Four mystery movies are targets tonight of a fundraising game at the Old Buggy Inn in Carthage.

The game is "Name That Movie!" -- a guessing game evening with food and wine and prizes.

The idea came from the Literacy Council's annual dinner game in which guests try to figure out the names of works from which costumed characters (played by local people) are drawn.

Four famous feature flicks (all having a transportation theme) are the quarry of a guessing game, with clues provided by costumed characters and film-related food. It is the first of what is to be an annual fundraising event supporting the Carthage Buggy Festival and the Moore County Literacy Council.

"Since we are donating 10 percent to the Moore County Literacy Council, I asked other board members to help sell tickets," Pat Motz-Farzier said. "They have just been doing a bang-up job. Earlier this week, we had probably 45 to 50 advance tickets sold."

She owns and operated the bed-and-breakfast in one of Carthage's old homes in the town historic district and has donated its use for the annual fundraiser.

"Tickets are $15 a person for the whole evening, and that includes wine, food, game, everything," Motz-Frazier said. "People don't have to spend one other cent once they come, if they don't want to. If they do, we will also have two raffles. One is for golf for four at Longleaf, and the other is for a spa day at Studio 105 here in Carthage. They get hair services, a full body massage and a spray tanning."

Raffle tickets are $5 apiece.

"We basically have a raffle for men and a raffle for women," she said. "We kind of thought we'd target one raffle for men and one for women, but a man could win the spa day and give it to his wife, or win both and have a couples package."

The game has four movies. What people will do is come, interact with characters from those movies played by volunteer actors, including some city officials from Carthage. The characters are played by police officers, other residents and some members of the Literacy Council. The menu, prepared by local restaurants, will also offer clues to help players.

"Players write their guesses as to the movies' names on ballots, one ballot per person per movie," Motz-Frazier said. "Toward the end of the party we will reveal the names of our movies. The movies are all transportation-related, because this is a fundraiser for the Carthage Buggy Festival.

"Anybody who guesses all four will be entered into a drawing. We literally have lots of prizes from local merchants -- golf, dinners, lunches, gift certificates, nights at the Old Buggy Inn, a container garden from Possum Run Nursery -- and more."

The game starts at 6:30 tonight (Friday, at the Old Buggy Inn. Tickets are available at the door or beforehand at the Carthage Municipal Building.

"We are going to serve dessert at the very end, after the game and the drawings," she said. "With dinner, we have red and white wine, bottled water and sweet tea. Smithfield -- you know, Smithfield Hams? -- provided all the food for one movie along with the sweet tea."

She won't reveal anything on the menu, because everything is a clue in the game. Different restaurants donated cuisine for each film.

"Our Mexican restaurant that just relocated to its new home on 15-501 is one of our food donors," she said. "Of course Peking Wok, who are building their new restaurant here, is another. The fourth is Squire's Pub from down in Southern Pines. We have four restaurants, four movies, but some of us, including me, are also cooking. I can't tell you what, because it would be a clue."

The annual Carthage Buggy Festival takes place Friday night, May 8, and all day Saturday, May 9, Mother's Day weekend.

Contact John Chappell at 783-5841 or by e-mail at jchappell@thepilot.com.