18th Century Board Games

Last updated: April 12, 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
• 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