[1] The game was invented in 1948 by William H. Schaper, a manufacturer of small commercial popcorn machines in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.

It was likely inspired by an earlier pencil-and-paper game where players drew cootie parts according to a dice roll and/or a 1939 game version of that using cardboard parts with a cootie board.

[2] Schaper's cootie, which was originally wooden and sold at the Schaper family's Robbinsdale Bakery,[3] was commercialised in 1949[4] and moved to a plastic construction for wide distribution.

To collect parts, players roll the Cootie Cube (die).

Players must first collect the body with a 1 roll, then the head with a 2, and then the remaining parts in any order.