Mid 20th Century Marbles Solitaire Game

Description

This vintage, hand-crafted wooden board is approximately 10” across and 1” high; notice the beautiful ridge between the board and … more This vintage, hand-crafted wooden board is approximately 10” across and 1” high; notice the beautiful ridge between the board and gutter. 9/16” yellow and green cat-eye marbles fit perfectly into the indentions. The individually create indentions show the handiwork, possibly burned into the wood or chiseled from the board. The quarter sawed tiger oak appears to be aged, and has a beautiful sheen. Age is unknown, but it is easy to see this is not new nor was it mass manufactured.

Although Marbles Solitaire is a game for all ages, set it up as a decorative piece for any room.

Marbles Solitaire is a board game for one player involving movement of marbles on a board with indentations. The game is known as solitaire in Britain. The English style has 33 marbles and indentions.
- To start the game, remove the center marble and place it in the gutter around the board;
- Like with checkers, one marble can jump over another vertically or horizontally (not diagonally), into a vacant cup beyond. Remove the marble jumped to the gutter around the outside of the board.
o General goal: jump as many marbles as possible, leaving the least number of marbles on the board
o Most challenging goal: the final marble is left sitting in the middle indention.

Marbles Solitaire history:
In the United States, solitaire refers to a single player card game. In England and Europe, solitaire refers to a game were a single player jumps and removes marbles or pegs from a game board. The game dates back to at least 1687 and a Claude Auguste Berey etching from that year.

The image depicts the Princess of Soubise, at one time the Mistress of Louis the XIV, playing the French 37-hole version of the game. The modern English or German, a 33-hole version, is referenced as early as 1779 and its development is attributed to nuns and monks who used it as a way to entertain themselves in their solitary monastic life. less