OCTOBER 24, 2023 DO YOU REMEMBER BOARD GAMES ?


Do you remember board games ?

Gaming had always been a form of family entertainment long before the invention of home computers and video game consoles. One type of game played for thousands of years is board games-especially throughout the 20th century. Unfortunately with technology, not many families still play board games.

Whatever happened to 'stick ball' , Hide and Seek, or Football Tackle. There are Board Games that have stood the test of time . Numerous board games have been created for the entire family to play. Children as young as six years old have been able to play some of these timeless board games.

Monopoly is one of the most classic of board games created in the early 1900s. Several updated versions of it have been created since Parker Brothers first produced it in 1935. The object of Monopoly is for one player to use both luck (roll of the dice) and strategy (careful financial investment) to become the most economically superior power. This action is achieved when the winning player is able to gain control over the most personal properties, utility companies, and financial opportunities. The game ends when one or more players go bankrupt. The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903, when an American woman named Elizabeth (Lizzie) J. Magie Phillips created a game through which she hoped to be able to explain the single tax theory of Henry George (it was intended to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies). Her game, The Landlord's Game,was commercially published in 1923. A series of variant board games based on her concept were developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. By 1934, the board  game  was called Monopoly.

This game  RISK, was created by Albert Lamorisse, and originally marketed in France under the name La Conquête du Monde (The Conquest of the World) in 1957. Risk was also published by Parker Brothers in 1959. The original game board of Risk is a map divided into 42 territories grouped on six continents, similar to the way the world was divided during the time Napoleon was alive. The object of this game is to conquer the world by way of opponent player elimination. I was not a fan of RISK. I rather play Battleship.

Scrabble is one of the most well-known letter crossword games. Earlier versions of it were created in the early 1930s, and then the name Scrabble was trademarked in 1948. This is by far, the game I enjoy the most next to Trivial Pursuit. I love words. This game finally became a success after Alfred Mosher Butts and James Brunot joined forces. By 1952 Scrabble had been licensed to Selchow & Righter Company. The main goal in Scrabble is to be the last person to be able to form words with remaining letter tiles. Points are given for every word formed, and the player with the most points wins the game.

This game, Trivial Pursuit  was first co-invented in 1979 by Scott Abbot and Chris Hanley in Canada. It showed up at a U.S. toy fair in 1982, and the game rights were sold to Parker Brothers in 1984. The main object of the game is to answer the most trivia points correctly, and to advance to the end of the game board There are many versions now. I enjoyed getting those colored Pies.   The games I remember vividly as a child in addition to monopoly were the following:   The board game Chutes and Ladders were invented in 1943. The Game of Life, also known simply as LIFE, is a board game originally created in 1860 by Milton Bradley, as The Checkered Game of Life (and later produced by the Milton Bradley Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. “Trouble" was invented by Kohner brothers in 1963. It was launched across the United States 14 months later in 1965


I want to do something this weekend that  requires no thought. It will require entering my 'craft room' and fumbling on the top shelf for a jigsaw puzzle. I then have to make the decision for which one- honeybees, herbal or Dali . John Spilsbury invented the jigsaw puzzle in 1767. Spilsbury was an engraver and mapmaker. The first jigsaw puzzle was a map of the world. Paint by numbers was invented in 1950 by Dan Robbins who was employed by the Palmer Paint Company

What will you do this weekend ?