The New Game of Human Life

(via findlight)

‘The New Game of Human Life’,  published John Wallis and Elizabeth Newberry, England, 1790.

The game is played as a journey through life from the age of 1 to 84. The Age of Man is divided into seven periods, each of twelve years: Infancy to Youth, Manhood, Prime of Life, Sedate Middle Age, Old Age, Decrepitude and Dotage. He passes through life in a variety of situations that are arranged in the order in which they generally succeed each other. The game is played with a teetotum, an early form of dice. The ‘Utility and Moral Tendency’ of this game is described thus:

‘If parents who take upon themselves the pleasing task of instructing their children (or others to whom that important trust may be delegated) will cause them to stop at each character and request their attention to a few moral and judicious observations, explanatory of each character as they proceed and contrast the happiness of a virtuous and well spent life with the fatal consequences arising from vicious and immoral pursuits, this game may be rendered the most useful and amusing of any that has hitherto been offered to the public.’