The History of the Game of the Goose - Exhibition Museum Joure 30 Oct 2004 – 25 Feb 2005 - Written by Christine Sinninghe Damsté & Hopperus Buma (2004).pdf

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The History of the Game of the Goose
Exhibition Museum Joure , 30 October 2004 – 25 February 2005
Written by Christine Sinninghe Damsté - Hopperus Buma
The exhibited Goose games are part of two collections brought together: the
collection of Gerry Broersma (Joure) and of Christine Sinninghe Damsté (Delden)
INTRODUCTION
This exhibition will show you a lot of information about the history of the Game of
the Goose and games which could be classified as Goose variants. The rules and
variations will be explained. It is not only for the lovely colours and the different
printing techniques that you will enjoy the games, but they also reflect the spirit of
the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries.
When studying the Game of the Goose, a lot of questions arise. Do certain
combinations have a symbolic meaning and do the images on the games contain a
message for us?
The game of the goose is all about the ups and downs you encounter in the course of
your life.
During the game your fate will be determined by two dice. Throughout the centuries
people from many generations and social groups have been attracted by gambling
games. As a game of forfeit it was a popular game among the 17
th
century
bourgeois, taken over from the nobility who had been playing the game in the 16
th
century. In the 19
th
century the game developed into a real children’s game. By that
time the game had become quite innocent and only spice nuts or fiches were
forfeited, but the spiral shape and the basic rules of the original game have never
changed. At this exhibition you will get an impression of the many variations of
related games with altered shapes and rules that have been put on the market during
the past two centuries. Even nowadays we find variations of the old familiar goose
game used for advertising purposes.
© 2008 Christine Sinninghe Damsté
1
BRIEF HISTORY
The oldest written information about the game dates back to the 16th century. In the
17
th
century the game could be found in different European countries. Most of these
goose games from different countries do have many similarities. The oldest still
existing goose games originates from Italy. As far as we know this country might be
the cradle of the game of the goose. It is known that Francesco de Medici ( 1574-1587)
gave the Giocco dell’Oca as a present to King Phillip of Spain.
In the 17
th
century Dutch printers of maps, prints and books published Goose games
regularly. Many were woodcuts whose wood blocs had been used by different
generations, some between a hundred and one hundred and fifty years. Through the
years many different printers used the basic rules and the same shape of the game.
But in the lay-out of the rules and the images we find many different adaptations.
The lithographically printed 19th century games were often copies from the 18
th
century, but the language used in the explanation of the rules and the clothes in the
images had been adapted to the contemporary fashion.
A good example of a game which was put on the market by several printers in the
Netherlands and abroad, is the
first game at this exhibition:
Het Nieuw en Vermaeckelyck
Gansespel, by J.de Lange in
Deventer. (exp.no.1) He was
the third in line and worked
between 1822 -1849. As de
Lange used a rather over-used
woodblock,
which
was
probably a hundred years old
and might have been used by
his ancestors as well, the print
of this copy of the goose game
is not as clear as it should be.
The
word
Vermaeckelyck
(amusing, entertaining) is
often used in these games.
From the 18th century the
word ‘educating’ is of more
importance. Especially in the
17
th
century the pictures of the
game were to convey the
message, as most people were
not able to read. Many pictures have allegorical meanings. Interpreting these images
is rather difficult.
© 2008 Christine Sinninghe Damsté
2
PLAYING WITH NUMBERS
Also the symbolic meaning of the combination of the numbers used in the game has
been studied.
The numbers 7 and 9 play an important part in the game. 9 is the sum of 4 and 5.
Therefore it is not without reason that we find a goose on every 4
th
and 5
th
square
throughout the game. In many different cultures 9 is of special importance. It is the
beginning of a new sequence. Also the number 7 is of great significance in Christian
civilisation. But influences from many different cultures have mingled throughout
the centuries.
All goose games end on number 63, the product of 7 multiplied by 9. The rule says
you have to reach the 63 square exactly; otherwise you have to count back the
numbers of your throw. But when you reach 63, you have passed number 58 (you
have conquered death!) and you are the winner of the game, which means that you
may start again. So you may say the game never ends. Maybe this has something to
do with the spiral shape of the game. There might be a relation between the spiral
shape of the game and the symbolic eternal meaning of the rolled-up snake, a symbol
of eternity found back in several cultures.
