The Golden Age of British Board Games

This chapter traces the development of British games in the 19th century in all their thematic diversity. These games were aimed at an increasingly affluent market and standards of production were high. Engraving of superb quality could be achieved and when from about 1830 lithography began to replace engraving, games manufacturers were quick to embrace the new technique, again often with superb results. Hand colouring of both kinds of print could be of equally high quality, though it was always expensive, and sometimes a less-detailed version of the colouring was offered at a lower price. As the market developed, so new means of presentation became appropriate. Instead of the generic ‘pillars’ to act as tokens for a multitude of race games, there might be specially-designed die-cast figures to reinforce the theme; attractively-printed ‘money’ might be provided to reckon the score, rather than common counters; and the whole game with all its apparatus might typically be fitted into a good quality mahogany box, with sliding lid bearing a colourful label.

Invention was in the air, so that games with new themes proliferated, often driven by an appreciation of what games could offer by way of educational diversion. The London manufacturers were in hot competition – the Wallis family, the Dartons and William Spooner being the most prominent − and this no doubt drove both thematic innovation and new presentational ideas. The golden age of British board games had arrived. Among the many games from this period, those selected for mention below are chosen primarily because they represent significant innovation in their genre: there is no attempt at full coverage. Classification of the games according to genre is not an exact science – some games could well fit in more than one category.

Games of Moral Improvement

The British ‘moral’ games constitute a distinct genre, popular during the Late Georgian period. Their sub-titles often refer to ‘Virtue’ or ‘Vice’. They are, however, games concerned with moral behaviour rather than being spiritually religious. Indeed, where religion is mentioned, it is often only to disparage the Roman Catholic persuasion. There is no equivalent in Protestant England to the French spiritual games described in Chapter 4, Section 8. The moral messages of a game are often clearly influenced by the persuasion of the game publisher, especially in the case of the Dartons, who were a family of Quakers.