COLUMN: LUKE HONEY
Our columnist on horse- related games
Every year I have to bet on The Grand National. It’s one of those yearly rites of passage.
In England, the sport of kings has had its loyal adherents over the last 300 years and is, of course, inextricably linked with gambling. The development of the railways and invention of the telegraph allowed racing to become a national sport. By the late 19th century, it had become a popular obsession, both on the racecourse and in the parlour.
The mechanical ‘Jeu de Course’ was a popular game in France enjoyed by gamblers at the turn of the century. Players cranked a handle and a carousel of colourful horses raced around a wooden case with a silver cup collecting the wagers. Some versions have elaborate Art Nouveau mounts and a patriotic French tricolour at the winning post.
British manufacturers developed the concept: in the early 1890s, the London ! rm of Jaques & Son published ‘Ascot – The New Racing Game’, an ingenious invention featuring lead racehorses a"ached to strings turned by a spindle in a wooden box. The strings wind around the spindle in a random fashion, meaning that it’s impossible to predict which horse will win the race. Jaques can also claim credit for popularising Staunton Chess Sets (1849), Croquet (1857), Snakes & Ladders (1888), Ludo (1897) and Ping-Pong (1901).
These were stylish a #er- dinner entertainments for the well-heeled. An advertisement in The Sketch (1893) shows a couple in evening dress playing ‘Ascot’, with 4 shillings for the cheapest version and up to £ 2, 2 shillings (about £ 250 in today’s money) for the most expensive, boasting a clockwork motor to operate the horses. In 1909, King Edward VII’s horse, Minoru, won the Derby to ‘the wildest scenes of enthusiasm ever known in England’; the ! rst time a reigning monarch had won. Sensing a business opportunity, Jaques released a new game, ‘ Minoru’, which featured a painting of the horse on the box. Harrods promoted it with daily sales demos. Players moved their horses by dealing a pack of playing cards, and the game came with a baize tablecloth and croupier’s rake.
In 1928, the Swiss inventor Arthur Gueydan invented ‘ Escalado’, another enterprising game manufactured by the British toy company Chad Valley, and believed to have been a favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The Queen awarded a royal warrant to Chad Valley in 1938.
For many collectors of antique games, the graphics appeal as much as the game itself. Waddingtons ! rst published ‘ Totopoly’ in 1938, an obvious wordplay on ‘ Monopoly’. The early boxes featured an Art Deco design, with the horses named a #er the winners of the Lincolnshire Handicap: King of Clubs, Jerome Fandor, Flamenco and Marmaduke Jinks. Antique and vintage racing games are still a $ordable, yet highly collectable. The ‘Jeu de Course’ turns up at auction with surprising frequency and usually makes £100 to £ 200. Prices for ‘Ascot’, ‘ Minoru’, ‘ Escalado’ (the earlier editions) and the rarer ‘ Manifesto’ vary, with prices fetching under £100 for ta"y examples to several hundred pounds. Early editions of ‘ Totopoly’ can be bought online for under £50.