thumb|upright=1.35|A Game of the Goose board

The Game of the Goose, also known as the Royal Game of the Goose, is one of the first board games to be commercially manufactured. It is a race game that relies only on dice throws to dictate progression of the players. The board is often arranged in the form of a spiral, with game pieces starting on the most outward part. It is claimed to be the first modern board game. In the 15th century, it was largely considered as a gambling game.

A version of the game was given as a gift by Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici of Tuscany to King Philip II of Spain sometime between 1574 and 1587. In June 1597 John Wolfe enters the game in the Stationers' Register, as "the newe and most pleasant game of the goose". James VI of Scotland ordered his painter James Workman to make a board for the game called "the guse" in 1602.

The game has long been in production. It was manufactured using wood by Dutch printers. By the 19th century, the game was marketed as a children's game.

Indian and Asian origins

The oldest board for Game of the Goose can be found today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This board follows most of the classical descriptions of the game but with a few differences concerning the hazard spaces. In 2017, another board made its way to the Paris gallery of Sylvie L'Hermite-King. This board dates back to the late 16th century and the Portuguese State of North India. The Game of the Goose made its way to Asia through Portuguese ships sailing to India. Boards made in India at the time were considered to be highly treasured in Europe.

Theories and symbolism

Some connect the game with the Phaistos Disc because of its spiral shape but, as Caroline Goodfellow notes, the two games "are unlikely to have been the same". Another theory links the game to the Pilgrims' Way to Santiago, or the Road to Saint James of Compostela, in Galicia. According to this hypothesis, the game was invented by the Knights Templar, who were in charge of protecting those on pilgrimage to the main holy cities: Compostela, Rome and Jerusalem.

According to Christine Damste, the game was created with the intent to symbolize the fate humans experience in life. While these spaces are considered the most favourable, landing on one can also have unintended consequences. To win the game, a player must roll a number that lands them exactly on the 63rd space. Should they overthrow, they must move backward by the amount they overstepped. The standard form of the game shows Death on space 58.

  • The game was the basis for a game and stunt show in Italy named Il Grande Gioco Dell'Oca (The Great Game of the Goose), as well as the near-identical Spanish version, El gran juego de la oca (same). The Spanish version ran from 1993 to 1995, and again in 1998 as El nuevo juego de la oca (The New Game of the Goose).
  • In Jacques Rivette's film, Le Pont du Nord, the game is described by the main character, Marie Lafée. The game itself provides the plot structure.
  • In book, The Night of Turns, published by Broodcomb Press under the name of Edita Bikker, the Game of the Goose is integral to the movements of people travelling in caravans through an otherworldly land.

Variations

France

thumb| ("The game of the French and the Spanish for peace"), 1660 board game about the [[Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) by Pierre Duval|alt=A black and white print of a board game similar to the game of the goose with 26 steps. The steps are oval. They include a year, a French half and a Spanish half with a map each and French text. The game rules are explained in French.]]

Educational race games based on the "Game of the Goose" are a French invention of the 17th century. The earliest known adaptation is Pierre Marriette's "Jeu Chronologique" dated 1638, with the purpose of teaching History. Successive versions taught geography, the arts of war, and heraldry, produced from expensively engraved copper plates as opposed to the provincial productions of games from woodcut blocks.

England

A century later, England joined the trend of educational race games with John Jeffreys’ 1759 "A Journey through Europe, or the Play of Geography," printed by Carington Bowles. The first dated game of this kind marked a significant step in the evolution of educational games to facilitate the teaching of geography in the region. offers a distinct rule at space 57, where a depicted man with a pipe suggests a gendered activity. Any player, unless they are female, are sent back to space 47, hinting at the societal views on smoking as an exclusively masculine activity.