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Creating a scrapbook page with game
pieces
For more than a century and a half, classic board games like checkers, Parcheesi, and backgammon have provided American children and adults with countless hours of entertainment and a little friendly competition. While board games are primarily meant as entertaining diversions, the history of board games also reflects the historical preoccupations of the cultures that embraced them. Parents forbade amusements on the Sabbath but would encourage their children to play these games on other days. Game titles during the Victorian era included Honesty, Cruelty, and Peacemaker. Games taught children lessons about bravery, loyalty, diligence, and piety. Social historians view games as revealing documents, filled with clues about the daily lives of the people who bought and enjoyed them. Games played in this country before the middle of the 19th century were imported, primarily from Britain. The first known copy of an American game dates from 1822, but the first mass-market board games were first manufactured n the United States about 1840. Old games often glorified family, virtue, and patriotism. Before Monopoly[1], there were games so beautiful that some collectors call the three decades during which they were made, (in the 1880s), the “Golden Age.” Early board games feature high-quality lithography on the box, board, pieces, and cards. Graphic pizzazz often outshined playability. Early game manufacturers were stationers, not toy manufacturers. Chromolithography – the same process used for those gorgeous Victorian Valentines – allowed manufacturers like McLoughlin Brothers, Milton Bradley, and Parker Brothers to produce inexpensive, handsomely-designed games for a growing, affluent, middle class. Antique game boards and pieces are popular today because of their bold pattern and vibrant color. The early boards and game pieces had painted designs probably applied mechanically, by stencil or similar device. Easy to find game pieces to find and use for scrapbooking include Bingo cards (in an array of designs and colors) and Monopoly cards and money. However, early Monopoly cards had a plain look with few visuals. Mismatched game pieces are plentiful. The most accessible and usefully – old Scrabble tiles. They are abundant! Tiddedly Winks, played with round, flat disks were manufactured in 1883. The disks, with their flat design and primary colors, make colorful additions to any scrapbook page. Many collectors admire the early games more for the graphic art on the boxes and board. The artwork on these games offers a nostalgic and often funny glimpse of the fashions, activities, and attitudes of the past. McLoughlin Brothers, Inc. made the very nicest games. They are quite rare and difficult to locate because they stopped production in 1920. Candy Land cards are perfect tags. Simply punch a hole and attach a ribbon. Their colorful squares are a vibrant addition to your pages. Old Maid cards can add a bit of humor on your pages.
In the 1970s and 80s, the board game industry lost some of its steam and mainly manufactured uninspired novelty games based on popular TV shows. Flea markets and estate sales are excellent sources for early game pieces. As the McLoughlin Brothers catalog of 1885 put it, “Games tend to make happy firesides.” For more interesting facts and ideas
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Download PDF file of this article [1] Psychologists point out that people who may be unsure of their status in real life can receive a direct and immediate reading on their abilities at Monopoly. They can find out right away if they are winners or losers. “The skill and luck factors in Monopoly are reassuring to many people,” says popular psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers. |
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