Collection Highlights
Tontine Coffee House, N.Y.C.
ca. 1797
1907.32
oil on linen, lined to fiberglass
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Museum Collections
American Board and Table Games: The Liman Collection Gift
The Checkered Game of Life
Title
The Checkered Game of Life
Object name
Board game
Date
1866
Medium
Cardboard, wood, paper, bone
Dimensions
board: 13 1/4 x 13 1/2 in. ( 33.7 x 34.3 cm )
Description
"The Checkered Game of Life" board game with two paper covered cardboard gameboards and box to hold the playing pieces; boards chromolithographed with red and peach checkerboard paths from "Infancy" to "Happy Old Age"; reverse of boards printed, "THE/ Checkered/ GAME/ OF/ LIFE. PUBLISHED BY/ MILTON BRADLEY & CO./ SPRINGFIELD, MASS."; box cover lithographed with the inscription"THE/ CHECKERED GAME/ OF/ LIFE."; playing pieces include a paper instruction sheet, a wooden and cardboard teetotem and four bone playing pieces.
Credit Line
The Liman Collection
Object Number
2000.496b
Marks
lithographed: on the reverse of the board: "THE/ Checkered/ GAME/ OF/ LIFE. PUBLISHED BY/ MILTON BRADLEY & CO./ SPRINGFIELD, MASS."
lithographed: on the box cover: "THE/ CHECKERED GAME/ OF/ LIFE."
Gallery Label
The marriage of spiritual values and worldly achievement first appeared in Milton Bradley's inaugural game, The Checkered Game of Life. As in the Mansion of Happiness, the game taught lessons of success achieved through virtuous living. However, Bradley's game also secularized the notion of virtuous living by rewarding material accomplishments. To celebrate the centennial of the game in 1960, Milton Bradley issued The Game of Life, which traced the steps from high school graduation to retire..
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
