
Progress in Play: Board Games and the Meaning of History - prismatic
https://publicdomainreview.org/2019/02/20/progress-in-play-board-games-and-the-meaning-of-history
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empath75
I’m always impressed by the striking quality of designs from the early Soviet
Union. It’s such a dramatic improvement over any of the other games that were
shown, and not made all that much later.

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jmickey
Can you please provide some examples? Genuinely interested! :)

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bkohlmann
It's remarkable to me how complex board games, like our society at large, have
become over the past few decades. And the messages that are conveyed by the
games. We assume the current state as "normal" but actually points to the
remarkable progress of our society.

I'm playing "Chutes and Ladders" with my four year old, which is a direct
derivation of a popular ancient Indian board game.

And I love the title of the Soviet game mentioned:

"Tuberculosis: A Proletarian Disease, Look After Your Health! The New Hygiene
Game"

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benj111
I've always known it as snakes and ladders.

Chutes and ladders would make more sense though. It was never clear to me why
you would fall down the snakes.

Edit: It appears Chutes and Ladders is a branded version of Snakes and Ladders
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders)

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denart2203
Interesting that the author namechecks novelists, journalists and folk-artists
tangentially related to his subject, but in almost every case neglects to
credit the designers and publishers of the games in the article, even though
that information is printed on the boards themselves and can be read - just -
in a couple of the images. Can he explain why he thinks it's appropriate to
show respect to the creators of respectable artforms, but none for those who
made the objects he's discussing?

