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Family-friendly entertainment isn’t a modern idea. Board games have existed for thousands of years—evidence of the ancient Egyptian game Senet dates back over 5000 years. Here are 15 games that people enjoyed long before the 20th century:
1. THE NEW GAME OF HUMAN LIFE
Image Credit: Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University
In this game from 1790, players journeyed through various stages of life, beginning from infancy. Movement on the game board was determined by the moral standing of the square they landed on. A player who landed on the 'drunkard' square would move backwards, while landing on 'The Assiduous Youth' advanced them. Players could also move back if they landed on careers like 'The Romance Writer' or 'The Dramatist,' reflecting the 18th-century social views.
2. LITTLE DICKEY BIRDS
Image Credit: Bodleian Libraries
This children’s game from 1860 used a teetotum, a spinning top, to move birds along numbered spaces. Other titles for this game included 'Kindness to Dumb Animals,' 'Wrong and Right,' and 'Reading to the Sick.'
3. THE MANSION OF HAPPINESS
Image Credit: William and Stephen B Ives via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
In the early 1800s, this was the most popular board game in Britain. It focused on themes of vice and virtue, as players aimed to reach the 'mansion,' a divine reward for the virtuous. Imagine it as Chutes and Ladders meets Sunday school.
4. THE PANORAMA OF EUROPE
Image Credit: Bodleian Libraries
Originally published in 1815, players raced across European cities from Oporto, Portugal to London by spinning a teetotum. According to the rulebook, landing on a capital city earned a bonus spin, and the first player to land exactly on the London square was declared the winner.
5. CHAUPAR
Image Credit: Devidasa of Nurpur via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
Chaupar, a traditional gambling game, has been played in India for centuries and was particularly popular in royal courts. Often played on a cross-shaped cloth board, it involves three dice and 16 pieces. The modern game of Parcheesi is based on a variant of chaupar known as pachisi.
6. JOURNEY/CROSS-ROADS TO CONQUEROR'S CASTLE
Image Credit: Bodleian Libraries
In this 1835 board game, players spun a 'circle of chance' that determined their movement—forward, backward, left, or right—while traveling through a village and towards a castle on a hill. Along the way, they encountered impassable waterways, robberies, and other challenges.
7. BIRD CHESS
Image Credit: Tamago915 via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0
In Tori Shogi, a Japanese variation of chess, all the pieces represent birds, such as phoenixes, cranes, and swallows. The game was created in 1799 [PDF].
8. HALMA
Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
This two-player game, invented in the 1880s by an American surgeon, was named after an ancient Greek word meaning 'jump.' Halma lost popularity in the 1900s when Chinese checkers, a game with similar rules that allowed for more players, was introduced.
9. JUMBO THE CHILDREN'S FRIEND
Image Credit: Bodleian Libraries
The rulebook for this quirky zoo game hasn’t survived, but it appears to have involved numbered animals and came with beautiful artwork. Perhaps it was a paint-by-numbers type of game?
10. ASALTO
This game, whose name translates to 'assault' in English, was first seen in Germany as early as 1803. One corner of the board represented a fortress, which one player had to defend against an attack from the other. Most pieces were foot soldiers, but there were two officers who could move more freely. The objective was to capture the opponent’s pieces and win the battle.
11. DISTRICT MESSENGER BOY
Image Credit: ItsLassieTime via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
The McLoughlin Brothers publishing house released this game in 1886. By moving pieces across the board, players competed to see who would rise to become the president of a telegraph company.
12. BINKO'S REGISTERED RAILWAY GAME
Image Credit: Bodleian Libraries
This two-player game was created to help children learn the geography of England, Scotland, and Wales. Players placed locomotives at a starting point and rolled dice to determine how far they could travel.
13. NOUVEAU JEU DE L'HIMEN
Image Credit: Victoria & Albert Museum, purchased with funds from the Bryan Bequest
A French board game, which translates roughly to 'new game of marriage' (though the last word can also mean hymen), is depicted on this porcelain tray from around 1725. The squares trace the course of a romantic relationship, with references to Ovid, the Odyssey, and other classical works.
14. ASTRONOMICAL TABLES
Image Credit: Alfonso X of Castile via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
The game of astronomical tables—or seven-sided backgammon—was featured in the Book of Games, an encyclopedia commissioned by Alfonso X of Spain in the 13th century. Each of the seven sides represented one of the seven planets known at the time (the moon and sun included, but Uranus and Neptune were not yet discovered). The medieval text described the game as 'very noble, very strenuous, very elegant, and of great intellect for the wise,' according to one translation.
15. CHECKERED GAME OF LIFE
Image Credit: George Mason University via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
Board game pioneer Milton Bradley introduced the Checkered Game of Life during the Civil War. The game begins in infancy and ends in old age, with events like 'crime,' 'industry,' 'politics,' and 'Cupid' marking the journey. Bradley's original game eventually evolved into the modern Life board game we know today.
