Family game night : board games from the Gilded Age to the roaring twenties / Susan R. Asbury

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Asbury, Susan R., Author.

Series:

Material worlds

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Board games.

Family recreation.

Board games--Social aspects.

Board game industry.

United States.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Lexington, Kentucky : University Press of Kentucky, [2026]

Summary:

"During the second half of the nineteenth century, the rise of industrialization and a gendered division of labor set the stage for tastemakers, architects, and social reformers to elevate the home parlor as a space for leisure and family gathering. Board game makers and marketers capitalized on these trends by peddling a certain exclusionary brand of the American dream.In Family Game Night, Susan R. Asbury provides a history of US board games from the 1880s through the 1920s, the morals and tropes they conveyed, and the influence game designers and manufacturers had on consumers. Drawing from historical documents, marketing materials, patents, diaries, and photographs, Asbury shows how games incorporated and promoted concepts related to progress and abundance, including a clear delineation of the purported beneficiaries: white middle-class families. Asbury further analyzes box covers and game components to uncover the ways in which manufacturers and designers crafted narratives to maintain a sense of cultural hegemony in a rapidly changing society.Through the imagery and instructions woven into the framework of play, Family Game Night reveals how these board games influenced players' values and associations, shaping their worldview"-- JSTOR

Contents:

Introduction : board games as material culture of American play

Home amusements

Mansions, happy old age, and fortune

Savagery and civilization : finding prosperity in manifest destiny at home

A plethora of games for a “splendid little war”

Jolly targets and old maids : race and gender in board games

Telegraph boys, shopping, and monopolies : board games and social class

Conclusion : family game night... everything old is new again, sort of

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed June 22, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Asbury, Susan R. Family game night

ISBN:

9781985903869

1985903865

9781985903876

1985903873

OCLC:

1596926433

Publisher Number:

CIPO000388322

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license