Geographical recreation, or, A voyage round the habitable globe

Despite its title, this game is not based on a map but is instead a spiral race game, with 116 medallions attractively illustrated with small scenes from the countries visited in the course of the game. Four maps of the continents are shown on the outer spiral: Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. The centre contains the figures of Britannia and three others representing Asia, Africa (with a lion) and the Americas.

The advertisement at the beginning of the book of rules states that the game is 'designed to familiarise youth with the names and relative situations of places, together with the manners, customs, and dresses of the different nations of the habitable globe'. The publisher also provides in the rule book 'A short synopsis of the geography of the world' which is intended to enhance the value of the game and sate the curiosity which 'will naturally be excited by the scenes which present themselves, and the observations likely to occur'.

The players may slide on a sledge down an icy slope in Russia; review troops with Napoleon; in Cochin China watch the inhabitants play shuttlecock with their feet; visit Rhodes and be required to tell the other players about the Colossus of Rhodes; stop at a Peruvian rope bridge; or stop in New Zealand (which is the closest the game approaches to Australia). In Africa a Hottentot kraal may be visited, and a visit to the pyramids in Egypt requires the player to talk about them or pay a fine.

The publisher of the game was John Harris, a London bookseller and publisher of children's books. He took over the firm of Newbery in 1801 and several years later broke from the tradition of that firm and began to publish books that were purely for amusement. This proved highly successful for him, and he continued to publish this type of entertaining story alongside the more conventional and sober books of the period. He also published board games and with these and his books catered to the more affluent end of the market. His company continued to market its publications successfully for several decades until the early 1840s.

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