CAT’S CRADLE

 

By Mary Davis

Though adorable, not those kinds of cats.

This kind.

As a child playing Cat’s Cradle, I never realized it was an ancient game played in many cultures.

Cat’s cradle is a string game involving various figures with a loop of string made on the hands. Versions can be played by either one or two people, sometimes more. Each figure created has a different name.

Variations of this game have been found independently in cultures around the world; some of these are Africa, the Americas, the Arctic, Australia, Eastern Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

In other countries this game goes by different names.

         France — crèche

         Japan — ayatori

         Korea — sil-tteu-gi

         Russia — the game of string (but in Russian)

         China — fan sheng (turning rope)

         Israel — Knitting Grandmother

         In some regions of the U.S. — Jack in the Pulpit

So, who created this attention absorbing game and when?

No one really knows, but it is found around the world.

Though the origin and name of this enduring game is debated, it may have begun in China and has likely existed for centuries. Even so, the earliest mention of it in literature isn’t until 1768 in a novel titled The Light of Nature Pursued by Abraham Tucker under the pen name Edward Search.

“An ingenious play they call cat's cradle; one ties the two ends of a packthread together, and then winds it about his fingers, another with both hands takes it off perhaps in the shape of a gridiron, the first takes it from him again in another form, and so on alternately changing the packthread into a multitude of figures whose names I forget, it being so many years since I played at it myself.”

However, Cat’s Cradle isn’t the only game nor is it the only use of a loop of string to create figures. People have been manipulating string for as long as there has been string.

The first known written account of manipulating string was by first century Greek physician Heraklas where he describes surgical knots and slings. His figure called the “Plinthios Brokhos” was used to set and bind a broken jaw. With the string doubled, the shape consisted of four corner loops with a hole in the center. The chin would be placed in the middle hole while the four loops are pulled up near the top of the head and tied. This figure is known as “The Sun Clouded Over” to the Aborigines in Australia.

The extinct woolly mammoth is a figure the Inuits have. So, their culture had been playing with string for a very, very long time to have knowledge of an animal that no longer exists.

And like so many things, there are Guinness Book of World Record holders. In August 1974, a trio of California girls, Geneva Hultenius, Maryann Divona, and Rita Divona played Cat’s Cradle for 21 hours, making 21,200 changes between them. They were in the 1975 and 1976 editions of Guinness Book of World Records. But they didn’t hold their title for very long. In August of 1976, a pair of Canadians, Jane Muir and Robyn Lawrick, also played for 21 hours and completed 22,700 changes, dethroning the California trio. So many questions go through my mind of how they managed this, but I keep coming back to someone having to had counted all those exchanges while not losing track, not to mention bathroom breaks and eating.

In 1963, the game was the inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut’s novel aptly titled Cat’s Cradle where a character surmises that the invisible cat in the game symbolizes all the nonsense of life.

Did you play Cat’s Cradle or other string games in your youth?

 

Here’s a video if you want to refresh your memory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpHTPnrYLzQ

 

THE QUILTING CIRCLE SERIES Box Set

Historical Romance Series

By Mary Davis

THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT (Book1) – Will a secret clouding a single mother’s past cost Lily her loved ones?

THE DAUGHTER’S PREDICAMENT (Book2) *SELAH & WRMA Finalist* – As Isabelle’s romance prospects turn in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams.

THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Book3) *SELAH Winner* – Nicole heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband. Can she learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?

THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET (Book4) – Complications arise when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNZPRRS2/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3NJNTQ5SD1WGB&keywords=the+quilting+circle+by+mary+davis&qid=1700957455&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C155&sr=1-7

 

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpHTPnrYLzQ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_cradle#References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_figure

https://www.beano.com/posts/cats-cradle-facts

Christmas Board Games

by Anita Mae Draper

Game of the Visit of Santa Claus, 1898. Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society.

Board games of the Christmas season seems the best way to complete my series on this fun way to pass leisure time. As noted in previous posts (listed below) the creation of the chromolithograph process ushered in a wonderful plethora of brightly colored printed material for board games and puzzles as well as books.

In 1898, the McLoughlin Brothers continued their winning streak of colorful board games with Game of the Visit of Santa Claus. 

Game of the Visit of Santa Claus, 1898. Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society.

