Though advertised in its subtitle as “the Most Agreeable and Rational Recreation Ever Invented for Youth of Both Sexes,” the game is entirely male-centered, charting a masculine path through seven distinct twelve-year “ages.” Modern Markets for ‘Human Life’ Victory belonged to the player who arrived at the final panel, space 84, where “The Immortal Man” was pictured as Isaac Newton, who had lived to that same age (Fig. There is “The Poet” at space 41, represented by Alexander Pope “The Patriot” at space 55, embodied by William Pitt and “The Glutton” at space 59, who resembles many popular satires on the indulgent Prince of Wales. Each individual square on the course represents one year of a hypothetical life and contains a concise, miniature illustration, sometimes of a recognizable personage, representing various stations that such a life might include. A statement on “The UTILITY and MORAL TENDENCY of this GAME,” along with some directions for game-play, appear in fancy script in the spandrels of the playing surface the “Rules of the Game” take up the empty space at the center of the racing-spiral. A separate decorative label was engraved and illustrated for the slipcase. 1), printed on sixteen separate pieces of paper and mounted on linen this cloth-backed playing-sheet could be folded and nestled into a marbled slipcase roughly the size of an octavo book. The New Game of Human Life was issued as a hand-colored engraving (Fig. Famous today in its modern incarnation as Life, the iconic board game that for many decades anchored the American gaming empire of Milton Bradley Corporation, The New Game of Human Life appeared under the shared imprint of John Wallis and Elizabeth Newbery, leading London publishers that would go on to produce many similar games for the lucrative market in domestic amusements. The New Game of Human Life was published by Act of Parliament on 14 July 1790. Figure 2: The New Game of Human Life, detail, 1790 (Collezione A.
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