With a huge number of vintage board games. I was especially interested in the so-called. "Goose game" (play with a goose/wild goose), which appeared in Italy between 1574 and 1587. As far as I understand, it is considered the progenitor of all such games.
The game is simple, but in my opinion it has its own special charm. Goal: catch a wild (escaped?) goose.
Oddly enough, there is nothing about it in RuNet (I couldn’t find it). I am correcting this terrible misunderstanding: .
The rules are taken from here.
Number of players: 2 or more.
What you need to play: a playing field, 2 dice and one chip for each player.
Start of the game: Each player chooses the color of his piece and rolls 2 dice. The player with the highest score goes first. Then the move proceeds clockwise.
The playing field is a spiral consisting of 63 cells. Many fields have special obstacles or bonuses. Players move from the first to the 63rd field, the one who reaches the 63rd field first is the winner.
The player moves for the amount of 2 dice. Two players cannot occupy the same field at the same time. If a player lands on an occupied field, then the player who occupies it returns back to the field from which the other player came. (That is, the two players switch places).
The player, landing on a square with a goose, repeats the move (walks the same number of squares). Getting on the goose again, the player repeats the move again until he ends up on a square where there is no goose.
To win, you need to get exactly to cell No. 63. If you exceed the required number, then you need to go to cell No. 63, and then go back for the remaining number of points. If you hit a goose, keep moving backwards.
To get to field No. 63, you can use the result of any die separately. If one of the numbers on the die sends you to square 63, you do not need to use the second one. Otherwise, use the sum of 2 dice and go back.
If the sum “9” is rolled on the first move, the player will immediately end up on cell No. 63 (this is due to the location of the “goose” cells), so a special rule has been invented for this situation. If 6 and 3 are rolled, then go to cell No. 26, if 4 and 5, then go to cell No. 53. The rule only applies to the very first move.
Landing 2 identical numbers does not provide any bonuses.
Special fields:
6 Bridge: Go to field #12.
19 Tavern: Accommodation and hearty food make you lazy - you lose 1 turn (Exception: if on the same turn another player enters this field, you change places with him).
31 Well: If you fall into a well, you lose 2 turns, unless the player who came to the same field releases you first.
42 Labyrinth: You are lost - return to cell No. 30.
52 Prison: If you end up in prison, stay there until another player takes your place.
58 Death: Your goose was roasted and eaten. Go back to the beginning.
Vintage board games
Walking game "Goose"
The Royal Game of Goose from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
Judging by the appearance, Juego de la Oca, Jeu de l’oie, the Royal Game of the Goose is an ordinary game. The playing field consists of a spiral with 63 cells.
The origins of the game are vague - they are many years old. In the goose, which was then clearly called differently, but no one remembers what, so the name “Road to Valhalla” is acceptable.
The Valhalla game track was made in the form of a mythical serpent coiled into a spiral, and instead of a cube with numbers on the sides, the rude conquerors used runes.
In addition, the runes provided certain clues during the game, that is, fortune telling and prediction also took place. One could consider the game an Egyptian invention, but archaeologists have found tablets, papyri, stone circles, etc., the drawings on which were very similar to relatively modern game boards for the jib, in various parts of the world. There is a known artifact called the “Cretan Disk” - a stone plate with writings and drawings applied in the form of circles.
Phaistos (Cretan) disc
Another version of "Goose"
In this version of the game, instead of the 19th cell, there is the number 20. And there is not a hotel there, but donkey ears. The well is in place, but instead of a labyrinth there are closed doors. Instead of a regular skull there is a bomb.
The game of "Goose" ("Guski", "Gusek") was very popular in France and Spain. The game appeared at the end of the 16th century and did not lose its popularity for several centuries.
It is believed that the authorship of the game belongs to one of the Medici Dukes . He presented “The Goose” as a gift to the Spanish King Philip II in 1580. And the game quickly spread from one hand to another, both in the royal courts and in taverns and brothels. Only later, by the 19th century, did it become exclusively the prerogative of children. And before that, money was placed in the center of the board (where the picture of a big goose is usually located, or the rules are written) and the one who was the first to reach 63 broke the bank!
On Gus they even began to use what I discovered.game method of teaching children . At the French court it began to be used as a textbook for studying geography. Countries were depicted on the squares and the names of cities were written. The French Dauphin, standing on the square, had to say the name of the country and read what was written there.
Rules of the game:
Number of players: from two.
Game contents: field, geese figures of different colors, two cubes.
Purpose of the game:be the first to cross the finish line (63rd cell) and become a goose.
The player moves on the total number of squares rolled on the two dice. If on the very first turn a player rolls a 9, then if one die rolls a 4 and the other rolls a 5, then the player lands on cell number 53! If the nine consists of a three and a six, then the player lands on the cell number 26. That’s also not bad. But this is only the first move. If on any turn a player lands on a picture with a goose, then he moves again the same number of squares.