Parker Brothers, another publisher of board games, had come out with their own version of a Christmas board game the year before, however they chose to feature food of the holiday celebration instead of the Santa Claus aspect.

In 1900, McLoughlin Brothers released another Christmas board game, this time featuring the outdoor sport of tobogganing which was all the rage at the time. This game is a version of the popular Snakes and Ladders game, but instead of reptiles, you're sliding down a toboggan run. 

A few years later, circa 1904, McLoughlin Bros. published another Santa game, this time with the jolly old man behind the wheel of an early model automobile. Although this game would have been great using the infinity track in the Visit with Santa Claus game at the top of this post, the actual game features a checkerboard-type game board.

Finally, in 1923, Parker Brothers published the Christmas board game I most want to play, The Journey to Bethlehem. According to my research, the playing pieces in this game feature 3D renditions of 3 Magi and 3 Shepherds. As well, it mentions over 150 Biblical references as the players traverse to Bethlehem. 

 

Of course, many other games of the Christmas season have been published in the past 100 years, with varying degrees of fun and skill. 

Do you have a favorite Christmas board game?

Other posts in my puzzles and game boards series can be found here:

Nov 5, 2020 - Teetotum or Spinner

Oct 5, 2020 - Puzzle Blocks and Cube Puzzles

Sep 5, 2020 - Dissected Puzzles in Jane Austen's World

Aug 5, 2020 - Carom and Crokinole

July 5, 2020 - The Reach for Success Board Game

June 5, 2020 - Virtue Board Games

May 5, 2020 - Geographical Board Games

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Anita Mae Draper served a 20-year term working on air bases in the communication trade of the Canadian Armed Forces before retiring to the open skies of the prairies. She uses her experience and love of history to pepper her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Anita Mae Draper's published stories appear in Barbour Publishing, WhiteFire Publishing, and Guideposts Books. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com 

Teetotum or Spinner

by Anita Mae Draper

A Child with a Teetotum by Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin. Public Domain

In 1738, Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1799), exhibited his painting of a young boy playing with a teetotum. Yes, it looks like a marshmallow on a toothpick, but it's a toy like a spinning top. Many of the early games which I've featured in my recent posts used a teetotum to see what the player's options were instead of dice which were considered a vice and not suitable for those of good morale standing. It's a funny sounding word, but looks like a spinning top and was often called a spinner. 

Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes, 1888, says that teetotums originally had only four sides and were marked with the letters T for Take All, H for Take Half, N for Nothing, and P for Put in again. Those letters didn't work well with some board games and so more sides were added for more choices. Board game publishers created some with a flat disks through which the teetotum slid into, such as the one shown on the bottom right of The Wars of the Roses game which was published in the United Kingdom between 1835 and 1840. 

War of the Roses game, 1835. Public Domain

Teetotums resemble spinning tops, which have been around since ancient times, as seen in this next photo of an Ancient Middle Eastern top which has been dated back to no later than the mid-2nd millenium BCE by Wilfred G Lambert. 

Ancient Middle Eastern top. Public Domain

The ancient top above reminds me of the dreidel that is played with during the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. (And now I have the song Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel running through my mind while write.) 

The teetotum is also used in the game Perinola in many Latin American countries.

My research into Google books showed that the word teetotum showed up in many conversations when talking about people spinning around, running in a frenzy, or even being confused. I haven't read Louisa May Alcott's Rose in Bloom, but one of her characters who is learning to dance says, "A fellow must have some reward for making a teetotum of himself."

References to teetotums are also mentioned in stories by Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, and others. 

Have you played a game with a teetotum, or read a book that mentioned one?

Other posts in my puzzles and game boards series can be found here:

Oct 5, 2020 - Puzzle Blocks and Cube Puzzles

Sep 5, 2020 - Dissected Puzzles in Jane Austen's World

Aug 5, 2020 - Carom and Crokinole

July 5, 2020 - The Reach for Success Board Game

June 5, 2020 - Virtue Board Games

May 5, 2020 - Geographical Board Games

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper served a 20-year term working on air bases in the communication trade of the Canadian Armed Forces before retiring to the open skies of the prairies. She uses her experience and love of history to pepper her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Anita Mae Draper's published stories appear in Barbour Publishing, WhiteFire Publishing, and Guideposts Books. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com 

Carom and Crokinole

by Anita Mae Draper

The deciding shot, 1903. Public Domain, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

While researching images for my series of board games posts, I came across this photograph of children sitting around a table playing a board game. Half of a stereograph, the caption reads, The Deciding Shot, with the image summary as, "6 children playing board game - caroms?" 

