: The 1800's

American board games were a lot like real life situations. In the beginning, most of the games had to do with being good and doing the right thing. The first American "board" game was created in 1843 by the W.& S.B. Ives Company. It was called the Mansion of Happiness. In this game, good deeds led children and their playing pieces down the path to "eternal happiness." In 1860, Milton Bradley created The Checkered Game of Life, which rewarded good deeds and punished bad ones. It was a big hit. Many people still play this game today.

As travelling became more affordable in the late 1800s, more Americans traveled overseas. Companies created games that appealed to these travelers. When they came back, they could relive their trips by playing travel games such as Around the World, released in 1873, or the McLoughlin Brothers' Game of Round the World with Nellie Bly, which came out in 1890. Travel games like these remained popular into the early the 1900s.
  • EARLY BEGINNINGS
  • MID 1900S
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