltine’ or ‘Big Appetite’ will move a player forward rapidly, whereas ‘Won’t Eat’ or ‘Won’t Drink Milk’ sets them back. Detours to places like ‘the Isle of No Pep’ and ‘Sissies of Cry Baby Land’ require landing on the correct color to advance towards the ‘Treasure Isle of Health and Happiness’.

References to Ovaltine are incorporated throughout, but none so favorably as the yellow spaces which give the players that land upon them a clear advantage. A letter from Annie in the lower right encourages the players (presumably children) to “be ‘spectful to grown folks an’ don’t talk back…an’ drink Ovaltine every day, with meals an’ between meals.”