I hadn't heard of caroms, but it looked like they were playing crokinole, a game I've played many times as a child as well as an adult. According to Wikipedia, caroms, carroms, or carom, is a tabletop game with its origins in India and is still very popular in southeast Asia where tournaments are commonly held.

A carrom board, undated, Public Doman, Wikipedia

The Asian game board didn't look like the crokinole board I'm familiar with, although it did have the corner pockets, wooden playing pieces, and center hole. The method of play is also different which starts with all the pieces in the center ring and uses a larger, heavier piece called a striker to push opponent's pieces into the pockets, much like the start of a pool game. Also similar to pool, is the red piece which is designated as the queen and acts much like the eight-ball in billiards. 

Carrom men and one striker, arranged at the start of a game. Public Domain, Wikipedia

Further research on the Library of Congress website brought up a photograph of boys playing caroms in a Boys Club recreation center, yet they were using what looks like pool cues. It seems that in the late 19th century, missionaries to Asia brought the game of carrom back with them and altered it as an attempt to lure young boys away from hanging around the pool halls where gambling was a regular occurrence.

Scenes in Boys Club Recreation Center: playing caroms in junior play room, ca 1910; Public Domain, Library of Congress prints and Photographs Division 

In fact, there is another carom game which uses pool cues, two white balls, and a red ball which is played on a billiard table and was available prior to 1869 which may have been the inspiration for the version created by the missionaries. 

New rules for the American Carom game. as played on the standard America Carom billiard table. 1869; Public Doman, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

As I continued my search for early crokinole boards, I found an image of a 1915 advertising pamphlet from The Carrom Company of Ludington, Michigan, showing a carom game board with the game pieces and cues, and selling as 'Pool Crokinole', however due to copyright, I can't post the image here.

Finally, a page out of the 1905 Holiday Catalogue from the John Wanamaker store shows a crokinole board, as well as a combination board where a variety of different games could be played on either side. It's interesting to note that although the crokinole board shows a hand without the cue stick, only the combination board shows pockets.

1905 Holiday Catalogue, John Wanamaker. Public Domain

Instead of a cue stick, crokinole involves flicking your finger against the inside of your thumb to gain the force necessary to propel your playing piece across the board and enable it to not only hit, but push your opponent's piece off the playing surface. 

Crokinole shot, 2010. Flikr, wafterboard

According to Wikipedia, the first known crokinole board was made in 1876, Ontario, Canada, when Eckhardt Wettlaufer crafted a board for his son Adam's 50th birthday. Then in 1880, a similar crokinole board game was patented in the United States by Joshua K Ingalls. It is thought that crokinole is the marriage of British and Asian games that were popular in the 1860's, which makes sense when we find that the carom versions were present during that time as well. 

Crokinole sets can be found with plastic or wooden playing pieces. There are even crokinole travel bags to carry your huge board with you when attending family gatherings, or playing in tournaments, like the World Crokinole Championship (WCC) which is played annually in Ontario every June. 

To get back to the image at the top of this post then, due to the 1903 designation, the children's hand positions, and the playing piece, my guess is that image shows a group of children playing crokinole.

What do you think?

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Reach for Success Board Games

by Anita Mae Draper

Popular board games of the early 19th century were based on geography and morality and provided more of a few hours education than entertainment. In the latter part of the 1800's however, and spurred on by the industrial revolution, immigration to the new world provided a way for a person to shed his old life and start anew. The reach for success became the goal of life.

The Checkered Game of Life board. Wikipedia, Public Domain

Milton Bradley, a successful Massachusetts lithographer with a strong set of moral values, created the Checkered Game of Life in 1860. As you can see in the above image, the players of the board game started at INFANCY in the bottom left and traveled through life facing many of the challenges people face, such as college, honor, ambition and influence. Sprinkled in the game are pitfalls such as disgrace, poverty, prison, and even suicide. However, the major difference between this game and other board games was that the Checkered Game of Life ended WEALTH as the goal.

