Fox and Geese Game Board
date: label: Date made
content: 1883
notes: label: Description
content: This 9-inch square board with 32 holes was made for playing Fox and Geese, a game of strategy between two players. The 19 pegs representing geese and a single longer peg for the fox are long gone from this particular board made in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Fox and Geese was among the games played by fishermen during idle times on sailing schooners working in the North Atlantic fisheries. This board was part of a display on “Habits of Fishermen,” at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. Other games in the display, all from Gloucester, included cards, a checkerboard, backgammon, and a diamond puzzle.
label: Description
content: The rules of play for Fox and Geese are simple: one player controls the fox, while the other controls the geese. The fox can move in a straight line in any direction and, as it jumps over geese, the geese are removed from the board. To win, the fox must break through the entire line of geese. The geese are only allowed to move forward or sideways. To win, they must corner the fox so it cannot move.
label: Description
content: The <I>Oxford English Dictionary</I> cites a 1633 reference to the game from a play called <I>Fine Companion</I> by Shackerley Marmion: “Let him sit in the shop . . . and let him play at fox and geese with the foreman.” The game was played in colonial America and, with minor variations, well into the 19th and 20th centuries.
label: Description
content: This game board was one of several items donated to the Smithsonian by Capt. George Merchant Jr., of Gloucester.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view (Pegs from gameboard)
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Gloucester
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Fisheries
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content: Government, Politics, and Reform
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Family & Social Life
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content: Work
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content: Sports & Leisure
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Brown, James Temple. The Whale Fishery and Its Appliances
label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Captain George Merchant, Jr., through J. W. Collins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.057950
label: catalog number
content: 057950
label: accession number
content: 12158
objectType: label: Object Name
content: game, fox and geese board
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 7/8 in x 8 1/8 in x 7/16 in; 22.5425 cm x 20.6375 cm x 1.0922 cm