LOOKING BACK
WHAT’S A GATHERING WITHOUT PLAYING A FEW GAMES? WE CELEBRATE THE BOARD GAMES THAT HAVE BEEN KEEPING US ENTERTAINED FOR CENTURIES
A history of the board games that stopped us from being, well, bored
Think a game of Monopoly drags on too long, actually? You’re not alone. The American games manufacturer Parker Brothers initially rejected the family favourite, naming “52 fundamental errors” with the game, including length. As we now know, these errors didn’t hamper the game’s popularity – more than a billion people have played it since the 1930s. It, and the likes of Scrabble, Snakes & Ladders and Cluedo have been enlivening gatherings for decades, even centuries. ‘Game Plan: Board Games Rediscovered’, opening at the V&A Museum of Childhood this month, explores the history of board games and celebrates the joy – and frustration – of playing them.
PLAY LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
Like Monopoly (the beginnings of which are now thought to be the Landlord’s Game patented in 1904, rather than being the invention of Charles Darrow who took his version of the game to Parker Brothers), many of our favourite games were invented in the 20th century. But board games have been around for thousands of years, with sets of the ancient Egyptian game Senet discovered in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Games including backgammon, from Persia, and chess, from India, developed around the sixth century, and came to Europe through trade routes. “Chess was an important part of medieval life,” says Catherine Howell, curator of the V&A Museum of Childhood exhibition. “It fitted the whole ethos of chivalry and you had a lot of men playing women, as an allegory for love.”
RACE FOR THE PRIZE
Early board games were intended to be played by adults, particularly royalty and those high up in society. But a