Goose!

A few years ago, I went down a rabbit hole chasing the history of a game known as Goose.

I was able to find some extant prints from the end of the 16th century of Goose boards.

• Print Board Game, 1588 (appears to be Goose)
• Print Board Game, 1588 (also appears to be Goose)
• Print Board Game, 1590's
• Print Board Game, 1589
• Print Board Game, 1598 (appears to be Goose) 

These all seem to be from Italy.  Here's a sample of the last one above.


Goose is characterized by having a spiral layout board with 63 spaces, some of which have geese or other "traps" such as a maze, death, etc. It's a fun little game to play and doesn't require much thought or strategy.  For more details, check out Masters Traditional Games.

In my searches, I came across another Goose board, that has become my favorite for it's simplicity and beauty.  Unfortunately, I found it as a reference one another webpage and was unable to find anything further about it's supposed location or date.

Luckily, over the years more museums and collections are available online.  While still not a perfect reference, I've been able to find what I believe is the home of this rouge Goose board.  To my surprise, it is a print block from 1590, instead of just a print. See the Cartoxia website for as many details as I can find.

Here's a picture of the print block, and a print from it.

You might notice that this is the background for my blog.  Happy Goosing!