Antiques: When games were played with dice and boards
In the years gone by, it used to be that friends and families wanting a pleasant way to spend some time would turn to board games. In front of a lit fire, the hours would go by in quiet contemplation of the board, with an occasional burst of noise after a good move or some bad luck. Stores would stock dozens of different games, and many homes had cabinets filled with them.
Today, of course, games are mostly played on computers with isolated contestants all across the globe. To be sure, they're colorful and fast-moving, but offer little or nothing in terms of togetherness and socialization. Oh well — there's no putting that genie back in the bottle, but we can still cover board games in antique columns like this. So let's do so.
While accounts differ, it's clear that the history of board games goes back a long way. There is significant evidence that the Middle East was the birthplace of such games some 5,000 years ago. Countries such as Egypt, Iraq and Syria were early adopters, and ancient dice — central to most board games — made from bone, shell, wood and other materials have been in discovered in all of those regions. Predecessors to today's six-sided dice had four and sometimes only two sides, perhaps indicating that life in those times was chancy enough without so many options.
While little is known about the rules of play, Egyptian pharaohs played games known as Mehen and Senet, both with religious and even magical overtones. The figures and boards are somewhat reminiscent of chess with contestants intent on capturing each other's pieces. Other games such as backgammon and Ur also have ancient histories, examples of the latter being found in the tomb of King Tut among others. Board games in Europe go back almost as far.
Indeed, the English have long had a passion for board games and the worldwide spreading of the British Empire brought with it a taste for board games across the globe.
Here in the USA, the first board game domestically produced was published by a New York bookseller in 1822. The game was called Traveller's Tour Through the United States and a sister game called Traveller's Tour Through Europe quickly followed. Both games proved popular, and by century's end, there began an era now known as the golden years of board games. Mass production techniques growing out of the Industrial Revolution made board games cheap to manufacture, and it wasn't long before there were hundreds of competing titles. The period ended only after the introduction of radio and the phonograph following WWI, but the category remains alive and well today.
No review of board games would be complete without at least a mention of Monopoly, one of the most popular board games of all time. It has been licensed in more than 100 countries, and versions are now available in some 43 different languages. First introduced in 1903, it was designed as a political statement to show the evils inherent in concentrated power.
To date, some 275 million copies of Monopoly have been sold around the world, and it remains the third best-selling board game of all time behind chess and checkers. Over the years, more than a billion would-be monopolists have competed against each other. So, if your kids or grandkids are spending way too much time on their computers — and aren't they all? — then pull out a board game some rainy night. You just might pique their interest.
Mike Rivkin and his wife, Linda, are longtime residents of Rancho Mirage. For many years, he was an award-winning catalogue publisher and has authored seven books, along with countless articles. Now, he's the owner of Antique Galleries of Palm Springs. His antiques column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Want to send Mike a question about antiques? Drop him a line at info@silverfishpress.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Antiques: When games were played with dice and boards
