Original Item: Only One Available. We are not going to lie, before this was photographed and written up, it was most definitely played a few times and can be addicting, so be careful! All pieces are complete, the rules and still legible and the glass is unbroken, however this game does show signs of many years of faithful play but was not abused.

Of all the germs kids are exposed to on the playground, there’s one they freak out about more than any other: cooties.

The word first appeared during World War I as soldiers’ slang for the painful body lice that infested the trenches. It went mainstream in 1919 when a Chicago company incorporated the pest into the Cootie Game, in which a player maneuvered colored “cootie” capsules across a painted battlefield into a cage. The cooties concept has been evolving ever since

The game depicts a battlefield scene with soldiers in trenches, airplanes, and a firing cannon. Enclosed are four capsules meant to represent cooties. Luckily the instructions and object of the game is still visible on the back:

COOTIE GAME
REGISTERED U.S. Pat. Office
Capture The Cooties
Fascinating New European Game
(For all ages in life)

The object of the game is to capture and imprison all the cooties in the pen.

A very entertaining game can be played by using four to twelve of the games, giving each player one. The player who imprisons all the Cooties the quickest wins.

Patented
United States - Canada - England - France

JAMES R. IRVIN & CO., Inc.
Manufacturers, Importers and Exporters
CHICAGO, U.S.A.

The game measures approximately 5” x 4” and is 1” wide. It is in wonderful condition but there is slight fading to the colors, the tin housing is a little misshapen and the glass is cloudy. Luckily enough, there is a securing tab on the top that can be folded up and the frame can be removed to clean the glass further if you would wish to do so, but do so carefully.

A lovely example ready to be displayed or even played!