Back in the days before television, videos, Internet, radio, films with sound, and even electricity in all too many rural residences, a popular and logical way to spend an evening was with a variety of games.

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

Back in the days before television, videos, Internet, radio, films with sound, and even electricity in all too many rural residences, a popular and logical way to spend an evening was with a variety of games.

In the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas when it was getting colder and the sunset was coming much earlier, what could be described as parlor games provided an interesting way to challenge the mind and competive spirit. These games also served as a potential presents to be placed under the tree on Dec. 25.

About a century ago an evening in the parlor of a home could be based on two friends seated at a table playing checkers. Illumination for the game players was provided by either an overhead electric light bulb or a kerosene lamp on the table.

The toy shop in the Freeborn County Historical Museum has several old games in with the display of metal toy soldiers, model trains, miniature animals, dolls, tiny doll house furniture and other playthings of another era.

One of the boxed items in the display could have easily been used as a present for a young child years ago. The name on the cover is &uot;Dissected Outline Map of the United States of America.&uot; Inside the box are 30 jigsaw pieces intended to help the younger generation to learn the locations of the 48 states, plus the territories and possessions of yesteryear such as the Phillipines, Alaska, Guam and Hawaii.

Another boxed item is labeled &uot;The Game of Auction.&uot; This parlor game has rather complicated instructions, merchandise cards, and small money cards. The lead player of yesteryear was the auctioneer and the other players were the bidders.

One of the oddest games in the museum’s display is a boxed item labeled &uot;The Improved Game of Snip, Snap and Snorum.&uot; Unfortunately, there’s no sheet of instructions with this card game.

However, there are parts or playing pieces and instructions for the Chinese game called Mah Jong. This game, incidentally, has had several periods of popularity through the years.

Another game in the museum’s collection with cards and playing instructions is Bunko.

Parker Brothers of Salem, Mass., have had many successful game ventures. The best example is &uot;Monopoly.&uot; The museum doesn’t have this game which was created and first became popular in the 1930s. Instead, there is an earlier Parker Brothers game named &uot;Pegity.&uot; This game has a oblong cardboard playing surface with a grid of small holes. Wooden pegs colored red, blue, yellow and plain gave the players the opportunity to spend time in the parlor or elsewhere with a more complicated version of &uot;Tic-Tac-Toe.&uot;

There may be an old saying which goes, &uot;Two, four, six, pick up sticks.&uot; In the museum’s Toy Shop is small round container labeled &uot;Four – Five – Six – Pick Up Sticks.&uot; Inside the container are colored wooden sticks which look like elongated toothpicks.

Several parts, including the fancy 28-inch checker board with net pockets in the corners, are missing from a century-old challenge to players named the &uot;Archarena Combination Board.&uot; The literature with this galaxy of what may have been parlor favorites of yesteryear said ten games could be played on both sides of the board. Those games listed were: Archarena, Crokinole (with carrom rings), ditch carrom, four-pocket carrom game, ten-pin or bowling alley game, cocked hat with three pins, checkers (by using the black and white carrom rings as checkers), backgammon and chess (with dice and chess men to be furnished by the players), and walk-around carrom game. Rrules for all these games are still part of the display.

The small carrom rings resembled checkers and were to be carefully shot across the board by the same finger and thumb method used in marble games. Pins, which are part of the museum’s display look like miniature versions of what are found at the end of a bowling alley, made of wood, and about three inches high.

Carrom is a word which can’t be presently found in dictionaries. Instead, the more modern version is carom. This word is defined as &uot;to rebound or glance&uot; and when the cue ball strikes each of two object balls. Carom is a term which is still used in billiards and for the icy game of curling.