Yes, wealth appears to be the goal if one starts at INFANCY and follows the row to the right, then up one row and left, etc. A player received 50 points for landing on HAPPY OLD AGE, followed by MATRIMONY and then WEALTH. 100 total points and you'd win the game. The Checkered Game of Life was commercially successful and appeared in Milton Bradley's 1889-90 catalog of Games, Sectional Pictures, Toys, Puzzles, Blocks and Novelties. The Milton Bradley Company was a major game manufacturer well into the 20th century, long after the death of its founder in 1911. 

Milton Bradley Company Game Catalog, 1889-90. Public Domain

In 1960, the Milton Bradley Company created an updated version to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first sale of the Checkered Game of Life. The name was shortened to the Game of Life, grimmer parts like the suicide spot were deleted, and goals reflected 1960 culture. Paper money was added to give a tangible feel of making, losing, and keeping wealth. Instead of a flat board, the updated game was played on a 3D (three dimensional) board that included a built in spinner and plastic playing pieces. A "car" that looked like a open-air bus had 6-8 holes designating seats. A blue or pink peg, depending on the gender of the player, sat in the driver's spot and picked up his "family" as he traveled along the track of life. Many versions followed this 1960 one, modernizing the game with the times which is probably why it is one of the most successful board games of all time. 

The modern Game of Life. Courtesy of New England Historical Society. CC BY-SA 3.0

If you have played the Game of Life, how did it go for you? 

If you don't like any of the current versions of the Game of Life that appear in today's market, there are numerous versions you can print off and tweak to your own heart's content. 

If you like board games, you might like my previous posts on this topic:

May 5, 2020 - Geographical Board Games
Jun 5, 2020 - Virtue Board Games

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Virtue Board Games

by Anita Mae Draper

The New Game of Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished, London, 1818. Courtesy of SLSA B1715487

A common theme for early 19th century board games was the virtue or morality game where a player set out to prove himself of good moral character while avoiding temptations placed along his path. In 1818 London, William Darton published the above image for The New Game of Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished. The game started on the space, the House of Correction, and the winner was the first one to travel the spiral and reach the last space, Virtue. 

Another one of these good vs evil games was the Mansion of Happiness, published in the United States in 1843. As you progress through the game, virtues are rewarded and vices punished with the winner receiving happiness as his/her reward for being virtuous.  

The game of Snakes and Ladders is probably the most well known virtue game and can be traced back to ancient India. In this game, virtue is pictured as ladders and offer a quick way to bypass squares and rise to the top, while snakes punish you and send you back to the start. I've heard that the term, back to square one, refers to this game as there is always one snake that sends you back to the start if you happen to land on its head.

Jain version Game of Snakes & Ladders India, 19th century. Courtesy Wikipedia

Kismet, meaning fate or destiny, is the name of a British version of this game. Designed in England and manufactured in Bavaria, the makers of Kismet wanted to show children that life would be rewarding if you were good and obedient, but if you were bad, you would be punished. The illustrations on this board depict a variety of wrong-doings as well as numerous snakes and ladders.

Kismet Board Game, ca. 1895. Courtesy VAM Misc 423-1981

Although the snakes in the game of Snakes and Ladders represents the serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, the image of a snake can be disturbing to some children and adults. That could explain why another version of this common game was produced under the name of Chutes and Ladders. Nowadays, we refer to a chute as a slide like you find in play areas. 

Milton Bradley Chutes and Ladders game board c.1952. Courtesy Wikipedia

Other versions of this popular game used a winter theme, such Canada Games versions Sleds and Toboggans and The Great Game of Ups and Downs.

Game of Ups and Downs, Canada Games Company, 1920s-1930s. 

In 1900, McLoughlin Bros of New York published The Game of Tobogganing at Christmas which showed children playing in the snow. With this theme, the challenge was to climb up the stairs and avoid the squares that would send the player back down again. 

THE GAME OF TOBOGGANING AT CHRISTMAS, McLoughlin Bros., c 1899

Games, like everything else, evolve over time and the way I see it, versions that show the penalty as a ride down a chute or toboggan run cannot be classified as a penalty. How can the exercise of climbing stairs beat the temptation to fly down at a fast clip?

There are a myriad of versions that are based on virtue games. Have you played any, and if so, what version are you familiar with? 

