The 1909 board game of Jack and Jill by Milton Bradley is one of their simpler published games.  The graphics are not as detailed and colorful as usual, and the game board and play is also quite drab.  No matter, though, as a game collector, it is a piece of history and it is still wonderful to add to the game shelf, and share here in the All About Fun and Games- Online Game Museum. 

The cover of the game shows Jack and Jill, falling down a hill, with their spilled pail of water.  The instructions to play the game can be seen at the bottom of the cover.  From the little paragraph it takes to write out the rules, you know game play must be pretty simple. 

Upon opening the lid, one finds the game board itself applied to the bottom of the box, and you can assume it is a race style game.  It has four colorful pathways, with one central White, Red, and Blue Squared path. 

The game is for 2-4 players.  If two players play, each takes a Jack and Jill.  

For a two player game the objective is to be the first player to reach both their Jack and Jill home by the roll of a die. If more than two players play, it is whoever reaches home first. 

There are a few special spaces and rules to follow, but that is all.  Players roll the dice and move. First one on home, by exact roll, wins.

I think what is most interesting about the game are the game pieces.  They are wooden pawns but of uncommon shapes. Two Jacks and Two Jills.  And I find it a bit funny that in no way do they work with the spaces on the board.  They are large game pieces and the spaces are tiny rectangles.

You have to wonder what was Milton Bradley thinking when they published this game?  I’ll have to do some research on the company for this time period.  What was happening which might account for producing such a basic, and somewhat unstylish game?

It would seem it was probably the theme that attracted buyers.  Nursery rhymes taken to the game boards were popular, and Jack and Jill was one of the best loved rhymes. It would have been fun to take the role of Jack or Jill going up the hill to fetch a pail of water, and have made for a relaxing evening, especially when days were physically demanding.

Such were the times….

Play a game, any game, today!