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Overview
This game reflects the growing popularity of war games for the home in the twentieth century. When the First World War broke out in 1914 many of the world’s powers were using complex board games to put their military strategies to the test, and it was from blood-soaked military applications that the idea of playing war games for fun emerged. Early war games for the home were quite simple – often just a map and a set of rules – but later war games involved miniature tanks, soldiers, and other pretend warfare paraphernalia. Risk, launched in 1959, was one of the most popular board games of all time.
This New Zealand-made game requires players to move pieces strategically in order to capture opposing forces and occupy the central island. The game demonstrates the extent to which war infiltrated the daily lives of civilians, young and old, as players are invited to act out violent scenes of war in their own homes.
Further Reading
- Donovan, Tristan. 2017. It’s All a Game: The History of Board Games from Monopoly to Settlers of Catan. New York: Thomas Dunne Books.