The Mansion of Happiness - Design and Publication

Design and Publication

The Mansion of Happiness was published in many forms, first in England, then in the United States. It was designed by George Fox and published as a linen game board that folded into a hard cover booklet. Laurie and Whittles published the game in 1801.

It was first published in the United States by W. & S.B. Ives in Salem, Massachusetts in 1843. Their game was a folding game board with a cloth and cardboard pocket attached to the bottom of the game board along its edge. In the pocket were the rules, implements, and teetotum. Its teetotum was an ivory dowel inserted in an octagonal ivory plate. When board games were published in 1843, morality was the most important aspect of the game. Since dice were called "the bones of the Devil" because they were used to determine which Roman soldier would keep Christ's loin cloth, teetotums were used instead. There were many different printings of Ives' The Mansion of Happiness. The first three print runs used Thayer and Company lithograpers. Thayer was a brother-in-law to one of the Ives' brothers. The first printrun copied the Laurie and Whittles game. Laurie and Whittles used gold ink. Thayer mixed his ink to look gold but it really was a goldish brown. In Thayer's second print run green was used instead of goldish brown. In the third print run, green was again used but the position of "Thayer and Company Lithograpers" was moved. Thayer and Company were no longer in business for the future print runs so Bufford and Company were used thereafter. According to the city directories, Bufford and Company did not appear until 1845 but they may have been in business in late 1844 as it took time to gather information and lay type. Bufford and company changed the octagonal end space to a circle. The green printing and circle end space remained through different lithographers until 1886.

Anne Wales Abbot was believed to be the designer of the Ives' game. She, however, did not design Ives The Mansion of Happiness but did design two other Ives' games: Dr. Busby and Master Rodbury and His Pupils.

The Mansion of Happiness was considered the first mass-produced board game in the United States for almost 100 years. In 1886, George S. Parker purchased some of Ives' inventory from Henry P. Ives, who had taken over the Ives' business. George had his own oversized green label printed and proceeded to glue it over the Ives label. When the last of the Ives brothers died in 1888, board game titans Charles and George Parker purchased the rights to The Mansion of Happiness. In 1894, Parker Brothers republished The Mansion of Happiness in their new patented box. The game came with a cover on top of a box. The game board was attached to the top of the box and a drawer was added to the box for the implements and spinner. A teetotum was no longer needed as a metal pointer could be attached to a lithographed card using a pop rivet. The pointer could then spin around to produce a random number. The game board and box top were printed using lithography, making the game look like a work of art. Some of the vice spaces were removed (those depicting women engaged in immoral acts and behaviors), and men were substituted for women in the House of Correction. The game remained in the Parker Brothers catalog for thirty years, displaying the line, "The first board game ever published in America" on its box cover.

In 1895, the New York game firm of McLoughlin Brothers printed and published another version of "The Mansion of Happiness". The McLoughlin version used even better artwork than the Parker Brothers version which makes it more valuable to collectors. The McLoughlin version used a game box with the game board attached to the inside bottom of the box. Implements and spinner were simply place in the box.

The distinction of "the first published American board game" however is awarded today to Traveller's Tour of the United States published by New York book sellers F. & R. Lockwood in 1822. Because printing of game boards was more difficult in 1822 than 1843, the term mass market is a gray area. In 1822 reversed etched copper plates were used to print game boards. After the first 2,000 impressions, breaks quickly appeared in lines. Games were so expensive, the people who could afford them did not want game boards they could not read. By 1843, lithography with water color painting was popular. Lithography could easily produce 40,000 perfect impressions.