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Maker(s):Milton Bradley & Co.
Culture:American
Title:Jackstraws game
Date Made:1880-1890
Type:Toy/Game
Materials:wood; paper; ink; lithograph; base metal: iron
Place Made:Massachusetts: Springfield
Measurements:Overall: 3 1/8 in x 4 1/2 in x 3/4 in; 7.9 cm x 11.4 cm x 1.9 cm
Accession Number:  HD 2022.3
Credit Line:Museum Collections Fund
Museum Collection:  Historic Deerfield
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Description:
Jack straws game no. 1 in original box with instructions. Includes 35 stained wooden straws plus several broken pieces, one wooden hook with metal tip, and one instruction sheet. Milton Bradley, a Springfield, MA, draftsman, print maker, and designer, entered the game industry just before the Civil War with his popular The Checkered Game of Life. After war broke out, he produced several card and trivia games for children as well as portable versions of checkers and other games for soldiers. Jackstraws is similar to pick up sticks. According to the instructions: "To give additional interest to the game, various shapes and colors have been adopted to designate different values for the several pieces. The Guns, Hoes, Spades, Ladders, Lances, etc are termed jackstraws, while the plain sticks are termed straws." The straws are picked up in one hand and allowed to fall in a pile and then the players take turns removing individual pieces without moving any of the other pieces in the pile. Although the game comes with a wire hook (one is existing in the box) that can be used to assist in removing pieces, sometimes the way the pieces are intertwined presents quite a challenge. If a player moves more than one stick while attempting to take a single stick, the play passes to another player who starts over by taking up all of the sticks and dropping them on the table again. The winner is the one with the most scoring points.

Label Text:
Milton Bradley (1836-1911), a Springfield, Massachusetts, draftsman, print maker, and designer, entered the game industry just before the Civil War with his popular The Checkered Game of Life. After war broke out, he produced several card and trivia games for children as well as portable versions of checkers and other games for soldiers. Milton Bradley’s version of jackstraws is very similar to the game pick-up sticks.

Tags:
children; games; play

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2022.3

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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