In this blog’s ongoing
series of Alaska-themed board games, we bring you a few more inspired by the
Klondike gold rush.
First, “Klondike Gold”:
In this game that dates to
the 1940s, players travel a meandering route that was at least inspired by real geographic locations.
Note Skagway in the lower left corner of the board (that’s Soapy Smith’s saloon
on the waterfront), followed by the Chilkoot Pass, the Yukon River, and finally
Dawson City and the Klondike gold fields.
Interesting that the cover
art on the box so prominently features a totem pole, a cultural artifact not
actually found in the Klondike:
Next we have “The Klondike
Puzzle,” a geographically unaspiring game, circa 1897:
The object of the
hand-held game was to maneuver the board to get three oddly shaped gold nuggets
to fall into the center pan. What the game lacked in cartographic ambition it
made up for in fun (I hope).
Next, “The Klondike Game,”
year unknown:
What’s most interesting
about this game is not the board, but the box:
It bills itself as “a game
of adventure”—but that’s a mighty pastoral scene featuring some well-fed miners
and an awfully placid Yukon River. Contrast it with “The Game of Going to the
Klondike” (note the human skull in the lower left!):
Stay tuned to this blog
for more board game fun in the coming weeks.
Enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a game it is! The object of the hand-held game was to maneuver the board to get three oddly shaped gold nuggets to fall into the center pan. What the game lacked in cartographic ambition it made up for in fun.I appreciate your posted wonderful photos.
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