18th Century Board Games
Last updated: May 8, 2024
See also toys & playthings and playing-cards and other games elsewhere on this site. (Dice from the 18th century can be found with the gaming equipment.)
Backgammon and Trictrac
- A tapestry of trictrac-players woven by Guillaume Werniers, c. 1700-1738
- A tapestry of trictrac-players, 1701-1710
- The players of trictrac by Paul Joseph Delcloche
- The backgammon board, c. 1723
- Interior with elegant gentlemen seated at a table playing backgammon by Justus Juncker, c. 1726-1767
- Trictrac players at an inn by Jan Josef Horemans, c. 1729-1760
- Salon interior with trictrac players
- Das Bretſpiel
- De Paarde-Markt tot Leipzig, c. 1732-1734
- The Four Times of Day: Afternoon by Nicolas Lancret, c. 1739-1741
- Elegant couple playing backgammon, with servants in a columned hall by Peter Jacob Horemans, 1750
- Trictrac players, 1756
- Trictrac players
- MORR 163, a game box designed for backgammon on the inside and checkers on the outside, along with ivory counters for backgammon
Checkers
- Das Bretſpiel
- The game of checkers by Michel Barthélemy Ollivier, c. 1765-1770
-
- Checkers players by Willem Joseph Laquy
- Fables: The Monkey by Jacobus Buys, 1779
- Ephraïm van Emden by Jan Ekels, c. 1785-1810
- Three men playing a game of checkers by Dirk Jacobs Ploegsma, 1790
- Ik heb Dam and Wie zoekt, die vindt, c. 1800-1810
Chess
See also Tableaux ayant pour sujet les échecs.
- Palais des Beaux-Arts 23413, a chessboard with the heraldry of Bernart d’Avernes, c. 1740
- Voltaire at a Chess Table by Jean Huber, c. 1750-1775
- A Quarrel over a Board Game by Gaspare Traversi, c. 1752
- The chess-players by Johann Baptist Jakob Raunacher, c. 1760
- The chess players by Willem Joseph Laquy
- John FitzWilliam, 8th Viscount FitzWilliam playing chess with The Hon. Edward Onslow with George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke and an unidentified Indian servant looking on by Daniel Gardner, c. 1775
- A Game at Chess, 1780
- The Auriol and Dashwood Families by Johan Zoffany, c. 1783-1787
- Christie’s Lot 57 / Sale 5320, a German polychrome carved bone bust type chess set, Geislingen, late 18th century
- Portrait of an unknown family by Jean Humbert, last quarter of the 18th century/li>
- Les Joueurs d’Echecs, c. 1800
The Game of the Cries of …
- British Museum 1893,0331.69, “Le Nouveau Jeu des Cris de Paris,” 1779
- BritMus 1893,0331.70, “Le Nouveau Jeu des Cris de Paris,” 1789
The Game of the Goose
- British Museum 1893,0331.35, 1893,0331.36, 1893,0331.45, 1893,0331.46, 1893,0331.47, 1893,0331.48, 1893,0331.49, 1893,0331.51, 1893,0331.53, 1893,0331.54, 1893,0331.91, 1893,0331.94, …
- Le jeu de l'oie, after a painting by Jean-Siméon Chardin
- Colonial Williamsburg 1961-129, a printed handkerchief, “The Game of the Goose,” 1780-1790
- V&A MISC.292-1981, The Game of the Goose in hand-colored paper, mounted on wood, made in England, 1790-1810
- MuCEM 63.124.1 D, a board for “Le Jeu de l'Oye, Renouvellé des Grecs,” c. 1794-1810
- MuCEM 62.70.3 D, a board for “Le Jeu de l'Oie, Renouvellé des Grecs,” 18th or 19th century
- Knavish Pat — A Tale, 1804
The Game of Human Life
- British Museum 1893,0331.78, “Stationen Spiel auf der Reise dieses Lebens in Bildern,” Nuremburg, early 18th century
- GNM HB 23884 Kapsel 1258a, “La Vie Humaine, un nouveau Jeu,” c. 1751-1800
- V&A MISC.124-1989, a silk game-board for “La Vie Humaine un Nouveau Jeu,” Germany, 1790-1810
- V&A E.156-1933, a hand-colored engraving for “The New Game of Human Life,” London, 1790
- V&A CIRC.235-1964, a hand-colored engraving on linen, “The New Game of Human Life,” London, 1790
- Museum of London A19011, “The New Game of Human Life,” London, 1790
The Game of the Owl
- British Museum 1893,0331.55, 1893,0331.56, 1893,0331.57, 1893,0331.102