Two players cannot be on the same cell. If a situation arises that you land on an already occupied square, then your opponent leaves it (yes, it’s him, not you) and he goes to the square where you started your turn. That is, you seem to change. You need to get to the 63rd cell in the exact number of moves. If you are on 60, then only by rolling a three can you win. If you roll a five, then you go to 63 (three moves) and two moves back. If, while moving back, you hit a goose, then make another move back.
Important! The required number of moves can be rolled on one of the dice. The value of the second is then not taken into account. This is the relaxation at the end of the game.
Special cells and one unclear point, which is easily explained if you play for money:
Cell 6.A bridge is drawn on it. The player automatically lands on 12.
Cell 19.Hotel. The player pays for the services and skips his turn. It’s as if you ate, drank and slept. Probably, at the beginning of the game, some kind of payment was established for this and similar situations and this money was added to the center of the field, or they made up the entire game fund of the party.
Attention! You miss one turn at the hotel, but if on the same turn another player gets into the hotel, then you change places with him, he remains on yours, and you go where he came from.
Cell 31. Well. The player falls into the well and already misses two turns. Unless another player falls in the same place. Then you pay for the rescue and change places with him.
Cell 42.Labyrinth. The player gets lost, pays for rescue and ends up on square 30.
Cell 52.Jail. The most difficult cell. Because you: 1) pay for every turn you miss and 2) are only saved if the other player doesn't go to jail. There is a variant of the rules where the player misses three turns in prison.
Cell 58.Death. Pay or don't pay, but death is inevitable. The player starts the game again.
By the way, the moment two players are on the same square, both pay.
There are boards (there are not very many of them, but they are there) where there are no images of a hotel, a well, a labyrinth (but there is death). It doesn't matter. The meaning of the cells remains the same.
Isn't it true, everything is quite easy if you play for money. How did children play before? It seems to me that every player had some amount of something conditional. Buttons, pebbles, candy wrappers... And they paid with them.
By the way, in modern versions of the game there is no longer this point of payment.
Yes, “Goose” still exists! To play it, you don’t have to go to Figueres and buy it at the toy museum. All you have to do is choose a field to suit your taste (an older one, a more beautiful one, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, etc.), print it out on a color printer, make plasticine geese figures or take multi-colored chips, rob a set of backgammon for cubes and off you go!
Text and photo: Tanya Belkina.
Another version of "Goose"
This is exactly the same version of the game without the hotel, labyrinth and prison. Bridge, well and death on the spot
The most unusual variants of "Goose"
Children's versions of the game "goosebumps"
Game "The Little Humpbacked Horse" (1876)
A variation of the game “Goosek”: the player throws a die and moves his piece according to the number of points rolled. Having found poems under the corresponding number in the accompanying booklet, he determines what he will do, for example: “Not in heaven, but on earth/ There lived an old man in a certain village./<…>At first, / You get three marks, / Go to the second square.”
The Game of Wolves and Sheep (1884)
In the center of the field is the Wolf's lair, it is successively surrounded by guardhouses with watchmen or shepherds, dog kennels, and sheepfolds. The first of the participants plays for the Wolf, the second for the Watchmen, the third for the Dogs, the fourth for the Sheep (they stand still, so three of them can play). At the beginning of the game, the chips are placed on the corresponding figures in the corners of the field; possible directions of moves are specified by the rules. The goal of the game is for the Wolf to get into the sheepfold and eat all the Sheep. If the Watchman and the Dogs manage to “lock him up” and he cannot make further moves, the Wolf loses.
Game "Hunting with Greyhounds" (1890)
The game is designed for two players. One of them plays with circles representing animals: two foxes and three hares, and the other plays with circles representing four greyhounds. Dogs that are installed on the plan near the hunting lodge. The edge of the circle is pressed with a wooden stick, and it slides out and moves forward. If the animals manage to get past the hunting house, they win. The animal is considered hunted and is removed from the board if the player playing the hunt hits it with his circle. The player who plays with greyhounds wins by hunting two foxes or one fox and two hares.
Game of Sweepstakes or Steeplechase (1896)
The game involves six players, whose numbers are determined by lot. Other participants in the game can play on the bet and bet on one of the riders. The jockey who drew the first number starts the game; he throws the die and moves according to the points rolled. From a humorous inscription on the field, he learns what is happening to him (“I crushed my lady,” “My horse died from fatigue”) or what to do next (“Come back, pay 2 marks”). The jockey who finishes the race first wins and takes all the stamps from the box office.
