Tuesday, November 2, 2010

GRAPHIC 2-SIDED GAMEBOARD

HANDMADE GAME-BOARD -- DATED 1986
I like graphic items that are funky and display individual creativity. For me, handmade gameboards usually characterize these attributes.  

Gameboards have been around since ancient times. Some examples would be  checker boards or Chinese checker boards. Individually made boards can be painted in any color, have designs other than the game design painted on the board, be of different sizes, be of any age, handmade and sometimes signed by the maker

FUNKY PAINT COLORS ON ALL WOOD BOARD

This particular board is dated along its wooden frame -- 1986. Not that old but still of the folk genre. It also has a faint name next to the date, M... Lam., difficult to make out. It has two game sides. One being checkers and the other a game I do not know. I guess I wasn't much of a board game player when I was young otherwise I would know.

This board is both folk art and a symbol of a folkway. Folkway, as the individual  crafting of a gameboard  is a socially established custom. 

CHECKER BOARD SIDE 
From ancient times to the present --  gameboards have been made by individuals reflecting their personal interpretations of how the board should appear yet keeping with the game design.


For folk appreciators -- its not the game that is important but the construction, colors, and spark exuded by the visual design that matters. No matter the age.

10 comments:

  1. Barbara,
    What a lovely post. It suggests the simpler times, which many of us yearn for, I believe. Also, I am wondering....I imagine the one side must use marbles for game pieces. Wonder what the game pieces would consist of in the checkers side...Can you venture a guess??

    Elora

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  2. Elora -- I was thinking probably checkers or chess? The marble side I have no idea. Today all these board games are played on the computer. So, I imagine that gameboards are on their way out? Thanks for the nice comment -- barbara

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  3. willow, Waiting for someone that can identify the Americana marble game. Great that you stopped by -- barbara

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  4. I love these and have thought about purchasing some in my area.

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  5. Farmchick -- I would imagine that you could find them fairly easy in KY as so many things are handmade in the state. That is part of the beauty of Ky -- that there are still items that turn up that were made creatively.

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  6. What a graphic stunner! Nice piece of wall art!

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  7. Vicki -- Nice comment about the gameboard. I feel that people that create such artifacts have a visual language all of their own. -- barbara

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  8. What a beautiful find. I can't help you to identify the game, but it does stir a hazy memory of playing a game with marbles or pegs. I still enjoy playing board games - particularly Scrabble.

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  9. LiD -- It has been suggested that the game might be in the same category as a game called Sorry? I have never been much of a card or board player. However this summer my family taught me how to play poker and I love the game. I laugh at myself being a poker playing grandmother at age 70! Scrabble is a popular game with my family members too. Thanks for stopping by with your nice comments -- barbara

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