If you enjoy board games, you might like to check out my previous post Geographical Board Games.

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links are available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Geographical Board Games

by Anita Mae Draper

The road to Washington, c1884. Library of Congress, Public Domain

Our family has always enjoyed playing a variety of board games and with more people at home these days, I wanted to show what was available to our 19th century ancestors. To start with, the beautifully detailed game board above is a chromolithograph on paper with paste-ons, and is from the The Road to Washington, a geographical board game from 1884 where you travel on roads through American cities and the first person to reach Washington wins. Some stops send you to other cities, and if you land at Dover, you lose your next turn. 

Geographical map games were often used as a way to be educational as well as entertaining for all ages in an age when many people couldn't read or write. History shows that a board game named Senet was found on an Egyptian hieroglyphic from 5,000 years ago, and while many Europeans were playing board games in the 18th century, it wasn't until the early 19th century when they crossed the Atlantic. 

The Traveller's Tour Through the United States, Game board, 1822. Library of Congress, Public Domain

In 1822 brothers Frederick and Roe Lockwood, who had recently moved to New York City from Bridgeport, Connecticut, published the earliest known board game in the Unites States which they called The Traveller's Tour Through the United States. Like geographical games from Europe and Britain, the traveler moved around the board until he reached his destination, which was New Orleans in this case. A twist to the game was that at each stop, the traveler needed to correctly name the place and its population, or lose a turn and try again next time. The rules for the game included the answers and also served as a gazetteer. Clearly, someone who needed to know how to read, so perhaps the local parson brought it along when he went a-visiting.

The Traveller's Tour Through the United States, Rules of Play, 1822. Library of Congress, Public Domain

As you can see from the above games, the chromolithograph printing process developed in the latter half of the 19th century enabled a board game to look more fun than educational. The same process was used in Rambles Through Our Country a board game which shows the different American states and what each was known for at the time of printing.

Rambles Through Our Country - An Instructive Geographical Game for the Young, 1890. Library of Congress, Public Domain

Similar to other geographical board games, Rambles Through Our Country also included a list of rules, but in this case, was a booklet 113 pages long due to the gazetteer which included details and illustrations for each state. It is interesting to note however, that although the 1890 game board pictured above shows North and South Dakota, a booklet for the same game, but printed in 1881 and found on Google's Internet Archive mentions Dakota Territory, as well as other geographical differences. 

Rambles through our country: Rule book, 1881. Public Domain

Rambles through our country: Rule book, 1881. Public Domain

Nellie Bly, the adventurous reporter who went undercover to get to the truth of what goes on inside an insane asylum, was convinced she could travel around the world in less time than the character in the book Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne which was first published in 1872. 

Round the World with Nellie Bly, Game Cover, 1890. Library of Congress, Public Domain

With the backing of her newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, she made the trip in 72 days and even met Jules Verne along the way. The book of her journey Around the World in Seventy-Two Days was a best seller, but many people don't know that her adventure was also printed as a board game.

The Round The World with Nellie Bly board game was published in 1890 by McLoughlin Bros, New York.  The squares for each day of her journey are arranged in a circular pattern and flanked by images of Bly, Jules Verne, a steam ship, and a train. 

Round the World with Nellie Bly game board and pieces, published in 1890 by McLoughlin Bros. Image credit: Mary Mark Ockerbloom

Geographical game boards can be made from any map. To keep children busy, you can have them cut out state flowers, animals, birds, buildings, etc and paste them onto a map. Mark or highlight the route you want to take...or not take...find a counter or a die or two, and away you go. You can even incorporate a river or railroad into your game and pretend you are an adventurer like Nellie Bly. It's a great way to learn about your state or country while having fun. Or, you can inspire your kids imagination and create a map and all its attributes.

As fascinating as geographical board games are, there are many other topics chosen to be represented in game form. Stay tuned as I'll be featuring different ones in my upcoming posts. 

Of the board games featured on this post, do you have one you'd love to try?


* For further reading on Nellie Bly, check out these other HHH posts:
- https://www.hhhistory.com/2014/04/nellie-bly-pioneer-journalist-by.html by Marilyn Turk 2014
- https://www.hhhistory.com/2018/08/nellie-bly.html by Martha Rogers 2018

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com