WW1 Games We May Have Played on the Home and Western Fronts
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WW1 Games We May Have Played On the Home and Western Fronts Examples of games on display or described: Halma Tyrolean Roulette Happy Families Dominoes An old, complete set with A modern version, bought in a Two sets, one new, both by J A ‘new’ set of Jaques’ boards and ‘men’ mountain bar in Italy Jaques featuring the Tenniel double-nines, with images spinners Nine Men’s Morris The Invasion of Europe: The Shut the Box Trencho (see Nine Men’s Great War Game Morris) A modern pocket-sized A modern wooden version, by version of the old game P66/67 in ‘Play the Game’ Jaques P 62/3 in ‘Play the Game’ Crown & Anchor Chess: The classic ‘game of Snakes & Ladders Reversi Kings’ P 95 in ‘Play the Game’ P 22/3 & 91 in ‘Play the Game’ Modern-day Othello A Jaques ‘Staunton’ set dating from 1870s Mancala A modern commercial version The list of possible contenders for inclusion would obviously have to feature such ‘classics’ as Chess, Draughts Backgammon and the many card games. The following selection concentrates more on the rather less-well-known games, or those with interesting histories. The presentation finishes with a range of games-related images and photographs Halma Originally invented over a hundred years ago, this race game, a forerunner of the modern Chinese Checkers, involved skill and fun to get all your ‘men’, (13 or 19 depending on how many were playing), from their starting positions at one corner of the 16 x 16 squared board to the opposite corner. One step (or leap if an opponent got in the way) is taken in any direction at a time, blocking the opposition’s progress where possible. A basic strategy is to try to make ladders or chains of your own ‘men’ that give you routes to your destination. Although similar to draughts, in that you can jump over an opponent’s man if there is a vacant square available beyond it, in this game ‘men’ are not captured, but left on the board. Tyrolean Roulette/Top and Five Balls/Bauernroulette/Poor Man’s Roulette The origins of this game seem to be argued about. It could be German, Austrian or Italian, and exists in several forms, with different names. All, however, have something of the feel of casino roulette, involving a small playing board with pits and pockets, differently coloured wooden (properly, beechwood) balls, and a small spinning top. The top is given a good spin (using the palms of both hands), and as it comes into contact with the balls it ‘fires’ them around the playing area, hopefully landing some at least in the pits or pockets, scoring according to the colour of the ball and the value of the pit. A very portable game, early versions are now collectors’ items, but modern copies can be easily located (we bought ours in a little café/bar in the Dolomites). This image is taken from a book on antique games, and the game dates from mid 1900s. Happy Families Sir John Tenniel, chief cartoonist of Punch, and illustrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was commissioned by the London games developer, John Jaques, to design images for this much loved family card game involving the collection and swapping of cards to form family groups. Many children grew up with Mr Bun the Baker etc., and original versions of this game are collectors’ items. Spellicans (aka Pick-up-Sticks/Pic-a-stix/ Mikado/Jack Straws/ ‘Les Jonchets’) Most of us will have played a version of this popular family game. Although it comes in different guises, the aim is the same: starting with an untidy pile of 30 – 70 differently valued slender objects (sticks; straws; etc), you try to extract as many as you can, one at a time, without causing any of the remaining objects to move at all. To assist with the removal, games made use of hooks, wands, sticks. The winner was the player with the lowest value of sticks remaining after all had had their turn. The sticks themselves were variously made from ivory, bamboo, bone, plastic or wood, and could depict a range of tools, national figures or just plain sticks. Some sets involved elaborately carved sticks. Although many modern versions exist, the game it believed to have its origins in China, but evidence exists of similar games from over 2,000 years ago, in the Far East, Middle East and Europe. British versions, called ‘Old Fashioned Jack Straws’, can be dated from 1888. By 1900 bone straws were more common. It perhaps led to the development of the modern game of Jenga. Dominoes Although there are several tile-type games (including Mah Jong, Tangram, and more recently Rummikub) dominoes has the greatest popularity in the