Monopolies and Mergers

Following on from the previous episode of Games Britannia, "Monopolies and Mergers" continues the series by exploring the evolution of board games particularly surrounding the nuclear family common to Britain.

Mansion of Bliss
In 1810, when in Britain schooling had become legally obligatory, this board game was created to have a focus on conveying political messages and promoting 'good' behaviour; even though it was a very simple game of chance. It spawned a large amount of imitators, many of which focussed on similar principles of guiding morals.

Pank a Squith
A game that follows the story of Emily Pankhurst, this game continues the running theme of this episode of games that commentate or make statements on the political situation of the region they were invented in.

Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit
This early forerunner to Monopoly was released in Britain during a time of immense conflict over the financial state of the country, the redistribution of wealth, and particularly the notion of land tax. For the most part, the game plays the same as Monopoly, but had a specific goal of displaying and conveying the inequities of land ownership and what possible solutions there could be.

Cluedo and Scrabble
I have included these games in my notes as they were very successful and popular games, however I don't feel the need to elaborate on them, as they are fittingly so popular that everyone today still knows them exceptionally well.

Kensington
Invented in 1979, this game launched its inventors into the spotlight for a time. However, it is something that quickly disappeared as was indicative of games at the time.

Generally speaking, although I enjoyed this episode, I found it far less interesting than the first; and my notes reflect this. I believe that is simply because I have a particular interest in more ancient history, and the periods that this episode covers are less engaging to me. Moreover many of the games that are spoken about in this episode are in common knowledge and nothing particularly new to me is explored where those games are concerned.

However I found the games shown in the earlier parts of the episode to be of more interest. I was surprised, as an example, to find out that there was a game so similar to Monopoly, but based on political and economic argumentation.