- PMA 1958-133-2000, “Nouveau Jeu de la Chouette,” France, c. 1774-1812
Games of arithmetic & mathematics
- British Museum 1876,0510.649, “Die Anfangsgründe der Rechenkunst,” early 18th century
- British Museum 1893,0331.138, “Grosses arithmetisches Zalen Quadrat-Spiel von 64 Zalen,” early 18th century
- V&A E.733-1959, “An Arithmetical Pastime,” a hand-colored engraving mounted on linen, 1798
Games of history & chronology
- British Museum 1893,0331.109, “L’Historiographie du Royaume de France,” 1744-1768
- British Museum 1893,0331.108, “Tableau cronologique de l'histoire universelle en forme de jeu,” 1767
- British Museum 1893,0331.114, “L’Histoire Romaine depuis la fondation de Rome jusqu’a Constantin,” 1773
- British Museum 1893,0331.111, “Nouveau jeu historique et cronologique des Rois de France,” after 1774
- British Museum 1893,0331.110, “Tableau chronologique et historique des Principaux Evenements arrivées en France,” 1776
Games of geography
- British Museum 1893,0331.115, “La Récréation Européenne, ou Jeu des Princes de l’Europe,” 1770
- British Museum 1893,0331.107, “La Géographie Universelle, ou la Conoissance Exacte de la Mappemonde,” Paris, 1780
- British Museum 1893,0331.112, “Mappe-monde ou carte générale de toute la terre,” late 18th century
Games of heraldry
- British Museum 1893,0331.34, “Il Gioco del Blasone,” c. 1714-1718
- British Museum 1895,0121.1, “Le Jeu du Blason,” 1718
Games of love
- British Museum 1852,0612.450.+, “Il dilettevol giuoco del pellegrinaggio d’amore,” 1675-1718
- British Museum 1893,0331.80, “Lustiges Braut und Bräutigams oder Verheÿrathungs Spiel,” late 18th century
- British Museum 1893,0331.98, “Jeu de l’amour et de l’himené,” late 18th-early 19th century
Other board games
- British Museum 1852,0612.483 (and 1893,0331.31), “Il nuovo gioco de li animali,” c. 1690-1718
- British Museum 1852,0612.459.+, “Gioco nuovo del contento,” c. 1690-1718
- An ivory board for playing nine men’s morris, southern Germany, c. 1700
- British Museum 1852,0612.482 (and 1893,0331.27), “Zugh di tutti i zugh,” 1702
- British Museum 1893,0331.76, “Ring Würfel Spiel mit Menschen und Thieren,” early 18th century
- British Museum 1865,0610.1158, an untitled English board game with 48 compartments featuring animals, owls, and tools
- British Museum 1893,0331.118, “Les Délassemens des Éléves de Mars, ou Nouveau Jeu Militaire,” 1709-1727
- British Museum 1852,0612.489 (and 1893,0331.28), “Gioco nuovo di tutte l'osterie che sono in Bologna con le sue insegne e sue strade” (a game of inn-signs of Bologna), 1712
- British Museum 1893,0331.100, an untitled Italian board game with a grid of 36 numbered squares containing animals, birds, coats-of-arms, men, women and flowers
- British Museum 1893,0331.37, an untitled Italian board game with numbered pictorial compartments from 1 to 49 in a spiral, a fishing party in the center, and crustaceans in the corners of the board and on some of the squares
- British Museum 1893,0331.137, “Deutches Ritterspiel”
- MuCEM 70.24.25E, “Le Nouveau Jeu des Vertus récompensées et des vices punis, ou le Triomphe de la Virtu,” 1763
- British Museum 1893,0331.79, “Das Uhr und Stunden Würfel Spiel,” Nuremburg, late 18th century
- British Museum 1893,0331.113, “Le Nouveau Jeu de la Marine,” late 18th century
- British Museum 1893,0331.139, “Pomona: ein Conversations Spiel,” late 18th century
- British Museum 1893,0331.89, “Nouveau jeu des théatres de Melpomene, Momus et Thalie,” late 18th century
- British Museum 1893,0331.133, “Le Jeu d’Assaut,” London, late 18th century
- British Museum 1893,1015.15, an untitled game-board with 83 numbered compartments, arranged in a squared spiral, showing various buildings, signposts, horsemen, etc; the central square being a walled city, 1790
- British Museum 1893,1015.8, “Der blinde Passagier und seine Gefährten,” c. 1780-1820