Years ago I bought on eBay the box for the game, in an auction which openly confessed it lacked the cards. I figured I might find only the cards available for sale at some point, and didn't want to then lack the box, so I bought it.

I did in fact find just a set of the cards for sale recently and bought them. I already knew what they looked like, since they'd been scanned in a CC Yahoo! Group along with the rules.

Pretty happy to complete the set! (Though I had to print out the rules).

It's a very simple game, Uno essentially. The board game is more interesting.

Dear Christopher,

Congratulations on your nice find! Your persistence paid off.

Sincerely,
Rush Glick

Thanks!

I like Uno, so it is fun to play, though one wishes it had been more Chan-related in some way. Having bought just game parts kept the price down, though, which was nice. And I somehow had lucked out on the price for the board game when I'd bought that, which can be a couple hundred dollars or more sometimes.

Are the novels in the public domain? I wonder if one could create a new Charlie Chan game, provided it was based on the novels and not the films, comics, etc.

As a matter of fact you can get at least five of Earl Der Biggers' novels (plus a non-Chan extra) at http://gutenberg.net.au/crime-mystery.html:

The House Without a Key (1925)--Text--ZIP
The Chinese Parrot (1926)--Text--ZIP
Behind that Curtain (1928)--Text--ZIP
The Black Camel (1929)--Text--ZIP
Charlie Chan Carries On (1930)--Text--ZIP--HTML
Keeper of the Keys (1932)--Text--ZIP

The Agony Column - at Freeread

Virginia