Game "Travel through Russia" (1885)
The goal of the game is to complete the train journey from Odessa to Moscow and back faster than others. You can go either through Kharkov and Kursk, or through Kyiv and Smolensk, but, having reached Moscow one way, you need to return to Odessa by another. The player receives a locomotive and moves it to as many stations as the number of points on the dice. Using stamps (for example, nuts), players buy tickets and pay various travel expenses.
Game "Tightrope" (19th century)
They play with two dice.
The idea is that a player moves his piece to the next column if he either rolls that number on the die, or the sum of two dice equals the number of the next column, or the player rolls a double. When moving to the next column, the player stands on the top cell of the column. If a player does not roll the required numbers, he moves down one square in the column on which he stands. If the cells run out, the player “falls off the rope.” If the player moves to the next column, then he rolls the dice again, if he goes down, then the move moves on to another.
First, all players roll the dice until someone rolls a 1. He stands on the top square in the first column and rolls the dice again. Well, further in turn.
For example, a player stands in the first column and rolls a 2 and a 1. He moves to the second column (because he rolled a 2) and immediately to the third column (because 2+1 = 3).
If a player reaches the bottom cell in columns seven through eleven, he does not “fall into the water”, but moves to the top cell of the column corresponding to the number in the cell.
Game "Game with a Jew" (19th century)
The original game is called New Game of the Jew, which can be translated into Russian as New game with a Jew or how New Jewish game.
Its rules are as follows:
To play you will need two six-sided dice or one dodecahedron.
Any number of people can participate in the game. Each player receives two dozen (that is, 24) tokens, after which each player immediately places 7 tokens on the Jew. Then everyone takes turns throwing the dice and the one who rolls the most starts the game.
On his turn, the player rolls the dice, looks at how many he got and puts the same number of tokens on the cell with the number rolled (for example, if a 4 is rolled, you need to put 4 tokens in the cell with the number “4”). Then the turn passes to the second player, who also rolls the dice and places the tokens on the appropriate field.
However, if a player rolls the same number as the one who went directly in front of him, he takes all the tokens from the corresponding field (for example, if the first player rolled a "4", he put 4 tokens on the field numbered "4"; now if Immediately after this, the next player also throws a "4", he takes all the tokens from field number "4").
If someone rolls a seven, that player must place the same number of tokens on the field with the Jew as are already there.
If someone rolls a twelve, the field is "cleared" (it's not clear what that means).
If someone was out of turn, he must put 7 tokens on the Jew.
PS: By the way, this game was published in the magazine "Tram" around 1990. I remember that instead of tokens it was proposed to use buttons and, of course, there were no Jews there. The board was called "Bank" and it was in the bank that buttons had to be placed when a "7" came up.
Walking game "Little Red Riding Hood" (19th century)
A surprisingly simple game: two figures, one is Little Red Riding Hood, the other is the Wolf. The result of the game depends on which of the figures reaches the hut first.
Design options 
Rules of the game:
Number of players: 2 or more.
What you need to play: a playing field, 2 dice and one chip for each player.
Start of the game: Each player chooses the color of his piece and rolls 2 dice. The player with the highest score goes first. Then the move proceeds clockwise.
The playing field is a spiral consisting of 63 cells. Many fields have special obstacles or bonuses. Players move from the first to the 63rd field, the one who reaches the 63rd field first is the winner.
The player moves for the amount of 2 dice. Two players cannot occupy the same field at the same time. If a player lands on an occupied field, then the player who occupies it returns back to the field from which the other player came. (That is, the two players switch places).
The player, landing on a square with a goose, repeats the move (walks the same number of squares). Getting on the goose again, the player repeats the move again until he ends up on a square where there is no goose.
To win, you need to get exactly to cell No. 63. If you exceed the required number, then you need to go to cell No. 63, and then go back for the remaining number of points. If you hit a goose, keep moving backwards.
To get to field No. 63, you can use the result of any die separately. If one of the numbers on the die sends you to square 63, you do not need to use the second one. Otherwise, use the sum of 2 dice and go back.
If the sum “9” is rolled on the first move, the player will immediately end up on cell No. 63 (this is due to the location of the “goose” cells), so a special rule has been invented for this situation. If 6 and 3 are rolled, then go to cell No. 26, if 4 and 5, then go to cell No. 53. The rule only applies to the very first move.
Landing 2 identical numbers does not provide any bonuses.
Special fields:
6 Bridge: Go to field #12.
19 Tavern: Accommodation and hearty food make you lazy - you lose 1 turn (Exception: if on the same turn another player enters this field, you change places with him).
31 Well: If you fall into a well, you lose 2 turns, unless the player who came to the same field releases you first.
42 Labyrinth: You are lost - return to cell No. 30.
52 Prison: If you end up in prison, stay there until another player takes your place.
58 Death: Your goose was roasted and eaten. Go back to the beginning.
In 1991, in the square near the Church of St. James in Logroño, a field for playing goose was laid out on the pavement ( ). This game, now for children, was extremely popular in Europe: there are many fields for playing goose from the 17th-19th centuries, printed in Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, including thematic ones - dedicated to individual regions and events, say, Russian-French alliance.
