The Game Crafter - Board Game Nerds Rejoice!

Newsie 1930 (Could be my long lost boy?)

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Imagine the Newsies of the 30s touting their headline newspapers for a few pennies. What a gyp!

Okay, that doesn't fit in with this story but it sounds funny (I think). Do Newsies go as far back as the 1800's? Because that's when this board game story really begins. And they sure had plenty to shout about in those days too.

Far from the days of Newsies, today's internet can and is usually tailored to each individual taste. I'm often amazed how my home page features so many things I'm interested in. How do they do that, I wondered? Oh, I forgot. I had subscribed to those stories a while back.

No wonder I keep seeing articles about antiques, science, and board games, just to name several of the dozens of topics I hand-picked off my news feed months ago. Go figure. I thought it was magic.

Okay, okay. Let me get to it. Zoom in to present day and now we can all geek-out on board games and all things about the wonders of making board games and card games too. No, this is not your grandfather's board game machinations. Although, some of them haven't changed much since. Uh, just for the record, ladies, I'm not really a nerd, I just look like one (a lot) and I play one on blogs like this.

I am a connoisseur (at least in my own mind) of all things antique and often nostalgic for the past. Well, not too far back, I'm partial to the Civil War era and I'm the love child of a 60's Flower Power chick so that explains a few things.

"Blogger is not being nice to me!"

Point is, most of us grew up with good ole' Sorry! The Game of Life and Monopoly, among others. Take a look at one of the first prototypes for Monopoly going back to the early 1900's. (Yeah, I really did my research on this one, folks.)

At least that's the claim about this cardboard mock-up below. For all we know it's a bad imitation someone cranked out on a drunken stupor. It looks legit, but who's to say. The Shroud of Turin was also believed legitimate and look how that turned out. Now that's funny!

Monopoly Game board, circa 1903?

I came across another round board game from the early 1800's. They seemed awfully fond of that shape. Take a look at this beauty. (below) I dug it up on one of my favorite online antique shops (Ruby Lane).

Published by the McLoughlin Brothers, they called the game, "A novel and fascinating fame with plenty of excitement on land and sea."

Imagine that. The game follows the adventures of Nellie Bly, which is a pseudonym for the American journalist Elizabeth Cochrane. It's said that in 1889, she sailed around the world in 72 days, breaking Phineas Fogg's record, the character in author Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.  Yes folks, Women's Lib (the real story) was alive and well back in the day too. Priceless folks.

Check out these detailed images

Center of the Board. Notice the red fold mark!

Detail from Nellie Bly's Board Game. Notice the 17th Day. Stormy and if you landed there, GO BACK 5 DAYS!