Checkered Game of Life
date: label: date made
content: after
label: date made
content: after 1910
name: label: maker
content: Milton Bradley Company
notes: label: Description
content: If you are familiar with the board game Life, you might be surprised to learn that while it has roots in the 1860’s the two games are very different in its goals and rules of play. In 1860, Milton Bradley produced the Checkered Game of Life board game, launching his career in board games. It sold out in the first year with a first run of 45,000 and was immensely popular for offering families of all ages an alternative to card games and devoid of the temptations of gambling dice. Multigenerational families could spend leisure time promoting moral, ethical behavior while playing a game. The Museum of Play describes the game as “combining chance and skill to negotiate life's many challenges, players traversed a checkered board of colored squares representing the virtues of honor, truth, and temperance, or the vices of idleness, crime, and drink.”
label: Description
content: The game was drastically updated and revised as Game of Life in 1960 to meet the expectations of baby boomers and their parents to play for play money, a dream job, car, spouse, and kids.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Springfield
topic: label: Subject
content: Toys
label: Subject
content: Games
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Milton Bradley Company, through Millens W. Taft, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0944.01
label: accession number
content: 1981.0944
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0944.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Game
label: Other Terms
content: Game; Toys
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 42 cm x 38 cm; 16 17/32 in x 14 31/32 in