It is known for certain that Francesco I de' Medici, Duke of Tuscany from 1576 to 1587, gave the game of goose to Philip II, King of Spain from 1556 to 1598 (1576), however, according to legend, the game appeared much earlier, it was based on a secret a guide to the Way of St. James created by the Templars. The hound's foot, a symbol associated with Neptune, with pilgrimage to the ocean and with the Camino, is also one of the signs of the Templars: it forms the basis of the secret writing used by the Templars, and repeated four times, it forms the cross of the Order.
The playing field, symbolizing the path, is divided into 63 cells. Players roll the dice and advance by the number of squares corresponding to the number rolled on the 2 dice. The goal of the game is to be the first to reach the end of the path. There are different versions of the rules, we present the one that seemed to us more ancient.
- Goose squares (5, 9, 14, 18, 23, 27, 32, 36, 41, 45, 50, 54, 59) allow you to move forward (sometimes by first moving to the next goose square) if the goose is facing forward , throwing the dice again, or forcing him to return if the goose is looking back, for the number of squares determined by the new throw.
- The squares with the image of dice (26 and 53) symbolize luck: you can get to them by throwing 6 and 3 or 4 and 5 on the first move, respectively. Having landed on cell 26 during the game, the player jumps to 53, and vice versa, having landed on 53, he must return to 26.
- Once you get to the cell with the image of a bridge (6), you can cross to the next one (12).
- Tavern (19) means skipping a turn (or two).
- Once in the well (31), the player must wait until another player gets to this cell, then he can move to the field where his deliverer started.
- The labyrinth (42) leads the traveler astray, returning him to square 30.
- Once in prison (52), a player is forced to remain there for three turns or until another takes his place.
- Cell 58 symbolizes death: the player returns to the beginning of the path.
- After 60, only one die is rolled, and you need to roll the exact number missing to 63 to complete the game, otherwise you will have to count down the cells first to 63 and then back.
If the game was played for money, payment was collected for crossing the bridge and for staying at the hotel, and the bank went to the winner.
There are many interpretations of the game. One draws attention to the sacred numbers 7 and 9; the intervals between the cells with the image of a goose - 4 and 5 - also add up to 9. 58 (death) - an unlucky cell and an unlucky number (the sum of the numbers is 5 + 8 = 13). Another legend explains the number of cells in the game by the fact that there were exactly 63 stripes on the nautilus shell, on which the Templars applied a schematic representation of the route of St. James. There is a version that there was also a 64th field, mystical and secret. It is believed that the first 32 cells correspond to the path to Santiago, and cells from 33 to 63 symbolize the return path, therefore, if the playing field is a spiral, its second turn usually begins from cell 33. The spiral image of the game “path” is sometimes interpreted as the image of a snake , one of the symbols of Mercury, the god of travel, and sometimes as an allegory of the Milky Way.
A simple French playing field (
People played dice in ancient Rome; they were also popular in Rus'. Later, dice games were banned in Russia, as it was believed that such games would lead to ruin. However, the ban did not make dice games fall into oblivion. Even when they were banned, there were games that people did not stop playing. One such dice game is Gooseneck. This game appeared a long time ago and gradually changed. Below you will find a description of the modern version of the game.
History of the board game goose
I wonder how they played Gusek several centuries ago? Please, we are ready to satisfy your curiosity. Previously, the game “Goosek” looked like this: a special board was used, on which there was a winding line, implying water. There were geese on both sides of the line. The player who was able to place his chips on one of the geese was given an advantage over other players. That's why the game got its name.
The modern version of the game is distinguished by freedom of action. This means that players can come up with the plot for the game themselves. To play, you need a sheet of paper on which points with different numbers of points are depicted. The first point is null. After it come points 1, 2-3, etc. The last point has any number of points.
The game also requires dice and chips. The number of chips must be equal to the number of participants. The number of dice depends on the number of points in the last point.
If the number in the last point = 500, then the game requires 3 dice, otherwise players will take a long time to move from the first to the last point. If the number is 100 or 150, then one dice can be used in the game.
To add spice to the game, at some points you can add rules for skipping a move or several moves, going back a few moves or, conversely, moving forward a few moves. Experiment!
The point of the game is for players to try to roll the highest number of points on the dice and be the first to reach the final destination. Players move the chip forward point by point, by the number rolled on the dice. The winning amount for the winner is always agreed upon in advance.
The modern version of the game is more suitable for children; it is not so exciting for adults. But children will definitely enjoy traveling along winding lines; the rules of the game, which they can come up with themselves, will turn out to be very interesting and will give free rein to their imagination.