Before you can win the game you not only have to deal with lucky but also awkward
situations. The game is played with two dice. And even at the start you can be lucky
by throwing 6 and 3. This means, go straight to 26. An initial throw of 4 and 5 means
that you can go straight to 53.
Not only the numbers play an important role , but also certain pictures on the
squares, like the toll-bridge, the inn, the well, the maze, the prison and death.
At the toll-bridge, you have to pay to the pool, but you are allowed to proceed to 12.
At the inn, you lose two moves. (probably to experience all the opportunities you
come across) In some variations of the game you have to foot the bill (in Dutch: het
gelag betalen) an expression which comes from the game of the goose. This also
counts for the expression ‘over de brug komen (come across the bridge)’ and ‘in de
put zitten (be in the well = feel low)’. When coming to The well on number 31 you
have to wait until somebody else comes to your help by reaching this place. You can
change places then. Interesting is the fact that in real life you also often need your
fellow men to get out of awkward situations or when you feel down.
At 42 , the maze, it says ‘go back to 39’ . Sometimes real life looks like a maze. It is not
always easy to find your way to reach your goal.
52, the prison. Here you have to wait until you can change places with a fellow
player. (a time for contemplation about justice?)
58, Death. Often the vanitas symbol of the scytheman, or just a skeleton has been
depicted. When entering this square you go back to start again. If this has something
to do with the thought of eternity I dare not say. …..but the idea is interesting. All
the interpretations about the depicted squares are made without any scientific base
and seen from a 21
st
century point of view.
© 2008 Christine Sinninghe Damsté
3
THE MEANING OF THE GOOSE.
In all goose games it is a standard rule that the goose brings luck in the sense of
progress. In Dutch: Die op eene gans komt, telt nog zoo veel voort als hij geworpen
heeft (If you land on a goose you move on as many places as you have cast). Why is
it a Goose? Just like the swan, the pelican and the owl the goose plays an important
part in popular belief. People believed these birds to have special powers, as many
other animals had in these days. In Dutch we use the expression ‘What a silly goose
you are’. But this is not the goose from the goose game. This is the silly goose
fattened up at the farm and sold at the market to find its end on the table.
The Goose from the Game is the alert goose who knows when it is time to go on. It
can be compared to the watchful geese which protected the Capitol . In 387 before
Christ the Galicians (Galliërs) tried to besiege the Capitol, but were ‘betrayed’ by
geese.
Although the basic rule is that you may ‘walk’ on as far as the amount of numbers on
your dice when you have come to a goose, there is a nineteenth century diversion
from this rule. In these games you have to go back the amount of numbers on the
dice, if you enter a square with a goose which looks back. Indeed there are geese
which look forward and geese looking back. Johan Wolfgang Goethe gives a very
interesting interpretation of this rule in a poem he once wrote. It says people are so
hurried in their busy lives that they forget to look back to those who struggle for life
or go less fast.
© 2008 Christine Sinninghe Damsté
4
THE GAME; JOURNEY AROUND FRIESLAND.
At this exhibition three different editions of the game called Reis door Friesland (a
journey around the province of Friesland, 1880, 1889 and 1906) have a spotlight
position.
As a matter of fact, the exhibited edition of 1929 is a reprint of the original game of
1880.
The maker of this game, Piebe Krediet , used the rules of the game in a very original
way. He published his first game in 1880, followed by a lithograph in 1889, printed
by Krediet & son, Leeuwarden and Heerenveen. The third version is a multi–colour
print which dates from 1906.
The rules are written in Dutch and not in the Frisian language. Some adaptations
have been made in the language of the second version, ex. the Dutch word. ‘smijten’
has been changed into ‘gooien’, The reason why the rules were not in the Frisian
language might be that in these days Frisian was a spoken language and not many
people were able to write it correctly.
All of them are spirally shaped and start at number 2 (Heerenveen) and finish at
number 63 (Leeuwarden). 53 images of Frisian towns, villages and other places of
interest have been depicted. The geese have been replaced by blank squares. But
these blank squares are all on the sequence of 5 and 4 up to the end. And Piebe
Krediet presented his game as a ‘Goose letter’. (He probably used the word ‘letter’
© 2008 Christine Sinninghe Damsté
5

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