MAHS-- Part 6: Even More Board Games

McHenry Area Historical Society.

And, Pat Wirtz had even more board games on display.  I am writing down just some of the games he had with him.

The Puritan Game of My Wife and I (from 1888)

Fibber McGee & Molly (from the mid 1930s to mid-1950s)

Lindy  (Based on Charles Lindbergh's famous flight.

Touring  (started in 1906)

Steve Canyon  (based on a comic strip)

Flying Aces  (1946)

The most money he ever spent was $125 for the German WW II game.  (Or, at least that is what he said since his wife was there.  But, he said his wife knows  everything about his purchases.)

He also has some 40 shoe boxes full of postcards and a complete run of Life Magazine from 1932 to 1945 as he focuses on the World War II era.

He Sure Knows His Board Games.  --CootBoard

McHenry Area Historical Society-- Part 2: Early Board Games

They now have a Facebook and Blog up and running.  There are 2100 followers on Facebook with 8-12,000 views per article.

Today's presenter, Pat Wirtz is a bit like me, or the beloved Bill Shea down in Springfield, Illinois, in that he pretty much collects everything.  And, like me, he is a White Sox fan, as is Double D.  Must be a good guy.

His topic today:  Board Games.

The first commercially-sold board game was The mansion of Happiness in 1843.  It was a children's board game based on Christian  morality.  Players raced around a 66-space spiral track depicting  virtues and vices.  Land on a vice square and you go back.

At one time, the two major board game companies were Milton-Bradley (Pat says 2/3 of his games are made by them) and Parker brothers.  Both are now owned by Hasbro.

The earliest board games were made by lithography companies.  But production unfortunately was only limited to a few hundred copies.  Then, they changed to using watercolors.

--Cooter