VINTAGE GAMES

VINTAGE GAMES

Games with balls have a long history. Small glass, marble-like balls have been known for some 3,000 years from the Mediterranean area, though there is evidence that they were used in religious ceremonies rather than as toys. The first European marbles to be used as playthings appeared in Venice in the 14th century. They were made in both transparent and opaque glass of different colours and incorporated some of the innovative glass decorative techniques that the Venetian glass makers are well- known for, including latticinio - coloured strands inside the glass - and the decorative use of air bubbles. They ranged in size from 1 cm (i in) to 5 cm (2 in) in diameter.

VINTAGE GAMES

Glass marbles did not become popular in the rest of Europe until the 18th century and even then many of the marbles were imported from Venice. Later in the century marbles in the Venetian-style were made in France, Germany, England and the Low Countries.

As well as glass marbles many other types were made in the 18th and 19th centuries, including Dutch 'stonies' made from Coburg stone in Germany, Chinamen - large ceramic marbles with black and white bands - and 'bouncers', cricket-ball size marbles made in Sunderland, England, around 1850. The game of marbles was at its most popular around 1870.

Some of the prettiest balls are the porcelain carpet balls which were rolled along the corridors of stately homes in the 17th century. However, a ball often requires something else with it and in medieval games one

finds a trap and ball, cup and ball, and bat and ball.

Hoops were mostly for boys in medieval days, but battledore and shuttlecock was played by both boys and girls, the same with diabolo and the much more ancient game of yoyo.

At the end of the 18th century small books appeared extolling obedi­ence to one's parents, and picture cards issued in 1788 also had a moral purpose, for it had been said that many indoor games promoted cunning. In 1815 alphabet cards appeared, and there were sets of ivory letters to help with reading. Some of the books were less than 5 cm (2 in) high and only 35 mm (1£ in) wide.

VINTAGE GAMES

Picture cards were cut in halves, the picture being complete when the correct half had been found. Children learn t natural history and geo­graphy by these means. The cards were hand -coloured engravings and after 1835 could be hand-coloured lithographs. At first the colours were pale but later the cards were painted in bright colours.

The Victorians and Edwardians enjoyed playing cards and other indoor pastimes. Board games were numerous on both sides of the Atlantic and lucky children shared improving games with their parents. Jig-saw puzzles and picture alphabets taught them much, and many historical facts were learned effortlessly. It was quite usual for a five-year- old child to read.

 

A card game popular among adults in the 19th century was the 'question and answer' game with the question on one card and the answer on another. When placed in the correct sequence a complete story would reveal itself. A children's card game designed along similar lines was 'Welcome Intruder' which appeared after 1815.

The first attempt at light-heated rather than educational card games was by Anne W. Abbott of Beverly, Massachusetts, who devised a card game based on a character called Dr Busby. She eventually sold the idea and it first appeared on the market in 1843. Happy Families was played in Britain from 1861 while Animal Grab made its debut in 1890.

VINTAGE GAMES

Chinese puzzles were unknown to most people in Europe until the second half of the 19th century. Once they became popular however, they were widely imitated and adapted, resulting in such games as the Egyptian Mummy puzzle, the Persian Shah puzzles and The Silver Bullet, a First World War game. At the turn of the 19th century pocket puzzles, which had eight to fifteen pieces arranged in a backed frame leaving one space blank, appeared; each piece carried a letter, number or symbol, the object being to arrange the pieces in a specified sequence. Also popular was the game, still found today, which consisted of a small box containing several tiny balls; the box had to be carefully manipulated until all the balls rested in separate depressions in the base of the box.

Like puzzles, many board games of the 19th century were based on Oriental games. Fox and Geese is probably the best-known of these and it first reached Europe in the late 17th century. Variations on the game include Officers and Sepoys, and Asalto.

VINTAGE GAMES

Early board games, jig-saws, building bricks and puzzles came in wooden boxes with sliding lids and attractive labels. Inside would be the instructions and the counters. Instead of dice which were considered to promote gambling, a teetotum was introduced which could be of various shape and size. Moral games were still the thing in which virtue was rewarded and vice punished.

The first dissected puzzles were maps. The pieces were large, often being cut around the actual county or country and there was a guide sheet to follow.

The first board game published by Milton Bradley in the United States also had a moral tone. This was The Checkered Game of Life, which came in 1860. Many of the later games were based on banking and earning money such as The Business of Going to Work, and later still Monopoly.