Political Paradigms
Some games were not conceived only as entertainment for the general public, but to deliver political messages. These games were designed to advance specific political agendas or functioned as vehicles of propaganda. Games also functioned as rallying points for supporters of social causes.
The Game of Secession, or, Sketches of the Rebellion. Philadelphia: McFarland & Thomson, 1862.
The Game of Secession was produced to support the Union cause. Collected by Andrew Dickson White, the first president of Cornell University, this game was mounted in one of his Civil War scrapbooks.
Collection of Andrew Dickson White
The Cleveland Second Term Puzzle. 1892.
The object of the Cleveland Second Term Puzzle is to navigate wooden balls through a wood and metal maze into the “President’s room.” This game was issued during Grover Cleveland’s 1892 re-election campaign.
Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection
Pank-a-Squith. Germany, ca. 1910.
The goal of this board game is to reach the Houses of Parliament, the pinnacle of achievement for the campaign for Woman’s Suffrage. Although designed to be humorous, the images evoke the darker side of the campaign, making reference to police violence against women protesters and the force-feeding of imprisoned hunger strikers.
The Jon A. Lindseth Suffrage Collection