BOARD GAMES

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Backgammon

The rules of backgammon were codified in England during the 18^thC.

In the 1920s the doubling die was introduced. This enabled players to raise the stakes mid-game.

In 1966 the Clermont Club hosted the first major open backgammon competition.

Location: The Clermont Club, 44 Berkeley Square, W1J 5AR (purple, blue)

Website: https://ukbgf.com

Chess

Website: www.englishchess.org.uk

The Lewis Chessmen

The Lewis Chessmen were found in 1831 on Lewis.

Eleven are in the National Museums of Scotland

The 12^thC items most are made from walrus tusk ivory and the rest from whale teeth.

Only nineteen pawns; from a number of chess sets.

Location: Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG (blue, yellow)

Website: www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1831-1101-84 www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/lewis-chess-pieces

Robert Wade

Robert Wade (1921-2008) was a New Zealander who became the country's Chess Champion. He moved to Britain and became one of the U.K.'s foremost chess players and officials. Between 1954 and 1972 he represented England six times in Chess Olympiads. In 1970 he was a selector and concluded that some of the country's younger players were playing better games than he was. Therefore, he chose to drop himself from the team and instead represented New Zealand. He referred to himself, in a self-depreciating manner, as the man who had lost more international tournaments than anyone else . However, he had defeated world title holders in individual games.

Wade was one of the architects of England's rise during the 1970s and 1980s to become the second-best chess playing nation in the world after the Soviet Union. In an age before there were computerised databases of chess games, he has developed a large personal library of Russian chess books that enabled him to aid other players. He helped prepare the American player Bobby Fischer for his match against Boris Spassky in 1972.

Monopoly

John Waddington was a Leeds-based business that printed playbills. It was acquired by Victor Hugo Watson. He diversified the firm's activities. He opted to print playing cards during the slack times of the year.

The streets for the British version of the board game Monopoly were selected by Watson, a printing executive who lived in Leeds, and his secretary Marjorie Phillips. Their knowledge of London was very much focussed upon the city that lay north of the River Thames. Therefore, none of London's principal railway stations that are located to the south of it were included. The only South London street name to feature is the Old Kent Road. It is the first property on the board and thus the cheapest.¹ In retrospect, Watson realised that he had made two errors when name the rectangles. The Angel was a coffeehouse and not a street, and Marlborough Street should have Great Marlborough Street.

Within Waddington the executives became so enthralled by the game for a period that they neglected the business duties.

During the Second World War Monopoly sets were a means by which maps, money, and compasses were smuggled to Allied servicemen who were being held in Axis prisoner-of-war camps.

The games business was always a minority activity within the company. In 1994 Hasbro bought the division. This was relocated to London.

Website: https://monopoly.hasbro.com/en-gb

¹. Watson had been born in Brixton, which is in South London, but his family had moved to Yorkshire while he had been a child.

Snakes & Ladders

The game board game Snakes & Ladders was introduced into Britain from South Asia during the 19^thC.

David Backhouse 2024