Lotto, box lid
McLoughlin Bros, New York, USA, c1890
Collection of the New York Historical Society
Rules of the game
Indoor games have long been a popular way to pass the time.
With multiple players and defined rules, they are ideal activities for the whole family - especially on rainy days and dull evenings. Relatively few older examples have survived intact, in comparison to how many were made, as they were often played until they fell apart.
Games come in a range of forms, from games of chance to those of strategy, games of physical skill and dexterity to those of intellectual or conversational prowess.
You can see these games and more in Toys through time at the Museum of Sydney. But hurry, the exhibition closes this Sunday 9 August!
John Jacques & Son, London, England, c1870
mahogany, ebony, boxwood, fruit-wood, metal, paper
Courtesy Megan Martin
Wolryche Henry Whitmore Jones (1837–1874) invented Squails and its vocabulary of eccentric terms. The game involves two teams of players who take turns flicking small wooden discs (squails) towards the jack (procese). The distance between the discs and the jack is measured by a ‘swoggle’, and the team with its discs closest to the jack wins the game.
Photo © Jamie North for Sydney Living Museums
Snakes and Ladders
Southern Cross Series, Australia, c1920s
cardboard, paper, textile
Private collection
This version of Snakes and Ladders has a moral aspect: land on a virtue and you will climb a ladder to success but if you fall on a vice, you will slide down a snake into ruin.
Two sets of Spillikins
Makers unknown, c1820
bone
Private collection
Spillikins, spellicans, jackstraws and pick-up sticks are all names for a game in which lengths of straw, wood, ivory, bone or plastic are thrown into a pile and players must try to pick up individual pieces without disturbing the remainder. The carved detail of the pieces on display, representing tools and medieval long-handled weapons, such as lances, pikes, scythes and battleaxes, would have made this task more challenging.
Squails
John Jacques & Son, London, England, c1870
mahogany, ebony, boxwood, fruit-wood, metal, paper
Private collection
Wolryche Henry Whitmore Jones (1837–1874) invented Squails and its vocabulary of eccentric terms. The game involves two teams of players who take turns flicking small wooden discs (squails) towards the jack (procese). The distance between the discs and the jack is measured by a ‘swoggle’, and the team with its discs closest to the jack wins the game.
Historical Lotto
John Jacques & Son, London, England, c1870
mahogany, cardboard, bone, cotton, linen, metal
Private collection
The subject matter of this game is English monarchs. Small cards drawn by one player must be matched by the other players to the corresponding boxes on their large cards – similar to Bingo.
The amount of time allowed for each turn is measured by a marble that rolls down a slalom-like course and rings the bell at the bottom.
Zoological Lotto
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
Zoological Lotto: Australien board
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
Zoological Lotto: Europa board
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
Zoological Lotto: Afrika board
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
Zoological Lotto: Asien board
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
Zoological Lotto: Pole board
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
Zoological Lotto: Amerika board
Adolf Sala, Berlin, Germany, c1880
cardboard
Private collection
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