The Game Of The Goose or Goose game is a board game with uncertain origins. Some people connect the game with the Phaistos Disc (because its spiral shape), others claim that it was originally a gift from Francesco I de' Medici of Florence to King Philip II of Spain sometime between 1574 and 1587, while the latest theories attribute to the Templars the creation of the game. According to these theories the Templars, possibly inspired by other games or discs (as the Phaistos Disc) from the Holy Land, developed a game and a secret or encrypted guide to the Way of St. James, representing each numbered space in the game a different stage in this journey. Furthermore, the hidden messages would not be just in the game but in the monuments, cathedrals and churches along the Way to Santiago de Compostela.
In June 1597 John Wolfe had attested that the game existed in London. It is thought to be the prototype for many of the commercial European racing board games of recent centuries. The game is mostly played in Europe and seen as family entertainment. Commercial versions of the game appeared in the 1880s and 1890s, and feature typical old European characteristics such as an old well and children in clothes from the period. In the 1960s, the game company CO-5 marketed a variant called Gooses Wild.
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Famous quotes containing the words game of, game and/or goose:
“Good shot, bad luck and hell are the five basic words to be used in a game of tennis, though these, of course, can be slightly amplified.”
—Virginia Graham (b. 1912)
“The most disgusting cad in the world is the man who, on grounds of decorum and morality, avoids the game of love. He is one who puts his own ease and security above the most laudable of philanthropies.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“This is the maiden all forlorn
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. The House That Jack Built (l. 22–23)