The Game of the Goose as amusement

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Game of the Goose was seen in most of the countries of Europe as a childish pursuit. In England it was almost forgotten, though the game was available: for example, the London department store, Gamage’s, offered in its Christmas Bazaar catalogue of 1913 a luxurious boxed Game of Goose by JWS [J. W. Spear & Söhne of Bavaria], described as ‘a decided novelty in games played with realistic Model Geese’ at the high price of 5s. 11d., while less elaborate versions of the board were available at 4 1/2d. and 9d. Of later attempts to revive the game, the most notable was the beautiful boxed version designed by the artist Barbara Sampson for James Galt and Company, using the classic rules of an English example of c. 1725. However, although judging by its frequent appearance currently on EBay this was evidently popular, it was a one-off production.

In France, versions of the classic 63-space game continued to appear, especially during the first half of the century. Many of these were simply produced games, often in square format, with cartoon-like figures of geese, calculated to appeal to children and obviously for amusement rather than for gambling. However, France also saw more elaborate productions, such as Madeleine Luka's Le Jeu de Paris, published by La Parisienne in 1942. This large-format coloured lithograph on a four-panel folding board deserves to be classified as a livre d’artiste. The geese were replaced by images of a Métro train, while the hazard spaces were interpreted as Parisian monuments, including the Père Lachaise Cemetery on the death space.

In Italy, firms such as Marca Stella continued to produce games of traditional format with the goose as favourable symbol, either in 63- or 90-space versions, while in Spain toyshops sold games of the simple square format found in France. In the Low Countries, the strong and continuing interest in the game also resulted in new editions but here there was more imagination, notably in the graphic work of Daan Hoeksma (Figure 15.1). This lent variety to the simple race games for children as new versions were developed, with clever graphics and appropriate rules of various descriptions.