UK. Like so many of our ‘traditional’ games, its origins are unclear, although it probably began, in some form, in China. One explanation for the name ‘Domino’ features two medieval monks, disguising the fact that they have improvised a game and set to stave off boredom, chanted Psalm 110 in Latin if the abbot approach, but he had always moved away before they got to the word ‘dominus’! So this is what they called their pastime when explaining it to other brothers! Our ‘modern’ sets (usually double-six, but double nines/twelves/fifteens and eighteens can be found) date from around 250 years ago, and strictly speaking what we call ‘dominoes’ (like ‘cards’ and ‘dice’) refers to the equipment rather than a specific game. Being simple in design, however, they were capable of being created from many materials - wood, plastic, ivory, and (significantly) shrapnel and other military debris. And they were highly portable. Crown and Anchor Put these words into Google, and high up in the results will be locations for pubs with this name. This reflects the one-time popularity of this gambling dice game involving three special dice, a marked out playing surface (board, cloth or improvised drawn layout), showing the images found on the dice (Crown; anchor; and the four playing card aces). A banker is identified (he/she usually comes out making money). Although once a very popular game for sailors (Royal Navy, merchant and fishing fleets) it is now quite tightly controlled. It remains popular in the Channel Islands, where it is feature in their annual agricultural shows, and Bermuda. It is highly likely that it featured as a popular pastime among the Navy personnel of WW1 Nine Men’s Morris Also known by several other names (Windmill, Mill, Mule, Merels, Merrills, Three in a Row) this game of great antiquity, found in many parts of the world, is for two players, with the aim of lining up three piece in a row and removing the opponent’s pieces. Evidence of its existence include C17th Turkey and India, Israel, Ireland, Norway, C13th Spain, and even the ancient city of Troy, together with medieval European cathedrals (monks improvised board in the cloisters). But excavations of Egyptian tombs dating from 2000 BCE have found clear indications of a similar game, giving the game a very long history. It has a long tradition in Yorkshire, and the folk museum in the Dales village of Hutton-le-Hole has a special display and interest as it hosted the World Merrills Championships in years gone by. It can be played with various numbers of ‘men’ (three, six or nine), the most common British number being nine per player, and rules do vary, even within UK counties. One of the attractions of the game that would have suited troops in the trenches is that all the necessary equipment (board and playing pieces) can be quickly improvised using pebbles and a flat earth surface. As this game was a regular feature of pub life at the time of WW1 it is highly likely that our troops at least, and possibly those from other countries, would have passed the time playing it. As further evidence of this, an Australian version of the game was published by Chad Valley in 1917, called ‘Trencho’. This used images of guns for the ‘peg holes’, located on a framework of troop-filled lines. This game may have been known by the Australian troops and their families. Other, similar versions of this game were called ‘In the Trenches’, ‘Fall In’ and Shell Fort’. Reversi (aka ‘Othello’) This is a two-person strategy game, dating from 1883. Although it is known it was invented by two English men, the two concerned disputed ownership of the idea. There was a similar dispute in 2002 when the Japanese press began publicising the ‘new’ game of Othello - this was simply a straight 1971 copy of the original game, given a new name based on Shakespeare’s play depicting conflict between black (Othello) and white (Desdemona). “Simple to learn; a life-time to master”, it involves placing your 32 black/white discs one-by-one on a 64-square board (a chess board will do), turning over any white/black discs that you manage to trap between your discs. The game usually ends when the board is full, the winner being the player with more colours showing. Discs may be turned over many times during the game. Reversi clubs were set up in many parts of Europe, with tournaments arranged from as early as 1886 in Belgium. The game was also popular in Germany by the start of WW1. Pachisi (aka Ludo) “The people of the Raj - modern India and Pakistan - were not consulted about their participation in the war. More than 1 million soldiers served overseas in the Indian army - and 75,000 died.