The Game of the Goose (part 1) | The first modern board game | Rules | History | Strategy

The Royal Game of the Goose is a simple race game that was first played in15th century Italy. Favored by everyone from Dukes to peasants, the game was incredibly popular — especially when played for money. I explore the history of the game, and try to answer the ultimate question: WHY GEESE?!


See me carve my own lino block and print the game:    • Royal Game of the Goose | DIY #linocut #bo...  

Curious about the much older spiral track game, Mehen? I have a video on that, too:    • Mehen | The Oldest Game Known| Rules | His...  

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PHOTO CREDITS

Goose icon
CC BY 3.0
Delapouite
https://delapouite.com/

Royal Game of Ur
CC BY-SA 4.0
Szilas
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us...

Pelican in her piety
CC BY-SA 2.0
Maigheach-gheal
https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/9274

Iconostasis Royal door
CC BY-SA 4.0
Misko3

Pelican in her piety
CC BY-SA 3.0
Montrealais
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mo...

Archivolt Voussure Pelican
CC BY-SA 4.0
EgorovaSvetlana
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us...


MUSIC CREDITS

Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

REFERENCES

Publications

Bell, R.C. The Boardgame Book, The Knapp Press, 1979
Donovan, Tristan. It’s All a Game, Atlantic Books, 2017
Grunfeld, Frederic. Games of the World, Ballatine Books, 1977
Knight, Hugh T. Jr. Pastimes with Good Company: European Games from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Lulu.com, 2022
Livingstone, Ian; Wallis, James. Board Games in 100 Moves, DK, 2019
O’Bryan, Robin. Games and Game Player in European Art and Literature, 16th-17th Centuries. Amsterdam University Press, 2019
Pritchard, David. The Family Book of Games. Brockhampton Press, 1995
Salamallah the Corpulent. Medieval Games, Raymond’s Quiet Press, 1982
Seville, Adrian. The Cultural Legacy of the Royal Game of the Goose. Amsterdam University Press, 2019
Smith, Patrick J. The Complete Anachronist #71: Period Pastimes. The Society for Creative Anachronism, 1994
Various authors. The Complete Anachronist #4: Indoor Games or How to While Away a Siege. The Society for Creative Anachronism, 1983

Websites

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/...
   • The Royal Game of the Goose  
https://www.giochidelloca.it/storia/e...

Timecodes
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Board & pieces
01:20 - Rules
05:31 - History
09:42 - The Grand Climacteric
12:10 - Why geese?
14:55 - Strategy
15:19 - Wrap-up

#games #ancientgames, #Italianhistory, #gameofthegoose, #gaming, #history

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional game scholar. At best, I am an enthusiastic amateur. This means my work may be incomplete, biased and, (I hope only rarely) outright wrong. I work hard to use reliable sources, double-check for accuracy, and draw reasonable conclusions. However, the scholarship surrounding ancient games is constantly growing and evolving; as a part-time game researcher and YouTube content creator, I am not always up to date on the most recent findings. If I present anything that is demonstrably incorrect, please call me out so I may increase my personal knowledge and understanding of this fascinating subject. Reach me at heygamingbench@gmail.com.