Vintage Board Games

One of my favorite things about SFO is the fantastic exhibits their museum puts together. Every self respecting airport should have a museum of its own. Actually SFO has two – the Aviation Museum and Library (in the International terminal) and the SFO Museum, which has rotating galleries throughout the various terminals.

Flying out to DC a few weeks ago I was transfixed by the Let’s Play! 100 Years of Board Games exhibit. Unless you are planning to visit terminal 2 before May, when the exhibit closes, you should take a look at the online gallery. A few of my favorites from the exhibit are included online, but find an overview of some of them below. My photos of the Nancy Drew game sadly didn't come out - so check out the gallery for that one. And if any of you happen to have The Nancy Drew Mystery Game sitting on a shelf in your closet, I'd really like to come over and play.
  

I was actually reading The Devil in the White City at the airport. Had a mild excited fit when I saw this game about the Chicago World’s Fair. And it is an amazing book - if slightly creepy. I was more interested in the building of the fair and what those working on it accomplished than in the serial killer portions, but I can see the role of its contrast within the book. Even if it was all horrifying. I’m shocked it didn’t give me nightmares...knock on wood.

There is a much better photo of the Charlie Chan game in the online gallery (which I have stolen and am including below). It looks as though it functions like a Clue game board, only with much more exciting locations than ‘the conservatory’. Something I’m probably going to need to play at some point.
 

Check out the copyright date on the description below it, c. 1916. It’s WWI and the game was made two years before the war ended in 1918.  

 

Here is an exciting game that sounds like a real good time, “The game board illustration depicts a road winding through the countryside and suburbs into a city where the ration boards are stationed. The first player who returns home with five ration cards for butter, gas, sugar, coffee, and meat wins.” I know you are all bemoaning the fact this game is not on the shelves of your local game store.

I know you are now going to rush out to buy plane tickets just to get passed TSA to see the exhibit before it closes.