The Military Connections to the Game Battleship

 

The popular board game and its initial manufacturer both had ties to real-life wars.

by Rich Watson 

Battleship was always fun. I had the game itself but I also remember playing a pen-and-paper version that worked similarly. It was good for when the teacher was absent and we goofed around in the back of the classroom while the substitute filled out delaney cards or whatever.

Given its military trappings, it should come as no surprise that its roots sprung during wartime.

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Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs and Other Building Toys

Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs have come a long way from their beginnings as simple building toys.

by Rich Watson 

Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs were among my favorite toys as a kid. I studied visual art for years, but I didn’t aspire to be an engineer or an architect. I just enjoyed the thrill of building things with my toys.

They’re still made. They rank among the oldest American-made toys on the market.

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Dominoes: The Game and the Art of Toppling Them

Whether playing the game or toppling the game pieces, dominoes make for a fun diversion.

by Rich Watson 

The game of dominoes goes at least all the way back to thirteenth century China. Europe popularized it, in a different form, during the eighteenth century, especially France. Today it’s known and played all over the world. 

At one point it became popular to stand domino tiles up and knock them down, not as a game but as an activity. Called “domino toppling” or the “domino effect” or a “chain reaction,” people arrange thousands of them in elaborate patterns, sometimes with devices that help trigger the chain reaction, and watch them fall one by one.

How did that get started?

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