All Fun and Games

Nice weekly free thread discussing the games we play! Don't miss Wobbuffet's commentary about the history of parlor games from antiquity to the present, and how old games reveal themselves in modern equivalents.

https://www.metafilter.com/202244/The-games-MeFites-play-its-your-weekly-free-thread#8510448

#games #gaming #BoardGames #ParlorGames #RPGs #VideoGames #history #Mefites #FreeThread

The Checkered Game of Life

Born in Vienna Maine, Milton Bradley’s first business venture was a lithograph shop he set up in Springfield, Ma. His move towards the creation of board games was brought on by a huge failure in this first business after he printed an image of the little-known Republican presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had decided to grow his beard after Bradley's print was published and suddenly the prints were worthless. Bradley was forced to burn the remaining prints.
Inspired by an imported game gifted by a friend, Bradley created The Checkered Game of Life in the winter of 1860. The game, an immediate success, was formatted along the lines of a checkerboard with the player advancing through squares with benefits and pitfalls along the way. The first player to accumulate 100 points won. Bradley even created a smaller travel version of the game to accommodate soldiers during the Civil War who needed to fill the down time between battles!
In 1960, the 100th anniversary of the game, the game was relaunched in the more familiar format we know today as The Game of Life

#miltonbradley #thegameoflife #life #checkeredgameoflife #checkerboard #gameoflife #boardgames #civilwar #games #thecheckeredgameoflife #historyofgames #inventor #history #entertainment #parlorgames #passtime