So Parlor Games; we play them with friends and that's what the name is for, but nowadays you'll properly only hear that name be used in a TV show and Movie that takes place in the 1800s or something like that, it's like the fancy word for Board Games (Which is Basically it).

But we'll be getting into the American side of those types of games with American's Favorite Parlor Games from the Daily Life section in Story of America cards.

(What are Parlor Games?)

A Parlor Game is a group of games that are played indoors, they are often played in a Parlour (a type of reception room or public space where the people of the house meet with visitors and stuff like that).

And they were mainly played by Upper and Middle class people. In the Victorian age that Era was sometimes considered the "Golden Age" of the parlor game. During the 19th century, the upper and middle classes had more leisure time to play these games than the people of previous generations.

(From Checkmate to Park Place)

From earliest colonial times, Americans have derived fun, relaxation, and mental simulation from a wide variety of so-called Parlor Games.

Whether they were played merely to pass the time on a rainy day, or competitive battles of wits, games have provided Americans with make-believe adventures and challenges.

One of the oldest and most popular games of all is Checkers.

Many believe that it derived from chess as far back in the Middle Ages, The modern game, which was first called draughts, was codified by the English mathematician William Payne in 1756.

By the early 19th century the game had been introduced successfully into the U.S and today it claims the attention of millions of players.

Another game that arrived early in America is dominoes although the Chinese first played with these flat blocks covered with white dots, they were mainly used as substitutes for dice.

The modern game as we know it was developed in France and Italy sometime in the 18th century then spread eventually to the U.S.

The Game MahJong was imported from China in the 1920s, Played with 136 tiles divided into different sets of pictures and colors, it had become an important part of Chinese social life, Indeed, many important business deals were completed and marriages arranged over a MahJong board.

In America the game was played mostly by Women and became far and away the most popular game of its time.

Then, in 1933, a great event in board-game history took place, Charles Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania, inverted a game that included money, tiny models of hotels and houses, a set of dice, and special cards with instructions on them.

The place's names on Darrow's Board were all taken from real places in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Darrow always went on vacation; The game was called Monopoly.

It tested each player's ability to prove himself an enterprising (and sometimes ruthless) capitalist.

Darrow sold his game in 1935 to Parker Brothers, and it has become America's most popular board game.

Since World War II, the game market has grown tremendously as Americans have experienced an increase in leisure time.

As a result, science fiction, history, and politics have all been translated into exciting and novel game forms.

Some of the game markers are now experiencing concepts that involve cooperation. Not cut-throat competition.

(Ending)

And those were Parlor games in America and what Parlor game means. I hope you enjoy this history of Parlor games in America, and I'll see you next time in another history card.