Found in the Archives

1942 Wartime Party Game

We came across this interesting little item in a recent donation by the family of Charles H. McCarthy, Sr., an original member of the so-called Cuff Links Gang who gathered every January 30th to celebrate FDR’s birthday.

It seems that at the 1942 birthday bash the guests played a party game called “6 Shots at a Ratzi”, a sort of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game where Hitler’s posterior was the donkey. This game, printed on very lightweight paper, involved placing a lit cigarette on a red dot next to the player’s favorite weapon of choice. You could choose between a tank, a rifle, and a variety of machine guns and cannon. The cigarette apparently ignited a narrow line of chemical painted on the paper from the weapon to the swastika on Hitler’s behind. The player who successfully hit the swastika won the game.

The handwritten notation on the game was made by Mr. McCarthy and identifies it as coming from the 1942 birthday dinner for the President. There’s no record of who won the game, but we hope everyone followed the printed warning “Avoid lighting in draft.”