The Game of the Goose is one of the oldest printed board games, dating back 400 years. It has spawned thousands of derivatives: simple race games, played with dice, on themes that mirror much of human activity. Its legacy can be traced in games of education, advertising and polemic, as well as in those of amusement and gambling - and games on new themes are still being developed. This book, by the leading international collector of the genre, is devoted to showing why the Game of the Goose is special and why it can lay claim to being the most influential of any printed game in the cultural history of Europe. Detailed study of the games reveals their historical provenance and - reversing the process - gives unusual insights into the cultures which produced them. They therefore provide rich sources for the cultural historian. This book is beautifully illustrated with more than 90 illustrations, many in color, which are integrated throughout the text.

[Adrian Seville](https://city.academia.edu/AdrianSeville) (Emeritus Professor of City University, London) is a leading collector and researcher of printed board games. His 2016 exhibition at the Grolier Club of New York was hailed in *The Wall Street Journal* as a ‘mindopening cultural event’.

PART I. The History of the Game of the Goose and its Variants, from its earliest appearance to the end of the 19th centuryCHAPTER 1: Introduction and Overview Appendix 1a - Chronological overviewAppendix 1b - Rules for the classic Game of the Goose CHAPTER 2: Early History and Meaning of the Game of the Goose CHAPTER 3: French Games before the Revolution Appendix 3a - statistics from D'Allemagne's iconographyAppendix 3b - individual spaces of Duval's Jeu du MondeCHAPTER 4: French games after the Revolution CHAPTER 5: An overview and listing of British games Appendix 5a - Introduction to the Check List of British games.Appendix 5b - Check List of British Games, compiled by John SpearCHAPTER 6: British games of the 17th and 18th centuries CHAPTER 7: British games of the 19th century CHAPTER 8: Distinctive Features of German Goose Games Appendix 8a - The Image Data Base of German GamesCHAPTER 9: Italian Games to the end of the 19th century CHAPTER 10: Dutch and Flemish games CHAPTER 11: Games in Spain, Portugal and Latin America CHAPTER 12: Countries of Europe where the Game of the Goose was less in evidence. CHAPTER 13: The board game links between Europe and the USAPART II. The Legacy of the Game of the Goose in the Modern EraCHAPTER 14: The International Background to the Legacy CHAPTER 15: Amusement and Education CHAPTER 16: Propaganda, polemic and satire CHAPTER 17: Advertising and promotion CONCLUSIONCHAPTER 18: Printed Board Games as Sources for Cultural HistoryLiterature quoted with abbreviated titlesGlossary of technical termsList of figuresIndex of gamesIndex of subjects