Fox and Geese Game Board

Description:

This 9-inch square board with 32 holes was made for playing Fox and Geese, a game of strategy between two players. The 19 pegs representing geese and a single longer peg for the fox are long gone from this particular board made in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Fox and Geese was among the games played by fishermen during idle times on sailing schooners working in the North Atlantic fisheries. This board was part of a display on “Habits of Fishermen,” at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. Other games in the display, all from Gloucester, included cards, a checkerboard, backgammon, and a diamond puzzle.

The rules of play for Fox and Geese are simple: one player controls the fox, while the other controls the geese. The fox can move in a straight line in any direction and, as it jumps over geese, the geese are removed from the board. To win, the fox must break through the entire line of geese. The geese are only allowed to move forward or sideways. To win, they must corner the fox so it cannot move.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1633 reference to the game from a play called Fine Companion by Shackerley Marmion: “Let him sit in the shop . . . and let him play at fox and geese with the foreman.” The game was played in colonial America and, with minor variations, well into the 19th and 20th centuries.

This game board was one of several items donated to the Smithsonian by Capt. George Merchant Jr., of Gloucester.

Date Made: 1883

Location: Currently not on view (Pegs from gameboard)

Place Made: United States: Massachusetts, Gloucester

Subject: FishingRelated Event: The Development of the Industrial United States

Subject:

See more items in: Work and Industry: Fisheries, Government, Politics, and Reform, Cultures & Communities, Family & Social Life, Work, Sports & Leisure

Exhibition: On the Water

Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Related Web Publication: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater

Related Publication: Brown, James Temple. The Whale Fishery and Its Appliances, On the Water online exhibition

Credit Line: Captain George Merchant, Jr., through J. W. Collins

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: AG.057950Catalog Number: 057950Accession Number: 12158

Object Name: game, fox and geese board

Physical Description: wood (overall material)Measurements: overall: 8 7/8 in x 8 1/8 in x 7/16 in; 22.5425 cm x 20.6375 cm x 1.0922 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-c97e-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_866995

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